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.'Strange you should say that.I've always thought so myself.''You have?'Carl nodded.'The wooded aspect, the pastoral scene———— ' He flung out a hand to indicate the thickets with the low hills beyond.'Hobbema's water-mill is all that's missing.''Yes; he often did include a water-mill in his paintings, didn't he?''That's right.' Carl looked around, as if taking in the scene again.'I didn't know you were interested in the Dutch painters,' he commented at length.'I'm not, but I've seen exhibitions, like most people.I was particularly struck by Hobbema—I expect it was the sheer lack of anything dramatic.Peace and tranquillity seemed to float out at you.' Sara slanted him a deprecating glance.'Perhaps you have other impressions of his work?''No, as a matter of fact, I haven't.' The trace of a smile softened the hard outline of his mouth for a moment.'Apparently we have at least one thing in common,' he said.'Apparently.' Sara's tone was expressionless.'We appear to have the same ideas regarding this particular man's work.'For a long moment Carl said nothing.Then he murmured, an unfathomable inflection in his voice,'You interest me in the way you use the words peace and tranquillity.Are you finding peace and tranquillity here?''Here, with your mother, yes.' The car was descending all the while, coming from the plateau down to the shore.A beautiful bay and a semi-circle of turquoise sea dappled with sunlight met her gaze as the car turned on to a long straight road.'You're happy about your decision to come, then?''I couldn't be otherwise with your mother as my hostess.' She supposed words like these would please him, though she had no wish that he should show it.'I've been made most welcome, just as you told me I would be.''Mother's thoroughly enjoying your company; she's said she intends to invite you to come again.'Sara said nothing; she was staring ahead at the scene which was new, Carl having driven to the beach by a totally different route from that used by Joshua.To her left rose a rock prominence, with low mountains stretching away from it, and on the horizon a ship moved gently against the clear azure sky.Palms swayed here and there, lofty silhouettes of grace and charm.At last the car was driven right on to the sands, and parked beneath a trellised cover which had been erected specially for the convenience of those who came to the beach in their cars.The bathing huts were close by and Sara went off to change, an assortment of emotions stirring within her.It was a long time since she had had the exclusive company of a man in a purely recreational atmosphere.In fact, since her meeting with Ray she had never wanted to make friends with anyone of the opposite sex.Ray had won her heart and she had been in that particular state of mind where the possibility of falling in love with anyone else was so remote that she had seen no profit even in cultivating a friendship.Now, however, she experienced a degree of pleasure at the prospect of spending an afternoon on the beach with Carl, this in spite of those words which she had so recently heard him utter.It was illogical, she supposed; she ought by rights to be wishing him miles away… but she wasn't.She came from the hut, clad in her swimsuit and swinging a gaily-coloured towel in her hand.Her wrap was draped casually over her shoulders; it was very short and afforded no cover at all at the front.She saw Carl's eyes darken with interest, felt her heart give an excited little thud.'I see you've managed to get a tan already,' he observed.'Mother did mention that you and she had done some sunbathing.'They went into the sea and Carl left her, swimming strongly towards the far end of the bay where rocks rose sheer from the narrow shore to the plateau above.The sea was calm, a misty turquoise blue with golden channels meandering through it and little white rolls of foam caressing the sandy beach.The sky was sapphire, clear and bright, with here and there the vaguest hint of a feathery wisp of cloud coming in on the seawind and melting away in the soft warm air.Sara, content to take things more easily than Carl, lay floating on the water, her gaze dreamily fixed on the cliffs, her mind marvelling that she had thrown off those hurtful words as if she had never even heard them, and now she was fully relaxed, revelling in the atmosphere of peace that washed over her.When eventually she and Carl were on the beach she was still in that relaxed state, and so enveloped in it that she could not have felt any animosity against Carl even had she tried.He asked her why she had not swum out, farther from the shore.'Are you afraid?' he added, eyeing her curiously.'No, but I felt like taking life easy.'A small silence and then, 'Are you really enjoying this break, Sara?' He seemed faintly anxious, she thought.Anxious for her? That hardly went along with those words he had uttered about her.'I'm very contented, yes,' she answered, bringing her knees up under her chin and hugging them with her arms.He lay back then, exposing his body to the sun.Sara stole a glance at him, appreciating as always the perfection of his features, the long lean frame, sinewed and bronzed.She found herself comparing him with Ray, and knew a little access of vexation that Carl should be so superior in every conceivable way.True, Ray was exceptionally handsome, but there was not the strength of character in the lines of his lace which she saw in Carl's.Ray's eyes were big, and long-lashed, yet they did not possess the frankness that seemed always to characterise Carl's expression, be he staring with that look of lazy boredom or showing a keen interest in what was being said or done.Ray's body, too, was unfavourably compared with Carl's as Sara reluctantly admitted that he carried some excess weight, whereas Carl carried none at all.Suddenly Carl spoke, causing Sara to jerk at the question,'What the devil are you scowling for?' and he raised himself at the same time, to regard her with a frowning expression in his amber eyes.'Whatever your thoughts, they're far from pleasant.'She coloured, glancing away, unable to find an immediate answer.Eventually, though, she managed to laugh lightly and tell him that her thoughts were her own.'I feel it's time we were getting back,' she added.'We seem to have been out for hours.''Changing the subject, eh? Yes, we have been out for hours—three.Mother stressed that there was no hurry, but if you're bored with my company we'll move.' The voice was crisp; the eyes had hardened a little.Sara felt her spirits sinking [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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