Green Girl (21 page)

“
I told him the truth, naturally. There was nothing odd in the fact that our meeting came about through a natural misunderstanding on your part, and Rory is the last person to ask awkward questions so long as he can avoid being saddled with any responsibility himself, so don
’
t go making mysteries where none exist, will you, Harriet?
”

“
No, Duff,
”
she said dutifully, but she was aware that he had really explained very little, and during the days that followed, she did not think that Rory
’
s mischievous curiosity was so easily fobbed off. He would glance from one to the other of them with bright, inquisitive eyes, every so often dropping a remark which made Duff raise speculative eyebrows, but she soon became used to the impudence that was always good-natured, and felt at ease with him as she seldom did with Duff.

Nothing had been seen or heard of Samantha for a week or
so
, and Harriet wondered if she had tired of the prolonged visit with her unsociably inclined Aunt Alice and taken herself off for a gayer Christmas elsewhere, but one afternoon she walked in with her usual omission to announce her arrival by ringing the front door bell, carrying an enormous box of expensive baubles and decorations which she said she had ordered especially from Dublin for Harriet
’
s tree.

“
Rory darling!
”
she exclaimed, handing the box to Harriet and embracing Rory with every evidence of delight.
“
I
’
d heard the prodigal had returned and had to come over and say hullo. A long-time-no-see, isn
’
t it?
”

“
Oh
!
How
lovely
!
”
Harriet exclaimed suddenly, unwrapping the first of the glittering surprises, and from then on had no attention to spare for the conversation of the other two until she heard Rory say with that little spice of malice back in his voice:

“
Are you staying for Christmas too, then, sweetie? What a gay time we shall all have!
”

“
I
’
m stopping on with Aunt Alice, yes, but I haven
’
t been invited to your shenanigans at the Castle as yet,
”
Samantha replied, and Harriet looked up.

“
But of course you must come for lunch on Christmas Day, if you would care to,
”
she said quickly.
“
It would be nice if you could make up the family party.
”

“
Now that I consider to be a very broad-minded suggestion in the circumstances,
”
Rory remarked airily, and the atmosphere seemed to alter. Samantha told him to shut up with a little too much emphasis, he merely grinned back with rather unholy satisfaction in the apparent scoring of a point, and Harriet turned to look at them both, one of the shining silver balls still cupped in her hands.

“
Have I been tactless?
”
she asked.
“
Is there some reason why—
”
she broke off, not knowing how to finish without suggesting more than had possibly been intended.

“
Tactless to offer your very charming hospitality?
”
Samantha mocked gently, and Harriet looked embarrassed.

“
Well, I was forgetting,
”
she remarked awkwardly.
“
I suppose the last family party was when your cousin was alive. Duff mightn
’
t like to be reminded, perhaps.
”

“
Very likely not, but that was hardly a family party, it was a free-for-all for Kitty
’
s rowdy Dublin friends,
”
said Rory.
“
Now this, of course, would only be different in the sense that—
”

“
Pay no attention to Master Rory, Harriet, he loves to stir up trouble like a little boy,
”
Samantha said with a return to her lazy unconcern, but her dark eyes seemed to challenge Rory, and Harriet was beginning to feel uncomfortable. It was a relief when Duff walked into the room and she turned to him thankfully.

“
Duff—
”
she said with the badly expressed haste of a schoolgirl,
“
I suggested Samantha came to us for lunch on Christmas Day as she
’
s stopping over with her aunt—not a real party—just to make more fun for Nonie. You wouldn
’
t mind, would you?
”

“
Not a very happy way of phrasing things, perhaps,
”
he replied with a faint smile.
“
I could hardly say I did mind with your prospective guest sitting there, could I?
”

Harriet flushed and looked abashed, but Samantha stretched her long, elegant legs out before her, deliberately inviting admiration, and retorted with the easy intimacy of long association:

“
You could and you would if you had a mind to, darling. There
’
s no need to walk on hot bricks where I
’
m concerned, Harriet; Duff and I have known each other too long to stand on ceremony where feelings are concerned, haven
’
t we, Duff?
”

“
Hot bricks, of course, are enjoyed by martyrs—or am I thinking of nails and hair shirts? Are you a martyr, Harriet?
”
Rory said with apparent inconsequence, and Duff, before Harriet could be driven to one of her more literal interpretations of confusing observations, guided her firmly back to the table and began turning over the
Christmas decorations, scattering a further litter of shavings and paper on to the floor.

“
Rory
’
s rather good at talking nonsense, so treat him with the contempt he deserves,
”
he said.
“
What have you got here—loot for the Christmas tree?
”

“
Samantha ordered everything from Dublin—wasn
’
t that kind?
”

“
Very kind. Was this the bait with which to buy your Christmas invitations, Samantha?
”

Samantha began to look angry. It became her very well, Harriet thought, and wondered why it was that she seemed
to
arouse an unwilling
sort o
f antagonism in most of the men she had dealings with.

“
You
’
re becoming rather a bore, darling, with all this schoolmarm stuff you seem to be handing out lately. I
’
m not Harriet, you know,
”
Samantha said with a sudden very cool stare, and one of the fragile glass ornaments snapped
with
a sharp little splinter of sound
between
Duff
’
s fingers.

“
No, you
’
re not Harriet,
”
was all he said, however, and turned back to his wife.
“
I
’
m sorry, Harriet, it was extremely careless of me,
”
he said, but she took the pieces from him and threw them on the fire.

Harriet now had the whole glittering mass of the Christmas decorations spread out on the table and was quite unaware of Duff
’
s attention on her rapturous face as she fingered first one and then another of the entrancing trifles.

“Oh
!
”
breathed Harriet.
“
How beautiful they are! I wish the orphans could see our tree when it
’
s finished
...
we never had anything so like a fairy-tale at Ogilvy
’
s—not ever.
”

She had been speaking to Duff, but the brief moment of silence which followed reminded her that others were listening. Samantha said sharply:
“
What orphans?
”
and Rory enquired with casual interest:
“
Some charitable connection with your home?
”

“
It
was
my home,
”
Harriet replied.
“
Ogilvy Manor is an orphanage. Didn
’
t Duff tell you?
”

Duff was standing behind her and he rested his hands lightly on her shoulders, but said nothing. Samantha narrowed her eyes in fresh alertness and was the first to speak.

“
Well, well!
”
she said softly.
“
So
that
explains a lot.
”
Rory burst out laughing and exclaimed:
“
Well, I
’
ll be damned!
”
and Duff spoke at last, his hands still resting on Harriet
’
s shoulders.

“
Well, now—since that rather unimportant little detail of Harriet
’
s upbringing is presumably clear to everyone, suppose we just forget it and carry on as usual,
”
he said, and began scooping up handfuls of the shavings and packing that had fallen on the floor and tossed them on to the fire.

“
I think Uriah wants to go out,
”
Harriet announced suddenly, making the first excuse that came into her head, and Rory, with an amused wink at his cousin, lifted the dog by the scruff of his neck and deposited him in the hall.

“
Now, Princess,
”
he said to Harriet as she opened a door at the back of the hall and shooed the dog outside,
“
will you kindly tell me why you led me up the garden that fine summer
’
s day?
”

“
I didn
’
t,
”
she said.
“
At least, not on purpose. You see, the orphanage was always known as Ogilvy Manor and I—I didn
’
t think it was necessary to explain when I wasn
’
t likely to see you again.
”

“
H
’
m ... a pity, perhaps, that Samantha had to know.
”

“
Why?
”

“
Because—s-sh! Listen!
”

The door of the snug was not quite closed and Samantha
’
s voice reached them clearly, high and shrill and quite unlike her usual husky drawl.

“
So you
were
running away from me!
”
she was saying.
“
The minute you knew I was free—in your stuffy, puritanical sense of the word—you couldn
’
t wait to put a barrier between us, and you picked the first come-by-chance bride that offered—a little girl from an orphanage who happened to cross your path through a freak of the weather. Had you already taken what you wanted, that she agreed so meekly to marry a stranger?
”

Duff
’
s reply was inaudible, but he must have retaliated with something sharp, for when she spoke next, Samantha
’
s voice had more control.

“
Very well,
”
she said,
“
let
’
s assume that for your purpose a charity child was a heaven-sent tool—no parents to make mischief, as in Kitty
’
s case, no expectations of anything more than bed and board, and gratitude unbounding, to give or accept anything you chose to offer—or take, if it comes to that. Weil, I
’
m civilised enough to behave, but in the meantime—you
’
ll need more
than
the milk-and-water overtures of a dutiful little wife before very long, if I know you, my dear. You
’
ll need compensation, and I—
”
she broke off with a sharp little cry, and to Harriet, rooted in that implacable moment of eavesdropping, the ensuing silence could mean only one thing. Duff must have stopped her mouth, not with words, but with a kiss, however angry, for what else could a woman so provocative and so sure of an old passion drive a man to?