BREAKING POINT

“You are not engaged, are you?” Penny asked.

“No! I haven’t met what Audrey would call the right girl. And I don’t go out a lot or have a lot of friends… Especially female ones”

So she had been right, Penny thought. He wasn’t used to women.

“So what kind of girl do you like? Penny asked with a smile.

“I’m not sure “he said, smiling back at her.” But I will know when I meet her”

“Dark or fair?” Penny persisted mischievously.

“I don’t mind” Joey answered. “It doesn’t matter a great deal what she looks like. I’m more interested in character. I want a wife with a certain amount of intelligence, a sense of humor and above all, no affectations. I can’t stand airs and graces”

Then he laughed suddenly and Penny saw that it altered his face completely. He looked younger, more boyish. She remembered that Audrey had said that he was three years older than her. That must mean that he was now Thirty One. Only two years older than Jeremy. Maybe the fact that he was a doctor made him seem more adult.

“We’re here” Joey said. “Shall I take your case? You’d better hold that puppy of yours. He looks as if the long journey has been too great a strain on his patience”

Penny laughed, allowing Joey to take her case, and followed him on to the platform. He guided her carefully through the people towards the barrier, held Benny while she found her ticket. She had a feeling that he was ‘taking care of her’, a feeling to which she was strangely unaccustomed.

‘I like him’ she thought. Then she caught sight of Audrey, and ran forward to meet her with a curious sensation that she was coming home.

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“It’s so lovely to have you both with me like this” Audrey said happily.

“You look good, Audrey” Joey said and hugged her with a warmth that Penny found delightful.

Seeing brother and sister together she realized that Audrey’s description of her brother had been correct. He was very, very like her… Not only in looks but also in manner. There was a deep bond between these two which was immediately apparent to an onlooker. This tie did not give Penny the sense of being an outsider, but merely the feeling that they were both trying to welcome her into their charmed circle.

“Well, we can’t just stand here looking at each other” Audrey remarked with a smile. “The house is just behind that avenue of trees, Penny. Joey will take your case”

Penny called the spaniel to heel and walked between the brother and sister, surveying the scenery eagerly.

There were a number of little house and concave walled enclosures on either side of the road which puzzled her until Joey seeing her bewilderment, explained that they were old tin mines. Thick red water flowed from a stream through the mines into the sea, and the iron was extracted from it.

“There have been working since late in the nineteenth century” he told her. “Of course, the water we get in Audrey’s place is pumped up from the springs and they are untainted. You won’t have red water to wash in”

Penny was fascinated by the atmosphere, and resolved to several sketches of an old smithy with the proverbial chestnut trees they passed. And the small farm she glimpsed through the trees. The sky was a pale clear blue. The meadows sweet and fresh like the air. It was all so different from her place and Penny sniffed appreciatively.

After a short climb up a rocky path, through the tall trees, she saw Audrey’s house. It was just as she imagined it, tucked behind a golden privet hedge -sentinelled by two tulip trees, and with tiers of fields rising behind it. The oak door was open in welcome, and the white washed walls looked fresh and clean, half covered with climbing roses.

“Oh! What a lot I will have to paint” Penny cried.

“Glad to be home?” Audrey asked her brother

He nodded. To Penny he said:

“You’d be surprised to know how many times I’ve dreamt about being back here while I was abroad ”

He held the front door open for the two girls and followed them inside. Passing through the hall Penny found herself inside the sitting room. A log fire burnt in the open grate. Audrey had laid the table ready for supper. An appetizing smell of Irish stew came from the kitchen.

“You’re a marvel Audrey” Penny exclaimed, holding cold hands out to the blaze. “I didn’t think about it before but now I know I feel chilly. I’m hungry”

“I will take you up to your room so you can shower and relax before dinner” Audrey said with a smile. “You are in your own room, Joey”.

“Right” was Joey’s short reply. “I will just get this young pup a bowl of water first”

Penny followed Audrey up the winding staircase, grateful to Joey for thinking of the dog.

“I think your brother is very nice” she told her friend. “Is he always so considerate?”

“Always” said Audrey. “I thought you two would get along. Joey likes you”

“How do you know that?” Penny asked laughing, as she took off her heavy coat and laid it on the large feather bed.

“I can usually tell with Joey” Audrey said, sitting down at the window seat and looking over the fields. “He shuts up like a clam if he doesn’t like anyone. Or else makes very short cryptic remarks. But he’s been very talkative today”

Penny considered this for a moment, then forgot it in her delight at the unique Dutch dresser and blue spode China which caught her eye.

“Now pretty your place is Audrey” she said. “it all looks exactly right”

“I’m glad you like it” Audrey said. “How is your Jeremy?”

With a little shock, Penny realized that she had not thought of her lover during the last hour or so. Usually he was so constantly in her thoughts, forgetting him made her feel disloyal. But she did not really want to remember Jeremy just now. She wanted to bury those terrible fears about the future.

“Penny what’s wrong” Audrey asked.

Penny looked up from the bed and saw her friend’s face, concerned, perplexed. Suddenly, she resolved to tell her everything. Audrey would understand and advice her. Aunt Ann always said ‘a problem shared is a problem half solved’. It was another cliché but one of the real truths in this world. Just telling Audrey.. Or anyone… Would help.