A Spear of Summer Grass - By Deanna Raybourn Page 0,50

as soon as I turned, he pulled off his hat.

“Miss Drummond! I cannot tell you how sorry I am I wasn’t here to welcome you properly to Fairlight. My wife and I had taken the little ones to the sea for a bit of bathing.”

He gestured towards a pale woman—unlikely in this climate—and a pair of unwholesome-looking children. The woman nodded and the children simply stood silent, the boy picking enthusiastically at his nose while the little girl stared at me and breathed through her mouth.

“You must be Mr. Gates,” I said. I didn’t bother to extend a hand. I had no desire to touch any of them and I was highly put out that he hadn’t been here to receive us.

“I am, I am. And this is Mrs. Gates,” he added unnecessarily. “And our boy, Reuben and our daughter, Jonquil.”

Jonquil! It was a surprisingly exotic name for such an ordinary child. No doubt they’d taken one look at the boy and pinned all their hopes on the second child. I thought of asking if the children were simple-minded, but it seemed unkind.

“I would like to discuss the state of the farm with you, Mr. Gates. Kindly make yourself available this afternoon.”

His skin had been burned to umber by the African sun, but under the tan his colour was sickly, and sweat rolled from his brow. The tic of a tiny muscle near his eye kept a regular beat. He was nervous.

“Of course, Miss Drummond. Although I did understand from Sir Nigel that you were here for rest and relaxation. We certainly don’t intend for you to wear yourself out with things you needn’t trouble over.”

And there it was. The sharp metallic scent of his fear was in the air. I could smell it in his sweat, and I smiled, making quite certain it didn’t reach my eyes.

“Mr. Gates, I do not find rest to be relaxing. I like to be busy and I think here at Fairlight there will be much to keep me occupied.”

The wife darted a glance at her husband and tightened her hands.

He gave me a fawning smile. “Of course, of course. I do understand. And naturally whatever I can do to help...”

He let the sentence trail off, but I pounced.

“Actually, you can. I want to know if there is scrap lumber on the premises. I want to build a henhouse. You can organise some labourers to put it together.”

“A henhouse?”

“For chickens,” I said slowly.

“Yes, I understand.” He was getting rattled. There was a slight edge to his voice now, a resentment he couldn’t contain anymore, and I saw the wife shift another quick glance at him. I had no doubt he took his bad moods out on her. She looked like the sort of woman who was accustomed to catching the rough side of a man’s tongue. Of course, I couldn’t blame him. Her cringing made me want to slap her myself. “You want to keep chickens?” he asked.

“Yes. And I want the barn cleaned out and a pasture staked for a few dairy cattle. When that’s sorted, I want to plow under the two fields closest to the road. The pyrethrum crop is nearly unsalvageable there. The land looks exhausted. We can buy loads of manure from the Masai and till it in and plant it with vegetables and maize to make our own shamba. Between the milk and the eggs and the fresh vegetables, we should get these people looking a far sight healthier.”

“You mean to feed the farmworkers?”

“I do. And I have a mind to take a closer look at the pyrethrum crop as well. This much land under planting ought to yield a far better amount than I saw reported in the farm books.”

He held up a hand. “Miss Drummond, I must insist that you let me handle this. Farm work is man’s business.”

I snorted. “Not where I come from. My great-grandmother is past ninety and still she manages a sugar plantation that runs to twenty thousand acres. She tends cattle, delivers babies, keeps the books and she cracks the whip on anybody who gets out of line, including her six sons. Now, I would like to know more about Fairlight and I think you are the man to tell me. So, why don’t you plan on meeting me this afternoon and we’ll sort some things out?”

I smiled again and walked off before he had a chance to reply. Around the corner, Ryder was waiting on the veranda. He was settled