The Proposal. Бетти Нилс

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СКАЧАТЬ brushed that aside. ‘That is definitely something I will decide for myself.’ He smiled down at her. ‘I’m a complete stranger to you; you can say anything you like to me and I’ll forget it at once if you wish me to—’

      ‘Oh, the Hippocratic oath.’

      His rather stern mouth twitched. ‘And that too. You’re not happy there, are you?’

      She shook her head. ‘No, and it’s very kind of you to—to bother, but there is really nothing to be done about it.’

      ‘No, there isn’t if you refuse to tell me what is wrong.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘How long do you have before you have to report back?’

      ‘Fifteen minutes.’

      ‘A lot can be said in that time. Brontes and I will walk back with you as far as Piccadilly.’

      ‘Oh, will you?’

      ‘Did I not say so?’ He turned her round smartly, and whistled to Brontes. ‘Now consider me your favourite uncle,’ he invited.

      CHAPTER TWO

      AFTERWARDS Francesca wondered what had possessed her. She had told Professor Pitt-Colwyn everything. She hadn’t meant to, but once she got started she had seemed unable to stop. She blushed with shame just remembering it; he must have thought her a complete fool, sorry for herself, moaning on and on about her life. That this was a gross exaggeration had nothing to do with it; she would never be able to look him in the face again. The awful thing was that she would have to unless he had the decency to walk his dog in another part of the park.

      She was barely in the park before he joined her.

      ‘A splendid morning,’ he said cheerfully. ‘I enjoy the autumn, don’t you?’ He took Bobo’s lead from her and unclipped it. ‘Let the poor, pampered beast run free. Brontes will look after him; he has a strong paternal instinct.’

      It was difficult to be stand-offish with him. ‘He’s a nice dog, only he’s—he’s rather a mixture, isn’t he?’

      ‘Oh, decidedly so. Heaven knows where he got that tail.’

      For something to say, for she was feeling suddenly shy, ‘He must have been a delightful puppy.’

      ‘I found him in a small town in Greece. Someone had poked out his eye and beaten him almost to death—he was about eight weeks old.’

      ‘Oh, the poor little beast—how old is he now?’

      ‘Eight months old and still growing. He’s a splendid fellow and strangely enough, considering his origin, very obedient.’

      ‘I must get back.’ She looked around for Bobo, who was nowhere in sight, but in answer to her companion’s whistle Brontes came trotting up with Bobo scampering beside him. The professor fastened his lead and handed it to her. His goodbye was casually kind; never once, she reflected as she walked back to the house, had he uttered a word about her beastly job. She had been a great fool to blurt out all her worries and grumbles to a complete stranger who had no interest in her anyway. She wished most heartily that there was some way in which she could avoid meeting him ever again.

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