Giant’s Bread · Book IV · III · Chapter 4 3 6

VI

The person who was angry about it was Myra. She wrote long abusive letters to Nell.

You can forget so soon. Vernon has only one home⁠—in my heart. You never loved him.

Uncle Sydney twirled his thumbs and said: “That young woman knows which side her bread is buttered on,” and wrote her a stereotyped letter of congratulation.

An unexpected ally was Joe, who was paying a flying visit to London and came round to see Nell at her mother’s flat.

“I’m very glad,” she said, kissing her. “And I’m sure Vernon would be. You’re not the kind that can face life on your own. You never were. Don’t you mind what Aunt Myra says. I’ll talk to her. Life’s a rotten business for women. I think you’ll be happy with George. Vernon would want you to be happy, I know.”

Joe’s support heartened Nell more than anything. Joe had always been the nearest person to Vernon. On the night before her wedding, she knelt by her bed and looked up to where Vernon’s sword hung over the head of it.

She pressed her hands over her closed eyes.

“You do understand, beloved? You do? You do? It’s you I love and always shall.⁠ ⁠… Oh, Vernon, if only I could know that you understood.”

She tried to send her very soul out questing in search of him. He must⁠—he must⁠—know and understand.