She was always our port of call for country holidays, Kitty and I—remember? ”
“ I remember. And how is Miss Docherty? Is she still draining her small income on that unlucrative stable of hers? ”
“ If you ’ re hinting that my nice American dollars might well be employed easing Aunt Alice ’ s little lot you can save your breath. They ’ re no more to her liking than to yours, since you ’ re both as proud as the devil, ” Samantha replied with lazy unconcern, and Duff, turning to Harriet, said, with a faint trace of impatience:
“ Would you see about that tea, Harriet? You ’ re mistress here now, you know. ”
Harriet jumped up quickly, made aware that not only was she failing in her first duties as hostess, but had been sitting on like an inquisitive child, listening to the half - understood talk of its elders. It was going to be difficult, she thought, to remember that she was no longer a guest at the Castle.
They resumed their conversation as she crossed the room, and she hurried to get out of earshot, for Samantha certainly had forgotten her presence or chose to ignore it, but as she reached the door and opened it, she heard Samantha say:
“ You were afraid of me, weren ’ t you, darling? That ’ s why you rushed into marriage with an accommodating little girl nobody ’ s ever heard of! The old Adam dies hard, you know ... ”
The door closed on Duff ’ s reply, but Harriet stood leaning against it for a moment, shaken and shocked into unwelcome realisation. The reason for haste now seemed only too plain, though not the reason for preferring a come-by-ch a nce stranger to this fascinating, intimidating enchantress who, it was painfully obvious, possessed all the natural and fitting qualities to reign here as mistress of Clooney.
CHAPTER FIVE
WHAT was left of Harriet ’ s wedding day passed with a sense of anti-climax. True, champagne was served again with dinner, after which mild sounds of celebration could be heard coming from the kitchen quarters, but in the dining-room there was no air of occasion and little conversation.
Harriet sat at her husband ’ s table feeling rather like an importunate guest whose welcome was outstayed, and she wondered whether Duff was finding it as difficult as she to introduce some neutral topic for discussion. Was it Kitty he thought of with that brooding air of abstraction, or the lovely Samantha?
“ At your old tricks, Harriet? ” he said suddenly from the other end of the table, and she jumped guiltily. “ You ’ ve already made one false assumption from meddling with the past—don ’ t go dreaming up any more fairy-tales. ”
He spoke quite casually, but she had the impression he was warning her, against what she could not for the moment imagine, but it was an uncomfortable sensation, being stripped so easily of one ’ s private thoughts.
“ My mistake over the portrait was natural, I think, and I—I wasn ’ t meddling, ” she said, refusing to be put in the wrong for the sake of a mood she could not share, and he gave her that rare, charming smile which could so redeem the ugliness of his face.
“ No, of course you weren ’ t, and your mistake was perfectly natural, ” he replied easily. “ But don ’ t make any more, my dear, will you? ”
“ I shall probably make plenty as I ’ m new to housekeeping, let alone life in a castle. You will just have to be patient with me, ” she said, deliberately misunderstanding to divert his thoughts to more mundane matters, and he got to his feet, terminating the meal abruptly as though their enforced solitude had irked him.
“ I don ’ t entertain and Jimsy and Agnes between them run the house adequately, if somewhat imperfectly, so I shan ’ t expect too much of you, ” he said a little dryly. “ Come to the snug and get warm—this room gets like a perishing ice-box. We ’ ll take to having our meals in the little breakfast-room, I think, as I do when I ’ m alone. ”
The
“ I remember. And how is Miss Docherty? Is she still draining her small income on that unlucrative stable of hers? ”
“ If you ’ re hinting that my nice American dollars might well be employed easing Aunt Alice ’ s little lot you can save your breath. They ’ re no more to her liking than to yours, since you ’ re both as proud as the devil, ” Samantha replied with lazy unconcern, and Duff, turning to Harriet, said, with a faint trace of impatience:
“ Would you see about that tea, Harriet? You ’ re mistress here now, you know. ”
Harriet jumped up quickly, made aware that not only was she failing in her first duties as hostess, but had been sitting on like an inquisitive child, listening to the half - understood talk of its elders. It was going to be difficult, she thought, to remember that she was no longer a guest at the Castle.
They resumed their conversation as she crossed the room, and she hurried to get out of earshot, for Samantha certainly had forgotten her presence or chose to ignore it, but as she reached the door and opened it, she heard Samantha say:
“ You were afraid of me, weren ’ t you, darling? That ’ s why you rushed into marriage with an accommodating little girl nobody ’ s ever heard of! The old Adam dies hard, you know ... ”
The door closed on Duff ’ s reply, but Harriet stood leaning against it for a moment, shaken and shocked into unwelcome realisation. The reason for haste now seemed only too plain, though not the reason for preferring a come-by-ch a nce stranger to this fascinating, intimidating enchantress who, it was painfully obvious, possessed all the natural and fitting qualities to reign here as mistress of Clooney.
CHAPTER FIVE
WHAT was left of Harriet ’ s wedding day passed with a sense of anti-climax. True, champagne was served again with dinner, after which mild sounds of celebration could be heard coming from the kitchen quarters, but in the dining-room there was no air of occasion and little conversation.
Harriet sat at her husband ’ s table feeling rather like an importunate guest whose welcome was outstayed, and she wondered whether Duff was finding it as difficult as she to introduce some neutral topic for discussion. Was it Kitty he thought of with that brooding air of abstraction, or the lovely Samantha?
“ At your old tricks, Harriet? ” he said suddenly from the other end of the table, and she jumped guiltily. “ You ’ ve already made one false assumption from meddling with the past—don ’ t go dreaming up any more fairy-tales. ”
He spoke quite casually, but she had the impression he was warning her, against what she could not for the moment imagine, but it was an uncomfortable sensation, being stripped so easily of one ’ s private thoughts.
“ My mistake over the portrait was natural, I think, and I—I wasn ’ t meddling, ” she said, refusing to be put in the wrong for the sake of a mood she could not share, and he gave her that rare, charming smile which could so redeem the ugliness of his face.
“ No, of course you weren ’ t, and your mistake was perfectly natural, ” he replied easily. “ But don ’ t make any more, my dear, will you? ”
“ I shall probably make plenty as I ’ m new to housekeeping, let alone life in a castle. You will just have to be patient with me, ” she said, deliberately misunderstanding to divert his thoughts to more mundane matters, and he got to his feet, terminating the meal abruptly as though their enforced solitude had irked him.
“ I don ’ t entertain and Jimsy and Agnes between them run the house adequately, if somewhat imperfectly, so I shan ’ t expect too much of you, ” he said a little dryly. “ Come to the snug and get warm—this room gets like a perishing ice-box. We ’ ll take to having our meals in the little breakfast-room, I think, as I do when I ’ m alone. ”
The
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