Free Gone Away by Marjorie Moore

end of irresponsibility for me. I’ve got to look for a job, and quickly too. Life has become serious again. I’ve got to pull myself together.” She laughed in order to hide her very real depression.
    “Of course. Do you know, I’d quite forgotten. This tale about your coming out to meet friends had so stuck in my mind that I’d almost forgotten it wasn’t the truth.” Maimie’s smooth brow puckered thoughtfully. “Surely it won’t be difficult—to find a job, I mean—and there isn’t such an awful hurry. You know you are staying with us until we marry; you need not worry yet.”
    “I shall have that respite, but I imagine you’ll be marrying fairly soon, won’t you?”
    Maimie shook her head. “No ... ” There was an element of doubt in her tone. “I don’t think so.” She appeared to have difficulty in finding suitable words. “You see, I’ll have to talk it over with Seymour, but it seems silly to hurry our wedding now I’m here.” She smiled roguishly. “Particularly as I have such an adequate chaperon.”
    Patricia flushed. “Most inadequate, I’m afraid. Your aunt would be horrified. I don’t seem to have looked after you at all well.”
    “Nonsense ... you’ve been marvellous. I assure you that if Auntie had landed me with any of those other awful people she interviewed I should probably have thrown her overboard.” Maimie laughed. “You’ve been an angel. I only hope I haven’t neglected you too much. But you’ve had Ian; you haven’t really minded, have you?” she inquired childishly.
    “Of course you haven’t neglected me, as you call it. Ian has been awfully good to me and I’ve enjoyed his company. But I have worried a bit,” she admitted a trifle reluctantly. “You and Claud ... well, you did seem too friendly sometimes. I was afraid ... ” She broke off, at a loss for words.
    Maimie burst into peals of laughter at her friend’s obvious distress.
    “Worried about me!” she echoed. “ There wasn’t anything to worry about, I assure you. Claud and I have had a lovely flirtation.” She glanced shrewdly at Patricia. “You realized that, didn’t you?” Without awaiting a reply, she continued, “It hasn’t hurt either of us, and Seymour will never know, so it won’t hurt him either. What does it matter, then? Surely you’ve flirted sometimes, haven’t you?”
    Patricia felt the warm color flood her cheeks. “I can’t say that I have ... perhaps just once, b ut I’ve changed since then. Men don’t interest me any more.”
    “Because you’ve never met the right one,” Maimie asserted with conviction. “Now Ian, for instance; he’s a dear, but even I wouldn’t consider having an affair with him. He’s altogether too ... too ... Oh, I don’t know, but he’s quite the wrong sort.”
    “He’s been a delightful friend, but please don’t imagine there is anything between us. In fact, I believe he is in love with someone out in Singapore. Once or twice he has hinted at it. Anyway, I hope so. I believe his first marriage was a bad go and I’d like him to be happy,” Patricia explained.
    “ Oh, I see,” Maimie replied. “Anyway, even if you’ve never flirted, you must have had one or two adventures. Heaven knows Aunt Harriet kept me tied up enough, but I did manage to have a little fun.”
    “I’ve told you I did have one adventure, but that was just nothing,” Patricia finished briefly. Then, as her friend urged her to continue, added, “Anyway, it was ages ago, the day I decided to leave home. I usually decide to do the most ridiculous things in a moment of impulse. Look how I made up my mind to take this journey.”
    “Yes, I know, but you haven’t told me what happened,” Maimie broke in.
    Patricia proceeded to give an eagerly listening Maimie an account of her only “adventure” with Kay. She told her finally the reason for the sudden departure she had made from her hotel and that she had never seen the man again.
    “What a silly