depart, Miss Dearlove waving stiffly from the front seat, and Sarah and the luggage and a couple of greyhounds crammed in the back.
“ A day on the moors mean ’ s she ’ s upset, ” said Kathy, turning to her aunt with a puzzled frown. “ I would have thought she ’ d be celebrating. She couldn ’ t bear poor Daisy. ”
“ I think she ’ s worried, ” her aunt replied absently. “ We might not get any more answers to the fresh advertisement, and if Mr. Flint goes ...” They went into the house and their voices were lost.
Sarah walked the moors and allowed her disturbed mind to wrestle again with the old fears. It s e emed unlikely that Adrian would contemplate spending the winter with them in view of some of his remarks. She supposed he did not get a great deal for his extra two guineas, for the additional work he caused would, in his eyes, be well compensated by the amount he paid. If he went they would not easily replace him, and having known a month ’ s comparative freedom from the threat of Dun Rury, Sarah had begun to appreciate just how important security could be. She turned over in her m ind whether she might manage to influence Adrian ’ s decision by offering to reduce her terms. If she knocked the extras off the bill, would he consider it a fairer proposition? She sighed and kicked a stone into a small stream. He did not strike her as a man who was ever embarrassed by the lack of money, but she thought he might place importance on its value, and the value of money as such had never particularly concerned her.
She fell.to scheming again. When Kathy married Joe, there would be one less to draw the sap from Dun Rury ’ s soil. She would fill the house with guests through the summer and by the autumn there would be a new roof for the stable, a lick of paint for the woodwork and perhaps the new kitchen range that Nonie always wanted so much. The year after that ... She laughed aloud and turned in her tracks, calling to the dogs.
She thought she would go to St. Patrick ’ s Well, for the sound of the water running over the stones down the mountain-side to the lough had always solaced her, and she would make a wish at the well. It was a long way back to the far end of the lough, but she was not tired. Only her temples ached a little, and when she reached the well, she dipped her whole head in the water and let it run over her, stinging and icy sweet. She stayed there resting and watching the light fade from the hills, while her mind, half hypnotized by the noisy stream, went back to small remembered moments of her childhood. Joe starting his law studies with a new suit which shrank the first time he wore it in the rain, Kathy returning from school with her pigtails cut off and a pair of high-heeled shoes that squeaked, her mother lifting her up to the mirror and bidding her be good, for she would never be pretty, and Nonie hushing her grief after her father died and saying so strangely: “ You ’ re alone now, my doty, you ’ ll always be alone for it ’ s the way you ’ re made. ”
The light had nearly gone and she began to scramble down the mountain-side. Her troubled spirit was released now, but there was sadness upon it, too. Nonie had been right. She loved them all, Kathy, Danny, Aunt Em, Joe, but she needed none of them. She had only needed her fathe r— She stopped to visit old Paddy on the way home, and by the time she reached the hous e it was nearly nine o ’ clock. Supper was finished, but Nonie had left a piece of rabbit pie in the oven for her, and she carried it into the snug to eat by the fire. S h e thought her family seemed depressed, and enquired why they were sitting by the dim light of two candles .
“ No oil,” said Kathy absently. “We h ad to let Mr. Flint have our lamp. His gave out.”
“ Do you mean there’s n o oil in the house at all?” said Sarah, frowning. “But there must be. I ordered some at the beginning of the week. It should have come yesterday.
“ A day on the moors mean ’ s she ’ s upset, ” said Kathy, turning to her aunt with a puzzled frown. “ I would have thought she ’ d be celebrating. She couldn ’ t bear poor Daisy. ”
“ I think she ’ s worried, ” her aunt replied absently. “ We might not get any more answers to the fresh advertisement, and if Mr. Flint goes ...” They went into the house and their voices were lost.
Sarah walked the moors and allowed her disturbed mind to wrestle again with the old fears. It s e emed unlikely that Adrian would contemplate spending the winter with them in view of some of his remarks. She supposed he did not get a great deal for his extra two guineas, for the additional work he caused would, in his eyes, be well compensated by the amount he paid. If he went they would not easily replace him, and having known a month ’ s comparative freedom from the threat of Dun Rury, Sarah had begun to appreciate just how important security could be. She turned over in her m ind whether she might manage to influence Adrian ’ s decision by offering to reduce her terms. If she knocked the extras off the bill, would he consider it a fairer proposition? She sighed and kicked a stone into a small stream. He did not strike her as a man who was ever embarrassed by the lack of money, but she thought he might place importance on its value, and the value of money as such had never particularly concerned her.
She fell.to scheming again. When Kathy married Joe, there would be one less to draw the sap from Dun Rury ’ s soil. She would fill the house with guests through the summer and by the autumn there would be a new roof for the stable, a lick of paint for the woodwork and perhaps the new kitchen range that Nonie always wanted so much. The year after that ... She laughed aloud and turned in her tracks, calling to the dogs.
She thought she would go to St. Patrick ’ s Well, for the sound of the water running over the stones down the mountain-side to the lough had always solaced her, and she would make a wish at the well. It was a long way back to the far end of the lough, but she was not tired. Only her temples ached a little, and when she reached the well, she dipped her whole head in the water and let it run over her, stinging and icy sweet. She stayed there resting and watching the light fade from the hills, while her mind, half hypnotized by the noisy stream, went back to small remembered moments of her childhood. Joe starting his law studies with a new suit which shrank the first time he wore it in the rain, Kathy returning from school with her pigtails cut off and a pair of high-heeled shoes that squeaked, her mother lifting her up to the mirror and bidding her be good, for she would never be pretty, and Nonie hushing her grief after her father died and saying so strangely: “ You ’ re alone now, my doty, you ’ ll always be alone for it ’ s the way you ’ re made. ”
The light had nearly gone and she began to scramble down the mountain-side. Her troubled spirit was released now, but there was sadness upon it, too. Nonie had been right. She loved them all, Kathy, Danny, Aunt Em, Joe, but she needed none of them. She had only needed her fathe r— She stopped to visit old Paddy on the way home, and by the time she reached the hous e it was nearly nine o ’ clock. Supper was finished, but Nonie had left a piece of rabbit pie in the oven for her, and she carried it into the snug to eat by the fire. S h e thought her family seemed depressed, and enquired why they were sitting by the dim light of two candles .
“ No oil,” said Kathy absently. “We h ad to let Mr. Flint have our lamp. His gave out.”
“ Do you mean there’s n o oil in the house at all?” said Sarah, frowning. “But there must be. I ordered some at the beginning of the week. It should have come yesterday.
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