Then She Fled Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

Sunday picnic to St. Patrick ’ s Well.
    “ It ’ ll be too cold for swimming or picnicking soon, ” Joe remarked as they idled home along the south road with the placid donkey carrying the empty picnic baskets, a greyhound running at his heels. “ Nearly mid-September. It ’ s been a wonderful Summer for the west. ”
    “ Oh, we ’ ll get in a few more picnics for Daisy before the weather breaks, ” Sarah said. She had had Miss Dearlove ’ s reply yesterday, an enthusiastic, underlined effusion concluding with the information that she would arrive at the end of the, following week if that would be convenient to dear Miss Riordan.
    Joe observed Sarah ’ s slim back and grinned affectionately. In her shrunken cotton slacks and a pair of Danny ’ s old sneakers she scarcely looked anyone ’ s conception of a landlady.
    “ You should turn Aunt Em on to the lodgers when they arrive, ” he said to Kathy. “ She looks much more the part. ” Kathy smiled.
    “ Aunt Em says she would be much too frightened of them to deal with any of their demands or complaints. She ’ s had too many years of being bullied by landladies herself. ” She slipped a confiding hand into his. “ Joe—I hope this is going to work—for Sarah ’ s sake. ”
    H e glanced down at her, but the eyes she raised to his were clear and untroubled. She was not really very concerned, and of late her old distaste for the idea had given way to a faint, childish excitement at the impending change in their lives.
    “ Well, a lot will depend on the guests themselves, won ’ t it? ” he said.
    “ I suppose so. They don ’ t s o und very—very interesting . ”
    His fingers tightened round hers.
    “ What were you hoping for? A handsome young man with ducal estates, or a poet, pale and passionate? Mr. Flint might yet turn out to be that. ”
    “ You ’ re teasing. He doesn ’ t sound at all like that . ”
    “ No, I don ’ t think so, either. He sounds a crank and so much the better. ”
    “ What do you mean? ”
    Their steps had become slower and slower, and they were now a long way behind Sarah, Danny and the donkey.
    “ Well, you don ’ t think I want to risk too much competition, do you? ” He spoke lightly, but his fingers closed firmly round hers.
    She sighed.
    “ There ’ s not much chance of that, is there? ” she said a little forlornly.
    He experienced his old desire to decide matters for her, to sweep her off her feet by some happy stroke of inspiration, but he knew he could not do it. He had told Sarah that he was content to wait, and in a measure it was true, but i t was a state of mind bred of too long an acquaintance with them all, and what he wryly recognized as the native tendency to drift.
    “ This is a very long and dusty road, ” he said. “ I can ’ t think why they didn ’ t macadamize it as they did the north side. ”
    “ It wasn ’ t worth it, I suppose. The south road only serves Dun Rury and a few isolated cottages. Sarah says it ’ s a good thing, otherwise we should get tourist traffic. ”
    He smiled .
    “ The south road for the Riordans. Well, your brash Sarah is the only one who enjoys driving a car over those bumps and hairpin bends. Come and rest for a bit while I smoke a cigarette. ”
    They scrambled down the steep, heather-studded slope to the edge of the lough, and sat leaning against a boulder while the water lapped gently at their feet.
    “ I should have asked you that night when you disliked the idea of Sarah ’ s scheme so much, ” he said, cupping his hands round his lighter.
    “ Asked me what? ” She sounded abstracted, and her eyes were following the passage of a swallow dipping over the lough.
    “ To marry me. ”
    “ What? ” She laughed but still watched the water. “ Oh , Joe, you ’ re always asking me. ”
    “ I haven ’ t asked you for quite six months, ” he said mildly.
    She relaxed against him and her head rested on his shoulder with the familiarity, of long