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small, poorly-furnished room that Ngumi had to offer.
"What are you thinking?" demanded Shane, breaking into Clair's
reverie. "You're frowning a little, so it isn't altogether a pleasant
matter which occupies your mind."
She put down the teapot, and handed Shane his cup and saucer. She
had to be honest, so she told him that perhaps she should have left the
decision regarding Christal to Jean.
"Jean might prefer to accept your offer," she added; in her
imagination seeing the glamorous Christal reclining with poise and
well-assured ease on some large, damask-covered chair in Shane's
elegant sitting-room.
"I'll put it to her," decided Shane, and then, after he had taken a drink
of his tea, "Tell me, Clair, do you feel happy now that you've decided
to stay here?"
"Yes, I do."
"You intend staying for a long time?"
"I can't say. If I feel the wrench acutely when my parents leave again
I might reconsider, and go home." She paused a moment. "But I shall
never have anything to do with Keith."
"When I asked if you intended staying for a long time I suppose I was
really trying to find out if you'd be able to settie here."
"Settle?" Clair wished he would not say things like this. For her
confused mind could not grapple with their exact meaning. Setde.... It
was a strange thing to say But no, it was not strange at all. It was
natural, seeing that she and her friends were now farmers. And the
question was merely put because of interest, and not for any other
reason.
Shane Neville was not considering marriage to her.
The shock of this mental statement shook Clair to the very marrow.
Where on earth had such an idea come from? He had shown interest,
true - but she now knew the reason for that interest, and it had nothing
personal about it at all. He had kissed her, but did that mean anything
these days? There had been no passion in the kiss, no desire. It was
light and swift. It was the kiss a man might give to his sister -
certainly not to the girl he hoped to marry.
What else was there to account for that statement she had made just
now? Nothing - just nothing.
"I'm a fool," she said to herself. "In any case, I've vowed never to let
any man do that to me again."
She could never imagine Shane jilting a woman at the altar, but then
she had never imagined Keith doing so, either. Men were so
unpredictable; you could never be sure of their intentions - or their
actions.
He was speaking again and she gave him her attention. He spoke of
the cattle they were having; he mentioned the crops, saying he would
lend the girls some of his employees.
"Later, you'll be able to employ boys of your own," he continued.
"You certainly need a house- boy. Women don't slog away in the
kitchen here."
She looked swiftly at him.
"You don't believe, then, that woman's work is in the home?"
"Certainly not!"
His vehemence surprising her, she said,
"You would want your wife to be a lady of leisure?"
"I would want her to spend some time on herself - on her
appearance." He stopped and a touch of amusement had entered his
voice when he continued, "I'd expect her to be so attractive that I'd
want to kiss her every time I came into the house."
Clair blushed, although she could not explain why.
"A .glamorous girl will be your ultimate choice, then?"
He looked hard at her.
"I expect that, like every other man, I have an eye for beauty."
"We were speaking of glamour."
" You were speaking of glamour," he corrected.
"Well - you didn't answer my question," she persisted, a challenging
expression in her violet eyes.
"Glamour's a strange thing," he admitted, surprisingly. "At times it
can be attractive, while at others it can pall."
"Depending on both the man and woman?"
Shane nodded in agreement.
"My mother was glamorous," he explained. "She was beautiful and
my father worshipped her."
Idly Clair chose a cake and put it on her plate. This situation was
intimate; it seemed to be bringing her close to Shane. She did not
want to be close .. . or did she ?
Confusion again, and the subsequent warning that, in any case, Shane
was not for her.
"Your father evidently liked glamour," she said, and Shane nodded,
his eyes again settling on Clair's face in an examining way.
"He did. And it was not only in Mother. He always had an eye for a
glamorous woman; it was a great disappointment to him that my
sister was the homely type."
"Your sister?" Clair stopped a moment, and picked up her cake fork.
"She's - married, isn't she?"
"You know about her?"
She told him of Marie's visit to Ngumi. Shane nodded, requiring no
further explanation.
"I thought you'd be annoyed at the - well, the gossip," said Clair,
looking a little anxiously at him. His mouth was tight, but that was all.
"Everyone knows about the disaster of Avice's first marriage. Marie
obviously told you everything."
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