"Ah!" she observed. "I might have known you'd say something like that. You were always the one for having your little joke." She continued to beam at me with the same indulgent smile. "You've come along to stay with Commander Dean, I suppose?" she added.
I stared at her in the blankest amazement.
"Why, didn't you know he was here?" she asked, in a surprised voice.
"Bobby Dean in Pen Mill!" I managed to jerk out.
"Well, not exactly in Pen Mill, though he do come around pretty often. Martlesea's his headquarters—at least, that's where he lives when he isn't in his boat."
"D'you mean to tell me he's got a job here?" I almost shouted.
She nodded her head. "He's in the Coast Patrol—the same as he was when the war was on. Fancy your not knowing that now! Why, I made certain you'd come down to pay him a visit, seeing as how you were such friends."
"I haven't had a letter from him for ages," I explained. "The last time he wrote he was up at some God-forsaken place in the North of Scotland." I paused, while the full realisation of all that Bobby's presence would mean filtered joyfully through my heart. "By Jove, that's gorgeous news, Mrs. Summers!" I added. "You couldn't have told me anything in the world which would have pleased me more."
"But if you haven't come to see him," she demanded curiously, "whatever's brought you back into these parts?"
Her question reminded me suddenly of the real purpose of my visit.