“Fox Run used to be a working farm,” said Hilary.
Tash followed the road to a front door under a porte-cochère. Hilary got out looking around as critically as if she were going to take a long lease on the house for herself.
“It’s not Leafy Way,” she sighed. “But I suppose it will do. Jo Beth says the barn is a guest house now. We can put executive offices there.”
Hilary rang the bell.
The door was opened by the chief usher from Leafy Way. He smiled broadly when he saw them.
“Settling down all right?” asked Hilary.
“Everything unpacked and under control, ma’am. Shall I show you round?”
“Please do.”
The furniture was Job’s, good, solid reproductions of old pieces that would have passed for originals if they had been a little shabbier. The only Playfair things were linen, table silver, and a few books and pictures, all rescued from Leafy Way. Tash was pleased to see Dragon Playing with a Pearl among the pictures.
“Let’s see the garden,” said Hilary.
The usher opened a glass door and they stepped outside.
“No terrace,” muttered Hilary.
“But a beautiful lawn,” said Tash. “And comfortable garden furniture.”
The open space was surrounded by the woods as by a wall, but looking west, you could see hills far in the distance above the treetops. Today there was a heat haze and the hills looked insubstantial as folds of soft, gray chiffon against the hot, blue sky.
“I like this place,” said Tash. “I could be happy here.”
As they strolled back toward the house, Tash saw a flash of movement through an open French window on the ground floor.
“Tash! Hilary!” Carlos stepped through the window with a brilliant smile. His teeth were stark white against the deep tan he had acquired in Sotavento.
“What a surprise to find you both here!” He clasped Tash’s hand in his right and Hilary’s in his left. “We’re only just off the plane.”
“We?” said Hilary.
“Yes.” Carlos raised his voice. “Jerry, I’ve got a surprise for you. A nice surprise!”
“But you said you were coming back Friday.”
“This morning we found we could get a plane today, so we took it.”
Jeremy came out of the house, smiling, too, but not quite as broadly as Carlos. His fair skin had tanned pinkish rather than brown. He looked thinner. He seemed quieter.
“It’s good to find you both here,” he said. “I didn’t expect a welcome like this.”
“We just came to look the place over today,” said Hilary. “We could probably move in tomorrow. At least, Tash and the secretariat could. I don’t have a job any more.”
“Oh, yes, you do, if you want one. I’ve never had a social secretary, but I am going to need someone for that job now.”
“Are you still going to open your campaign out west?” They were the first words Tash had spoken since Jeremy appeared.
“Yes,” he answered pleasantly, but impersonally. “Job is convinced it will help with the western vote.”
The chief usher was coming over the grass, his smile even broader now that Jeremy and Carlos were here. Would they like to have dinner served here tonight?
“Dinner?” repeated Jeremy. “Nothing so elaborate. Just a buffet supper out here al fresco. I suppose there is food in the house?”
“Oh, yes, sir. Mrs. Jackman saw to that. What time would you like supper?”
“In about an hour, and bring us some mint juleps now.”
As the sun was setting, they ate cold poached salmon with green mayonnaise. It seemed to Tash that Jeremy had changed in many ways. He didn’t talk so much. He didn’t smile so often. When he wasn’t smiling, he looked older than she had ever seen him.
When Hilary was talking to him, Tash took the opportunity to speak to Carlos in a low voice. “Is he all right?”
“Much better than he was,” answered Carlos in a voice as low. “For a long time he didn’t read newspapers or write letters or do anything but swim and sleep.”
“I wondered why he didn’t write.”
“He was like a man in a trance. For weeks. The physical scars of the fire healed quickly enough, but there were times when I thought the psychic scar of Vivian’s death would never heal at all. He felt himself responsible for everything that had happened to her.”
“How could he?”
“That’s the way we all feel when someone we love dies. You’re too young to know about that. Fortunately, it passes, like everything else. I knew it had passed for Jeremy when he began looking at newspaper headlines again. That was when I first urged him to come back to all the problems he has here. I think that’s what he needs now.”
Hilary was not lowering her voice. “Oh, this is a nice enough place in its way, but there’s no swimming pool.” Jeremy laughed for the first time.
“You haven’t looked at a map. If you had, you’d know that we don’t need a swimming pool here. We’re within a mile of the sea. Job has his own ocean beach, and that’s something I’ve always envied him.”
“What about pollution?”
“I don’t think it’s got this far yet. Even if it has, I’d rather have a polluted sea than a chlorinated pool. When I got your letter about Fox Run, Hilary, my first thought was the beach.”
“Oh, I forgot, I’ve got some mail for you at home,” said Hilary. “Job has been handling all state business, but he turned the personal stuff over to me. I only forwarded the ones that were really important, but you ought to see the others now.”
“Fan letters?”
“Lots.”
“I’d like to see a sampling of those. They are a useful barometer when an election’s pending.”
“Then I’d better be getting home, so I can sort them out tonight and bring all the personal files over here the first thing tomorrow morning. Tash, we came in your car, so if you’re ready now . . . ?”
Carlos intervened. “I’m going back to town myself this evening, so I can drive you, Hilary, if Tash would like to stay a little
