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married?"
    "Yes."
    "I see."
    What she did see was probably the truth. Elizabeth had found herself unwanted in a household dominated by an aggressive sister-in-law and she had been too proud to stay in her brother's home for more than a couple of weeks. After that it had been her heartbreaking task to sell the family home and make a new life for herself elsewhere. She had chosen Sydney because it was far enough away from her former ties and because it had seemed to offer the wider opportunity she sought.
    The old lady sitting in the armchair opposite her seemed to see it all without explanation, the shrewd gaze taking in the moment of emotion as she talked about her former home and the happiness she had known there.
    "Tell me about your mother," she suggested.
    Surprised by the intimacy of the question, Elizabeth hesitated.
    "It's something I want to know," Mrs. Abercrombie said.
    "She was a wonderful person." Elizabeth's eyes were suddenly alight with love and admiration. "I never heard her say a harsh word about anyone. She was invariably kind."
    "But not colourless."
    "Oh, no, anything but colourless! She had a tremendous personality, with so many interests that it was often difficult to keep up with her. After my father died she helped in all sorts of ways. She was well known in Brisbane, and she plunged right back into the swim of things. Her appetite for voluntary work surprised even the hospital authority, and because she had no longer a family 'to neglect' she was there most of the time. I was at college, but she made a point of being at home when I got back in the evenings. We were friends."
    The last three words were the ultimate accolade she had to offer, and Adele Abercrombie nodded her understanding.
    "Il va sans dire! I, too, had a wonderful mother," she remembered. "She taught me never to prevaricate and never to sell myself short. In these days girls had far less freedom than you have now, but there was no question of my family choosing a suitable husband for me. I was left to make my own decision, and when I fell in love with Douglas Abercrombie I married him, unaware that we would build up a flourishing shipping line together and a robust and happy family which, to me, was far more important. My oldest son died in the war without leaving an heir., but the younger one— Alex—had two sons. One of them you have met."
    Elizabeth nodded.
    "Jason is so like you." She bit her lip. "Perhaps I shouldn't have said that," she added diffidently. "It was much too personal."
    "But everyone says so, and I like to think that it is true," Mrs. Abercrombie declared. "He has my adventurous nature, certainly, and sometimes I wish that he would pause to think more often, but we are not all made perfect. It would be a dull world if we were, don't you think?"
    Elizabeth agreed.
    "My mother used to say that our faults endeared us to her so long as we didn't step too far out of line, and I don't think we ever made her—ashamed."
    "What more would you have!" Mrs. Abercrombie glanced at the gold fob-watch pinned to her blouse. "I have set a tray for tea. You will find it in the kitchen, through that door over there, Miss Drummond. Will you bring it in, please?"
    Elizabeth got up to do her bidding, aware of a warm friendliness between them which she had not expected on first acquaintance. If she was lucky enough to get the job in the end she knew that she would be happy in it.
    The kitchen was light and airy, with ultra-modern fittings and glass, sliding doors leading on to the balcony which suggested that the owner of the flat took many of her meals in the open air. The little balcony reminded Elizabeth of the sleep-outs in the Morningside house in Brisbane where she had been born and the many happy hours she had spent there. Mrs. Abercrombie had seemed to understand about that, too.
    She found the tray, carrying it back to the sitting-room where the old lady had lit the silver spirit kettle which stood on a small table near her