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Lorie seemed uncertain. "I don't know," she said. "Mother said that she'd
rather you didn't call anyone."
He frowned. "What did she mean by that?"
"I'm not sure. I think she was worried you might call an attorney. You know,
about your bites. She's very anxious that you don't tell anyone what
happened."
"I've already promised that I wouldn't do that," Gene said cautiously.
Lorie blushed a little. "I know."
"She told you?"
"Yes. We had a row about it. She made me promise to go out with you in
return."
Gene gave a humorless laugh. "Listen, I'm not going to force you. If you don't
want to go out with me, if you really don't want to, then the last thing I'm
going to do is blackmail you into doing it. I only want to take you out if you
genuinely want to go."
She glanced at him, almost shyly.
"Well, do you?" he asked her. "If you don't, then the best thing we can do is
retire gracefully and leave it at that."
She traced a pattern on the counterpane with her finger. "I was thinking of
you," she said, in a soft and serious voice.
"I don't understand."
She reached out and held his hand. Her eyes were 64
anxious and intent, as if she was trying to tell him something without
actually speaking it out loud trying to communicate some warning that it was
impossible to put into words.
"My mother is a believer in tradition, Gene." She said. "She likes things done
in the way they always were. Some of her beliefs, and some of the things she
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does ... well, you may not be able to accept them for what they really are."
He squeezed her hand. "I'm still as lost as ever. What kind of tradition? What
do you mean?"
She shook her head. "I can't tell you. You can only find out for yourself. I
hope you never have to."
He looked at her questionably for a while, and when he saw she wasn't going to
say anything more, he let out a small sigh of resignation and settled back on
his pillow.
"Lorie," he said. "I don't mind telling you that you are the most baffling
person I ever met. Maybe I should write you up for the Reader's Digest."
She gave a sad little grin. "You mustn't think that I don't like you, Gene.
And you mustn't think that I'm not flattered complimented because you tried to
get into, the house and find me. It was very romantic, and I'm only sorry you
got hurt."
"Do I take that to mean that you do want to go out With me? Or is it another
polite way of saying arrived-erciT
She looked at Mm in silence for a while, and he thought he saw her eyes
moisten with tears. Then she leaned forward, her lips carefully closed, and
kissed him.
"I want, very much, to go out with you," she whispered. "That's why my promise
to mother wasn't diffi.-
65
cult to make. But before we ever do, just swear me one thing."
"You and your mother are as full of qualifying clauses as a Senate bill."
"I mean it, Gene. Please."
He shrugged stiffly. "Tell me what it is, and I'll Swear."
"You must absolutely swear that you will never ask me to marry you."
He stared at her in disbelief. He found her fascinating, and arousing, and
he'd even admit that he'd made something of a fool of himself over her. But as
for marriage...
"Lorie, honey," he told her, "if there's one thing that you can be sure that
I'm not, it's a marrying kind of man. I have a good job, an entertaining
lifestyle, lots of friends, and quite a lot of money. The last thing on my
mind right at this moment in time is wedlock."
"And you'll swear?"
"Sure I'll swear!"
He raised his right hand, and in a deep and resonant tone said: T, Gene
Keiller, being of sound mind and only slightly damaged body, do solemnly swear
that I will never ask you, Lorie Semple, to be my wedded wife."
He was going to continue, but then he saw that her face was utterly grave. She
was fingering her pendant and frowning at him as if he was swearing the oath
of allegiance to the flag.
"Lorie," he said, "I'm not trying to make fun of this, but you have to admit
it's a pretty wacky kind of promise."
She nodded. "I know what it must seem like. But, please, Gene, don't ever
break your promise. It's the. only protection you have."
66
"Huh?"
She leaned forward again, and lifted her golden pendant so that he could see
it close up. He squinted at it, and saw that it was a small pyramid. He
reached his hand up to touch it, but she pulled it away.
"Is that a clue?" he asked her.
She shook her head. "It's just to show you. The influence of the pyramid is
very strange and powerful. It's just to show you what you have to protect
yourself against."
"Lorie, I "
"All you have to do is remember that I showed it to you. Please..That's all I
ask."
He gazed at her classic, high-cheekboned face in the dying light of the day,
and he felt as mystified as he had the first time he had tried to kiss her.
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But she was so serious, and so intense. "All right," he said, "I'll lemember,
if that's what you want."
Later that week Gene met Lorie at the front gates of the house. It was a
crisp, dry day, and the brown, curled-up leaves sounded like crunching
ginger-snaps under thek feet. A little way down the drive, Mathieu was
standing stolidly beside his red-and-white striped golf cart, his stony
expression concealed behind reflecting sunglasses, so that he looked as though
he had two pieces of clear blue sky instead of eyes.
Lorie was wearing a safari jacket and boots, and her hair was tucked up into a
wide-brimmed bush hat. She had made her eyes so that they appeared even more
luminous and enormous than ever.
Gene opened the door of his car for her, and she climbed in. Then he walked
around to the driving-seat, waving to Mathieu on the way.
"Doesn't he like me, or something?" asked Gene, as he sat. down behind the
wheel.
67
"Mathieu? I don't think he likes or dislikes people in the normal sort of way.
He just does his job."
"Well, his job obviously doesn't include waving to your weekend date."
Lorie laughed. "I can't imagine Mathieu waving at anyone, let alone you."
They drove down the winding road, through the tunnel of overhanging trees, and
out onto the main highway. Gene turned the car away from Washington and out
toward Frederick. Walter Farlowe had invited them out to his vacation home for
drinks and a barbecue, along with some of the leading professional people who
had assisted the Democratic cause with finance and moral support during the
crucial stages of the election.
Gene's shoulder was. still bound up in crepe bandage, but his bite wound had
almost completely healed and the bruises on his ribs had gradually faded. When
Maggie had seen him on Monday, she had tried to persuade him to visit the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]