South of Capricorn by Anne Hampson

weren’t his wife, and two: that Leta was that “something” you were bringing to Kane. The child’s mother - what happened to her?’
    ‘She died.’
    ‘Was Kane married to her?’
    Reluctantly she shook her head. It was a strange thing, but she hated the idea that Kane was that sort of man.
    ‘No, he admitted that he wasn’t - although Sandra always maintained that she was married to Leta’s father.’ Dave was looking interrogatingly at her and she thought she might as well tell him everything, for of a surety his intention was to continue questioning her until he had the whole story. When at length she stopped speaking he was shaking his head from side to side, a deep frown etched into his brow.
    ‘It’s quite beyond me that the Boss could be like that that he’d go over to England on holiday and leave a girl with a baby.’
    ‘He didn’t know about the baby then.’
    ‘No, so you said, but he isn’t the type to let a girl down in the way he appears to have let your cousin down.’
    ‘Appears? He definitely did let her down, and she’s dead because of it. Indirectly he’s responsible for Sandra’s death.’
    Thoughtfully he said,
    ‘I don’t suppose there can be any mistake ...?’
    ‘It’s strange you should say that. I felt myself that he was an upright man. However, there’s no mistake; Sandra knew who the father was - Kane Farrell, the man who owned Vernay Downs Station.’
    ‘He gave her his address, and yet he then left her — just like that, without making any arrangements to see her again. It sounds all phoney to me.’
    ‘There’s nothing phoney about it, Dave. Kane’s admitted that he’s the father of Leta. He’s accepted her and intends keeping her, even when I’ve gone. He also admits that he should have sent Sandra money — when she wrote to him more than four years ago. She told him she had Leta, yet he never did anything to help her.’
    Dave looked distressed.
    ‘I had such respect for the Boss,’ he said with a frown, ‘and such faith too. To have one’s faith shattered not only disillusions but it hurts as well.’
    She said understandingly,
    ‘I know just how you feel. I don’t know him very well and yet I too feel faintly upset that he should be such a rotter, but he is a rotter and you’ve to accept that he is.’
    ‘I suppose I must,’ he owned after a long pause. ‘How little we know people!’
    ‘I’m glad it’s all cleared up,’ she told him with a sudden smile. ‘I felt so guilty, so blameworthy.’
    He looked at her and responded to her smile.
    ‘I’m glad too, Gail. And because we share this secret I feel close to you—’
    ‘Oh, but...’ She did not know what to say, because she was unsure of her own feelings towards him. She had already owned that he was the type of man she had always admired, a strong man and rugged ... but then so was Kane a strong man and rugged, hardened from working outdoors, toughened as a man should be, if he were to be a real man, a truly masculine man.
    ‘Don’t say anything yet, Gail,’ he pleaded. ‘Let’s get to know one another, gradually, and pleasantly, as it should be.’
    She shook her head.
    ‘We can’t become too friendly, Dave.’
    ‘Just what does the emphasis mean?’ His eyes were on her face and she could not mistake the admiration in them ... or the expression of hope. ‘You’re free, Gail, and you have no idea of the weight that was lifted from me after I’d made a guess at the truth.’
    She was troubled, even though she knew without doubt that Dave held some sort of attraction for her.
    ‘There are too many obstacles,’ she told him. ‘Please, Dave, forget about anything beyond mere friendship between us.’
    His eyes closely examined her face, taking in the anxiety in the beautiful eyes, the movement of the mouth.
    ‘You’ve said that you’ll be free to leave here once Mrs. Farrell and Ertha have gone. You’re going back to England - separating from Kane, for good this time;