Miss Mapp’s mind, on a hot scent, went back to the previous telegraphic utterance.
“Both hands did you say, dear?” she asked. “Perhaps that’s the Italian fashion.”
“Maybe. Then what else do you think? Faradiddleony kissed Susan! Mr. Wyse and she must be engaged. I can’t account for it any other way. He must have written to tell his sister. Couldn’t have told her then at the station. Must have been engaged some days and we never knew. They went to look at the orchid. Remember? That was when.”
It was bitter, no doubt, but the bitterness could be transmuted into an amazing sweetness.
“Then now I can speak,” said Miss Mapp with a sigh of great relief. “Oh, it has been so hard keeping silence, but I felt I ought to. I knew all along, Diva dear, all, all along.”
“How?” asked Diva with a fallen crest.
Miss Mapp laughed merrily.
“I looked out of the window, dear, while you went for your hanky and peeped into dining-room and boudoir, didn’t you? There they were on the lawn, and they kissed each other. So I said to myself: ‘Dear Susan has got him! Perseverance rewarded!’”
“H’m. Only a guess of yours. Or did Susan tell you?”
“No, dear, she said nothing. But Susan was always secretive.”