Free Henrietta Sees It Through by Joyce Dennys

and joined the queue. Queueing is such a habit now that it holds no terrors and it didn’t seem long till we were all inside and the music began.
    Here was something which had not changed. Beauty, and peace, and comfort, and the grey walls of our beloved cathedral taking up the sound as they had taken up the prayers and songs of centuries to give them back to bewildered worshippers in kindly blessing. Many people were in tears.
    I dropped in at Lady B’s on the way home to tell her about the music. While I was there a very small girl arrived at the front door. ‘Please,’ she said, ‘will you buy a ticket for our Fashion Play?’
    â€˜Your what, dear?’ said Lady B.
    â€˜Fashion Play. In the church.’
    Lady B opened her bag. ‘You haven’t got that
absolutely
right,’ she said, ‘but I’d like to buy a ticket.’
    Always your affectionate Childhood’s Friend,
    H ENRIETTA

 
    Â 
    Â 
    June 16, 1943
    M Y D EAR R OBERT
    The Conductor and Faith are married. At the last moment Faith developed Qualms, Doubts and Fears. First she said she wanted to be married in a Registry Office, and whenthe Conductor stoutly refused to be a party to such heathenish antics, she said she couldn’t be married in our church, because the face of a centurion in the East window always reminded her of her first husband. Lady B and I thought this a bit far-fetched, but in the end it was arranged that they should be married in a village church five miles away.
    â€˜It’s just like you, Faith, to make things as difficult as possible for everybody,’ said Charles crossly. ‘I thought I should be able to pop into the hospital on the way to the church, and now I’ve got to waste the whole afternoon driving miles into the country.’
    Faith’s beautiful eyes filled with tears. ‘Of course, if you don’t
want
to give me away, Charles,’ she said.
    â€˜About flowers——’ said Lady B.
    â€˜I thought delphiniums,’ said Faith. ‘You see, blue is my colour. Two huge bunches of mixed blues would look lovely against those whitewashed walls, don’t you think? I’ve hired some blue carpet.’
    It struck me that for somebody who was suffering from Qualms, Doubts and Fears, Faith had got everything very clearly arranged, and I began to understand why she had insisted on the village church.
    â€˜I shall feel so awful walking up the aisle all alone,’ said Faith. ‘I was wondering, darling Henrietta, whether you would wear your long blue frock - it’s such a lovely cut - and be my Matron of Honour? You see, I’m wearing powder blue, and a sombre touch is just what is needed.’
    â€˜No, Faith,’ I said. ‘I love you very much, but I’m not going to be a Sombre Touch at your wedding. Besides, you won’t be alone - you’ll have Charles.’
    Charles said suddenly, ‘What am I going to wear?’ and there was a horrible silence, because he always borrows the Conductor’s wedding garments when he has to dress up.
    â€˜You can have The Suit, Old Boy,’ said the Conductor, too happy to be worried by such trifles.
    â€˜Don’t be silly,’ said Lady B. ‘You can’t marry Faith in a pair of corduroy trousers.’
    â€˜He looks sweet in them,’ said Faith, ‘but they wouldn’t go with my Powder Blue.’
    â€˜We might do a quick change in the vestry,’ said Charles. ‘Then I could walk up the aisle in The Suit, and you could walk down in it, and the Squander Bug would fall dead in the porch.’ But Lady B said Charles must wear his Best Blue, and that was the end of that.
    I started very early for Faith’s wedding because I hadn’t been on a bicycle since the first year of the war, when I fell off, and I’d promised Faith to give the delphiniums a final touch before the service. As I wobbled painfully past the station the