SPOILERS!!!
Judith spends Christmas 1938 with the Carey-Lewises. Edward is there, and we know that she is in love with him. After dinner one night, they dance, and when the colonel goes to drive Aunt Lavinia home, Diana suggests they play sardines, which is similar to hide-and-seek, but the other way round. One person has to hide and the rest of the participants have to find them. When one participant finds the person hiding, he/she hides in the same place and so on. In this case, Judith has to hide, and then Edward finds her, so he hides with her. When they are together in the dark, Edward kisses her, and she respondes heartily. Yet, when he touches her, images of what happened with Billy Fawcett come to her mind and she panics. So she pulls away. The next day Edward and Judith talk. She is apologetic, and he tells her that he understands that she is still too young.
The book then jumps to 1939. It is the summer holiday and Judith leaves school for good. Her plans include to spend the summer with the Carey-Lewises, the Warrens, and then sail to Singapore to spend a year with her family. After that year, she will study at Oxford University.
The atmosphere in 1939 is quite subdued as war seems to be imminent. Colonel Carey-Lewis is continuously listening to the radio or reading the newspaper. Diana has fled to London in a way to isolate herself of a bleak perspective. Loveday and Judith go to the Warrens; Loveday only stays one week as she needs to train the new pony. Judith remains there the second week, and Edward surprises her by turning up after spending weeks in France. They go out and have dinner in a pub, and it is there that Billy Fawcett is drinking. When Edward is ordering their drinks, the man approaches, and he is offensive to Judith, clearly begrudging her what Aunt Louisa left her in her will. Then Edward approaches, and he notices how uncomfortable Judith is, and when he hears the man, he orders him to leave, and when he refuses, he pushes him outside and throws his whisky in his face. When he returns to Judith, she finally tells him who he is and what he did to her. And she also explains that his memory was what affected her when they kissed. Edward says that she is traumatized, and she needs a cataclyst to get rid of this trauma.
Edward goes to his home, looking forward to seeing Judith again in a week. At home there is bad news. Aunt Lavinia is ill and she has been diagnosed pneumonia. Edward phones Judith, but tells her to stay put. His father has called Diana and Athena, who is in Scotland with her new boyfriend, Rupert. Both of them are on their way back. Edward also expects a visit from his friend, Gus, but it is too late to tell him not to come.
Gus arrives and Loveday is there to welcome him. Loveday is upset about Aunt Lavinia but she does not want to see her looking ill and frail. When Gus turns up, Loveday finds him very attractive, and she suggests they walk to the cave together.
Athena is also upset about Aunt Lavinia. She was in Scotland as Rupert had been invited to shoot grouse for a week. When she learnt about Aunt Lavinia, she wanted to return home, but her intention was not to disrupt Gus's time in Scotland, but he insisted on driving her there. Rupert comes from a rich family, and he is the heir, and when he and Athena visited the family, that was not a success because they consider her unsuitable for him.
Aunt Lavinia is better, which is a relief for everybody. There in the house Rupert wonders whether Athena could be the woman to marry. His family do not like her, but he realises that he is in love with her. When Athena joins him, he asks her what she would say about getting married. Athena says that what she dislikes about marriage is the fuss about the wedding. Rupert likes her reply and tells her that for them to get married they only need themselves. So I imagine that Athena and Rupert will elope to marry.
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