Shirley, ‘I had a feeling you were going to be angry, but he was so persuasive and it will be lovely to have something to do again. I’ve felt so old and useless these last few weeks. There’s absolutely nothing here I have to do! Gregory wants me to do for him what I used to do for Henry: put all his papers in order and re-type those pages that need it, and put a bit of polish on his house which has been shut up for years— ‘‘He’s getting married.’ Marion sniffed. ‘And since when has it been Gregory?’‘Since I first saw him. He never knew his own mother and I would rather like to have had a son as well as a daughter, so we agreed to adopt one another as honorary relations. I could hardly call him Mr. Randall after that!’Marion’s eyes kindled. ‘And what does he call you? Mother?’‘Not that it’s any of your business, but I asked him to call me Helen. He always wrote to your father as Henry and it seemed the best solution.’Marion choked. ‘None of my business!’ she exclaimed.
