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flooding the space in front of the house. Melanie stood very still,
staring out into the awesome blackness, trying to pick out shapes
again. Yes, there they were; once her eyes had become accustomed to
the darkness she could discern them. The grove of eucalyptus trees
too, to the left of her and fringing the eastern side of the garden. Luke
had told her that these immigrants from Australia were to be found in
many parts of South Africa now, and on the veld these flowering
gums were certainly a familiar feature of the landscape.
Suddenly she froze, the hairs on her arms and at the back of her neck
standing straight up. Her heart shot right into her throat again and her
legs went like jelly. No, she told herself, it was not a low insidious
growl that she had heard. But there it was again much closer and not
a growl at all, but the bloodcurdling echo of a jackal's mournful cry.
Swallowing in an endeavour to dislodge the blockage in her throat,
Melanie stepped back into the room and closed the window. But as
she made to draw the curtains she saw the two flaring headlights of a
car and seconds later the long sleek vehicle ground to a standstill
close to the front door.
'Luke!' she cried and, without any warning at all, sank gently to the
floor as blackness swept away all conscious thought from her mind.
She was lying on the couch when she came round; the light was
dimmed, only one standard lamp being left on, and that had had a
cloth of some kind flung over it.
'Wh-what happened?' she asked weakly, but even before he had time
to say anything she had added, shuddering as she did so, 'I was
terrified, Luke. I was quite alone--'
'I know,' he returned grimly. 'I completely forgot that Thursday's
Elizabeth's night off. That's why I'm here; I remembered while I was
at the Club.' He had a glass in his hand which, presumably, he had had
ready beforehand. 'Drink this and talk afterwards.' Gently he eased
her up on the cushions.
'You came away because you remembered?' She stared into his
eyes and decided that they weren't tawny at all, but a soft and warm
shade of brown. 'That was kind of you very kind.'
'Drink your brandy,' he ordered roughly. 'It wasn't kind at all. You
know full well that you resent kindness. I returned because it was my
duty to do so. Drink it, I say!'
'If it's brandy it'll make me sick--'
'At once!' he cut in, but she shook her head.
'I'm all right now, Luke,' she assured him, and held out the glass for
him to take from her.
His eyes glinting and, she decided, not of a warm brown colour after
all, he told her in no uncertain terms that if she did not drink the
brandy right away he would pour it down her throat. He looked as if
he would, too, and so she obeyed, shuddering and pulling a face and
saying that it burned her mouth and throat.
'And now,' he said when she had drained the glass, 'you can tell me
what it was that caused you to faint?'
'You.'
'Me?'
'I was terrified, and when I saw your car I was so relieved that
I I well, I just lost consciousness.'
He shook his head as if this made no sense to him at all.
'What were you afraid of apart from being alone in the house, that
was?'
'All sorts of things--' She stopped, ashamed of her fears and in
consequence loath to talk about them. But she might have known that
Luke would force it all from her by the simple expedient of
prompting her each time she made a break in her story.
'So you tied yourself up into tight little knots of fear for no reason at
all?'
'I feel so very foolish about it all now that you're here.' This last
phrase was spoken without thought and he smiled a grim smile and
said, , 'So for once you're glad to see me, eh?'
Melanie looked at him, her mind not totally clear yet. She thought he
was far too big and overpowering, standing there, looking down into
her pallid face, examining her as if he desired to know exactly what
was going on in her mind.
'I was never more glad to see anyone in my life,' came her honest
reply at length. And then, more in order to stall any sarcastic
comment that might be forthcoming as a result of her words, she
asked him to sit down.
'Sit down?' with a puzzled look. 'Why?'
'I don't like you standing--' Her voice trailed away and she put a hand
to her head. 'I think I'm going to pass out again,' she said, but Luke
had hold of her, his hands beneath her armpits.
'No, you're not! Just hold on tell yourself that you're not going to
faint.' Commanding the tone, imperative the manner in which he held
her. Within seconds she was managing to produce a wan little smile.
'I'm fine now. Thank you very much, Luke.' She felt at peace, so safe
and comfortable, here on the couch with Luke's strong arm about her.
'I'm so sorry to be such a nuisance.'
'You're sure you're feeling better?' he wanted to know, ignoring her
last remark. 'If you are I'll go along to the kitchen and get you
something to eat. You had scarcely anything at dinner time.'
She blinked at him.
'How do you know?'
'I'm not blind,' was the caustic rejoinder. And then, 'Oh, yes, I was
aware also that you pretended to eat, but what you took on your fork
wouldn't have satisfied a child.'
'I wasn't hungry,' she owned, amazed that he should have been so
interested as to watch what she was eating. 'But I am a little hungry
now.'
'Good. Would you like some coffee with your sandwiches?'
She smiled at him as he straightened up, acutely conscious of the fact
that his arm had been removed from her back.
'Yes, please,' she said. 'A milky one, if you don't mind?'
'Not at all; a milky one it shall be.'
On his return with the tray Melanie inquired about the aunts.
'I'm going back for them,' he told her. 'It wasn't fair to expect them to
come home at this hour. They're having the time of their lives.'
'They are?' Melanie had picked up a sandwich, but it was now poised
half-way to her mouth. 'But Aunt Cissy said she wasn't going to
dance.'
'She was certainly dancing when I came away,' he said with some
amusement. 'She and Aunt Gertrude have found themselves two nice
elderly English gentlemen who are on holiday here at least,' he
amended, 'they're touring in a Land-Rover and decided to stop
overnight in Rayneburg, so they naturally attended the dance.' He
paused, taking possession of a chair close to the couch, and he
watched her for a moment as she bit into the sandwich. 'You know,
Melanie, if you weren't so stupid you'd have been with us, and you
wouldn't have had the scare, either.'
'I know.' She fell silent, wondering whether he was considering her a
nuisance. 'I'm sorry, Luke, that you had to come home.'
He said slowly,
'And I'm glad that I did. I'm glad, too, that you didn't add that I had no
need to have come.'
'No, I wouldn't dream of saying that, because it wouldn't be true. I've
already admitted that I was relieved to see your car out there.'
'Why were you at the window anyway?'
'I kept wanting to know what was going on outside.'
'Nothing goes on outside unless we have a marauding tiger, and
then we all go out to get him.'
'A tiger?' Once again her sandwich was poised as she stared at him
with wide frightened eyes. 'I didn't think you had tigers in Africa?'
'We call leopards tigers,' he explained. 'Sometimes we have one
about, but as I've said, we all go out, with guns, of course, to catch
him.
'Is he dangerous?'
'He comes after the sheep and, unlike a lion who kills only when he's
hungry and intends to eat his kill, the leopard will kill for the sheer
joy of it, as will your English fox. I lost no less than sixteen sheep one
night. We got the leopard, but not until a week later when he came
along to try his luck again.'
Melanie took her coffee from the tray and began to drink it, her mind
confused by this change in her own attitude towards Luke. She tried
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