A Country Affair Read Online Free PDF Page B

Drinks for Duncan and Joy, and for Kate—it must be Kate?” She kissed her too, briefly, on the cheek and Kate caught a drift of a flowery, old-fashioned perfume. “What will you have, my dear?”
    Kate asked for mineral water.
    “
Mineral water
on such an auspicious day?”
    “I’ll have something stronger when the clients have gone. I don’t want to make a fool of myself.”
    “Wise girl. Come along and get some food; just pile up your plate. I don’t want anything left over of this labor of love for Mungo and me to finish off.” She grinned at Kate, who immediately felt drawn into her enchanted circle. She, Miriam, wasn’t a beautiful person as such but somehow her joie de vivre made her so, and the large brown eyes and the well-rounded cheeks became beautiful without the aid of makeup. “Mungo! Where’s Kate’s mineral water?” Mungo didn’t respond, so Miriam raised her voice. “Dearest! Mineral water for Kate. You’re deserting your post.”
    Mungo came over with Kate’s drink. “Here we are, Kate.” He raised his own glass to her and said, “Hope you’re getting well settled in.”
    “Thank you. I am. I have to say it’s a pleasure to work here; everyone is so helpful and so kind to me.”
    “I wouldn’t have it otherwise. There’s no point in working with animals if you don’t like both them and people, and I’m not talking about some slushy kind of sentimental love; I’m talking about
liking
them. There’s no place for selfish sentimentality in veterinary work, you know.”
    “Indeed not.” Kate felt something brush against her leg. “Oh! It’s you. Hello, Perkins. You’ve forgiven me for throwing water over you, then?” Kate bent down to stroke him and he looked at her with a happy grin on his face, only his small front teeth showing between his parted lips. As she patted him, Kate looked up and gave Mungo a wide smile. “Isn’t he great? He’s the only dog I know who looks as though he’s laughing . . .” Seeing the expression on Mungo’s face, Kate stopped speaking. His color had drained away and his normally pleasant features had become pinched and anguished. His glass was rattling against his wedding ring, and to Kate’s eyes he appeared to have experienced a tremendous shock. She was too inexperienced socially to know how to cope with the situation and all she could think to say was, “I’m so sorry if I’ve offended you.”
    Mungo visibly pulled himself together. He took a quick sip of his gin and said in a curiously uptight voice, “About the accounts. Do you feel confident about them?”
    “I will shortly. There’s a lot to get my mind around but I’ll get there.”
    “Where did you learn?”
    “I’ve worked Saturdays at Apex Costings for what seems like a decade and for some reason with what I’d learned at school I picked it up really quickly.”
    “Logical mind, that’s what’s needed. Must circulate.” Mungo gave her an unhappy smile and wandered off to Miriam, who appeared to sense his desolation and, slipping an arm through his, offered him a plate of food. “Can’t have you going out on a call the worse for drink, dearest.” She handed him a fork and napkin, briefly kissed his cheek and dashed into the kitchen on some pretext or other.
    Joy had witnessed the whole incident and, at the same time as Mungo had received his shock, she had seen what he had seen in Kate’s laughing face and knew Kate would be dumbfounded by his reaction to her. So that was why Kate had so appealed to her at the interview. “Kate, you’re not getting anything to eat. Come along now. We can’t have you falling by the wayside halfway through the afternoon. Have your mum and dad not come?”
    “They felt too shy to come for lunch so they’re coming later in the afternoon. Have I said something I shouldn’t? Like, been too familiar? Mr. Price looked really angry with me.”
    Joy said, “He’s not angry with you, trust me. Probably indigestion—lives on his