Harbinger of Spring (15 page)

‘
None at all. In fact I was getting bored with my own company.
’

‘
Are you absolutely sure?
’
the girl asked.

‘
Quite, quite sure.
’

She laughed.
‘
Come along, Tom. Help me put a few things into a bag.
’

As they went into the saloon Ted grinned at Sara.

‘
You
’
re doing me a favour too, getting them out of my hair while I get the cabin floor up. Shall I come up to the house in the morning to take them off your hands?
’

‘
I
’
ll be glad to see you at any time, of course, but you don
’
t need to come especially for them. Ferrying them back again will give me something to do.
’

‘
Fine. I
’
ll tow her back to the yard and it
’
ll be ready
for them
any
time after nine
in the morning. Thanks for
the rescue service.
’

Sara laughed,
‘
Perhaps I
ought to set up a water
-
guard station in the Mill tower.
’

Hugh had brought her
launch alongside.
‘
All set
?
’

‘
Yes. They
’
re putting
some things into a bag.
’

‘
Then I suggest you get
into your launch and I
’
ll hand
them down.
’

He helped her from one
craft to the other, then went
aboard the cruiser again.
Mr.
Rodgers came out of the
cabin carrying two
fairly large grips and with two
cameras slung
around
his
neck.

There was some feminine
squealing as his wife was
helped over the rail, then, Sara did
not quite know how
it happened, but all three of them
were in the small
launch and Hugh was standing over
her with three life
jackets in his hands. He spoke
in a jesting fashion as
he distributed them, but his
deep blue eyes looked
straight into Sara
’
s.

‘
Put them on, folks. It
’
s
much too cold for swim
ming.
’

Sara struggled .into hers
and her cheeks reddened. She
knew she was being criticised
for coming without a life
jacket and felt
it wasn
’
t fair after she had hurried so
much
to avert what could have been a tragedy.

Not fair at all,
she thought as she swung away from the
side of
the yacht. Then another thought came to her. One
just could
not imagine a lifeboat
’
s crew putting to sea without
their
lifejackets.

But
she
couldn
’
t help wishing he wasn
’
t right quite so
often. He must
be a terrible man to live with.

CHAPTER V

In no time at all the young honeymoon couple made themselves at home in the house. She had become Sara, and they were Tom and Margaret. Obviously the two were very much in love with each other and kept together as closely as two fledglings in a nest.

Margaret volunteered to help make high tea, but ran back into the sitting room to Tom with such frequency that Sara laughingly told her to stay there.

During the meal, Sara received some kind of account of how the cruiser came to be aground, but she had to add her own slight knowledge of the waters to fill in the details. She concluded they had moored with their ropes pulled very tightly on the previous night, slept late and wakened to find their craft listing heavily and apparently hanging on its moorings. But it was all a matter of laughter to them now.

Sara laughed too, but not quite so heartily, remembering how low the
stern
had been in the water. A little more tilt and they would have wakened to an icy flood.

Later, as darkness gathered she drew the curtains and switched on lights and the television. Margaret sat close to Tom on the settee, his arm about her. Sara took a chair a little apart from them and felt almost as much alone as she did before their arrival. However, the programmes interested her, especially a discussion that almost became an argument between a land developer and a nature conservationist. Several film clips were used to illustrate the discussion and a particularly wild and open stretch called Breydon Water held her full attention. Shots were shown first in winter desolation when the place was thronged with birds of many species; then in high summer when river craft of all kinds made
constant processions and the bird
life consisted mainly
o
f
ducks.

The developer wanted mooring
places and holiday
chalets built for the benefit of those
who wished to get
away from crowded cities. The
conservationist said that
if this was allowed, the very peace
and quiet which people
wanted would be destroyed; also
that one of the few
natural sanctuaries for numerous
species of birds would
be lost to them and that they would
be decimated or
wiped out altogether.

As one fact or premise was
put against another, Sara
found herself wishing she had
an intelligent commentator
at her side, someone who would
inform her further with
out bias, someone like Hugh.
But perhaps Hugh was
biased too. He was a naturalist
and would undoubtedly
lean to the side of nature.

The programme ended and
she thought so much about
Hugh that the old movie which
followed might have been
in a foreign language for all
she knew of the plot.

When it came to an end,
Sara went to make bedtime
drinks rind as she stood
waiting for the milk to heat she
wondered why Hugh was so
much in her thoughts and
why she was still not very
angry with him. After all,
flaring up
and
asking people
to leave the house was not a
habit of hers.

Still, it was good
to know there was a truce between
them. In these parts
they could be called near neigh
bours so were bound
to meet occasionally.

She carried
the tray
in
and unintentionally interrupted a
tender love
scene. They all laughed off the slight
embarrassment,
but Sara said
:

‘
I
’
m
going
to bed when
I
’
ve
had my drink. You two
can please yourselves.
’

‘
I
suppose
that
living in
the country, you get up early,
’
Margaret said.

‘
Well, not too
early. About seven.
’
Sara saw no reason to say that this was not her permanent
home.
She smiled.
‘
I
’
ll bring you a tray of tea
about eight.
’

‘
Home from home,
’
Tom said.
‘
Are all Norfolk
people as kind as you are?
’

‘
All that I
’
ve met.
’

She chatted for a few more minutes,
then said good
night. Foolish pair, she thought with a smile
as she was getting
ready for bed, they could hardly let go
of each
other long enough to eat a biscuit.
Still, it must be
rather wonderful to feel like that.
Would
it
last? she
wondered.

The
following morning Sara said
goodbye to
them
at
the boatyard and walked back through
deep snow to where
her launch was moored, but before
stepping into
it she looked about. Switzerland seemed
to
have
come
to Norfolk overnight. The sun was
shining and the
sharp, peaked roofs of the boathouse and
other sheds
were wearing white, woolly caps. Tree
branches had
doubled in thickness and were now gently
curved where
they had previously been angular, while
on the surface
of the water small snow islands drifted
slowly upstream
with the rising tide.

Sara had stood only a moment
or
two,
but it was long
enough to bring a flotilla of ducks
and a pair
of
swans
paddling towards her. Then to
one side of her
she
heard
a loud shout.

‘
Cruiser, ahoy!
’

Turning quickly, Sara saw
Tom piloting
his
craft away
from the moorings in an acute
turn and apparently un
aware of a yacht under full sail
bearing down on
him at speed. She shouted, too, but
a collision appeared
inevitable. Sara held her breath, then she
saw the
yacht
’
s sails flap wildly and the
long
boom
which was
out
to
one side was swung heavily inboard. She had
a
glimpse of Hugh hauling at yards and yards of
rope,
then the yacht, heeled well over, was running
alongside the
cruiser and only a
few inches from it. The yacht picked
up more speed, then
when it was thirty or forty yards
clear of the cruiser it
turned completely about and headed
for the quay. Sara
came out of a sort of trance as the
yacht came gently
to a stop alongside the quay.

‘
You gave me the
thrill of a lifetime,
’
she said as Hugh
stepped ashore, a mooring
line in his hand.
‘
I was sure
there was going to be
a nasty accident.
’

‘
They can usually be
avoided with the right tactics,
’
he answered
casually.

She looked at him curiously.
‘
You don
’
t seem at all
put out. I
’
m
sure I would have been.
’

He gave a shrug.
‘
You
have to make allowances for
holidaymakers—especially
honeymooners. Tom won
’
t
turn out of a dock like
that again. He
’
ll make sure it
’
s
all clear the next
time.
’

‘
That
’
s very tolerant.
’
He could be when it suited
him, apparently.

‘
How did you find their
company last night?
’
he
asked.

Sara laughed,
‘
Frankly boring.
They were so
wrapped up in each other I hardly
existed.
’

‘
I
’
m sorry about that, but I
daresay you knew just
how they felt.
’

‘
Not really. I don
’
t
think I
’
ve ever been in—such
a state of trance.
’

‘
You will.
’

He spoke with
such conviction that Sara was tempted
to ask why he felt
so sure, but she remembered there was
only
an
unspoken
truce between them and changed the
subject.

‘
I suppose there
’
s a lot to learn about sailing?
’
she
asked,
as he seemed in no hurry to go.

‘
A
great deal if you go into it fully,
’
he answered,
‘
but
one
can
have
a lot of fun with a little elementary know
how.
Would
you
like to try your hand?
’

‘
I
’
d love to.
’

‘
Well, I
’
ve only come in to the boatyard for a bottle of gas, so why not now?
’

Sara looked at her watch and shook her head.
‘
I couldn
’
t this morning. I
’
ve asked Sam Blake to have coffee with me at eleven o
’
clock. Perhaps—
’

‘
This afternoon?
’

‘
Oh yes.
’
Sara felt surprised at her own eagerness, but he seemed to take it as a matter of course.

‘
Good. I
’
ll be at the end of your dyke at one o
’
clock. Bring a pair of gloves with you, old ones if you have them. Here
’
s young Peter coming with my cylinder of gas. I
’
ll give him a hand with the truck.
’

Sara was turning into the Mill dyke when it occurred to her that one o
’
clock was an unusual time to begin learning to sail. Most people lunched about that hour, but Hugh was probably not like most people. In fact she was sure he was not. Photographing in the very early morning or at night was hardly conventional. Well, she didn
’
t think herself hidebound.

She could hear the bulldozer quite plainly as she entered the kitchen and as soon as she had plugged in the coffee percolator she ran up to her room. From her window she watched the ruthless progress of the machine as its angled blade built up a ridge of snow and dead growth to one side of the roadway. Then, almost before she realized it had happened, there was a clear passage to the end of her garden and the roar of the machine died away.

Running down the stairs, Sara tugged open the half frozen back door and called out,

‘
Good morning, Sam. You
’
re right on time. Come inside.
’

He cleared his heavy boots of snow and scrubbed them hard on the doormat, smiling all the time.

‘
That
’
s tidy going this morning, miss—the old ground
being real hard.
’