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.‘We have a chance to talk and see if we would get on.Who goes first, you or me?’‘Me.It’s me who has to choose.’ Not a promising start.‘Up to a point it’s both of us.We both have to think we can be friends or the whole thing would be a waste of time.’‘Well, you’re the one who needs a job.’‘You’re half right.I do want a job; I want to stand on my own feet.But I don’t need a job.I live with my aunt and uncle at Chagleigh Farm and I help in the dairy and in the house so that my aunt is free to be outside.They’d like me to let things stay as they are but before I came to Marlhampton I was assistant manager in a hotel on the Isle of Wight –’ how grand that sounded! – ‘and when I was brought here to live I made my mind up that I would find work for myself.’‘I suppose you got the sack at the hotel.’ From her tone it was evident that Deirdre felt she had scored a point.‘No.Since I was small and lost my parents my grandmother had been my guardian.She died a few months ago and Uncle Richard brought me down here.I can’t do as I choose until I’m twenty-one, but we all get on very well and they’d be happy for things to stay as they are.’‘Did you get on with your grandmother?’‘I loved her.Age didn’t come into it.Gran and I were such friends.She died very suddenly.’Biting her over-lipsticked bottom lip, Deirdre weighed up her words.‘That must have been rotten for you – her dying like that.’It was the first breakthrough and Tessa seized it before it faded.‘It was awful.I’m a coward; I don’t like even thinking about how awful.But one thing Gran taught me – well, one of lots of things if I’m truthful – is that whatever life chucks at you, you have to accept the challenge and make something of it.’‘Are you saying that to me because of how I am? Anyway, what would you know about it? Life has never chucked anything at you like it did at me.’Until then Tessa had been standing, looking down at the seated girl.Now she pulled a chair forward so that they were eye to eye.‘You’re right and, honestly, I’m grateful for all the good things.I’m fit, I have an aunt and uncle who have welcomed me into their home, I have wonderful memories – and I’m determined to make something of my life.Now tell me about you.You can’t just sit in a chair doing nothing all day long.Do you read? Do you paint – or write perhaps? There was a man on the island who had lost both legs in the war and he made the most beautiful wooden carvings.’‘I s’pose you’re telling me I don’t make an effort.Well, what’s the point anyway? I used to ride.That was how I had the accident.I was out hunting on Jasper.We flew over the hedge, then when he landed something happened.I got thrown, that’s all I remember.I didn’t break an arm or leg or anything, but they say Jasper fell on me.Anyway, my spinal cord got broken.So here I sit.Can’t do anything.I expect you think I’m wicked to be wasting my life.Some life!’ And from the glower that accompanied her words, her situation might have been Tessa’s fault.Tessa asked herself if she would behave any differently herself if she were in Deirdre’s place.‘I’m thinking no such thing.I just don’t like to see you miserable.There’s far more to life than walking.Think of the things you have going for you: you’re pretty –’ or you would be if you didn’t put your make-up on as if you were a circus clown, she added silently to herself – ‘you live in a comfortable home, you have a father who cares about you—’‘Oh, shut up preaching at me.I’m just a horrid person, that’s what you’re trying to tell me.’‘If I thought that, I would have been out of the house ages ago.You know what I think? I think if we set our minds to it we could get on well and have some fun.’Deirdre didn’t answer, but from her expression it seemed she didn’t share Tessa’s optimism.At that point Julian Masters came back into the room, holding open the door for Tessa to wait in the hall while he heard Deirdre’s reaction.She had hardly sat down when he called her back into the room.‘It seems you have hit the spot with Deirdre.Take a seat, Miss Richards—’‘Her name’s Tessa, she told you so.’ Despite having given her approval for Tessa’s appointment, Deirdre’s tone was as disagreeable as before.‘I didn’t say I liked her, I just said that she’d do.’‘That’s quite enough! Just remember your manners or Miss Richards will refuse the position,’ her father answered [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]