,
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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 121 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. 122 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 for the one who was more ordinary, but they did make [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ] |
Odnośniki
|