, wild pastures Celine conway 

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fairly harmless and likely to provide some fun. It hap-
pened"  she snapped a finger and thumb  "like that.
Norman, was away in Vancouver and we had to deal with
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Joe. Just as we arrived Matt Leverson rode up. If it
hadn't been for that"  with a sigh  "we might have
called off the joke within a few hours. But ... Matt
came again to the house that night and he told me he was
going to buy this farm. .
"I don't get it. You're selling to him now, aren't you?
"Nothing matters any longer. Anyway, thanks for
sticking up for me on Saturday night. I'm afraid it's put
you further in the red with Dinah, though."
"Where is she now?"
"Changing, ready for a date in town. She says she's
leaving on Thursday."
"For Vancouver?"
"And England."
"If I follow her, I'll be giving in. I told you it was
deadlock."
"Was it about Dinah you wanted to see me?"
He nodded. "To find out what you've just told me,
that's all."
Lucie commiserated with him in silence for a- moment.
Then she said, "I've beein looking for you, too. Rex,
could I borrow that cabin you mentioned? I'd like to
move in on Thursday for five or six days."
"Of course you can have it. Let's go over there now."
But before they moved down towards the canoe, he
asked, "What do you do in England, you and Dinah?"
There was no point in withholding anything now. "We
both work in her father's advertising office."
He grinned faintly. "You mean you work and she shows
up. 'What do you do out of hours?"
"We share a flat ... or we did until we came here."
"Well, that's good news, anyway. Makes her a little
more normal. Let's go."
He canoed her down the lake and over to the other
side, where a series of summer cabins dotted the rocky
lakeside. All, seemingly, belonged to the Torrance family
and were handled by an agent in Mohagan who chose only
the best types as tennants. Mrs. Torrance, Lucie gathered,
had a horror of Red Deer Lake being besieged by people
with large families. The cabins were like the shack in
the mountain; they had one large bedroom and a couch
in the living room which could also be used as a bed.
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No more than four people were allowed to share
shack, but the agent tried for honeymoon couples.
"I know it's wrong," Rex said before Lucie could con>~
ment, "but Mother's spent rather a lot on furnishing the
places and she doesn't want them ripped to bits by
youngsters. It so hapepns that nothing belonging to a
Torrance can be permitted to deteriorate into a slum. You
can't blame her, really?"
"I don't. Are you sure she'll accept me as a tenant?"
He laughed. "You're a guest, for as long as you like.
This place won't let again this year,'so you're doing us a
good turn in keeping it aired." He added frankly, "I wish
you'd get Dinah to come over here with you. Will you
try?" -
"Does she know these shacks belong to your people?"
"I've never told her."
"Then I'll mention that I've taken this one for a week,
and invite her along. I'm not begging her, mind!"
"I'll just hope." They came out of the cabin and down
on to the -rocky little plateau where, presumably, the
shack tenants were in the habit of cooking outdoor meals.
"You can build a fire in this brick enclosure and sit out-
doors at night. You'll see numbers of fires in the distance,
all along the lakeside, nearly as far as the pines."
"You're a great outdoor people, aren't you?" com-
mented Lueie. "I like it. ... Do I have the use of that
canoe down there?"
"Sure." He waved a hand across the lake, which must
have been about three hundred feet wide at that point.
"Up there on the other side you can see the Boermans^
residence. They live there permanently; the old chap's
about retired. Helen, by the way, has given a month's
notice to her boss in Vancouver, and she's taking a week's
break while he gets over it."
Lucie's palms became slightly clammy. "She's giving up
her job on the newspaper?" she asked.
He nodded, as if it were of -no consequence. "She
doesn't need the cash, and at her age she does need a
husband. The feline element in Mohagan say she was only
waiting-till Matt showed signs of really needing her Then
she acted promptly and irrevocably. She doesn't seem to
123
have attached herself to anyone in Vancouver, yet there
are two men in Red Deer who think she's tops."
"Two? Matt and who else?"
"The other one hasn't been in the running for some
time. He's the superintendent of old Boerman's lumber
mill. A well-set-up guy named Mayston."
Lucie blinked rather hard, found her eyelids hot and
dry.
"Well, thanks for bringing me over. Rex. I'll move in
on Thursday morning. If Dinah decides to come with me,
I'll let you know."
When they got back to civilization it was nearly dark
and the smell of woodsmoke drifted down across the
water.
Rex said awkwardly, "How about coming up to the
house with me for a meal? Since Dinah accused me of
falling back on you the other night I feel a little cautious
about you, but I would like you to come, if you will."
"To meet your mother?" she asked, alarmed.
"Mother's all right," he said, drawing out the last word.
"If she gets to know you she might be less hipped about
Dinah."
"Then you're still hoping."
"Gosh," he answered, fed-up, "what else is there?
Coming?"
"I'm wearing slacks. I'd have to change."
"No, come as you are. You know, it's funny, but you
neve».look like the other girls around here, whatever you
wear. If you were a Canadian, with those eyes and that
hair, everyone would call you Red."
One Canadian, she thought, quivering a little, had tried
to make her feel at home in that way. Not lately, though.
She nodded acquiescence to Rex, let him take her hand
and help her up the steep steps of the airy-fairy path that
smelled of the herbs which grow on each side.
Afterwards, Lucie looked back upon that evening as
one of the pleasanter occasions during that week. She had
seen Rex's parents before, though only at a distance, but
she found that on closer acquaintance they were excep-
tionally agreeable.'
It was possible, of- course, that they were relieved a
their son's having abandoned the ash-blonde English girl
124
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