are all the other station owners, and their managers, and that’s just a start! It isn’t the competition that’s lacking, but they haven’t got Andy’s looks, nor his wool cheque!”
“Is he—is he dreadfully rich?” I asked awkwardly.
Her expressive eyes gave me a comprehensive look. “Bearably so!” she giggled. “But it isn’t only that! The thing is that Andy gives the appearance of being the strong, silent type. Right? But underneath he’s like some Eastern Pasha. There’s hardly a girl found here that he hasn’t had his name linked to at one time or another.”
I swallowed. “I doubt there’s a great deal of gossip—”
“ And some!”
“Well then—” I began.
“You don’t believe me!” sh e said reproachfully. “Well, you can, you know. He could have had his pick of any girl for miles around!”
He already had! But I could hardly tell her that. It must be hard for Andrew, I figured, to have to live under the same roof with his true love, and her a raving beauty, and never to give her a suspicion of how he felt .
“Andrew Fraser is a fine man!” I said with such conviction that I was immediately embarrassed by my own vehemence.
“Well, naturally you’d think so!” she teased me. “ C ome on and see the rest of the house!”
She showed me her own room and I thought how different it was from anything I had known in my father’s manse. There was a whole battery of photographs of young men, covering practically the whole of one wall. My father would have skelped me for only knowing their names, but there’s safety in numbers and Mary had enough to show herself to be completely heartwhole. She was blissfully unconscious of my instinctive disapproval, and that was something to be grateful for. My father’s ghost was to stay in the manse in Scotland. This was a new country and a new life and his ways were foreign to it. I would be foolish to allow his ideas to hold me back in the face of my own reasoning.
So I was quiet in the face of the luxury that pervaded the whole house. In time, I thought, I would manage the electric cleaners as well as anyone else. Why not? It would never have occurred to Mary, or even to the Aboriginal maid, that my instincts would have led me to go down on my knees to scrub those vast expanses of corridors. No one ever scrubbed anything here, which was not to say that everything wasn’t beautifully kept, for it was .
I chose the bedroom next to Andrew’s for my own. It was a room which could have been used equally well as a dressing-room and probably had been in the days when his parents had lived in the house. It was not a particularly large room, but it was quite the most beautiful that I had ever inhabited. The bed was as soft as a cloud! There was, too, a fine bureau, with everything set out for writing and, in the top, a vast selection of books, hardly any of which I had read. Books become very important in the Australian Outback, when visitors are few, for the ideas they bring to men and women who might otherwise have grown lonely.
But it was hard to convince Mary that this was the room I really wanted. She spoke to Andrew about it that night at dinner.
“Does Kirsty snore?” she asked bluntly.
Andrew looked embarrassed. “No,” he answered, frowning.
“Then I can’t understand it,” the girl said frankly. “Why don’t you make her—”
Andrew shook his head at her. “You shouldn’t speak about things you don’t understand,” he reproved her.
“I’m not a child!” Mary retorted. “Even if you do treat me as one!”
“An adult would know when to mind her own business!” he shot back at her.
“I’ll remember that!” she informed him darkly.
“You’re making a great fuss about nothing,” I told them both, with some asperity. “I choose to have a room of my own and that’s an end to the matter .”
“Gosh,” said Mary, “I never would have thought that Andrew would allow his wife to tell him what to do!”
I
“Is he—is he dreadfully rich?” I asked awkwardly.
Her expressive eyes gave me a comprehensive look. “Bearably so!” she giggled. “But it isn’t only that! The thing is that Andy gives the appearance of being the strong, silent type. Right? But underneath he’s like some Eastern Pasha. There’s hardly a girl found here that he hasn’t had his name linked to at one time or another.”
I swallowed. “I doubt there’s a great deal of gossip—”
“ And some!”
“Well then—” I began.
“You don’t believe me!” sh e said reproachfully. “Well, you can, you know. He could have had his pick of any girl for miles around!”
He already had! But I could hardly tell her that. It must be hard for Andrew, I figured, to have to live under the same roof with his true love, and her a raving beauty, and never to give her a suspicion of how he felt .
“Andrew Fraser is a fine man!” I said with such conviction that I was immediately embarrassed by my own vehemence.
“Well, naturally you’d think so!” she teased me. “ C ome on and see the rest of the house!”
She showed me her own room and I thought how different it was from anything I had known in my father’s manse. There was a whole battery of photographs of young men, covering practically the whole of one wall. My father would have skelped me for only knowing their names, but there’s safety in numbers and Mary had enough to show herself to be completely heartwhole. She was blissfully unconscious of my instinctive disapproval, and that was something to be grateful for. My father’s ghost was to stay in the manse in Scotland. This was a new country and a new life and his ways were foreign to it. I would be foolish to allow his ideas to hold me back in the face of my own reasoning.
So I was quiet in the face of the luxury that pervaded the whole house. In time, I thought, I would manage the electric cleaners as well as anyone else. Why not? It would never have occurred to Mary, or even to the Aboriginal maid, that my instincts would have led me to go down on my knees to scrub those vast expanses of corridors. No one ever scrubbed anything here, which was not to say that everything wasn’t beautifully kept, for it was .
I chose the bedroom next to Andrew’s for my own. It was a room which could have been used equally well as a dressing-room and probably had been in the days when his parents had lived in the house. It was not a particularly large room, but it was quite the most beautiful that I had ever inhabited. The bed was as soft as a cloud! There was, too, a fine bureau, with everything set out for writing and, in the top, a vast selection of books, hardly any of which I had read. Books become very important in the Australian Outback, when visitors are few, for the ideas they bring to men and women who might otherwise have grown lonely.
But it was hard to convince Mary that this was the room I really wanted. She spoke to Andrew about it that night at dinner.
“Does Kirsty snore?” she asked bluntly.
Andrew looked embarrassed. “No,” he answered, frowning.
“Then I can’t understand it,” the girl said frankly. “Why don’t you make her—”
Andrew shook his head at her. “You shouldn’t speak about things you don’t understand,” he reproved her.
“I’m not a child!” Mary retorted. “Even if you do treat me as one!”
“An adult would know when to mind her own business!” he shot back at her.
“I’ll remember that!” she informed him darkly.
“You’re making a great fuss about nothing,” I told them both, with some asperity. “I choose to have a room of my own and that’s an end to the matter .”
“Gosh,” said Mary, “I never would have thought that Andrew would allow his wife to tell him what to do!”
I
Similar Books
