The Man at Mulera Read Online Free PDF Page A

matching dressing-table and stool and white-painted wardrobe cupboards. The second bedroom, which she would use, was sparsely furnished in pale green enamelled wood. The curtains and bedspread were of rose - colored linen and there was a small soft rug of many colors beside the bed.
    Lou fo un d the linen cupboard, got out sheets and pillowcases and went back into her room to make up the bed. The mattress felt dry but she would take no chances with Keith ’ s. It could go outside in the sun.
    Gradually, during the next few hours, Lou recovered from the harrowing sensation of being here with Dorothy ’ s child in Dorothy ’ s house. Keith was so much at home, so unaware of tragedy, that her heart was soothed and she found herself loving him as a reality far more than she had loved him as a small but far-away relative. For his sake she would put away the sadness and loss. He was hers now ... well, hers and Mr. Gilmore ’ s.
    That rankled, of course. Not for anything would she have blamed Dick and Dorothy for this predicament in which she found herself, but it did look as if rather a nightmare were in store. Because, naturally, she couldn ’ t stay here in Nyasaland, and just as certainly the man wouldn ’ t let her take Keith home to England.
    Why couldn ’ t he have been someone gen tl e and sympathetic, someone who would have admitted that looking after a little boy was woman ’ s work? A normal sort of bachelor would have been relieved to delegate the task; he ’ d have been satisfied to receive a monthly letter reporting on progress. But not Ross Gilmore. That big teak-brown individual had to assert himself. He was the type to take control in any situation, and somehow Lou knew that he never gave in. Still, she had as many rights where Keith was concerned as he did, and come what may she would stick out for them. She had no intention of being intimidated by Ross Gilmore!

 
    CHAPTER TWO
    L ou settled into the manager ’ s house with less trouble than she had expected. Daniel, the servant, made life fairly smooth, and after the first couple of meals, which showed that he had slipped sadly since he had last cooked for white people, his cooking improved, probably because Ali was more disgusted than Lou. Ali was a tyrant but he got results; perhaps his worship of Bwana Gilmore caused him to emulate the man.
    Lou found a good deal to do. She went through Keith ’ s clothes and repaired where necessary, made new pyjamas for him from material bought in the main Chekwe store and made a few alterations in his toy cupboard. She let him turn the handle of the sewing mac hine while she guided the material, showed him pencil marks where he must screw hooks into the cupboard and pretended she couldn ’ t have done the various jobs without him.
    The little garden and its views of cotton fields and trees and mountains were a continual joy. In the centre of the lawn an old evergreen fig tree had been left standing, an immense tree so packed with leaves that it gave a dense shade to the log garden chairs which stood beneath it . It was here that Lou sewed by hand, or simply lazed for an hour morning and afternoon. Continuous activity in such a climate was impossible, and what was beauty for if not to be enjoyed?
    She was out there one morning just before lunch, when a dusty touring car came down the lane and pulled up beside the lawn. She saw a man get ou t— a man of more than average height but not tall, whose build was too thickset to be youthful Actually, he looked as if he m ight be nearing forty, though there was only the faintest grey tinge in his crisp dark hair. He wore smart khaki drill and was hatless. Instinctively, as she walked towards him, L ou knew that he was good and solid and unassuming, that whatever his job he did it well.
    She smiled. ‘‘ Good morning. I ’ m Lou Prentice. ”
    “ Yes, I know. ” He looked at her starchy green print frock with appreciation. “ I ’ m the District Commissioner,