Gates of Dawn Read Free

for him to believe that she had once kept white mice?
    “ Tell me, ” he commanded, his voice almost friendly, “ how long have you been with my sister? You weren ’ t here when I came to visit her last, and that was about eighteen months ago. And what, actually, are you supposed to be? What kind of duties do you perform? ”
    “ Well— ” Melanie hesitated before enlightening him— “ I ’ m really supposed to be her secretary, but I think she likes me as a kind of companion as well. I drive the car, too, and sometimes I do shopping, and even gardening, when I feel like it. I ’ m quite a good gardener, because my father was always interested in horticulture, and exhibited at shows. He won prizes for roses. ”
    “ Who and what was your father? ” he asked.
    “ He was an historian, but I ’ m afraid he was rather sunk in a rut for most of his life, poor lamb! And he certainly never made any money! We were always quite distressingly poor, but I think we were rather happier than most people, ” speaking with a faintly wistful, ruminating inflection in her voice. “ He ’ s dead now, ” she added quietly.
    “ I see, ” he said, and there was a note of quite human understanding in his voice.
    “ I trained to be a secretary, ” she explained. “ I do shorthand and typewriting, and I can keep accounts, and deal with correspondence on my own initiative. In fact I answer most of the letters Mrs. Duplessis receives without bothering her much about them. ”
    “ And she can trust you to do that? ” he inquired, his dark eyebrows arching a little.
    “ Why of course, ” looking considerably astonished.
    “ You don ’ t send a note to the Vicar ’ s wife telling her you can ’ t possibly attend the village fete, but you ’ ll let her have a cheque for the new church organ, without first making sure Eve will sign the cheque? If you did it might turn out to be a little awkward for you. ”
    “ Naturally I wouldn ’ t do anything quite as stupid and as irresponsible as that, ” she replied, with so much youthful dignity in her tone that he temporarily forgot the road ahead and even turned his face a little towards her.
    His lips twitched. What an unusual, c omposed little thing she was, he thought, and those enormous eyes of hers made him think of a doe on a hillside, peering round at him as if suspicious of his somewhat peculiar brand of humor. Apart from that she was not particularly attractive—not, at any rate, according to his standards, and he was used to every variety of beautiful female—but she had a good complexion freed from the use of overmuch make-up, and she was as slender as a willow wand. Actually much too slender. She needed fattening up on good country produce.
    “ Well, I ’ m quite sure my sister must find you most efficient, otherwise she wouldn ’ t have kept you for as long as a week, ” he told her soothingly. “ Eve always demands her money ’ s worth, and like Shylock she expects her pound of flesh. So long as you don ’ t permit her to exact more than the pound which is her due. ”
    “ Mrs. Duplessis is quite a reasonable employer, ” she replied to that—unable to state truthfully that she was a considerate employer—with a touch of stiffness, for she did not regard criticisms of a relative as becoming in one who was to stay as a guest.
    “ Good! ” he exclaimed, and suddenly swung the car through the main gates and on to the broad gravel sweep before the White Cottage. “ She seems to be lucky, too. Or she evidently knows how to pick her employees! ”
    But she could not be absolutely certain of his complete seriousness as he made that remark, and she more than suspected a faint twinkle in his eyes.
    His sister was awaiting them in the hall when they entered it. She was wearing a fine grey woollen dress which fitted her perfectly, and her greying hair had been treated to a delicate blue rinse which emphasized the curious flawlessness of her complexion—unless