Green Girl (5 page)

The eager flush which had crept under her skin dispelled that regrettable look of a waif for a moment and with the lamplight turning her freshly brushed hair to an illusion of salver, gave her instead a look of rather charming delicacy. There was more than a hint of breeding there, he thought idly, whoever her parents might have been, and answered with a rather unnecessary touch of sharpness;

“
Very ingenuous, thereby wholly avoiding the wrath to come. Do you imagine that an institution as jealous of its reputation as you make out would take no steps to satisfy themselves that you weren
’
t being exploited in an alien country? In their own interests they
’
d probably haul you back and find you another dreary but approved situation in Clapham.
”

Her colour faded and the brief moment of charm with it.

“
But if you wrote and satisfied them about respectability and all that, it would be enough, coming from the lord of a grand-sounding castle,
”
she said naively, and he gave a shrug of impatience.

“
Why should I do your dirty work for you? How do you know I
’
m even respectable myself?
”
he asked, and of course she didn
’
t. Not if first impressions were anything to go by, she thought with belated caution, looking at this ugly, overbearing stranger.

“
It isn
’
t very kind of you to make fun of my situation,
”
she said, a small quaver in her voice, and he retorted quickly:
“
Very likely not, but
for heaven
’
s sake don
’
t start crying again. There
’
s a quite simple way to satisfy everyone and tie up all the loose ends, but as you
’
ll be chained to the house with that ankle for a few days yet, there
’
ll be ample time to consider these things.
”

“
I can
’
t,
”
she said with a rather forlorn attempt at relieving a total stranger of obligation,
“
impose on your hospitality indefinitely. I can hobble to the station, even if my ankle is sprained.
”

“
Seven miles by road, or five across the Plain?
”

“
Well, you
’
d hardly refuse to drive me as far as the station, would you?
”

“
And what would you do when you got there? Murphy wouldn
’
t let you on the train without a ticket.
”

“
All right, I give up,
”
she said, closing her eyes,
“
but if there
’
s a simple way out, wouldn
’
t it be kinder to tell me what to do instead of mocking me?
”

“
Very well, he said, and paused long enough for her to hear a fresh spatter of rain on the windows,
“
you came here hoping for the proverbial happy ending with wedding bells and orange blossom, so you
’
d better marry me.
”

Her eyes flew open and she looked at him as if he had taken leave of his senses.

“
What
did you say?
”

“
You heard.
”

“
Don
’
t you think you
’
ve had enough fun at my expense?
”
she asked wearily.
“
I realise that to you my crazy impulse to jump on the next boat because I thought some young man meant to marry me is ridiculous—it even looks that way to me now—but where I
’
ve come from, lessons in sophisticated behaviour weren
’
t included.
”

“
We
’
re hardly sophisticated in that sense in the west of Ireland,
”
he replied rather dryly.
“
However, be that as it may, I was quite serious.
”

“
You were?
”

“
Why not? You have a problem and, possibly, I have one too.
”

“
How could marrying me solve a problem for you?
”
she asked, and there was a touch of surprise in his quick smile.

“
Now you call my bluff by showing unexpected sense. No maidenly protestations or flutters of alarm—just a businesslike approach to a rather sudden proposition,
”
he said with humour, and she blinked back at him rather rapidly.

“
You haven
’
t answered my question,
”
she temporised,
suspecting
that he was still mocking her, and he replied with that ironical little lift of the eyebrows:

“
Neither I have. My reasons needn
’
t concern you for the moment, but if you must have one, then apply my ingenuous cousin
’
s suggestions where they really
belong.
Clooney
indeed needs a mistress, but it
’
s I who needs to settle down.
”

“
But hardly with a complete stranger!
”

“
A complete stranger makes the whole thing possible. Now, Miss Harriet Jones, what other objections have you?
”

“
But the idea
’
s absurd—we don
’
t know each other!
”

“
An advantage on both sides; no romantic preconceptions to wither in disappointment, and for you, the assurance of a job from which you can
’
t be sacked. After all, my
im
petuous young friend, you came quite prepared to marry a young man you
’
d only met once—where
’
s the difference in exchanging one stranger for another, when it
’
s really the castle you fell in love with?
”

She considered this aspect of the matter. It was only too likely that
she had been prepared to fall in lo
v
e with Prince Charming and his castle no matter what manner of man he should turn out to be.

Duff Lonnegan had been watching her young, undisciplined face betraying her thoughts to him so innocently and said with gentle irony:

“
You see, I was right. T
hink
it over, Miss Jones, you might do a lot worse. Now I
’
m going to see to that ankle, then leave you to the night
’
s reflections. Turn back the bedclothes, please.
”

He made the ankle comfortable without further reference to his extraordinary proposition, then took her temperature, informed her briskly that it was normal and she could get up on the morrow, and left her with a brief goodnight.

She awoke the next morning to find the same young girl depositing a breakfast tray on the bed, which made her think for the second time that she must have imagined the events of the night before. But when the girl, who said her name was Molly, drew back the curtains, letting in a flood of morning sunshine, Harriet knew that yesterday
’
s lassitude had left her, that her host
’
s flight of fancy was no more sensible than her own, and her awkward situation must be dealt with practically and at once.

“
Are there families round here needing home help with the children, Molly?
”
she asked, tackling her breakfast with the zest of a returned appetite.

“
That
’
s a quare question, and you from the wather,
”
the girl replied with vague surprise.
“
Would you be wan of thim maiden ladies you hear tell about that sticks their long noses into other folks
’
business—do-gooders, they call thim?
”

“
Good gracious, no! I
’
ve suffered from them myself,
”
Harriet laughed.

“
You have? Then why would you be concerning yourself with needy families hereabouts, an
’
you a guest of the castle?
”

“
I
’
m only a guest by chance, you know, and I can
’
t stop on here. I thought you might know of any houses around that would offer work.
”

It had been a mistake, however, to assume that a local servant girl was the obvious source of information for domestic labour in the district. Molly simply slapped her hands on her generous thighs and gave an unexpected screech of mirth.

“
Wurrk, is it! An
’
haven
’
t you the grand humour, now, tellin
’
the tale with a fa
c
e as straight as a yard of portha, an
’
they all sayin
’
you seemed a bit simple mistakin
’
the castle for the gaol an
’
lavin
’
your traps on Clooney station for anny young felly to make off with, puttin
’
the blame on poor old Murphy an
’
he with a year an
’
a day to his pension. Sure, you was treatin
’
us all to a touch of the English humour an
’
we, over here, thinkin
’
they has none! Wait till I tell thim in the kitchen, they
’
ll die laffin.
”
Unable to keep such a good joke to herself a moment longer, she made a dash for the door, knocking over a chair as she went.

“
Well
!”
Harriet exclaimed aloud in astonishment, then smiled as she pictured Matron
’
s face had one of her charges so lamentably forgotten her place.

She finished her breakfast without haste, then got up and washed and dressed and made her bed with accustomed thoroughness, grateful now to that early training which had permitted nothing untoward to upset the daily routine of Ogilvy
’
s.

She surveyed herself in an old-fashioned pier-glass, frowning at her unsatisfactory reflection. Someone had cleaned and pressed her suit, but its ill-treatment on the Plain of Clooney had not improved its appearance and the skirt had definitely shrunk. Her shoes had not been returned to her so were probably past redeeming, for they had let in the water badly, but in any case, she would have to make do with bedroom slippers for the time being on account of her bandaged foot. She thought her feet looked decidedly odd, not to say indecent, coupled with the sober garments of daytime, and grinned again, remembering her host
’
s astonishing suggestion of the night before. However serious he might have imagined himself to be at the time, when he saw her again he would soon realise the unsuitability, even the ludicrousness of such a proposal.

Before going downstairs in search of him, she crossed to one of the windows to take her first curious look at the country which lay beyond the castle.

Her room must be at the back of the house, for there was no evidence of the wall and locked gates which had barred her arrival, and she leaned out across the sill, her eyes widening as they feasted on the fulfilment of a dream come true. It was all as familiar as the letters; the lough with its north shore slap against the castle, the ruined turret to the west where watch was kept for the cattle raiders and bands of cut-throats in Sarsfleld
’
s day, the little island far out in the calm waters where Cuchulain himself was said to have rested on his quest to Cruachan, and beyond the mountains, the hollow hills where once dwelt the terrible Sidhe, and today gave brief shelter to those intrepid spirits who once in a while made a break from Clooney gaol.

“
All mine for the asking,
”
she murmured, comforting herself with a last pretence that, by taking the surprising master of Clooney at his word, she could make the flimsy promise of those letters come true, then sh
e
banged the window shut rather crossly and prepared to find her way to the living quarters of the castle and a sensible discussion as to her immediate future.

The house was not as vast as she had supposed, she discovered, finding the main staircase after only one wrong turn down a corridor, and in daylight it looked a little shabby with damp patches spreading on the stone walls, and panelling which had once been fine, cracked and crumbling in places with dry rot. The staircase, however, still retained its grandeur, and she paused at the top to admire its gracious, curving splendour and the shining scrolls and twists of its delicate balustrade. Here she could well indulge in fantasies of past glories and forgotten elegance, and she regretted the injured ankle, which prevented her from making an impressive sweeping descent. It was no solace to find her host waiting at the bottom, doubtless, judging by the expression on his ugly face, having watched and enjoyed her discomfiture from the start.

“
A brave effort,
”
he observed, not without irony.
“
You
’
d better take my arm the rest of the way. We
’
ll go to the library.
”

She obliged, not so much because she needed his support, but because she thought him quite capable of picking her up in one of those undignified swoops should she refuse, but she felt a little ridiculous being slowly escorted across the hall in a formal silence, their steps ill-matched and her head barely reaching his shoulder.

He put her carefully into a wing-backed chair, still without speaking, then smiled with a certain rather wicked satisfaction as he observed the hungry gleam in her eyes
as they
travelled over the book-lined
walls.