South of Capricorn by Anne Hampson Page B

tones, ‘then please do so. If not, perhaps you will tell me how I’m to get back to the railway station?’
    Did his mouth curve slightly? His expression was strange, but certainly not amused. Nevertheless, Gail did suspect that his lips had twitched and that, inwardly, he had found something at which to smile.
    ‘I have many questions to ask,’ he told her calmly. ‘But I feel they will all be answered if you relate the story to me right from the beginning.’
    ‘The beginning?’ she frowned. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
    He moved, turning his head in the direction of the low hills which spread away in the far distance. The sun was lowering quickly and its slanting rays threw shadows as they pierced the thin layer of cloud which had gathered suddenly. Kane Farrell’s face, shaded by the broad brim of his hat, was no longer visible to Gail. She knew for sure that this hiding of it from her was deliberate. Why should he not wish her to see his expression?
    ‘My—er—association with Sandra Stafford. You weren’t there at the time—’
    ‘I was abroad, working,’ she interrupted. ‘You know very well I wasn’t there at the time, for if I had been you and I would have recognized one another.’ She felt a prickling sensation in the region of her spine, a sensation that warned ... or was it telling her that something was not quite right about this situation? Gail decided it was a little of both.
    ‘Yes,’ he murmured almost to himself, ‘we would have recognized one another.’ A pause; he kept his face away from her. ‘Did Sandra say we were married?’
    ‘She did, yes.’
    ‘I have the impression that you didn’t believe her?’
    ‘None of us believed her.’
    ‘None of you?’ He half-turned and, she saw him in profile.
    ‘My parents, and Sandra’s friend—a girl who helped her a great deal, both financially and in any other way she could.’
    He seemed to give a small regretful sigh, but she could not be sure about this. However, it caused her to speak impulsively, asking if he were feeling some degree of remorse. At this he turned sharply, dark anger in his gaze. But whatever he had been going to say was bitten back and instead she heard the one brief word,
    ‘Perhaps.’
    Her mouth curved with contempt.
    ‘A little late, don’t you think?’ with undisguised sarcasm. ‘Had you known qualms sooner then Sandra wouldn’t be where she is now.’ Strong words, and she was not at all surprised to see the angry colour creep along the sides of his jaw. However, once again he held his tongue ... and once again Gail experienced that feeling that he was planning something. She thrust it away, mainly because she could not be sure the impression was not bom of her imagination. She asked outright if he had married her cousin. No answer was forthcoming; instead, Kane Farrell put a few more questions to her, questions which she answered, but at the same time reminding him that he already knew the answers.
    ‘You were there! You’re the one involved, so I fail to see why you should want me to tell you about Sandra, and the date when Leta was born and all the rest. She wrote telling you about Leta, and I expect she asked you to send her money?’
    Was it imagination, she wondered, or had his eyes suddenly taken on an expression of regret?
    ‘Yes, she did ask me for money,’ he said, almost inaudibly. And he added, in no more than a whisper now, ‘I should have sent her some ... yes, I should—’ He stopped, aware that he had a listener. Gail saw at once that he had been speaking to himself. She said involuntarily,
    ‘I can’t believe—somehow—that you’re such a cad as I first branded you.’
    His swift smile was sardonic.
    ‘I’m flattered,’ he said crisply, and then he added, ‘You’re outspoken if nothing else, Miss Stafford.’ ‘Naturally we’ve all branded you a cad!’
    He glanced to where Leta was sitting, on a fallen tree trunk which was lying not far from where his horse