'She said that it had weighed very heavily on her conscience, that she hadn't known what to do,

that she was not in the habit of reading other people's letters, but that the words had leapt up at her. She said that evidently you had decided not to send it, and were bent on making a sacrifice of yourself by marrying me, because you felt I had waited so long. 'You remember that letter, Penny? In it, Margot, the girl in Fiona's book writes it, saying she's in love with Richard but says: "Even now, as I write this, I don't know if I have the courage to send it. You've waited so long, and it looks so dreadful in cold words." So naturally, darling, I thought, looking at the charred remains of that letter, that you hadn't found the courage; especially as you'd always typed your letters to me on that pale green paper. I suppose Fiona always used that for her rough copies. 'So I thought you were corning home prepared to go through