âAnd you will lunch with me, Leonora?â Dr. Galbraith asked.
âIt is the least I can do to make amends for spoiling your quiet day,â Dr. Galbraith continued. âBesides, youâre badly in need of a wash and brush-up.â
It was hardly a flattering reason for being asked to lunch. Leonora had half a mind to refuse, but curiosity to see his house and find out something about him got the better of her resentment, and then common sense came to the rescue and she laughed. He was offering practical help and she was hungry and, as he had pointed out, badly in need of a good wash.
âThank youâthat would be nice,â she told him coolly.
THE village of Pont Magna, tucked into a fold of the Mendip Hills, was having its share of February weather. Sleet, icy rain, a biting wind and a sharp frost had culminated in lanes and roads like skating rinks, so that the girl making her way to the village trod with care.
She was a tall girl with a pretty face, quantities of dark hair bundled into a woolly cap, her splendid proportions hidden under an elderly tweed coat, and she was wearing stout welliesâsuitable wear for the weather but hardly glamorous.
The lane curved ahead of her and she looked up sharply as a car rounded it, so that she didnât see the ridge of frozen earth underfoot, stumbled, lost her footing and sat down with undignified suddenness.
The car slowed, came to a halt and the driver got out, heaved her onto her feet without effort and remarked mildly, âYou should look where youâre going.â
âOf course I was looking where I was going.â The girl pulled her cap straight. âYou had no business coming round that corner so quietlyâ¦â
She tugged at her coat, frowning as various painful areas about her person made themselves felt.
âCan I give you a lift?â
She sensed his amusement and pointed out coldly, âYouâre going the opposite way.â She added, âYouâre a stranger here?â
âEr-yes.â
Although she waited he had no more to say; he only stood there looking down at her, so she said matter-of-factly, âWell, thank you for stopping. Goodbye.â
When he didnât answer she looked at him and found him smiling. He was good-lookingâmore than that, handsomeâwith a splendid nose, a firm mouth and very blue eyes. She found their gaze disconcerting.
âIâm sorry if I was rude. I was taken by surprise.â
âJust as I have been,â he replied.
An apt remark, she reflected as she walked away from him, but somehow it sounded as though he had meant something quite different. When she reached the bend in the lane she looked back. He was still standing there, watching her.
Pont Magna wasnât a large village; it had a green, a church much too big for it, a main street wherein was the Village Stores and post office, pleasant cottages facing each other, a by-lane or two leading to other cottages and half a dozen larger housesâthe vicarage, old Captain Morrisâs house at the far end of the street, and several comfortable dwellings belonging to retired couples. A quiet place in quiet countryside, with Wells to the south and Frome to the east and Bath to the north.
Its rural surroundings were dotted by farms and wide fields. Since the village was off a main road tourists seldom found their way there, and at this time of the year the village might just as well have been a hundred miles from anywhere. It had a cheerful life of its own; people were sociable, titbits of gossip were shared, and, since it was the only place to meet, they were shared in Mrs Pikeâs shop.
There were several ladies there now, standing with their baskets over their arms, listening to that ladyâa stout, cheerful body with a great deal of frizzy grey hair and small, shrewd eyes.
âTook bad, sudden, like!â she exclaimed. âWell, we all knew he was going to retire, didnât we, and thereâd be a new doctor? All arranged, wasnât it? I seen âim when âe came to look the place over. âAndsome too.â She gave a chuckle. âThereâll be a lot of lady patients for âim, wanting to take a look. Lovely motor car too.â