Read Online Land of Heart's Desire by Catherine Airlie - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Catherine Airlie
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In places the turf and loosening earth of the cliff top overhung as much as two or three yards; in others there was an ugly bite where erosion had already completed its sinister work.
And the path she had been about to take went close to the cliff edge right along the undermined section of treacherous green turf. At any moment, with her added weight to give it impetus, the whole loosening structure might have plunged headlong to the rocks two hundred feet or more below.
Sickened by the very thought, she shivered and closed her eyes. What a fool she had been! What a reckless, irresponsible fool!
“What must you think of me?” she said involuntarily, not looking at her companion. “I had no idea—”
“I’m sure you hadn’t,” he answered crisply. “But the path has been creeping steadily nearer to the cliff edge for years. Until I can flatten out a new one, I have to leave that notice up. Perhaps,” he added thoughtfully, “I might have worded it better. What would you have said?”
She was still suffering from reaction. Her nerves were jarred and her voice was not quite steady when she said: “Does it matter? We will have to accustom ourselves to your blunt behaviour, Mr. Sutherland, so one notice, more or less, can’t make a great deal of difference.”
“Look here,” he challenged immediately, “is that quite fair?”
She knew that it wasn’t, that she ought to apologize at once, but his summary treatment of her up there on the cliff still rankled. Any dignity which she might have hung on to had been lost and she had not been able to clutch it back.
“It is a bit below the belt, you know,” he pointed out. “It’s quite true that I could have said ‘Danger: this path closed temporarily because of erosion’, but there wasn’t time for that. I came along here a couple of days ago and saw the state things were in and that was the first notice I could lay my hands on. In Canada we wouldn’t think twice about a thing like that,” he added thoughtfully. “If a road’s closed we accept the fact. It’s bound to be closed for a reason.”
“Isn’t it rather a pity,” she suggested waspishly, “that you ever left Canada, Mr. Sutherland?”
As soon as the words were uttered she was sorry. She was being rude and very unfair, she acknowledged, but her heart had only just begun to slow down after their violent encounter and words seemed to be her only means of defence.
She saw that she had stung him because his mouth hardened and his eyes narrowed to thin green slits beneath the beetling red brows.
“I don’t think so,” he said decisively. “I came here with the intention of being neighbourly, though, and it’s just as well that I’m not easily scared away. It will take more than a tiff over a notice board to convince me that I’m in the wrong place.”
“I’m sorry,” she said at last. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. I suppose I must have been—rather shaken by what has just happened.”
“I guess so,” he agreed not unkindly, although his mouth was still rather grim.
“You have every right to be here,” she rushed on. “More than I have, in fact.” She turned back towards the causeway. “Oh—”
Horrified, she saw that the tide had already turned. It must have been over the full ebb before she had left the other side and now it was hurrying in over the sand to lap round the shallow stones of the only way back to Erradale.
“I must go,” she told him hastily. “I had no idea how long it had been at low water.”
“You can’t make it,” he said decisively. “You’d be caught half way—trapped.”
She felt trapped now. He had not needed to tell her that she could not hope to race that swift flow of water through the narrow gap between the headlands. She looked round at him helplessly.
“There’s nothing else for it,” he said. “You’ll have to come back to Ardtornish with me.”
“I couldn’t,” she said. “I simply couldn’t!”
“Can
And the path she had been about to take went close to the cliff edge right along the undermined section of treacherous green turf. At any moment, with her added weight to give it impetus, the whole loosening structure might have plunged headlong to the rocks two hundred feet or more below.
Sickened by the very thought, she shivered and closed her eyes. What a fool she had been! What a reckless, irresponsible fool!
“What must you think of me?” she said involuntarily, not looking at her companion. “I had no idea—”
“I’m sure you hadn’t,” he answered crisply. “But the path has been creeping steadily nearer to the cliff edge for years. Until I can flatten out a new one, I have to leave that notice up. Perhaps,” he added thoughtfully, “I might have worded it better. What would you have said?”
She was still suffering from reaction. Her nerves were jarred and her voice was not quite steady when she said: “Does it matter? We will have to accustom ourselves to your blunt behaviour, Mr. Sutherland, so one notice, more or less, can’t make a great deal of difference.”
“Look here,” he challenged immediately, “is that quite fair?”
She knew that it wasn’t, that she ought to apologize at once, but his summary treatment of her up there on the cliff still rankled. Any dignity which she might have hung on to had been lost and she had not been able to clutch it back.
“It is a bit below the belt, you know,” he pointed out. “It’s quite true that I could have said ‘Danger: this path closed temporarily because of erosion’, but there wasn’t time for that. I came along here a couple of days ago and saw the state things were in and that was the first notice I could lay my hands on. In Canada we wouldn’t think twice about a thing like that,” he added thoughtfully. “If a road’s closed we accept the fact. It’s bound to be closed for a reason.”
“Isn’t it rather a pity,” she suggested waspishly, “that you ever left Canada, Mr. Sutherland?”
As soon as the words were uttered she was sorry. She was being rude and very unfair, she acknowledged, but her heart had only just begun to slow down after their violent encounter and words seemed to be her only means of defence.
She saw that she had stung him because his mouth hardened and his eyes narrowed to thin green slits beneath the beetling red brows.
“I don’t think so,” he said decisively. “I came here with the intention of being neighbourly, though, and it’s just as well that I’m not easily scared away. It will take more than a tiff over a notice board to convince me that I’m in the wrong place.”
“I’m sorry,” she said at last. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. I suppose I must have been—rather shaken by what has just happened.”
“I guess so,” he agreed not unkindly, although his mouth was still rather grim.
“You have every right to be here,” she rushed on. “More than I have, in fact.” She turned back towards the causeway. “Oh—”
Horrified, she saw that the tide had already turned. It must have been over the full ebb before she had left the other side and now it was hurrying in over the sand to lap round the shallow stones of the only way back to Erradale.
“I must go,” she told him hastily. “I had no idea how long it had been at low water.”
“You can’t make it,” he said decisively. “You’d be caught half way—trapped.”
She felt trapped now. He had not needed to tell her that she could not hope to race that swift flow of water through the narrow gap between the headlands. She looked round at him helplessly.
“There’s nothing else for it,” he said. “You’ll have to come back to Ardtornish with me.”
“I couldn’t,” she said. “I simply couldn’t!”
“Can
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