The Reluctant Guest by Rosalind Brett

darkness. “You mean ...”
    He nodded. “I think so, though she never confessed. All I learned was that she’d been taken in by someone who’d promised immense rewards, had gone fanatically into a venture that was going to put her high among the monied women of the world; it failed, of course. She was your age, cocksure and with a mind like ... like distorted whipcord. I daren’t leave her there any longer, so I arranged that as soon as she could be moved she must be shipped to South Africa.”
    “She does seem slightly fanatical,” Ann said slowly. “I thought it only this evening.”'
    “So you’ve noticed it, too.” He left it there for a minute or two, then said, with a humourless, deprecating laugh, “I’m not built to stand it. If she does something foolish again ... ”
    “She’s a very sane person, really.”
    “She’s sane enough until she gets an idea and goes after something. When I got her here she ran a flat for me and we had some good times. Then she got hold of some money and went feverish on the Stock Exchange—lost the lot. So far,” he ended heavily, “she has only chased money — but now she’s after a man as well. There’s that hard, go - getter look in her eyes, and she won’t listen to reason.”
    His hand rested on the seat between them and Ann slipped hers over it. “Poor Theo. No wonder you tried to be someone else in Cape Town.”
    He smiled, and lifted his shoulders. “It’s not only Elva. I haven’t been too stable myself. Storr warned me twice before I was finally grounded. I can hold drink all right, but it was against regulations to smell of it before you were handed the tot as you were ready to leave. He grounded me for the passengers’ sake—some time I might have whacked a whole bottle before a trip.”
    “Why did you do it—to drown your troubles?”
    “Partly—and partly because I’m my father’s son. Aren’t you sick of this sob-stuff?”
    “No, I’m glad you’ve told me. I’ve lived such a happy, hemmed-in sort of life myself that I hardly knew such families as yours existed. It’s good for me to learn about you.”
    “You’re not disgusted?”
    “Of course not. There’s just one thing I don’t understand. Why, if neither you nor Elva is keen on farming, did you come to Groenkop?”
    He grinned wearily. “It was one of those hit-or-miss things. Storr knew we’d grown up on a farm and offered the house and fifty acres. Elva knew Piet Mulder in Johannesburg and discovered that he’d bought land in the Belati district and was going to test for minerals before he farmed. In her headlong way she was sure Piet’s land was rich, and so she urged me to accept Storr’s offer, so that she could be in on the ground floor. We’d been here more than a year before we were quite certain Piet’s land was ordinary farming stuff, and somehow we’ve just gone on, without counting the time.”
    Ann said simply, “I’m sorry about everything, Theo. You make me want to help.”
    “Don’t say that, or I shall feel more of a heel. I’ve kept the worst till last. I could have been here when you arrived the other day, but I got cold feet and cleared out before Storr knew you were coming.”
    She smiled, mischievously. “Yes, I know. But it’s not so terrible.”
    “This part is: I didn’t sprain my wrist and I didn’t go to a hospital for an X-ray.”
    Ann gazed at him, laughed a little helplessly. “You idiot! You hoped I’d take the hint and hurry back home!”
    “That’s what any normal girl would have done.”
    “Then I can’t be quite normal. I’ll confess I thought of it, but not very seriously, because although I’d gathered Elva’s reason for inviting me was more than half selfish, I wanted to leave things tidy. Now that we understand each other, I’ll go whenever you like.”
    “You make things awfully tough. Since I’ve seen you again I don’t want you to go.” His tones lowered and his head turned slightly away from her.