The Golden Peaks Read Online Free Page A

your face, I felt sure I had met you. But, if I am right, you were quite a schoolgirl at the time.”
    Celia looked up at him, for he was very tall, trying to place him . What she saw, she liked at once. Here was a type of Englishman with whom she was completely familiar. He was tall and lean, fair-haired, fair-moustached, brown - skinned and blue-eyed. He had a lazy and casual way of moving and of speaking, but she could see that he was physically fit. She knew at once, without having to know him longer, that he would always be courteous and preferred to be correct . She smiled on him so charmingly that it took his breath away, and he immediately smiled hack.
    “Oh,” she said. “I think you must have been a friend of Peter.”
    “Peter Dorrelson. That’s right . Then you are Cicely Dorrelson?”
    “Celia, ” she said.
    “Celia. That’s right I met you, briefly, the first time I came to your house. You were off for a week-end’s camping, I remember, with some other frightening schoolgirls. You hadn’t a moment to spare for me.”
    Celia laughed.
    “I don’t suppose you had a moment for me either. We didn’t meet after that?”
    “No. The next time I came down, you were working in a hospital; the time after that you had moved to London.”
    “Yes, I was a driver for a crusty old general, but that didn’t last long. When the war was over, I got a secretarial job.”
    “It’s rather a far cry to being a waitress in Switzerland, isn’t it? ”
    “Force of circumstances,” she said with a smile. “So you were Peter’s fri end. Odd, isn’t it, that right out here we should bump into each other?”
    “Oh, I don’t know. Small world, and all that . ”
    “I’m glad you liked Peter,” she said. “I simply adored him myself. It broke my mother up when he was killed. She was always delicate, and I believe that was the finishing stroke— she died a little while after.”
    “I say, I am sorry. You have had some bad luck, haven’t you?”
    “No worse than lots of people, I expect she said. But please, you will have to excuse me now, because I have to get up to the rest centre.”
    “You’re not ill, are you?” he asked solicitously.
    “No. I have a small niece up there, and she is expecting a visit from me this afternoon. I mustn’t disappoint her.”
    “Would that be Peter’s child?”
    “Yes. My sister-in-law, unfortunately, hasn’t any time or thought for her, and was only too glad to let me assume responsibility. We haven ’t been here long. I simply must get along and see her.”
    “Then I won’t keep you. But I hope we can get together again soon, for another chat . ”
    “Yes, I should like that.”
    She hurried away, and climbed up to the rest centre. It was a long and tiring pull, but she always felt glad that she had made the effort when she saw Dorothy’s pleasure at having a visit. That young person, already looking much better than she had on her arrival, was beginning to chafe at the continued orders to rest .
    “It’s so silly, Celia darling, because I feel so well; but they only let me get up in the afternoon, and then they only let me walk on the terrace. I do so want to g o out on the mountain.”
    “Now, you just listen to me, Dodo.” This nickname, which they both agreed was a si lly one, always delighted Dorothy, who realized unconsciously that it covered af f ection. “All these nice people here know much better than you do, what you can manage and what you can’t. As soon as they think it is good for you to walk on the mountain, they will let you do it; and the sooner you do as you are told and get quite better, the sooner you will leave the rest centre to come and live with me. Now, we both want that as soon as we can get it, don’t we?”
    “Oh, Celia, yes. Of course. I will do what I’m told, I promise.”
    When Celia left, Dorothy was once more resigned and contented. Really, thought Celia, she looks s o much better that perhaps they will be able to cure