Read Online The Tender Glory by Jean S. Macleod - Free Book Online Page A

this when you had so much to look forward to,” she said.
    “I don’t want that sort of sympathy,” Alison answered immediately. “I knew what I was doing.” “All the same,” Tessa argued, “you must feel cheated. You might have had a distinguished career, like my sister.”
    Her voice had sharpened on the last three words, but it was impossible to read her expression as she turned her head away.
    “I could never hope to be as distinguished as Leone Searle, even in my own field,” Alison said impulsively. “She had the world at her feet.”
    Tessa laughed.
    “That was the way she liked it. And now she’s dead.”
    Anguish lay beneath the clipped observation and a certain amount of resentment, yet it seemed scarcely possible that Tessa hadn’t admired her talented sister. Universally proclaimed, Leone’s beauty had complimented her perfect voice, the two perfections going hand-in-hand, the one reflecting the other.
    Looking at Tessa it was difficult to believe that the two were sisters. Leone had been as fair as Tessa was dark.
    “She was my half-sister,” Tessa volunteered, as if she had read her thoughts.
    “I didn’t know.”
    “Her mother died not long after she was born. Do you believe people are—recompensed in some other way for that sort of thing?”
    The odd question caught Alison unawares.
    “For that sort of loss, do you mean?”
    “For any loss.”
    “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it.”
    “I have. Leone had everything she wanted because she knew how to take it.”
    Alison turned to the door.
    “She was more than talented, Tessa,” she said quietly. “Her singing was wonderful.”
    “Oh, yes—her singing! Everybody fell for that. Even Huntley. She couldn’t be mean or little or selfish with such a heavenly voice. That’s what he thought, and that’s why he lives up there at Sterne.”
    “I can imagine how he must feel,” Alison said.
    “One day he’ll have to come back to Calders,” Tessa said. “He realises that, but he was getting it ready for Leone.” She limped towards the door. “I could make it up to him,” she added almost defiantly.
    Alison looked round at her, trying to hide her shocked surprise. “You don’t think so?” Tessa challenged.
    “I—don’t know anything about it.” Alison felt suddenly chilled to the bone. “I haven’t been here long enough to judge.”
    Tessa’s short, abrupt laugh was bitter in the extreme. “You don’t have to live for ever to realise the truth,” she said. “What are you going to do here all the time, Alison Christie? Have you got a piano to play?”
    “Not a very good one,” Alison was forced to admit. “It’s an old upright, the one I first practised on.”
    “We have one here,” Tessa said unexpectedly. “And there’s one at Calders. You could come here whenever you liked.”
    A remote sort of loneliness seemed to be reaching out to her and Alison was quick to respond.
    “I’d like to, very much, if your father wouldn’t mind,” she said. “Mind? He’d be overjoyed,” Tessa assured her. “I’m a terrible responsibility to him. All he wants to do is fish.” “He can’t fish all day long,” Alison countered, “and I’m sure he doesn’t consider you a burden. Do you get out much, Tessa?’ The wary look came back into the dark eyes.
    “I don’t go out alone, if that’s what you’re asking. Sometimes Huntley takes me with him when he goes to Dingwall or Inverness, and he calls in most days.”
    In a rather pathetic way she was underlining Huntley Daviot’s interest in her and, of course, it could be true, but even Tessa had said that he was still living in the shadow of his former love. Leone was still there, the ever-present, dominant influence in his life. He still mourned her, still found it impossible to return to Calders, which he had been preparing for a bride.
    “Perhaps you would like to come to Craigie Hill some time,” she suggested, moving towards the van. “I