Free I'll Never Marry! by Juliet Armstrong Page B

hardly suitable for scrambling about lofts and stables.
    Having no option but to do as she was asked, Beryl went off with a fairly good grace, murmuring, however, that she hoped that “ all the chatter at tea, ” hadn ’ t made “ poor Cecily ’ s headache worse. ”
    “ Hardly, my dear, since her bedroom is at the other side of the house, ” was Andrew ’ s bland retort. “ Still, it ’ s sweet of you to think of it. ”
    The undisguised irony of his tone was not lost on Beryl, who flushed with resentment as she walked away. As for Catherine, off her guard for once, she stared at him in speechless surprise, wondering what was coming next.
    He looked back at her for a moment with raised eyebrows, as though challenging her to comment on his rudeness to Beryl; then, as her glance wavered, he went on serenely: “ Which is it to be first, the rose, garden, or the stable? Miss Emberley is the eldest: she must choose. ”
    Catherine, knowing how eager the children were to see the puppies, plumped for the stables, and found he approved her choice.
    “ Cecily ’ s the gardener; she ’ ll make a much better show of taking you a tour of the rose-beds than I should, ” he said. “ I always get half the names wrong. On the other hand, Cecily knows almost nothing about livestock. She can tell a Friesian cow from a Shorthorn, but when it comes to pigs and sheep —” He shrugged his shoulders eloquently. “ I always tell her, ‘ For pity ’ s sake, my dear, don ’ t marry a farmer. You ’ d break his heart in a week ’ . ”
    Catherine, recalling that she had never seen Cecily with him on his tramps over his land, that it was Beryl who had been his companion, wondered, as she walked across with him to the farm buildings, whether Beryl ’ s interest in farming matters was genuine or assumed. It was easy to imagine her reading up the differences between Gloucester Old Spots and Large Whites, but less easy to picture her brewing innumerable jugs of tea for thirsty threshers, looking after the ducks and hens, car taking a turn in the dairy.
    On the other hand, if Andrew believed her sincere in her enthusiasms, that was all that mattered, from her point of view. Disillusion might eventually come, but the process would be so gradual that all sting would be taken from it; that, at least, was how she would argue.
    Would Andrew be readily gulled? That was a question difficult to answer, she reflected, as she cast a sidelong glance at his face which, handsome as it was, could sometimes wear a pretty grim expression. He had seen straight through just now to the petty spite which lay beneath the girl ’ s pretended solicitude for his sister, and had visited it with ridicule, that most cruel of all weapons. But Beryl would not usually be so careless—and so obvious; it was irritation over being deprived of a long afternoon alone with Andrew which had made her behave so crudely.
    Before long, however, she was forgetting all about Beryl and her disagreeable ways. In a corner of one of the old stone-built stables, where a pair of Andrew ’ s carthorses lived, place had been found for Sally and her puppies; and there she was now, having preceded them by several minutes, a picture of maternal pride and anxiety.
    “ They ’ re getting a bit too much for her, ” Andrew said; and stooping, he picked up a couple of wriggling ’ puppies and handed them to the delighted children. “ She does her best to keep them nice and clean, but she doesn ’ t always succeed, so look out for those smart frocks of yours. ”
    “ They ’ ll wash, ” Catherine assured him smiling, “ and so will mine. May I take one up, too? ”
    “ Of course. Now here ’ s the one I picked out as a future member of your large family. ” He thrust a particularly lively and obstreperous pup, jet-black like his mother, into her arms. “ He ’ s an attractive little beggar though I doubt if he ’ ll ever win a prize at a show. ”
    “ We don ’ t want a