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.Her mouth was set in an arrogant line; she saw his eyes narrow, and the hand resting on the arm of his chair suddenly closed.‘Then go to bed by all means.I hope you’ll feel better in the morning,’ and he turned to say something to her aunt.Lorna knew she had been snubbed and even though she could not deny she had asked for the snub, her lip trembled as a wave of self-pity swept over her.She did not go to her room, but stole out into the silence of the garden, keeping to the back, out of sight of the people on the verandah.A small secluded arbour invited and she sat down on the stone seat.Voices drifted to her across the distance, voices of some of Wade’s stockmen, sitting outside one of the bungalows; something closer to made a scurrying sound, then actually ran over Lorna’s feet.Probably a small marsupial, she thought, out on a nocturnal hunt for food.She sat very still, looking around, hoping to see a pair of black eyes, like shiny beads, popping out of the creature’s head.But it had gone, leaving no trace.She leant back, and stared into the heavens, where the Southern Cross spangled the sky, a dramatic mosaic against a backcloth of deepest purple.Another sound.the soft but firm footfall she could not possibly mistake.She shrank back even while aware she had not escaped detection.‘I thought you said you were going to bed.’ Sharp the tone, and faintly accusing.‘You merely wanted to be alone again, is that it?’She straightened up on her seat, put out somewhat by the fact of his having observed her move to hide herself from his view.He stood in the entrance to the bower, tall and straight in the starlight, one hand in his pocket, the other resting against a support of the trellis.Behind him the lower outlines of the mountains could be discerned, darkly etched against the sky, while their summits were lost in a tapestry of low-lying woolpacks.‘I did want to be alone, yes.’ She spoke softly, affected by his presence and wondering at the same time what had brought him out into the garden, away from his guests.‘It - it’s fresh out here, and it was rather early to go to bed.’‘You discovered that only after you’d left us, apparently?’She swallowed, endeavouring to ease the dry ache that had settled in her throat.‘Discovered that it was too early to go to bed? Yes, I suppose I did realize this only after I’d left you all.’His face became grim.He took a couple of steps into the arbour, but made no attempt to take possession of the vacant place beside her.‘You appear to be extraordinarily fond of your own company,’ he remarked, an edge to his voice that cut her deeply.She found herself wishing she could confide in him, speak intimately with him, telling him of her life with her husband, and how she would have to go off on her own, walking the lanes in order to get away from the incessant stream of grumbles and complaints, the gross ingratitude, but of course she refrained.In the first place she would immediately succeed in increasing the pity which Wade already felt for her, and secondly, she could ever bring herself to tell anyone the whole of what she had been through during her three and a half years of marriage, for she knew in her heart that it was her husband’s inactivity, his imprisonment in a wheelchair, that had soured him and bred such discontent that he was out of humour for the greater part of his time, finding fault instead of extending a word of praise, snapping at her when he ought to have been making her lot easier by a smile of encouragement.‘Sometimes it’s pleasant to have one’s own company,’ she offered at last, noting that Wade was expecting some response to his remark.‘What do you think about when you’re on your own like this?' The coolness was still there, but not nearly so pronounced as it had been during the past day or so.She could foresee its dissolving altogether and this she did not want, since it would mean a return to the situation she wished to avoid— the situation where she was being pitied by Wade.And yet, paradoxically, she yearned for his kindness, for the gentle note to enter his voice and the matching smile to rise to his lips.She recalled that moment of meeting again after the long separation; she had not changed, she was soon to discover.She could have gone to him, gladly, and allowed herself to be enfolded in his strong possessive embrace, could have lifted her face for his kiss, undisguised love in her eyes.But a reunion was not to be, not then or at any other time.All Auntie’s hopes - and indeed Lorna’s own - had been in vain.They had come out to Australia only to find that Wade was engaged to someone else.‘All sorts of things,’ she answered evasively as Wade stirred with slight impatience at yet another long pause before receiving a response from her.‘But mainly,’ she added, anticipating another question, ‘I just relax my mind - one can, out here, where it’s so peaceful and quiet, and so close to nature.’‘You’re very attached to this place, aren’t you, Lorna?' Soft the words, and a warning tingle caused a touch of pride to transform her features, hardening them slightly.‘I like it,’ she admitted with a frankness she could not withhold.‘It’s frightening country, as I once told you, but it has a beauty and attraction that surely must be unique.’ She was polite in manner, casual in speech.There was neither enthusiasm nor insincerity in her voice.She glanced up as she spoke, forgetting Wade for one brief moment as she absorbed the spectacle of ethereal grandeur displayed in the tropical sky.The moon had emerged from the drifting clouds, adding its pure silver radiance to that emitted by the stars; the Milky Way travelled on into infinity, a never-ending string of frost-flecked pearls.The wide rangelands slept beneath this tapestry of light and the only sound to stir the air was the whisper of casuarina trees over by the dry creek bed.Wade came a step nearer and she lifted her eyes towards his face.His lips moved in some strange unfathomable way, but no sound reached her across the distance still separating them.A tense moment; there had been others, since the day of her coming to Bali Creek.but none quite so tense as this.Why had he come? He could have passed on and she would have assumed he had not noticed her.He must have known this - but he stopped, and spoke.and remained.‘Despite this desire for solitude, would you mind very much if I sat down?’She gave a slight start, because of his tone and manner and the fact that he seemed almost to be pleading with her to agree to his request [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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