Across the Lagoon Read Online Free PDF

the light was fading from the sky so that the room was partly shrouded in shadow. They dined in silence. Carol sat erect in her chair, too afraid to relax, her long straight hair like a pale fringed shawl on her shoulders, her eyes beneath her lowered lashes, wide with tension.
    She took a sip of the wine from her glass, finding it strange to her palate when she had been used to only tea or coffee. She noticed with a wave of dislike that Gray Barrett made no attempt to put her at her ease. Just because he was able to withdraw from the scene and retire into himself, he saw no reason why she couldn't do the same. Men were like that, she knew. She had seen her father adopt that shut-down expression when he wanted to be with his own thoughts.
    The knowledge that the man opposite her hadn't the remotest idea of her existence didn't make the meal any less agonising for her. When Emily bustled in later with renewed confidence to clear away, Carol took advantage of her presence to make a hasty retreat. Only too glad to put the stairs between herself and the dining room, she fled to her room.
    However, after hiding there for twenty minutes or so, she told herself this was ridiculous. It was a beautiful evening and not yet dark. What was the sense of prowling around her gloomy old room? She cast a glance out of her window and bravely made up her mind to go for a stroll in the grounds.
    Downstairs the glow of a wall lamp here and there gleamed around the square of hall. As before, she floundered over the layout of the house. It was no use going out of the front door for that only led to the road. She remembered that the french windows in the dining room had been opened showing the grounds at the back.
    Quickly she made her way there on tiptoe and peeped inside. The polished table now had a lace runner across its middle doing full justice to the bowl of roses. Around the room the ebony-based table lamps had been switched on.
    Carol saw that the french windows were still open and hastily, to get out of the hall, she glided across and outside.
    The scene in the gathering twilight was restful and really quite beautiful. Not far away she saw the fountain amidst its border of flowers, which she had caught a glimpse of that first afternoon. Still playing to itself it created a soothing kind of music, deflecting the thoughts from the sombre proximity of the house. Across the lawns stood a giant cedar, its flat sweeping branches silhouetted majestically against the evening sky.
    The night breezes were cool, however, and realising that it would be foolish to take a stroll in only her thin sleeveless dress, Carol decided to sneak back to her room for a cardigan. She made the trip without incident. It was just when she was stealing back outside through the dining room that she caught the glimpse of crossed trousered legs, over in a shadowy corner beside a reading lamp. She had been only seconds going to her room. The hot colour rushed to her cheeks when she realised that Gray Barrett must have been sitting there all the time. There were armchairs against the wall. This was probably the room he used for relaxing in. The knowledge made her scuttle for the shadows beyond the french window.
    Though she went on her stroll as far as the trees bordering the ground, she took no further interest in her surroundings. Her mind now was far too occupied with the problem of how to get back into the house. It was getting too dark to go searching for another door, and it would be ridiculous to go round to the front and ring the bell. When it became obvious that she couldn't stay out in the grounds all night, she resigned herself reluctantly to the fact that she would have to go back through the dining room.
    The glow from the lamps in the room spilled out into the night as she moved noiselessly towards it. She crept up to the french windows. With a bit of luck she could sidle through without being noticed. She got halfway across the room. It looked as though all