Whisper The Darkness Part 6

'Oh, that!' Anya shrugged her thin shoulders offhandedly. 'It wasn't too bad, considering. There's an old bed in there, and a couple of old blankets. And Binzer was with me.'

As if remembering the dog's companionship, she put her fingers to her mouth and emitted a piercing whistle as they reached the gates, and both dogs came bounding towards them, their s.h.a.ggy hair falling untidily into their eyes.

'How on earth can you tell them apart?' exclaimed Joanna, half protestingly, as the dogs almost overbalanced her in their enthusiasm, and Anya turned a scornful face in her direction.

'Binnie is a b.i.t.c.h,' she declared, making the most obvious distinction. 'They are different, you know, dogs and b.i.t.c.hes. Just like human beings.'

Joanna endeavoured not to get annoyed. 'So they are,' she countered lightly. 'I'm sorry, I didn't notice.'

Anya looked as though she would have liked to say more, but she didn't, turning out of the gate with the dogs at her heels, following the track down towards the stream.

'I-where are you going?' asked Joanna rather doubtfully, and then felt all her apprehensions return as Anya answered.

'You wanted to be shown the short cut to the village, didn't you?' she remarked innocently. 'Well, this is the way. Come on, I'll direct you.'

Joanna hesitated, hanging back, irritated at the feeling of disappointment she was experiencing. Obviously Anya had every intention of showing her the path by the stream, and while it was possible that she didn't know it was partially flooded, it was also highly unlikely. For a moment Joanna was tempted to tell her that Matt had already explained the situation to her, but then a desire to thwart the - girl overcame all else. She would let Anya show her to the stream. She would let her think she was as ignorant of the dangers as Anya apparently thought her. And when she had gone, as she obviously would, she would double back and take the path through the copse.

The stream was considerably broader than its normal width, tumbling recklessly on its way, noisy as it negotiated the stones that impeded its progress. In summer, Joanna guessed its banks would be a ma.s.s of brilliant colour, but right now the slopes were muddy and even the gra.s.s looked sad, clinging to the earth in grim survival.

'That's the way,' Anya indicated, pointing to the footpath that soon wound out of sight along the bank. 'It's a bit muddy, but it will bring you out at Piper's Bridge, which is just outside the village.'

'All right,' Joanna nodded. 'Thank you.' She paused.

'You-er- you're not coming with me?'

'I don't think so, thanks.' Anya shifted restlessly from one foot to the other. 'Daddy wouldn't like it if the dogs ran wild in the village. I'd better take them back.'

Joanna shrugged. 'As you like. See you later, then.'

'Yes, later,' agreed Anya, hiding a smirk, and Joanna forced a grateful smile before starting on her way.

She wondered how far Anya expected her to get before she lost her balance and slipped into the stream. The water would be freezing, and she could imagine the girl's delight if she had to come squelching back to the house, soaked to the skin. She wondered what excuse she would give her father, and decided that so far as Anya was concerned the end justified any punishment she might have to take.

Joanna waited until she was sure that Anya must have reached Ravengarth, and then turned back. But as she did so she saw the boundary of the copse almost directly above her, and realised that she could reach the trees by climbing the slope, and thus avoid approaching the house again.

It was a damp climb, negotiating as it did knee-high gra.s.ses that soaked the legs of her pants and left them wet and uncomfortable.

Even so, it was worth it to picture Anya's face on her return with the groceries, particularly as she had no intention of telling her she had taken another route.

She skirted the trees, calculating that Matt's directions would bring her to the field directly to her left. Sure enough, there was a stile, just as he had described, and she jumped down into the bristling stubble beyond with a feeling of achievement.

Then she frowned. Matt's instructions had been intended to bring her out into the lane beyond the farm buildings, but the track alongside the hedge she was presently following would bring her to the back of the buildings themselves, and even as she stopped, biting her lip, not sure which direction she ought to take, a Land Rover seemed to appear from nowhere, and came b.u.mping over the field towards her.

She stood still, realising it would be undignified to do any other, and the vehicle drove up to her to stop with a squeal of brakes. A young man climbed down from the driving seat, viewing her with evident interest, and she returned his gaze coolly, refusing to look as embarra.s.sed as she felt.

'Good afternoon.' His accent was not uncultivated, and she managed a faint smile.

'Good afternoon,' she responded. 'Am I trespa.s.sing?'

He grinned. 'As a matter of fact, you are, but don't let it worry you. I detect you're not from these parts.' His eyes dropped down her to rest on the damp legs of her trousers. 'What have you been doing?

Wading in the beck?'

Joanna sighed, glancing back over her shoulder. 'Avoiding doing so,'

she replied ruefully. 'I climbed up from the stream, if that's what you mean. The gra.s.s is very long and wet.'

'I see.' He clearly didn't, but he had accepted her explanation.

'So where were you headed? Heronsfoot?'

'Heronsfoot?' Joanna grimaced. 'Oh, no-Ravensmere.'

'Ravensmere?' He looked surprised. 'I see.'

Joanna frowned. 'I'm not going in the wrong direction, am I? I thought the village was down there.' She pointed beyond the farm buildings to where a narrow lane could be seen, winding down towards a collection of rooftops and the unmistakable sheen of water.

'It is.' The man looked slightly discomfited. 'I was just surprised, that's all. I'm afraid I didn't realise you'd walked all the way from Heronsfoot.'

Joanna looked puzzled now. 'I haven't,' she protested. 'I'm not a hiker, if that's what you think.'

'Well, I didn't think that at first, I will admit,' he conceded, half apologetically. 'But the only habitation other than ours in these parts is Ravengarth, and I know you can't be from there.'

'Oh, but I am.' Joanna ignored his astonished expression, and hurried on. 'I'm employed by Mr Sheldon. I'm An- Antonia's new governess.'

'Good lord!' The young man was obviously taken aback, and Joanna wondered how well he knew the Sheldons. 'Well, you're certainly not my idea of what a governess should look like, so perhaps I may be forgiven for making the error.'

Joanna accepted the implied compliment without comment, and realising she was wasting a lot of time when she had the journey to the village and back still to accomplish, she said: 'Perhaps you could direct me the way to the village, if you don't mind. I'm afraid I appear to have mistaken the directions I was given.'

'What? Oh, sure.' He seemed fascinated by the combination of slanted green eyes and gold-streaked brown hair, loosening again from its knot after the exertions of her climb. 'But we should introduce ourselves, don't you think? I mean, as we're going to be neighbours, so to speak. I'm Paul Trevor, and this is my father's farm.'

Joanna hesitated, and then said abruptly: 'How do you do, Mr Trevor. I'm Joanna Seton. But if you don't mind, we won't waste time in pleasantries right now. These pants are soaking, and I'd really like to get back and change.'

'h.e.l.l, yes!' His eyes dropped to the offending cords, clinging to her slender legs. 'But look---' he glanced up at her again, 'why don't you come home with me and let my mother dry them out for you? I know she'd like to meet you. We don't get many visitors around these parts, not at this time of the year anyway.

Then afterwards I could run you down to the village in the Land Rover to get whatever it is you need.'

'Oh, really, I couldn't put you to that trouble,' Joanna began, but he a.s.sured her it was no trouble at all.

'Someone should have told you the path along by the beck was flooded,' he exclaimed, obviously imagining she had been trying to reach the village that way, and at his words, the recollection of Anya's intentions came surging back into her mind. It would do her good to wonder why Joanna hadn't come hurrying back to the house, and if Paul Trevor chose to drive her back to Ravengarth, so much the better.

'All right,' she said now, ruefully brushing the damp blades of gra.s.s from her knees. 'If you're sure your parents won't mind,'

'They'll be delighted, believe me,' he exclaimed, offering her a seat in the Land Rover, and with a smile she climbed in beside him.

The farmhouse was one of the buildings she had seen when she climbed over the stile. Set at right angles to a barn with a cowbyre beyond, and general outhouses fronting them across a paved courtyard, it formed the central bar of a three-sided rectangle, which would provide coolness in summer, and protection in winter. There were dogs here, too, that scattered the hens as Paul drove into the yard, and somewhere the lowing of cows indicated that afternoon milking was almost due.

This was the back of the house, Joanna realised, and they crossed the yard to a large kitchen that smelled deliciously of home baking.

Although it was not much more modern in design than the kitchen at Ravengarth, everything shone with the evidence of much polishing, and she thought how much more pleasant it would be to work in surroundings like these.

Paul's mother must have heard the Land Rover, for she came into the kitchen from the hall beyond, just as Paul and Joanna entered from outside. At least, Joanna a.s.sumed she was his mother, sharing as she did her son's fair good looks, his solid youth replaced by spreading middle age. Her hair was only slightly grey, and her round face was virtually unlined, revealing that she probably enjoyed her own cooking as much as anyone.

She wore a navy blue dress and a flowered ap.r.o.n, and her expression held mild interest as she surveyed the young woman with her son.

'We've got a visitor, Ma,' Paul told her easily, confirming Joanna's identification. 'She's from Ravengarth, and her name's Joanna Seton.

Joanna?' He waited for her silent approval. 'This is my mother.'

'How do you do, Mrs Trevor.'

Joanna restrained herself from offering her hand when the older woman made no attempt to do so. If she hadn't known that it couldn't possibly be so, she would have said there was disapproval in Mrs Trevor's att.i.tude, and she began to wish she had not allowed Paul to persuade her to come here.

'From Ravengarth, you say,' his mother remarked now, looking at her son with some irritation. 'You'd be some relative of the Sheldons, then?'

'No,' It was Paul who answered her, his blue eyes wide and impatient. 'She's the new governess, believe it or not. For Sheldon's daughter. But as you can see, she got wet climbing up from the stream, and I suggested she came here to dry off. Surely there's a pair of Barbara's slacks around somewhere that she could borrow while we dry her own.'

'Oh, I see.' The air of disapproval, if that was what it was, disappeared like magic. 'I'm sorry, Miss Seton, I didn't notice you were wet. Of course you must get changed, and while your trousers are drying, we'll have a cup of tea.'

Joanna hesitated. 'I was on my way to the village,' she began, realising this was going to take longer than she had thought, but Mrs Trevor was not perturbed.

'Paul will run you down to the village,' she declared, and her son exchanged an I-told-you-so look with Joanna. 'There's plenty of time. Now, come along upstairs with me, and I'll sort you out something to wear.'

It was kind of them to bother, but as the afternoon wore on, Joanna began to get uneasy. What time had Matt said Jake would be back?

Four o'clock? Five? She couldn't remember, and she hoped he would not disapprove of her taking tea with the Trevors.

Mrs Trevor liked to gossip, that much was obvious, but Joanna succeeded in turning most of her questions without giving too much away. Strangely, she was reluctant to tell them of the lack of success she was having with Anya, and their evident interest in Jake's affairs was tinged with an unusual amount of hostility. It was this Joanna had sensed on her arrival, she realised, and she guessed his isolation, his detachment from the community, had aroused resentment as well as curiosity.

In the event, Paul went down to the village alone, carrying with him the list of things she needed. The trousers Mrs Trevor had loaned her proved to be much too big for her slim hips, and as her own pants were not yet dry, he suggested the alternative.

Joanna had no choice but to agree, though the feeling was growing stronger every minute that she should not be here.

It was about a quarter to five when Joanna heard the sound of the Land Rover returning, and rose to her feet in some relief, eager to be on her way. But when a man in his early fifties, and wearing a warehouse coat and rubber boots, came into the living room where they had been taking afternoon tea, her disappointment was almost palpable. This, of course, was Paul's father, she realised, having heard from Mrs Trevor about her husband, and her married daughter, whose trousers Joanna had borrowed, and a younger son, Andrew, who was presently away at agricultural college, and she endeavoured not to look as crestfallen as she felt. But Mr Trevor was not alone. Another man was following, and her heart flipped a nervous beat as she recognised the hard, unyielding features of her employer. In the shadows of the hall his scarred face possessed a brooding malevolence, and she gazed at him helplessly as Paul's father made the explanations.

CHAPTER FIVE.

'I MET Mr Sheldon in the lane,' Mr Trevor said, exchanging a meaningful glance with his wife. He-er-he said he was looking for this young lady, I think.' He favoured Joanna with a smile.

'Leastways, when I told him young Paul had brought a young woman up to the house, he seemed to think she might be the same.'

'h.e.l.lo, Mr Sheldon.' Joanna decided to remove any doubt as her employer halted in the doorway. 'I didn't realise you'd be back yet.

I'm sorry if you were beginning to wonder where I was.'

Jake's mouth was set in a straight, uncompromising line. 'Do you have a coat?' he demanded harshly, showing little regard for the demands of courtesy, and Joanna had barely started to explain when Mrs Trevor interrupted her.

'Joanna got her trousers wet climbing up from the beck, Mr Sheldon,' she exclaimed, getting to her feet. She had adopted the familiarity during the course of the afternoon, and Joanna had had no objection until now when Jake's lips thinned accordingly.

'I'm sure you can see, the slacks she's wearing at the moment belonged to my daughter Barbara, and they're miles too big for her.' She allowed herself a small, slightly nervous chuckle. 'It's our fault she's been delayed. I insisted she stayed for tea, and Paul's down at the village this moment, getting the things you needed.'

Joanna's face was a blaze of colour, but Jake showed no sign of remorse at her discomfiture. 'I'm sorry you've been troubled, Mrs Trevor,' he observed flatly. 'I had no idea- Miss Seton had any intention of going to the village, or I would have saved her the trouble.' Brooding yellow eyes turned in Joanna's direction.

'Now, if you're ready ...'

His meaning was obvious, but Joanna couldn't understand why he should be so angry with her. What had she done after all?

Just taken tea with a neighbour! Nothing so very dreadful about that, surely!

He had no right to come here and act like she was some kind of kept creature who had managed to escape from custody.

'I can't go yet,' she declared tersely, trying to keep her temper in spite of her indignation, and his brows arched.

'No?'

'No,' she retorted, glancing apologetically at Mrs Trevor.

'Er-Paul's not back yet.'

Jake's lips compressed. 'Then perhaps you could change your trousers, and I'l take you to meet him,' he suggested, his eyes as bleak as his tone, and with another silent plea for understanding to the Trevors, she hurried out of the room. She had to pa.s.s him to do so, and her heart pounded a trifle erratically as she met that hard unflinching gaze. It didn't help to know that despite the discrepancy in their ages- Paul was at least ten or twelve years younger than Jake- the older man possessed a strength and virility the younger man did not, and Paul's good looks faded into insignificance when compared to Jake's hard features.

She heard Mrs Trevor endeavouring to make conversation with their unexpected guest as she hastened up the stairs, but she could not hear Jake's monosyllabic responses. She guessed he resented having to come here after her just as much as she resented the feeling of constraint his arrival had put upon her, but she couldn't excuse his treatment of her, or forgive his curtness in the face of the Trevors'

cordiality.

Her trousers had dried over the radiator in the bathroom. The radiators here were slightly more modern than those at Ravengarth, but the antiquated appointments of the bathroom were not. The cistern still gurgled ominously when any water was run off it, and the clawlike feet of the bath were an obvious hazard to unguarded toes.

But Joanna scarcely noticed these things as she hurriedly changed from Barbara's stretchy slacks into her own corded pants, and gave her reflection a hasty appraisal. Her cheeks were flushed, as well they might be after sitting by the fire all afternoon, she thought, although Jake's advent had not helped, and curling tendrils of honey-brown hair had escaped from the knot to stroke her tender nape. She looked doubtful and slightly apprehensive, but she tried to school her features into some semblance of composure before going back downstairs.

Her jacket was hanging on the banister at the foot of the stairs, and she hastily slipped this on before making her presence known again.

Jake was still standing in the doorway to the living room, resisting all offers the Trevors were making to take tea, or something stronger, or even to sit down. When Joanna appeared he turned in evident relief, and with a brief nod of farewell urged her impatiently towards the kitchen and ultimately the yard beyond.

Joanna tried to offer her thanks, and was relieved to see that Mr and Mrs Trevor did not appear to be offended by her employer's brusque behaviour.

'Come and see us again,' exclaimed Mrs Trevor warmly, 'and bring the little girl with you. Now that we've all got to know one another, perhaps we can be good neighbours.'

'Perhaps she'd like to ride one of the horses,' suggested Mr Trevor thoughtfully. 'They're not thoroughbreds, you understand,' this to Jake, 'but they'd give her a comfortable ride.'

'It's very kind of you, Mr Trevor, but -'