Murder Among Us (34 page)

"Of course, why not?"

"I thought you'd be too angry." She gazed at him bewildered.

He scowled at her in a most ferocious and alarming manner. "And why, Miss Foster, should I be so angry as to go back on my offer? It is not my habit to do such a thing. I am a man of my word!"

"No, I wasn't suggesting you—I mean, I made a scene at the hotel and Robin tried to burn it down. I am so very sorry about all of it. If you're still willing to let me lease the new site, it's incredibly generous of you. I'm so grateful. Will you rebuild the hotel?"

"Yes. I've already engaged a builder. It is a set-back but it is not your fault. I shall begin again."

"That's very courageous of you," said Zoe simply.

Eric stared at her. Then he said very quietly, "I am not the only courageous one. You too have a great deal of courage.

"Zoe, when I was a young man, your age—" He paused and shrugged resignedly. "I dedicated my life to a sport and spent all my time perfecting my skills at it. I didn't worry myself what I was going to do twenty years later when the sporting life was well over and I'd be in situations calling for quite different skills which I hadn't had time to learn. To learn them now in middle

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age is difficult. On the ice I was quick and clever, with you I'm clumsy and stupid. Old dogs don't learn new tricks and I doubt I'll ever learn these now! But you have time for so many other cranky old beasts, so perhaps you can find it in your heart to be kind to this one? The hotel is not the only thing in which I should like to begin again—if it's possible."

Zoe shifted her feet and drew a line in the dust with the upturned handle of the fork. "Urn, yes. So—so would I."

"In fact, to show I am quite willing to adjust my ideas completely, I have come here today to work."

"What?" She gaped at him.

Eric removed the fork her grasp. "I shall finish this task. Only show me where I am to begin."

Zoe warned, "It's a bit smelly. One of them's got an upset turn."

Grim resolution crossed Eric's face. "Nevertheless, I shall do it."

He did blench slightly when she took him into the barn but drove in the fork and began shovelling straw with a will.

Eric worked all morning. He cleaned out the barn. He not only oiled the hinges on the paddock gate but took the whole structure off and rehung it, pointing out that it always would squeal like that if it were left sagging. He also mended the handle of the pump and tidied up the yard. The yard, thought Zoe, had never been so tidy. It had acquired, even in its ramshackle state, a faint air of a model Swiss farm, all the buckets in a row. Even the animals seemed to sense a new hand on the tiller. When Eric strode towards the paddock, they all came to the fence and lined up, waiting quietly with ears pricked. Except for Maud, of course, who turned her back on him.

"I should at least offer you some lunch," she said tentatively when he finally stopped work and came and stood before her. "I can cut some sandwiches."

on the stomach. No, it would please me very much if you would let me take you to lunch somewhere."

'Tm all scruffy."

"Yes. But you can clean up a little, can't you? I cannot, of course, invite you to my restaurant because Harding set it afire. But there is a little pub in the next village which, I am told, serves quite adequate light lunches. And they will not require smart clothes, only clean ones. It is a very quiet place."

"I should like that!" Zoe said and smiled. "Somewhere quiet would be just fine."