Read Online Over the Blue Mountains by Mary Burchell - Free Book Online Page B

retorted.
    “Sure? It appeared to.”
    With an effort she regained full control of her temper.
    “Mr. Ormathon, if Verity presumed to interpret any actions or words of mine she was almost certainly wrong.”
    “You don’t like Verity, do you?” he said thoughtfully.
    “I have no reason to do so,” Juliet replied coldly. And then, knowing that this would probably be construed as a piece of feminine spite, she wished she could have kept quiet.
    “Well, of course it’s no business of mine how you get on with your family...”
    “None at all,” Juliet agreed dryly.
    “Except that I am hoping to become part of that family in the future.”
    “Are you?” She was sufficiently interested to turn and look at him then. “You’re going to marry Verity, you mean?”
    “I hope so.”
    There was an awkward little pause. Then Juliet said, “I’m sorry if I implied criticism of my cousin. I certainly don’t want to do so to you, of all people. I’m not feeling too pleased with her at the moment, but the whole thing may be a case of misunderstanding—” she thought this handsome when she remembered some of the things Verity had said in the hotel bedroom in Singapore “—and I wouldn’t want to emphasize that just now. I hope you’re both—very happy.”
    “Thank you. It isn’t absolutely settled yet—” Juliet wondered a little what could be delaying a decision “—but I hope we shall be announcing our engagement soon.”
    No good to expect him to believe anything but Verity’s version of the situation, then! Oh, well—it didn’t really matter. In an hour or two she would be with Martin—and Max Ormathon would virtually have ceased to exist.
    Determinedly Juliet directed the conversation into other channels. And by now the scenery was becoming a very demanding topic. They had left the plains some little while ago and, by a curiously circuitous route, were beginning to climb the lower slopes of the heavily wooded hills.
    “Are these the Blue Mountains?” Juliet demanded eagerly.
    “The foothills leading to them,” he amended. “When we’ve climbed considerably higher, you’ll be able to see the characteristic flat tops of the mountains, and the strange blue shade that the atmosphere gives them.”
    “Really blue?” asked Juliet.
    “Really blue,” he assured her. “More so on some days than on others, of course. I’ve never seen it anywhere else. I think you’ll like it.”
    “I’m sure I shall. And I love the way all the trees seem to have kept their leaves, even though it’s wintertime. There’s nothing of the bareness that one associates with winter in the country at home.”
    “That’s because nearly all the trees you see here are one or other of the many gums. They don’t lose their leaves at all. They shed their bark instead. Like that—” he indicated a cluster of trees that looked as though some mischievous boys had been peeling the bark from them.
    “So if you see bare tree trunks, you know they are gum trees?”
    “Unless it’s a very thorough job and extends over a great area. Then you know that a fire has passed that way,” he told her dryly.
    “And does that often happen?”
    “Much too often.”
    “In this district?”
    “It can happen in almost any open district, unfortunately. Sometimes through carelessness, but more often through the sheer heat of the sun acting on some odd piece of glass or an old tinder-dry tree.”
    “It must be ... terrifying. The fires travel very rapidly over these great spaces, don’t they?”
    “Yes. Particularly if there is a strong wind blowing.” He made a slight face, and Juliet thought he was recalling some unwelcome personal experience.
    “Have you ever been in one?” she asked curiously.
    “I’ve helped to fight one or two. The worst are the kind that travel over the treetops.”
    “Over the treetops?” repeated Juliet in consternation.
    “More or less.” He smiled slightly at her tone. “There are two kinds of