Free Then She Fled Me by Sara Seale

few bars, sometimes he started it in the middle, and only very occasionally did he play a record straight through.
    “ Isn ’ t it queer? ” said Kathy. “ It ’ s as though he can ’ t make up his mind. I think I ’ ll ask him. ”
    “ He ’ll snub you very politely and tell you to mind your own business, ” Sarah said, and Kathy laughed.
    Oh, Sarah, you are silly! He ’ s quite human, really. You must rub him up the wrong way. I wish I could think who he reminds me of. ”
    Strangely, Kathy liked him. She had said after her first meeting with him that he reminded her of someone she had once met, and she thought that he was h ighly intelligent and only wanted drawing out.
    Sarah regarded her sister with affection and remarked that if Kathy didn ’ t draw him out no one would, but she wished she had been present at their first meeting. Flint would scarcely have looked at Kathy as he had looked at her that first evening. She herself had seen little of him, except to take up his nightly supper tray, but he asked to see her when he had been at Dun Rury a week and she went up to the nursery just before lunch.
    “ Good morning, Miss Riordan, ” he began gravely, but there was a twinkle in his eye as if he considered such a formal address an absurdity. “ First, let me give you my weekly cheque, and now, there are one or two points I would like to discuss with you. Won ’ t you sit down? ”
    She perched on the arm of a chair, swinging her legs, and he regarded her with fresh interest. He had been in the house long enough to realize that she must be treated with seriousness, and indeed, observing her now, he thought she probably had courage and a sense of purpose far exceeding her sister ’ s. They were alike, and yet so unlike that they might be no relation. He had been prepared for Kathy, but even so he had to admit that her soft childish face had an exquisiteness that was rare. This child was all planes and angles, but he thought if he were an artist here was the face he would want to paint.
    He had looked at her so long without speaking, that she moved her head impatiently and said:
    “ What did you want to see me about? ”
    He smiled. “ I ’ m sorry, I was looking at you in relation to your sister. The comparison was interesting. ”
    “ Kathy isn ’ t the sort of person you compare other people with, ” she said with a simplicity which rather startled him. “ She ’ s lovely, isn ’ t she? ”
    “ Yes, ” he agreed gravely. “ Very lovely. Now, about this question of my room. I told the girl—Mary, isn ’ t it—that I would like it done at ten o ’ clock every morning. Yesterday it was eleven, the day before half-past, and today it was nearly twelve. Do you think a regular hour for cleaning is too much to ask? ”
    “ The rooms are done any time, ” she replied, just as Mary had done. “ Does it matter? ”
    “ To me it does, ” he said a little sharply. “ I like to work and also live to a certain extent to routine. If my room is not done it cuts up my morning, and when, as often happens, lunch is late that cuts up my afternoon. ”
    “ We feed when we feel like it, ” she said. “ We always have. No ni e ’ s supposed to send up your tray at a quarter-past one. ”
    “ Well, I ’ m afraid it ’ s often nearer two. I don ’ t wish to be difficult, but after all you are charging me for these small attentions. ”
    “ I ’ ll speak to Nonie. ” she said stiffly. “ And as far as your room is concerned, I ’ ll clean it myself before I go to the stables. ”
    “ But I wouldn ’ t dream of letting you clean my room, ” he protested, and she broke in quickly:
    “ Why not? As you pointed out, you pay for service. I daresay there are other things you don ’ t like about Dun Rury. The bath water isn ’ t always hot, the chimneys sometimes smoke, and I should imagine your meals are stone cold by the time they get up here. ”
    There was a hint of temper in his own eyes