The House of Seven Fountains Read Online Free PDF

busy time ahead of you. Once you reach Mauping you’ll find Chen will take good care of you and, as I said, I’ll be up myself in a week or two. In the meantime, you can always telephone me at my office. Chen knows the number. I wish you luck, my dear, and if I may say so, I think your godfather has left his land in good hands.” When he had taken his leave, Vivien sat thinking over the astonishing revelation he had made. At first she was completely mystified as to why her aunt should have refused consent to her adoption. Then, gradually, she began to see a possible motive.
    John Cunningham had been her father’s closest friend They were probably much alike. By her refusal to surrender the custody of her niece, Mrs. Sinclair might have felt that, in some obscure and perverted way, she was having revenge against Michael Connell whom she had disliked so bitterly. Yet, she had accepted money for Vivien’s keep.
    The longer she thought about it, the more Vivien felt sure that this was truth. It was so cold-blooded, so mercenary, that she felt an uprush of revulsion.
    I will never go back , she thought vehemently. Never!
    It was not until a Chinese waiter asked her if she wished for an aperitif before dinner that she realized she had been absorbed in her thoughts for more than an hour. Smiling and shaking her head, she went to her room and unpacked her night things When she had tidied herself, she called at the reception desk and wrote a terse cablegram to the Sinclairs informing them of her safe arrival. She also checked the time that her plane left for Mauping in the morning and ordered a taxi to take her to the airport.
    She was walking toward the dining room, wondering how to spend the evening when a voice said, “Excuse me, but did I hear you say you were going to Mauping? ”
    A slim, fair-haired man in immaculate white drill trousers and an open-necked shirt was standing beside her.
    “Please don’t be annoyed at my speaking to you like this, but you see there are only about thirty Europeans in Mauping, and whenever we hear of a new arrival we naturally prick up our ears.” He grinned disarmingly, showing very white teeth. “My name is Barclay, Julian Barclay. I’m going back on the morning plane myself, so I might as well introduce myself now, Miss, er ... ?”
    Vivien told him her name.
    “You aren’t angry, I hope, Miss Connell?”
    “No. Why should I be?” she asked in surprise.
    He looked a little amused. “Pretty girls are always warned not to speak to strange men, aren’t they? And Singapore is supposed to be swarming with dissolute characters. Look, why don’t we have a sundowner together, and I can tell you all about Mauping. Or are your people with you?” He gave a quick glance at the third finger of her left hand.
    “No, I’m here alone,” Vivien said.
    “Oh, fine. Shall we go into the cocktail lounge then? It’s cooler there and it won’t be too crowded for some time yet. ”
    While he was ordering the drinks, Vivien took stock of him. He appeared to be about twenty-seven and had a rather rakish air. It crossed her mind that he was the very antithesis of Dr. Stransom both in looks and manner. Odd that her first acquaintances in Mauping should be such contrasting types of men.
    “How long have you lived in Malaya, Mr. Barclay?” she inquired when their drinks—a whiskey and soda for him and an unknown concoction containing tendrils of cucumber for her had arrived.
    “Six months—unfortunately!” He produced a gold cigarette case and offered it to her. “I’m what used to be known as a remittance man. My family didn’t think I was taking life seriously enough, so they packed me out here to live life in the raw for a couple of years. It could be worse, I suppose. What brings you out? You don’t look like a welfare worker, and I’m sure you’re not a missionary.”
    “Oh ... just business,” Vivien said evasively. She had taken an immediate liking to Julian Barclay, but after