A single skein of white-gold hair had escaped the ribbon and now tickled her nose and chin. Salina pursed her lips and blew it away; it floated like gossamer and then gently settled across her face again, but she did not change the rhythm of the rolling-pin.
Ralph thought that little gesture the most poignant he had ever witnessed, but then everything she did fascinated him, even the way she cocked her head and smiled at him as he slouched against the jamb of the kitchen door.
Her smile was so gentle, so unaffected, that his chest squeezed again, and his voice sounded choked in his own ears.
'I am leaving tomorrow.'
'Yes,' Salina nodded. 'We shall all miss you dreadfully.'
'This is the first chance I have had to speak to you alone, without the monsters 'Oh Ralph, that's an unkind, if totally accurate, description of my darling sisters.' Her laughter had a surprising timbre and depth to it. 'If you wanted to speak to me, you should have asked.'
'I'm asking now, Salina.'
'And we are alone.'
'Will you not stop still for a moment.'
'The baking will spoil, but I can listen well enough while I work.'
Ralph shifted his feet, and hunched his shoulders uncertainly. It was not as he had planned it. It was going to be a feat of timing and dexterity to sweep her up in arms all covered with flour and dough and with a heavy rolling- pin clutched in her hands.
'Salina, you are the most beautiful girl, woman, I mean, lady, that I have ever seen.'
'That's kind, but untrue, Ralph. I do have a mirror, you know.'
'It's true, I swear-' 'Please don't swear, Ralph. In any event, there are much more important things in life than physical beauty kindness, and goodness and understanding for instance.
'Oh yes, and you have all those.'
Suddenly Salina stopped in mid stroke, and she stared at him with an expression of dawning consternation.
'Ralph,' she whispered. 'Cousin Ralph 'COUSIN I may be,' he was stammering slightly in his rush to have it all said, 'but I love you, Salina, I loved you from the first moment I saw you at the river.
'Oh Ralph, my poor dear Ralph.' Consternation was mingled now with compassion.
'I would never have spoken, not before, but now, after this expedition I have some substance. I will be able to pay off my debts, and when I come back I will have my own wagons. I am not yet rich, but I will be., 'If only I had known. Oh Ralph, if only I had suspected, I would have been able to But he was gabbling it out now.
'I love you, Salina, oh how dearly I love you, and I want you to marry me.'
She came to him then, and her eyes filled with blue tears that trembled on her lower lids.
'Oh dear Ralph. I am so sorry. I would have given anything to save you from hurt. If only I had known.'
He stopped then, bewildered. 'You will not, does that mean you will not marry me?' The bewilderment faded, and his jaw thrust out and his mouth hardened. 'But why not, I will give you everything, I will cherish and 'Ralph.' She touched his lips, and left a little dab of flour upon them. 'Hush, Ralph, hush.'
'But, Salina, I love you! Don't you understand?'
'Yes, I do. But, dear Ralph, I don't love you!'
Cathy and the twins went as far as the river with Ralph. Vicky and Lizzie rode, two up, on Tom's back.
They rode astride, with their skirts up around their thighs, and squealed with delight every few seconds, until Ralph thought his eardrums would split, and he scowled moodily ahead, not replying to Cathy's questions and comments as she skipped along beside him, until the spring went out of her step and she, too, fell silent.
The bank of the Khami river was where they would part. All of them knew that, without speaking about it.
And when they reached it Isazi had already taken the wagon through the drift. The ironshod wheels had left deep scars in the far bank. He would be an hour or so ahead. They stopped on the near bank and now even the twins were silent. Ralph looked back along the track, lifting his hat and shading his eyes with the brim against the early sunlight.
'Salina isn't coming then?' he said flatly.
'She's got a belly ache,' said Vicky. 'She told me so.' If you ask me, it's more like the curse of Eve,' said Lizzie airily.
'That's rude,' Cathy said. 'And only silly little girls talk about things they don't understand.'
Lizzie looked chastened, and Vicky assumed a virtuous air of innocence.
'Now both of you say goodbye to Cousin Ralph.'
'I love you, Cousin Ralph,' said Vicky, and had to be prised off him like a leach.
'i love you, Cousin Ralph.'
Lizzie had counted the kisses that Vicky had bestowed on him, and she went for a new world record, a noble attempt, but frustrated by Cathy.
'Now, scat,' Cathy told them. 'Go, both of you., 'Cathy is crying,' said Lizzie, and both twins were immediately entranced.
