The Made Marriage Read Online Free PDF Page A

place.’
    She did not seem to fe el that there was any necessity to elaborate on this: it was as though, completely wrapped up in her own affairs, she found it incomprehensible that her listener should not be fully aware of what she was talking about.
    ‘The Fitzpatricks are the most important people in Ballyfeeny,’ she informed Kate when she revealed that the name was unknown to her. ‘They own the local woollen mills and are a very old family. They c an trace their ancestry back to Norman days.’ She sounded casual, but Kate noticed that the girl’s small perfect features had taken on a look of shrewdness. ‘ You are not Irish, are you?’ she asked.
    Kate shook her head. ‘I’m from England. I’m here only for a—a short holiday,’ she said cautiously.
    The girl smiled, showing tiny teeth as rounded and white as a baby’s. ‘That is how it is with me too. I am here what you call au pair to perfect my English. I like being with the Fitzpatricks: their mother is a lady of quality and the boys are amusing—especially Nicky—but one grows bored with the country at times. By the way, my name is Doretta Denzzani,’ she added, and waited with an air of interest for Kate to reciprocate.
    Kate hesitated; She had an. uneasy feeling that by disclosing her name she might also divulge information she was loath to impart: she had an almost morbid fear that the girl opposite, so poised and exquisitely groomed, might break into derisive laughter should she guess the true reason for her journey to Ireland.
    As Doretta raised arched eyebrows in polite enquiry, Kate swallowed and said quickly, ‘I—I’m Kate Norbert and I’ve come on a holiday to Tipperary. It’s my first visit to Ireland.’
    It was at this point that Bedsocks awoke and gave a plaintive mew.
    Doretta, who obviously until that moment had not noticed the basket, gave a startled glance in its direction. ‘What was that noise?’ she asked apprehensively.
    ‘It’s Bedsocks,’ Kate told her.
    ‘Bedsocks?’ Doretta echoed.
    ‘She’s my cat, and I brought her with me, otherwise she might pine,’ Kate explained with due seriousness.
    ‘ You mean you brought your cat with you from England?’ Doretta sounded incredulous. ‘I do not like animals much, although I have two poodles at home, but they’re only a responsibility and I should never, never take them with me on a journey.’
    ‘But Bedsocks isn’t an ordinary pet,’ Kate pursued. ‘She’s terribly affectionate and seems to know everything you’re saying.’
    ‘People say that sort of thing about animals. Personally, I don’t believe it,’ Doretta replied decisively.
    The train had begun to slow down and Kate’s companion glanced through the window. ‘We are now at Killmageary,’ she announced, and looked up in surprise as Kate sprang to her feet in excitement.
    ‘Killmageary! But that’s my stop. This is where I get off.’ She reached up to the rack above the seat and pulled down her rather battered suitcase.
    Doretta’s eyes widened as she glanced at the label. ‘Laragh, Killmageary,’ she repeated. ‘So you are going to stay with Owen Lawlor ? ’ She sounded shocked and incredulous, but Kate, engrossed with the difficulties of disembarking with her case and Bedsocks’s basket, had no time to interest herself in her companion’s reactions.
    As s he stood on the platform while the train drew out, she had the vague impression that Doretta Denzzani was watching her from the carriage window, in her eyes a look of sharp suspicion.
    Kate glanced around the station. A bed of golden-hearted narcissi tossed their china-white petals in the bracing spring air. The tiny ticket-office was deserted and the only sign of life was an old man with a jaunting-car in the station yard, who was regarding her small figure with dissatisfaction.
    He had posted himself outside the station in the forlorn hope that an opulent passenger might alight from the Dublin train. But all that had emerged