Uncertain Summer. Бетти Нилс

and someone said: ‘Oh, lord, we’ll have to give you a wedding present.’

      Serena put down her cup. ‘No, oh no, you mustn’t—I don’t know when—there’s nothing settled.’

      ‘Time to save up,’ said someone else. ‘Give us plenty of warning, Serena.’

      They all laughed and presently dispersed to their various duties, and Serena, caught up in the usual afternoon rush, had no time to think about herself. She got off duty late too, so that the half-formed idea that she would write home and tell her parents came to nothing. Time enough, she argued as she got ready for bed, when she went home the following weekend.