She turned away swiftly and, changing her mind about having tea there, crossed the foyer to the outer doors. But she had no sooner stepped on to the pavement when he caught up with her.‘Julia, wait a minute!’ She looked at him coldly. ‘So you changed your mind about going to London?’ She had a strong suspicion that he had never had any intention of going. She knew him well enough to know that he had no conscience about lying to get himself out of a difficulty.‘It was Father who changed his mind,’ he told her quickly. ‘He decided to go himself. I was going to ring you. Then I came in here and met Celia—’Celia. Julia’s eyes widened. ‘And how long have you known Miss Palmer?’He took a deep breath. ‘Look, Julia, I’ll explain everything to you when I see you on Monday. Right now I want to ask you not to mention to Leighton that you’ve seen Celia. She doesn’t want him to know she’s here. What I mean is, she wants to surprise him, to—to tell him herself. I understand he has rather a jealous disposition too, so if you don’t mind—’‘Don’t worry, Max.
