Puzzled, Garry glanced from one to the other of them.
Can we go, Papa? Centaine spoke in a clear sharp voice.
Of course, my dear. Garry hurried to the front of the Fiat and stooped to the crank handle. As the engine fired, he ran round to the driver's seat and adjusted the ignition lever.
Is there nothing you wish to say to the man? he asked, and when she shook her head, he clambered up behind the wheel and the Fiat jerked forward.
Centaine looked back only once, after they had bumped over a mile of the sandy track. Lothar De La Rey still stood below the towering monument of rock, a tiny lonely figure in the desert, and he stared after them.
The green hills of Zululand were so utterly different from the desolation of the Kalahari or the monstrous dunes of the Namib, that Centaine had difficulty believing that she was on the same continent. But then, she remembered, they were on the opposite side of Africa, a thousand miles and more from the Finger of God.
Garry Courtney stopped the Fiat on the crest of the steep escarpment high above the Baboonstroom river and switched off the engine and helped both women down.
He took Shasa from Centaine and led them to the edge.
There, he pointed. That's Theuniskraal where both Sean and I, and then Michael, were all born. It stood at the foot of the slope, surrounded by rambling gardens. Even from this distance Centaine could see that the gardens were unkempt and overgrown as tropical jungle. Tall palms and flowering spathodea trees were hung with untrammelled mantles of purple bougainvillaea creepers, and the ornamental fish ponds were poisonous green with algae growth.
of course the house was rebuilt after the fire, Garry hesitated, and a shadow passed behind his muddy blue eyes, for in that fire Michael's mother had died, then he hurried on. I've added to it over the years. Centaine smiled, for the house reminded her of a haphazard old woman who had thrown on garments of a dozen different fashions, none of which suited her. Grecian columns and Georgian red brick glared sullenly at the white painted curlicue gables in the Cape Dutch style.
The twisted barley sugar chimney-pots huddled in uneasy alliance with crenellated buttresses and towers of stonework. Beyond it, stretching to the horizon, were waving fields of green sugar cane that moved in the light wind like the surface of a summer sea.
And over there is Lion Kop. Garry turned to point to the west, where the escarpment made a stately sweep, forming a heavily forested amphitheatre around the town of Ladyburg. That's Sean's land, all of it from my boundary. There!
Right as far as you can see. Between us, we own the whole escarpment. That's the homestead of Lion Kop, you can just make out the roof through the trees."It's so beautiful, Centaine breathed. Oh look, there are mountains beyond, with snow on the peaksrThe Drakensberg Mountains, a hundred miles away."And that? Centaine pointed over the roofs of the town, over the complex of sugar refinery and lumber mills, to an elegant white mansion on the slope of the valley. is that Courtney land also? Yes. Garry's expression changed. Dirk Courtney, Sean's son. I didn't know that General Courtney had a son."Sometimes he wishes he did not, Garry murmured, and then briskly, before she could pursue it, Come along everybody, it's almost lunchtime, and if we are in luck and the postman has delivered my cable, the servants will be expecting us. How many gardeners do you keep, Mijnheer? Anna asked, as the Fiat puttered up Theuniskraal's long twisting driveway, and Anna surveyed the confusion of vegetation with a disapproving frown. Four, I think, or maybe five. Well, Mijnheer, you are not getting your money's worth, Anna told him severely, and Centaine smiled at the certainty that from now on the unsuspecting bevy of gardeners would be earning every sou. of their wages. Then her attention was diverted.
Oh, look! She stood up impulsively and gripped the front seat, holding on to her hat with the other hand. On the far side of the white-painted fence that ran beside the driveway, a troop of yearlings took mock alarm at the clattering Fiat and fled across the lush green kikuyu grass paddock, manes streaming, hooves flying and glossy hides flashing in the sunlight.
One of your duties, my dear, will be to see that the horses are kept in exercise. Garry twisted round in the driver's seat to smile at her. And we will have to pick out a pony for young Michel here."He is not yet two years old, Anna intervened. Never too young, Mevrou. Garry transferred the smile to her, and it changed to a lascivious leer. Or too old! Although her frown stayed firmly in place, Anna could not prevent the softening of her eyes before she turned her face away from him. Ah, good! The servants are expecting us after alP Garry exclaimed, and braked the Fiat to a halt before the double teak front doors. The servants stepped forward in order of seniority to be introduced, beginning with the Zulu chef in his tall white hat and ending with the grooms and the gardeners and stable boys, all of them clapping their hands respectfully and beaming with white teeth so that Shasa leaped in Centaine's arms and let out an excited shout. Ah, Bayete, the chef laughed, as he gave Shasa the royal salute, all hail, little chieftain, and may you grow as strong and straight as your father! They went into Theuniskraal, and Garry led them proudly through the cavernous rooms in their genteel disarray. Though Anna ran her finger over every object that came in range and scowled at the dust that came off on it, yet from the long baronial dinning-room with hunting trophies decorating the walls to the library with more expensive but dusty volumes stacked on the desk and the floor than on the shelves, the homestead of Theuniskraal possessed a benign and friendly atmosphere.
Centaine felt at home almost immediately. Oh, it will be so good to have young people here again, and pretty girls, and a small boy. Garry put it into words, The old place so needs livening up."And a little cleaning up won't hurt it either, growled Anna, but Garry was dashing up the central stair case, sprightly as a lad with excitement.
Come along, let me show you your rooms The room Garry had selected for Anna was beside his own suite, and although the significance of this was lost on Centaine, Anna lowered her eyes and looked like a demure bulldog as she noticed that a discreet door connected with Garry's dressing-room. This will be your room, my dear. Garry led Centaine along the upper gallery and ushered her into a huge sunny room with french doors opening on to a wide terrace that overlooked the gardens. It's lovely. Centaine clapped her hands with delight and ran out on to the terrace. Of course it needs redecorating, but you must choose your own colours and carpets and curtains, now, come alon, let's look at young Michel's room.
As Garry opened the door across the gallery facing Centaine's room, his mood changed dramatically, and as she stepped into the room, Centaine realized the reason.
Michael's presence was everywhere. From the framed photographs on the walls he smiled down at her; Michael in rugby football togs standing arms folded across his chest with fourteen other grinning young men, Michael in white cricket flannels with bat in hand, Michael with a shotgun and a brace of pheasant, and the shock drained the blood from Centaine's face. I thought it would be appropriate for Michel to have his father's room, Garry murmured apologetically. Of course, my dear, if you don't agree, there are fifteen other rooms to choose from. Slowly Centaine looked around her at the shotguns in their racks, and the fishing-rods and cricket-bats standing in the corner, at the books on the shelves above the writing-desk, at the oilskins and tweed jackets hanging from their pegs.