insisted.
Samantha exchanged glances with Robert and anxiously cleared her throat. “I thought Sarah very good,” she began. “I remembered her, didn’t I?”
Sarah could have wished that she, of all people, didn’t feel compelled to be nice to her. With an effort she forced a smile and even laughed. “You haven’t got a drink, Mr. Chaddox,” she said. “What will you have ?”
But Robert ignored her. He was still looking at her stepmother, his admiration for her written clearly on his face.
“I think you underrate your stepdaughter,” he said slowly. “Sarah’s speaking voice is one of the most attractive I’ve ever heard. It was the first thing I noticed about her. And that, surely, is a great asset on the stage. Besides,” he added, with an apologetic glance at Sarah, “Neil assures me that make-up is everything on the boards. His mother was on the stage.”
Sarah’s heart warmed within her. “I thought you only noticed the soup!” she told him.
“That too!” he agreed. “But I wasn’t half as rude as I might have been if you hadn’t sounded so huskily apologetic.”
Sarah chuckled. “What an escape! I wish I’d known and I would have sounded sorrier still!”
“Was he horrid to you?” Neil asked with interest.
Sarah made a face at him. “What do you think?” Unconsciously she assumed Robert’s outraged expression. “If you can manage to get your car out of the car park intact—” she mimicked him.
Samantha and Neil both doubled up with laughter and even Robert gave her a dry smile that sent her spirits rollicking upwards. Only Madge found nothing funny in Sarah’s clever imitation of Robert’s way of speaking.
“Darling, I come down here to get away from stage talk! Be a dear and see what your father wants to drink, will you?” She watched her stepdaughter leave the room, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully. “And now let’s talk about Chaddoxboume, shall we? It’s such a pretty place and I long to get to know it better. Daniel and Sarah are so lucky to be going to be here all the time! If I didn’t have to work—but then someone has to pay the bills! And Robert certainly knows how to charge a fair rent!”
“It compares pretty favourably with London prices, Mrs. Blaney,” Robert said flatly.
“I’m not complaining!” Madge assured him. “And what’s all this about Mrs. Blaney ? Nobody ever calls me that! You must all call me Madge!”
CHAPTER FOUR
THE sunny spell showed no sign of abating. Sarah was surprised to find that she had been in Chaddoxboume for nearly four weeks and had never seen a spot of rain. It had been a happy time, the only disturbances being her stepmother’s week-end visits and, that last week-end, her stepmother had been busy in London giving a charity performance and there had been nothing to upset the even tenor of their routine. In fact, Sarah admitted to herself, she hadn’t nearly enough to do. Her father was so much better that he was able to potter about the garden and sometimes to go down to the village shop to buy their supplies. Apart from the cooking and keeping the place clean, Sarah found herself living a life of complete leisure and that if it went on for very long she would soon be bored stiff.
She had discovered in the village the track of a nailbourne and, as she walked along it, she amused herself with recalling what Robert had told her about it. It must have been a very similar summer to this one when St. Augustine had first set foot on English soil. They said then that the intermittent streams came and went according to the prevailing fortunes of the Christian faith. St. Augustine’s first summer had been a very dry one and he had prayed for rain, a spring gushing forth on the spot where he knelt. But Woden and Thunor, the gods of old, who had caused the drought in the first place, were very angry and they dug great caverns under the earth and dried up the diverted waters with their fiery breath. So when
Samantha exchanged glances with Robert and anxiously cleared her throat. “I thought Sarah very good,” she began. “I remembered her, didn’t I?”
Sarah could have wished that she, of all people, didn’t feel compelled to be nice to her. With an effort she forced a smile and even laughed. “You haven’t got a drink, Mr. Chaddox,” she said. “What will you have ?”
But Robert ignored her. He was still looking at her stepmother, his admiration for her written clearly on his face.
“I think you underrate your stepdaughter,” he said slowly. “Sarah’s speaking voice is one of the most attractive I’ve ever heard. It was the first thing I noticed about her. And that, surely, is a great asset on the stage. Besides,” he added, with an apologetic glance at Sarah, “Neil assures me that make-up is everything on the boards. His mother was on the stage.”
Sarah’s heart warmed within her. “I thought you only noticed the soup!” she told him.
“That too!” he agreed. “But I wasn’t half as rude as I might have been if you hadn’t sounded so huskily apologetic.”
Sarah chuckled. “What an escape! I wish I’d known and I would have sounded sorrier still!”
“Was he horrid to you?” Neil asked with interest.
Sarah made a face at him. “What do you think?” Unconsciously she assumed Robert’s outraged expression. “If you can manage to get your car out of the car park intact—” she mimicked him.
Samantha and Neil both doubled up with laughter and even Robert gave her a dry smile that sent her spirits rollicking upwards. Only Madge found nothing funny in Sarah’s clever imitation of Robert’s way of speaking.
“Darling, I come down here to get away from stage talk! Be a dear and see what your father wants to drink, will you?” She watched her stepdaughter leave the room, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully. “And now let’s talk about Chaddoxboume, shall we? It’s such a pretty place and I long to get to know it better. Daniel and Sarah are so lucky to be going to be here all the time! If I didn’t have to work—but then someone has to pay the bills! And Robert certainly knows how to charge a fair rent!”
“It compares pretty favourably with London prices, Mrs. Blaney,” Robert said flatly.
“I’m not complaining!” Madge assured him. “And what’s all this about Mrs. Blaney ? Nobody ever calls me that! You must all call me Madge!”
CHAPTER FOUR
THE sunny spell showed no sign of abating. Sarah was surprised to find that she had been in Chaddoxboume for nearly four weeks and had never seen a spot of rain. It had been a happy time, the only disturbances being her stepmother’s week-end visits and, that last week-end, her stepmother had been busy in London giving a charity performance and there had been nothing to upset the even tenor of their routine. In fact, Sarah admitted to herself, she hadn’t nearly enough to do. Her father was so much better that he was able to potter about the garden and sometimes to go down to the village shop to buy their supplies. Apart from the cooking and keeping the place clean, Sarah found herself living a life of complete leisure and that if it went on for very long she would soon be bored stiff.
She had discovered in the village the track of a nailbourne and, as she walked along it, she amused herself with recalling what Robert had told her about it. It must have been a very similar summer to this one when St. Augustine had first set foot on English soil. They said then that the intermittent streams came and went according to the prevailing fortunes of the Christian faith. St. Augustine’s first summer had been a very dry one and he had prayed for rain, a spring gushing forth on the spot where he knelt. But Woden and Thunor, the gods of old, who had caused the drought in the first place, were very angry and they dug great caverns under the earth and dried up the diverted waters with their fiery breath. So when
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