She smiled. ‘They wouldn’t mind at all,’ she said, ‘if you were eating muffins happily with a girl of your own age. It’s when somebody like me comes along, who has had her turn, who is out of her turn.’
‘They would have people love by rule,’ said Christopher.
‘I don’t know about love, but they would have them be happy by rule,’ said Catherine.
‘They must be defied,’ said Christopher.
She laughed. ‘We are defying them,’ she said.
Proceeding from Salisbury with the setting sun behind them, they continued with the same leisureliness in the direction of Andover and London.
‘Oughtn’t we to go a little faster?’ Catherine asked, noticing the lowness of the sun.
‘If you’re home by nine o’clock, won’t that be soon enough?’ he asked.
‘Oh, quite. I love this.’
‘I’d like to go on for ever,’ said Christopher.