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and we’re working full shifts. The new frames Dad put in just before he died are paying off now, and we’ve a backlog of orders for the home market, too, mostly from the big Midland stores and the north of England.”
    “You’ve forgotten Scotland, surely!” Evelyn reminded her.
    “We take Scotland for granted. It’s an established trade north of the Border. We don’t have to press sales.”
    “But we do have to keep on our toes.” Evelyn was the businesswoman now. “Nobody can afford to rest on their laurels these days, Sue, although there’s still ample opportunity for the firm with ideas and the desire to expand.”
    “You think we’ve been too conservative?” Susan asked, bridling a little at the implied criticism of her father’s methods.
    “Adam meant to expand.” Evelyn’s gaze was fixed on the road ahead. “He would have done it in his own time, but I can’t help wondering if that would have been soon enough. He was content up here, Sue, happy in his Border stronghold, but one has to work in London to understand what competition is all about. You have to be ruthless and you have to seize the chances as they come along. But we said we weren’t going to discuss business any more!” she ended on a jocular note.
    “What else is there to discuss,” Susan wanted to know, “apart from business and the baby?”
    “There’s you.” Evelyn was serious again. “You won’t want to work all your life, Sue, even at Denham’s.”
    “At the moment,” Susan said definitely, “I’m more concerned about Denham’s than anything else.”
    “What about Fergus Graeme?”
    “Oh, Fergus!” Susan paused. “I suppose he’s willing to wait.”
    “For how long?” Evelyn asked. “Certainly not for twenty years,” she added when there was no immediate answer from her stepdaughter.
    “You know I wouldn’t keep him dangling as long as that,” Susan declared. “Besides, I haven’t asked him to wait.”
    “Has he asked you to marry him?”
    Susan flushed.
    “Yes, as a matter of fact, he has.”
    “And you turned him down ?”
    “Sort of.”
    “Was that wise, if you care for him?”
    “I like him,” Susan amended. “That’s different, isn’t it?”
    “Much different,” her stepmother agreed immediately.
    “How can you be sure when you are in love?” Susan demanded.
    “You’ll know,” Evelyn said, “when the time comes.”
    “That’s no explanation! ”
    “It’s the best answer I can give you.”
    “You were—very much in love with Dad.”
    “Yes.” Evelyn’s lips curved in a wistful smile. “Everybody could see it, I expect, but who wants to hide love? I think I’ll change my mind about that cup of tea,” she added cheerfully. “Could we stop somewhere on the way?”
    “How would Peebles do?” Susan suggested. “It’s just as easy to go back that way.”
    Wether Law was in the distance and they could see the summit of Dunslair Heights, with Whitehope and Windlestraw in the background, all the green Laws shouldering each other to the south and east between the deeply-hidden dales. When Neidpath Castle came into view Evelyn heaved a contented sigh.
    “I’m almost home,” she said. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve longed for it!”
    “Yet a few miles back you were prattling about your return to London!”
    “I may have to go back,” Evelyn said, “but not for too long, I hope. Miss Bates is learning fast, and I could almost leave her in charge down there now.”
    It seemed to Susan that Evelyn always pulled up just short of a final statement, as if she couldn’t be sure of the future or of her decision about it, but they were already on the outskirts of Peebles and it was no time for further argument.
    When they reached the hydro, they were just in time for tea. The big hotel was already full, but Evelyn was known to the head waiter and they were soon accommodated at a table near the terrace windows. Evelyn could always accomplish that sort of thing with the