Green Girl (6 page)

“
Such bounty!
”
she exclaimed with the incredulous delight of a beggar starved for food and drink, and he turned to a tray of heavy silver which had been set out with cut glass and decanters in the centre of the room.

“
You choose your words with discrimination, Miss Harriet Jones,
”
he remarked, pouring from a decanter.
“
A glass of
Madeira wine?
”
He handed her one of the Waterford goblets and added, as he caught her startled expression:
“
Oh, I can be discriminating, too, when it comes to getting what I want, or perhaps your flights of fancy are catching. I had an impulse to see how a bribe of unrestricted reading would appeal to your romantic notions. In other words, I want an answer.
”

She sipped her wine in silence, the practical, common-sense conclusion she had arrived at on waking upset once again. There could be no doubt that his own conclusions had not altered with the prosaic light of day, but it was hardly fair, she thought, to gamble so blatantly and so surely on
her besetting weakness. He waited for her reply but made no effort to prompt her as the silence between them grew, and that, she was beginning to understand, would always be his way.

CHAPTER THREE

“
WHEN you talked about discrimination in yourself, Mr. Lonnegan, I think you meant low cunning,
”
she began firmly, and was a little disconcerted when he burst out laughing.

She probably did not realise how comic she looked, comic and rather endearing, he thought, observing the shrunken skirt which she was trying to persuade in vain to cover her bony knees, the bedroom slippers several sizes too large, and the disapproving look of a prim governess cancelled out by the childish fringe which kept tickling her eyebrows.

He answered, however, with a careful regard for the touchy feelings of youth:

“
Well, perhaps it was a bit of both. But shouldn
’
t you feel flattered that I find it necessary to be devious? I don
’
t as a rule beat about the bush when I put forward a business proposition and expect a sensible answer.
”

“
It depends what you mean by a sensible answer,
”
she retorted, refusing to be intimidated by sheer masculine arrogance.
“
And a proposal of marriage, however ill-judged, is scarcely a business proposition.
”

She took another cautious sip of wine, congratulating herself that so far her head was remaining splendidly clear.

“
My dear child! Is that what
’
s troubling you?
”
he replied with an amusement that was tinged with impatience.
“‘
You didn
’
t suppose, did you, that I expected any more than a business contract between us?
”
When she
d
id not answer, he continued in the professionally indulgent tones of a surgeon endeavouring to explain the necessity for a simple operation:
“
There are sound and valid reasons why I need to marry quickly, and no possible objections that I can see why you shouldn
’
t oblige since, as I pointed out last night, you had come here with that object in mind.
”

“
I didn
’
t come here with
you
in mind,
”
she said, knowing that it must sound a weak protest in the circumstances, but she felt gauche and inexperienced.

“
That may be,
”
he replied.
“
But you came prepared to link up with a virtual stranger, all the same. You
’
re not going to tell me it was love at first sight, on a single meeting, and you
’
ve cherished an undying passion for my cousin Rory ever since!
”

“
No,
”
she said, fidgeting with the disobliging hem of her skirt and looking wretched,
“
that wouldn
’
t be strictly true, but—
”

“
But what?
”

“
I don
’
t know quite how to explain. Most girls have romantic dreams when they
’
re just growing up, I imagine, but orphans start at a disadvantage and have to work harder at it.
”

“
What a curious remark. Why?
”

“
Because the dreams are likely to remain just dreams since none of us in our right senses would really expect to live happily ever after with Prince Charming in a castle.
”

“
It would seem in that case that you must be sadly lacking in your right senses since you apparently expected the impossible,
”
he said with some severity as he crossed the room to let in the dogs which were scratching at the door. They padded back at his heels and lay down at his feet, and Harriet, putting out an eager hand to Kurt, her friend of the fog, felt hurt when he turned his head away and disclaimed all knowledge of her.

“
Why won
’
t he make friends?
”
she asked plaintively.
“
I thought he liked me.
”

“
Leave him alone till he
’
s ready. Alsatians like to make their own advances, and in their own time. They are sensible animals and don
’
t care to spill their emotions all over the place on first acquaintance.
”

“
Well?
”
he shot at her suddenly.
“
Have we gone round the mulberry bush enough times for your liking, Miss Jones? I can
’
t really see why you should hesitate, unless it
’
s simply a matter of pride not to agree the first time of asking.
”

“
I
’
m not proud.
”

“
Then you
’
re just being awkward which, in the circumstances, I
’
d say you can
’
t afford to be. No one round here will offer domestic work to a guest of mine, you know, so why not make the sensible decision? Fate has thrown us across one another
’
s paths at a psychological moment; you need a home and security, I need a wife. It couldn
’
t be more fortuitous.
”

“
If,
”
she said reasonably,
“
you need a wife so badly, surely there must be a woman of your own kind in the neighbourhood who would be glad to oblige you?
”

“
I daresay—and would oblige, as you put it, with less quibbling and reluctance than you, I may say,
”
he retorted. She thought that over, then asked with such calm unexpectedness that she had the unlooked-for gratification of seeing him surprised:

“
Is someone chasing you, Mr. Lonnegan?
”

He answered with amused evasiveness;

“
Well now, that
’
s a leading question, isn
’
t it? Clooney, though it
’
s falling to bits, helps to enhance the dubious assets of its owner with the undisce
rn
ing, perhaps, but neither I nor my crumbling castle are for sale. That
’
s why—
”

“
That
’
s why you think someone like me is the only possible choice,
”
she interrupted gently.
“
Oh, I do see your point. A girl from an orphanage who would be too grateful to demand much, someone content to be your wife in name in exchange for the realisation of an adolescent dream.
”

“
Exactly
,” he
said crisply.
“
You have a more mature perception than I gave you credit for, my dear. Come—I
’
ll show you the layout downstairs so that you won
’
t get lost if you choose to wander, on your own. That ankle is only badly wrenched, not sprained, and should be easier in a day or two. Now, we
’
ll start with the Grand Saloon which used to be the drawing-room in my mother
’
s time, but hasn
’
t been used for years.
”

She followed him from room to room, with two dogs in close attendance. She could not take her eyes off them and, longing to share a fraction of their devotion to Duff just for one moment, tried to touch one of them as they brushed by her, but was politely repulsed again.

But she forgot the dogs as the histories of paintings and trophies were explained to her with the laconic indifference of a man who had clearly done the tourist round many times before. He pointed out with equal impartiality the threadbare state of carpets and tapestries which might once have been priceless, and she had no knowledge to discover the difference between genuine and reproduction when it came to furniture. The confused architectural styles did not trouble her untrained eye; she merely remarked prosaically that so many additional bits and pieces must make a lot of work for the servants.

“
Very true, it would if they were used, and we had any servants,
”
he replied with a grin.
“
But as you can see, we are shrouded for the most part in rather grubby dust-sheets which Jimsy used to whip off if the odd tourist clamoured at our gates, which wasn
’
t often. But we
’
ve put an end to the irritation, praise the pigs!
”

“
By keeping the gates locked?
”

“
By keeping the gates locked. Barred gates, I may add, give rise to a few wild conjectures in a country where most properties stand open to the passer-by, but it saves a deal of trouble.
”
And also, thought Harriet, giving him a swift surreptitious glance, protected him from other unspecified interruptions; but he caught and interpreted the glance and added with a certain dryness:
“
The wall wasn
’
t built on my instructions, if you
’
re fondly imagining Clooney hides some grisly secret, but in the days of Ireland
’
s troubles, land-owners were forced to guard their properties if they weren
’
t to be burnt out or worse. This house is still known by its local nickname round here because it was one of the few that was never touched. Lonnegan
’
s Luck they called it, but it was my grandfather
’
s insistence on a wall and locked gates that saved Clooney, not his proverbial luck. The only other access to this day is from the rear across the lough and there was time and to spare for a reception committee before a boat could cross the water.

They had come, at the end of their tour, to a small room overlooking the lough furnished more like an office or study than the gracious retiring-room which its moulded ceiling and delicate faded wallpaper had once proclaimed it to be, and Harriet turned away to look at a portrait which hung above an ornately carved desk.

“
You don
’
t need to keep trying to impress me, Mr. Lonnegan. I may be an orphan, but that doesn
’
t make me simple-minded,
”
she said.

He observed the slender, erect back turned to him in polite rejection, and said quite gently:

“
I wasn
’
t trying to impress, but to interest you. Perhaps you misunderstand my doubtless puzzling importuning, but you have, I think, the quality that I and Clooney need. Does that surprise you?
”

“
You made that sound as if—as if I had something to give,
”
she said, and the colour, had crept under her skin bringing back that fleeting moment of charm which had surprised him the night before.

He replied a little roughly because already her absurd lack of self-conceit had begun to reproach him:

“
Everyone has something to give. Why should you be any different, thanks to a less fortunate upbringing?
”