Free Henrietta Sees It Through by Joyce Dennys Page A

passengers from the London train were just coming out, and suddenly I saw the Awful Dan. *
    One of the funny things about bicycling is that whenever you particularly don’t want to run into something you always do, and I found myself bearing down upon Dan at a breakneck speed. ‘Get out of my way, Dan!’ I shouted, but Dan stood fair and square in my path and took firm hold of the handlebars, so that I shot forward and my face hit his chest, leaving a patch of powder on his uniform.
    â€˜Not for the first time,’ said Dan, beating his chest so that quite a cloud of powder rose in the air.
    â€˜I don’t doubt it,’ I said coldly, for I had taken trouble with my face.
    â€˜You still look a good deal nicer than usual,’ said Dan kindly. Then he peered closely at me and began to laugh.‘You’ve got mascara on your eyelashes, you funny little thing,’ he said.
    â€˜I’m going to a wedding,’ I said. ‘Faith’s wedding, as a matter of fact,’ and I looked to see him wince.
    â€˜Good!’ said Dan. ‘I like weddings.’
    He wanted to ride my bicycle and make me sit on the handlebars, but I refused to do this, so he borrowed one from the porter and we set off together, Dan with one hand between my shoulders pushing me up the hills, so that we arrived at the village church in no time. After I had looked at the delphiniums, which were perfect, we went and sat in a sunny corner of the churchyard.
    â€˜By the way, who is Faith marrying?’ said Dan. ‘That Conductor chap, I suppose?’
    I nodded. ‘You aren’t sad are you?’ I said.
    â€˜Sad? Me?’ said Dan. ‘Why?’
    â€˜I just wondered,’ I said. ‘She’s wearing powder blue.’
    â€˜She would,’ said Dan.
    Nearly everybody came to Faith’s wedding on bicycles. The hedge outside the village church was stacked with them, and a woman in one of the cottages opposite gave up her front room for people to tidy themselves up in before going into the church. Colonel Simpkins came in his little pony cart, which he hitched to the vicarage gate, and the pony ate most of the vicar’s hedge during the service.
    The Conductor, who had never had the chance of appearing in The Suit before because Charles was always wearing it, astonished us all by his magnificent appearance. Faith looked quite exquisite. Her eyes matched the delphiniums, and just the right Sombre Touch was provided by Charles’s blue suit. Everybody was moved by the sight, and I felt the tears coming into my own eyes. It is a mistake to cry, even a little bit, when you have mascara on your eyelashes. In lessthan a minute I was in agony and the tears were pouring down my cheeks. Dan looked at me and then handed me a large, clean, white pocket handkerchief.
    The reception, which was held in Faith’s house, was a tremendous success. There was no champagne, but a sort of Cup, which had been brewed by Charles, produced a very hilarious spirit among the guests, and everybody, including Dan, kissed the bride a great many times.
    â€˜What were you crying about in church?’ said Mrs Savernack to me, rather spitefully. ‘The Conductor says he’s going to keep on the choir.’
    â€˜She was wishing she’d married me instead of Charles,’ said Dan.
    â€˜I quite enjoyed the wedding,’ said Charles to me that evening. ‘What did you think of the Brew?’
    â€˜Excellent, and extremely potent. I enjoyed the wedding too. Dan shoved me up the hills and we sat in the churchyard and had a flirtation.’

    Brewed by Charles
    â€˜Dan would flirt with anything,’ said Charles. Then he yawned and opened
The Times.
    Always your affectionate Childhood’s Friend,
    H ENRIETTA

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    * An ex-suitor of Faith’s whose unexpected release from an Italian prisoner-of-war camp a few weeks previously had given the Conductor (and perhaps Faith too)