The Girl From Over the Sea (8 page)

Lesley said heatedly,
^f
I don
’
t care whether you were in the Royal Navy or the Grenadier Guards. This is my
...
our dog
and I
’
m not moving from here till I take him with me
.’

The gardener scratched his forehead and looked more apologetic than ever.
‘
You
’
ll be staying here a long time, then, ma
’
am
.’
His heavy face suddenly brightened.
‘
Would
y
ou think of going down to the Lodge, ma
’
am, and seeing
Mr.
Defontaine
?
He wouldn
’
t be saying no to a pretty young lady like you
.’

‘
Saying no to my taking my own dog?
’
ejaculated Lesley, her eyes sparkling with fight.
‘
I should like to see him try
!
’

All the time she was speaking she was pulling at the formidable knots. She hadn
’
t brought her handbag out with her, which was a pity because in it she had a pair of nail scissors which might have made an impression on that thick rope.

She raised big, and for a moment, guileless green eyes to the gardener
’
s. If he
’
d been a sailor he surely wouldn
’
t be disobliging to a woman. Sailors had a reputation for chivalry.

‘
Couldn
’
t you say he
’
d just got away?
’
she asked.

The man shook his head.
‘
I
’
m sorry, ma
’
am, but I couldn
’
t for shame tell
Mr.
Defontaine that. He
’
s got a tongue that bites and I
’
d feel real oncomfortable, that I would. I couldn
’
t look
‘
un in the eye and say that a little old dog had got away when I
’
d tied
‘
un up.
Mr.
Defontaine now,
‘
un
...’

‘
Oh, be damned to
Mr.
Defontaine
!
Who does he think he is?
’
ejaculated Lesley in exasperation.
‘
The Lord High Admiral of your Royal Navy?
’
She was hurting her fingers badly, pulling at these wretched knots.

She was suddenly conscious of a silence behind her, the sort of silence that can be felt. She saw that the gardener
’
s heavy face was wearing a look of consternation while Dingo, flat on his stomach, was crawling forward, wagging his tail ingratiatingly. Naturally, it was
Mr.
Blake Defontaine himself. He
’
d probably heard her last remark, hence the gardener
’
s embarrassment. For Dingo
’
s peculiar behaviour she had no explanation at all.

‘
Will you tell this man to release my dog
,’
she said in a curt clear voice as she got up from where she had been crouching.

‘
Right, Wonnacott, I
’
ll deal with this. You get on with your own work,
’
said Defontaine, ignoring Lesley and the dog
—
obviously both unimportant.
‘
And don
’
t forget
,’
he went on coolly,
‘
I
w
ant those tomato seedlings brought to the lab
first thing in the morning.
’

Lesley was seething with fury. He had turned away, deliberately ignoring her remark and causing the gardener to ignore her too. Yet this estate was theirs
...
well, Ricky
’
s.

‘
Will you be so good as to do as I ask? Get this man to release my dog,
’
she said now in a voice that she tried hard to make cold and calm. Raging at him would have no effect, she knew that.

He made a gesture to the gardener who went lumbering down the path. Then he turned back to Lesley, eyeing her with a hard, expressionless stare.
‘
You were saying?
’
he queried.

‘
I
was asking you to release my dog,
’
she said in a voice that she strove to keep very small.

‘
So he
’
s
your
dog. I
’
ve tried to establish his ownership, but that young brother of yours didn
’
t seem very certain. Well, now we can get down to brass tacks. First of all, have you a licence for him?
’

‘
A licence?
’
Lesley blanched and looked up quickly, noting the irony in his bleak eyes. She couldn
’
t help feeling that he had Ricky in mind for more than one thing. Ricky, who hadn
’
t a licence for his dog and hadn
’
t a driving licence.

She forced her voice into nonchalance.
‘
A licence
?’
she repeated.
‘
I don
’
t really know.
’

‘
What do you mean by saying you don
’
t know? Either you have or you haven
’
t.
’
His eyes were cold now, that same cold pewter colour of the February sea, and his voice had a contemptuous
edge to it. As if in his own mind he was branding her as a liar and a cheat
...
over more than the licence for Dingo.

She thrust her hands deeply into her pockets.
‘
Look, I don
’
t see what business it is of yours whether we have a dog licence or not.
’

‘
I suppose that means you haven
’
t one,
’
he said now, propping himself by the lintel of the open door. He looked consideringly at Dingo. That renegade
was
again wagging his tail ingratiatingly and looking up at his captor an adoring grin on his silly face—the sort of look he had never given any of them, thought Lesley indignantly.

‘
If you
’
re going to keep him, you
’
d better get a licence for him,
’
Blake Defontaine went on, making no attempt to meet Dingo
’
s friendly overtures half or even a quarter of the way.
‘
And while you stay here
,’
he continued,
‘
he must be tied up except when you take him out for exercise. He needs training to come to heel when he
’
s called.
’

Who does he think he is, giving out orders like this? Lesley asked herself in a fu
r
y. She would have left him standing, but he was between the door and herself and she had still got to free Dingo.

‘
If you think I
’
m going to have him tied up all the time you
’
ve made a mistake. I wouldn
’
t be so cruel. In Australia
...’

‘
You
’
re not in Australia now
,’
he pointed out irritatingly.
‘
But even there, one supposes dogs obey their owners and are trained to leave sheep and lambs alone.
’

‘
What proof have you that Dingo would chase lambs?
’
she asked frigidly.

‘
None, and I
’
m not proposing to risk finding out. We
’
re breeding pedigree stock at the Home Farm—animals that are too valuable to be chased over the cliffs
.’

We
!
That word again,
’
as if he identified himself with every aspect of life at Trevendone. What bad luck that Dingo had run foul of him again before Ricky
’
s .claim had bee
n
established! Once it
w
a
s
...

‘
Do you know anything about training a dog?
‘
The question came suddenly and Lesley, wrapped in her own gloomy thoughts, jumped.
‘
No, I don
’
t
,’
she admitted.

‘
Then why did you buy the dog?
’

‘
I didn
’
t buy him. He was to all intents and purposes a stray, and the twins couldn
’
t bear his being turned out, which is what our landlady in London was going to do. So
...’

He pounced on that.
‘
So it isn
’
t really your dog. Those children
!’

‘
They aren
’
t children
,’
she flung back.
‘
They both look much younger than they are because they
’
re so small and slight
.’

Her face suddenly went very stubborn. Why was he spending so much time here ... as if he was trying to find out every single thing about her, looking at her with his cold intent eyes?

‘
Blake darling, so
this
is where you are. I waited
...’

The speaker wasn
’
t where Lesley could see her yet, but she
stiffened, disliking instinctively that smooth—and what Lesley considered affected—drawl. Dingo evidently agreed with her. He set up his vociferous barking until a cuff from Defontaine sent him down on his stomach wagging his tail ingratiatingly.

In a leisurely manner, Defontaine now turned, presumably smiling a greeting, for Lesley did not hear him speak. She was bending down again struggling with the knots, determined not to give up.

Now that penetrating voice came again.
‘
Surely that dog isn
’
t still there? I thought we
’
d decided it had better be put down.
’

Incredulous amazement and a kind of tearing rage shot through Lesley. She got up and almost leapt across the space towards the door. She gamed a swift impression of a tall young woman with long black hair dressed in an expensive suede coat with a sheepskin collar and high
‘
suede boots which matched exactly the colour of her coat. There
w
as something vaguely familiar about her, but Lesley didn
’
t pause to sort that out. She just though
t
, so this is his wife—his lady, as the gardener had put it.

She said hotly,
‘
If anybody injures my dog in any way they
’
ll be sorry for it, believe me
!’

‘
What have we here? Blake, don
’
t tell me you
’
ve tied the girl up as well as the mongrel
!
’
The dark young woman
’
s face was a picture of amused contempt.

As she saw that smile for Lesley the picture fell into place. But of course, this was the girl who had stood in the doorway of the house, on the cliffs at St Benga Town and had seemed inclined to let her Borzoi take up Dingo
’
s pathetic challenge.

‘
Sorrel, go on ahead. I
’
ll join you in a minute or two
,’
Defontaine said, standing between the two girls.

The one he had spoken to laughed again.
‘
Take my advice, Blake, tie her up with the dog. These wild and woolly savages from over the sea need to be disciplined
.’