Secret for a Nightingale Read Online Free PDF Page B

said.
    “I do not see you here … for long.”
    “You’re wrong. I shall stay with my father. I have not come all this way to go home again almost immediately. Do you realize how far it is, dear Ayah, right across the seas? I shall stay here, and we shall meet often. It will be like the old days … or almost.”
    She smiled.
    “Yes … no sadness. Do not let us talk of partings. You have just come. It is a happy day.”
    “That’s better,” I said; and I plunged into conversation which was punctuated with “Do you remember when …” And it was
     
    amazing how much of the past, which I thought I had forgotten, came back to me.
    The children awoke and I was introduced to them. They were round-faced, chubby little creatures of about four and two, I guessed.
    When I left them I went down to say goodbye to Mrs. Freeling.
    She was sitting on a sofa and beside her was a young man. They rose as I entered.
    “Oh, there you are,” said Mrs. Freeling.
    “Miss Pleydell has been seeing her old ayah who happens to be mine now. Wasn’t that gracious of her!”
    “It wasn’t,” I said.
    “I happen to be very fond of her.”
    “One is of one’s nanny. But I’m forgetting you don’t know each other.
    This is Aubrey St. Clare. Aubrey, this is Miss Susanna Pleydell, the Colonel’s daughter. “
    That was the first time I saw Aubrey, and I was immediately struck by his charm and good looks. He was about my height but then I was exceptionally tall. He had fair hair almost golden, vivid blue eyes, and his features were clear-cut.
    He took my hand and pressed it firmly.
    “What a pleasure to meet you!” he said.
    “Do sit down. Miss Pleydell,” said Mrs. Freeling.
    “You must have a drink. It’s a little early. But no matter. It is never really too early.”
    I sat down beside him.
    “You have just come back to India, I believe,” he said.
    I explained.
    “Fresh from school!” said Phyllis Freeling with a rather shrill, trilling laugh.
    “Isn’t that exciting!”
    “It must be,” he said, ‘to come back to India. Strange, exciting country, is it not. Miss Pleydell? “
    I agreed that it was.
    “Do you notice any changes?”
    “I was so young when I went away ten years old, to be exact. I think I took a somewhat glamourized picture with me. Now I see it more as it really is.”
    “Ah,” he said, ‘one of the penalties of growing up. “
     
    I noticed that he was regarding me intently and I was pleasantly stimulated by his interest. I had known few young men only those who had lived in Humberston and friends of Uncle James and Aunt Grace. I had been very closely, though unobtrusively, guarded, I realized. Now I felt a certain freedom. Yes, I was now grown up. And it was exhilarating.
    Aubrey St. Clare talked rather knowledgeably about India, which he appeared to know very well. I gathered he was not connected with the regiment. I wondered what he was doing in India but felt it would be impertinent to ask. Mrs. Freeling took charge of the conversation. I thought she was rather flirtatious with her visitor, and I wondered whether I thought so because I was still under the influence of the Humberston rectory where everything was conducted in a most conventional manner.
    At length I said I must go and Aubrey St. Clare immediately rose and asked if he might take me home.
    It was only a short way, I told him.
    “Nevertheless …” he began, and Mrs. Freeling added: “Oh yes, you should have an escort.”
    I thanked her for her hospitality and left with Aubrey St. Clare.
    As I came out of the bungalow I looked back and saw a flutter of curtains. Ayah was standing at the window. Did I imagine it or did she really look disturbed?
    After that I saw a great deal of Aubrey St. Clare. I became fascinated and flattered because he paid so much attention to me. He was attentive to Phyllis Freeling, but that seemed different because she was married.
    My father liked him and I think he was pleased for me to have an