Sweet Sanctuary by Charlotte Lamb Read Free Book Online Page A

within earshot he called, "Hi. Come on over to the house for tea!"
    Kate stood, uncertainly, smiling back at him, while the dogs tumbled over each other, barking, in order to show their welcome for him.
    He reached her side and looked her over with interest. "I know who you are, you know. You're Aunt Elaine's new protégée. Right?"
    She laughed. "Right. Kate Fox," and held out her hand.
    He solemnly took it and held it, grinning after a moment. "I didn't think you were Dr. Livingstone. I'm Jimmy Whitney. My old man farms here."
    "I've heard about him from Mrs. Butler and Mrs. Pepper," she nodded. "It's a very neat farm."
    Jimmy laughed loudly. "Tell the old man that— he'll be thrilled. He'd have me painting the hens white if they stood still long enough! One thing that drives him mad is to see a dirty farmyard. I tell him he's got a complex about it."
    "I expect it pays in the long run. Less disease, less waste."
    Jimmy stared at her. "Do you come from a farming family, by any chance?"
    "My father was a vet," she explained. "When I was little I went out with him to visit farms in the countryside where we lived. I suppose I took an interest."
    "Well, come and take an interest in us," he said. "It isn't often that I get the chance to meet a girl as pretty as you."
    She blushed. "Thank you, but have you never seen Sylvia?"
    He grimaced. "Oh, I've seen her. She never sees me, though. Looks straight through me as if I were a pane of glass. You didn't know I was the invisible man, did you? Well, I am. Anyone who earns less than ten thousand a year is invisible to Miss Sylvia,"
    "Does Nicholas earn that much?" Kate stared, open-mouthed.
    Jimmy laughed. "No, I don't suppose so, but then he has Sanctuary, hasn't he? He doesn't need to earn so much. He owns all this…" He threw his arm in a grand sweep around the dreaming countryside, over green fields and flat, well-drained acres of good arable land. The countryside was a perfect example of the domestic landscape, patched into odd shapes by trimmed hedges and meandering ditches, punctuated by the occasional elm or oak to give variety to the eye.
    "It is lovely," she sighed.
    "Isn't it just?" Jimmy nodded. "My old man would give his eye teeth to buy this land, but with Nick earning a fair old crust at his job, he has no need to sell land, and of course, Aunt Elaine will see to it that Nick never feels the urge to so much as sell one acre of Sanctuary estate."
    "She loves the place, doesn't she?" Jimmy looked at her with interest. "I've always thought that Aunt Elaine feels far more loyalty towards the place than Nick because he was born to it, and familiarity breeds… if not contempt, at least a sort of blindness. While she is only related by marriage, and she always seemed twice as keen as the rest of the family."
    "Like a convert to a religion, you mean, being more fervent than someone born in it?"
    "That's it exactly," Jimmy agreed.
    They walked down towards the farmhouse, the dogs eagerly scouting the surrounding land. The cows lifted lazy heads to stare, but seemed indifferent to the dogs.
    "The cows don't mind dogs?" she asked Jimmy, and he laughed. "They know these are harmless."
    In the farmyard they found Jimmy's father, slouching across the swept concrete with his old green felt hat pulled down low and the elbows out of his old green jersey.
    "You disgusting object, you," Jimmy said with affectionate scorn. "Here am I, bringing a pretty young lady to tea, and we find you wearing your jumble sale clothes!"
    Old James turned, grinning cheerfully. "This is a pleasant surprise. Perhaps the young lady darns?"
    Kate answered his smile as she shook hands. "I'll be glad to mend your jersey for you."
    "It comes of having no woman in the house," he said. "I can't tend to the farm and play housewife at the same time."
    "Mrs. Cooper is waiting for the call, Dad," Jimmy murmured teasingly.
    His father's rosy features drew together in a scowl. "God bless my soul, boy! That