by Pamela Kent
their feet and express my gratitude... while still reserving the right to remain free. To me your sister is a calculating, scheming, cold-blooded,
particularly unlikeable type of young woman...
despite those obvious looks of hers. And if it be
comes necessary for me to tell her so I shall have
no hesitation in doing so... and don't forget I
hold the whip-hand! I am the rightful owner of
Falaise!" Harriet felt suddenly slightly aghast, because he and Gay had'quite a lot in common in actual fact. If she was scheming and ruthless, then he �under certain circumstances�could, Harriet felt certain, be almost equally ruthless. She glanced upwards at his square jaw, and saw the dark, ruthless look in his eyes, and despite the fact that she was in love with him, and would always remain in love with him, a strange little thrill of excitement swept over her because
THE MAN WHO GAME BACK 169
|here was a man who would always be master of Jhis own fate, and no amount of intimidation
|would ever have the slightest effect on him. He |was not only the exact prototype of the man in Jthe portrait; he was probably, basically, exactly
|like him in temperament. I He was a man who had come back to Falaise
|to take up the threads that had eluded him, and Iwhich he now proposed to sort out and tie to| gether more tightly than ever.
| By marrying her! ,
CHAPTER VIII
IN the end she persuaded him to allow her to return to Falaise by herself, and to break the news to her half-sister while he was not on hand to witness Gay's reaction.
It was fortunate that she did this, for Gay was waiting for her when she got back to Falaise, and the scene would have been quite horrible� from Harriet's point of view, at any rate�if Philip had been there to add fuel to the flame of her sister's fire. Although, on the other hand, if he had been there Harriet might have beenspared the furious tirade that greeted her when she set foot in the hall.
Gay was pacing up and down, looking like an elegant tigress with unconcealed claws. She pounced immediately Harriet closed the door behind her.
"Where have you been?" There was so much undisguised hostility in her face that Harriet was astounded. "You might as well know that I've a pretty shrewd idea where you've been,, so don't think up any excuses!"
Harriet summoned together all the shreds of her dignity. "Then, if, you know, there's really no need for 170
THE MAN WHO CAME BACK 171
you to ask me where I've been, is there?" she retaliated swiftly.
Gay went close to her; She was wearing one of the new outfits she had bought recently in London, and she really did look exceptionally
/soignee and attractive ... but the depths of her violet eyes were black with rage. To Harriet's astonishment they were as black as minute. coals, or exceptionally large pinheads. And at the back of them an angry fire glowed.
"Cook said she saw you going into Dr. Drew's house, and she thought you were collecting some medicine. But as this happens to be Dr. Drew's half day there was unlikely to be any medicine� either for you or for me�awaiting your collection ! Besides, I got the car out and drove past the house half an hour ago, and your car was neatly parked inside the drive gates. Were you having a prolonged consultation, or something of the sort?"
"No." Harriet sat down on a carved oak chair, because she felt the need of some support all at once... and was warned by the glitter in Gay's eyes. "As you've just said, Dr. Drew is not seeing patients this afternoon."
"But he saw you!" "I had tea with him."
"What?"
Gay fairly shrieked the word at her. Then she advanced on her sister and caught her by the arm and dragged her up off her chair. "Why
Y
172 THE MAN WHO CAME BACK
you?" she demanded, her voice quivering and somewhat inarticulate, as if she could barely enunciate. "Are you in' the habit of having tea
with Philip Drew?"
"I had it once before."
"When?" But without waiting for an answer Gay rushed on. "And yet he can't find time to see me! He's too busy.... His housekeeper has' to make excuses for him! I think I begin to understand why Dr. Drew doesn't want to see me!"
Harriet moistened her lips. She decided there was no point in keeping the truth from her sister any longer.
"Philip and I are going to be married," she stated, not bluntly but with a quiet sort of emphasis. "He wanted to come back with me this afternoon and tell-you, but I decided I'd better be the one to tell you first."
Gay stared at her, at first with blank amazement driving every other expression out of her face, and then wim a mixture of expressions' fighting for supremacy. She turned rather white, and then the dark red stain of resentment swept upwards from her neck.
"I�I don't believe you!" she said.
"But it's true!"
Gay's perfect little front teeth caught at her lower lip.
"Does he know about Falaise ? Have you gone
THE MAN WHO GAME BA.CK 173 over to the enemy and told him everything there is to be told?" "He's known about Falaise for some time, and of course I didn't do anything of the kind. As a matter of fact, I'm not really interested in Falaise, and neither is Philip. He's much more interested in continuing in his practice in London, and that's where we'll live when we're married. Falaise is yours, and you don't have to fear that it will be taken away from you�" "I don't believe you!" Gay fairly- hissed the words at her. "And I know perfectly well that Philip Drew is very interested in Falaise.... And he's particularly interested in the income that will be his if I ever agree to surrender it to him! But I give you my word I will not surrender it to him, not ever! I'll fight for that which is legally mine, and if necessary, go on fighting." Harriet regarded her pitifully. "You know very well," she said with determined gentleness, "that legally the house is not yours, and that goes for the income from the estate as well. You were the very first person to admit to me that Philip has every right to Falaise, and you went to London for the purpose of proving yourself right. You even made up your mind to marry him in order to secure what is no longer yours!" Gay ground her teeth together. "And but for you, I probably could have married him ... easily," she snapped at her
174 THE MAN WHO CAME BACK furiously. "What man in his senses would look at you while I was around?" Contempt filled her voice and her look. "A pale imitation of all that I am, and all that you ever hope to be! I don't know how you've managed it, but it's probably got something to do with that picture you found m the attic, and that bump you received on the head while I was away...." Swept along by her suspicions, she invented them freely as she hurled accusations at her sister. "I don't know what you've done to Philip Drew, or just how systematically you've worked on him; but I understand that while I was away in London you pretended to be suffering from something like concussion and he visited you late at night in your room. Cook, who admitted him to the house, was naturally surprised that he came so late when, so far as she knew, you were not really ill... and she was much more surprised when he refused to allow her to go upstairs with him, and when he stayed so long in your room. If, as he said, you were in need of a sedative, then there was no need for the two of you to be alone together�in fact, it was entirely incorrect and unethical!�while he administered it, and while Cook hung about in the hall in case he needed her, and in order to lock up the house after he had left. I've no reason to believe that Cook is a serious gossip, but you can't blame her if she did gossip about the incident to her close connections ... and to anyone else who was in
THE MAN WHO GAME BACK 175
terested. Dr. Drew and the mistress's half-sister having fun while the cat was away! ..."
There was so much venom in Gay's voice that Harriet recoiled from her. And at the same time, while her cheeks flushed hotly and she felt as if she had been skilfully humiliated by so much deliberate innuendo, she started to protest.
"I don't believe that Cook talked about me in t
he village. She isn't that kind, for one thing! And if you found out about Philip visiting me late at night it was because you dragged the incident out of her!" She recalled that Cook had been looking at her somewhat apologetically of late�since the mistress's return from London� and now she knew why it was. Since her return from London Gay had had her suspicions aroused, and because it was important to her to marry Philip she had gone out of her way to extract information. Harriet's voice grew warm with indignation. "And Philip really did give me a sedative that night. We went upstairs to the attics to look for the portrait�which you had had removed!�and I cracked my head on an overhead beam, and had to go to bed early because I felt so awful. Philip came in rather late to see how I was and give me something to help me to sleep�"
Gay smiled in a most unpleasant manner.
"Clever Harriet!" she commented. "Even I didn't know that my kind elder sister was so clever! But then you are getting a little .old for
176 THE MAN WHO CAME BACK
love's young dream, aren't you? And I expect it
occurred to you that some effort on your part was called for if you were to avoid developing into a sour old spinster. You remember Great- Aunt Melanie, and Great-Aunt Kate ... We rather run to spinsters in our family! And although Great-Aunt Harriet would sound just as good I don't suppose it appealed to you all that much. So, when Philip Drew came along, and" you knew I had designs on him, you decided to queer my pitch at the very first opportunity that was presented to you, and that opportunity occurred when I was stupid enough to go off to London before I'd tied all the ends up here. You hadn't much time, so you fell back on the oldest trick in the book... you lured him into your room."
Harriet was aghast. "How can you say such a thing?" she exclaimed. "Because it's so obviously true'. One visit from the doctor�one professional visit!�and you get engaged to him!" "You have an unpleasant mind," Harriet rebuked her, amazed that her sister could stoop so low. Gay's lips curled unrepentandy. , "I'm a realist," she said, "and I had to fight
for my own man once. Bruce wasn't all that easy to get." There were bright patches of scarlet on her cheeks, and her slim breasts were heaving.
THE MAN WHO CAME BACK 177
"But you�you always pretended to be so straitlaced! You were never seriously interested in men. But now it appears you developed such an
interest in one that you forgot all your high principles and went right out to get him. Even at the cost of getting yourself talked about, and having Cook's eyebrows go up because she wouldn't have believed it of you�!"
"That is absolutely untrue ... and you know it!" A quiet, disdainful masculine voice from the neighbourhood of the open drawing-room
caused her to wheel round, and Philip Drew's
hard and slightly merciless dark eyes bored contemptuously into hers.
"You have a habit of leaving your french windows standing open," he said, "and for the second time I availed myself of a somewhat inconspicuous form of entry. I had an idea Harriet might need me, and so I decided it was best to be on hand ... and apparently my instincts were right. If you were Harriet's brother instead of her sister�half-sister, I believe, as a matter of fact?�I'd force you to eat those words you've just so lightly bandied about."
Gay recoiled as if he had seriously startled her.
"You had no right to play the part of eavesdropper," she accused him. "And you had no right at all to force your way in here!"
"On the contrary," with much suavity, "I
178 THE MAN WHO CAME BACK
have every right! Falaise is mine... by right! You yourself must know that very well, as I understand you've been pursuing enquiries that have put you in possession of a number of somewhat disquieting facts."
Gay attempted to put a good face on it. She also decided to pretend that she had no idea at all what he was talking about.
"You must be mad," she said coolly. "This house belonged to my husband, and as I am my husband's widow it is now mine."
"Your husband never had the slightest legal entitlement to it. My solicitors found that out months ago ... and your solicitor, if you are wise enough to consult him, will tell you the same thing."
It was Harriet who, all at once, looked badly startled.
"But, Philip," she protested, "you said you had no intention of pressing your claim...." Her eyes pleaded with him in bewilderment. "Only this afternoon we agreed that you would do nothing about this house, and that Gay could keep it... because we didn't want it!"
As she stared into his eyes she felt she was staring into the eyes of a stranger.
"Ah, but that was before I found my way in here just now," he agreed. "Since finding my way in�and playing the part of eavesdropper, as Mrs. Earnshaw has so rightly accused me!� I've undergone a change of heart, and I feel
THE MAN WHO CAME BACK 179
very strongly now that I want Falaise ... and I
want it for you as well as me! The sooner Mrs.
Earnshaw sees her solicitor the better!"
Gay clutched at the back of a chair for support. They were still standing in the hall, and it was Harriet who remembered that voices carried in that part of the house, and if the servants were not to overhear everything that was said they had better remove to somewhere more private.
"We can't talk here," she said quickly, feeling a spasm of pity for her sister because she looked quite stricken. "If we have business to discuss we'd better discuss it in the library, hadn't we?"
Gay nodded, mutely.
Philip half shrugged his shoulders.
"As you please," he said, as if it was a matter of supreme indifference to him where they discussed it "But the sooner we do so die better, for I think this situation has gone on unchecked long enough."
Gay looked like someohe who had been badly and most unexpectedly cornered, and she had no idea at all of the right course to pursue. She decided to appeal to Philip Drew, and to throw all the weight of her recent widowhood and her inability to do much in her own interests behind her appeal.
"You're right," she admitted. "I did find out �quite by accident�that you are more entitled to live here than I am. But it never occurred to me that you would drive me out, without"giving
l8o THE MAN WHO CAME BACK
me a chance to do something about the situation." "Such as what?" he enquired, with unnatural urbanity.
Gay looked helpless.
"I thought you might�we might!�come to an agreement," she told him.
"And divide the spoils between us?" There was contempt in his voice. "But you've been spending my money for quite a long time, and far from being willing to divide what is left between us I shall require some compensation for having been deprived of my lawful inheritance." As Gay's eyes opened wide in shocked surprise Harriet started to protest again, but he silenced her with an arrogant uplifted hand. "When that has been done I might possibly consider selling the house and its contents to you if you would like to continue living in it. But beyond that I am not prepared to accommodate you in any way. You had better know the truth, and that is the simple, unvarnished truth."
"But you're�you're being impossible!" Gay gasped. He shrugged his shoulders again.
"Those are my terms," he said. "Naturally I can't enforce them at this moment, but my lawyer in London will get down to business as soon
as I give him concise instructions. All the proof that he requires is in his hands already... the matter shouldn't take very long!"
THE MAN WHO CAME BACK l8l
For the first time in her life Gay was stunned, shocked, and very pale as a result of her shock.
"I thought you were a gentleman," she barely whispered. "I thought�I thought you were my friend!" She moistened her lips. "But you're every bit as hard as the man in the portrait, the man who treated his wife so badly and didn't even care when she died of a broken heart!"
"Did she die of a broken heart?" He sounded mildly interested. "Ah, well, women can be troublesome some
times, and one has to deal with them in a manner to suit the case. I believe in retribution as well as rewards ... as, apparently, my great-great-grandfather did! You can hardly expect me to be unlike him as his blood flows in my veins, can you?" with a mocking curl to his lips.
Gay's instinct was to recoil from him, but her whole future was at stake, and she went on pleading her cause, trying to rectify the mistake she had made in his hearing.
"You must forgive me, Philip," she pleaded softly.. .. although she had never actually called him Philip before. Her violet eyes were misty and distressed, and her soft mouth quivered. "I * think you must have gathered the wrong impression just now. I was angry with Harriet, and I said things I knew to be absolutely untrue...." She flashed an appealing look in Harriet's direction. "I accused her of doing something I know she would never dream of doing, because Jt
l82 THE MAN WHO CAME BACK
simply isn't in her nature! Harriet would never
set out to catch a man, and she would never do
anything to hurt me... not deliberately."
"Too true," Philip agreed, as if he was an inflexible judge. "From little things Harriet has let drop occasionally I gather she might have been married much earlier, only you didn't want things to work out that way. And as Harriet never tires of making herself into a doormat for you to tread upon you naturally wouldn't want her to marry and go away from you at the present time."
Gay flushed.
"I haven't always been fair to Harriet. I admit that," she said, with false humbleness. "But I'm terribly fond of her," she insisted.
"I know you are." It was Harriet who stepped forward, but Philip waved her aside again.
"This is between Mrs. Eamshaw and me," he said, his jawline hardening. "If you want to comfort your sister when I've finished you can do so�"
"For a doctor�a doctor who once attended me!�you're terrifyingly hard," Gay complained, gazing at him as if she could no longer recognise in him the man who had prescribed
-her sleeping tablets. "I wonder whether Dr. Parkes knows you're like this?"
"Dr. Parkes is returning to his practice next week," he informed her, "and I shall be returning to London. When I attended you as a physi
