Read Across the Lagoon for Free Online

'Bye- bye, Miss Lindley.' The plump woman patted her arm shyly and gave her a sunny smile. 'I do hope you have a pleasant time.'
    'Thank you, Mrs Potter,' Carol smiled over her shakiness, 'I hope your sister will soon be better.'
    'I've an idea she will,' Emily said with that conspiratorial twinkle.
    Gray Barrett had stowed the bags in the back and was holding the car door open. 'Hop to it, Miss Lindley,' he grated impatiently. 'It's time we were off.'
    With a last backward glance, and tearing herself away from the comforting presence of the older woman, Carol hurried to the car. The engine thundered into life. From her seat in the back she waved towards the doorway as they crunched off along the drive.
    Out on the road the climbing sun was casting an orange dazzle through the trees. The sky was clear, promising a fine day. Swinging the wheel, the man in front informed her briefly, 'My niece's boarding school is at Shawford on the way to Winchester. We should be there in just over an hour.'This said, he settled down to driving, flexing his shoulders in such a way as to create a wall between himself and the seats behind. Carol recognised the gesture all too well, but it didn't worry her. She found it a relief to pretend that the car was driving itself.
    Besides, now that they were really on their way, the excitement at the thought of seeing new places began to take a hold on her. Though there was little to choose between her present morose employer and that which she had escaped in the indefatigable Miss Witherston, this at least was better than being cooped up in a store all day.
    Her spirits rose as she resolved to get the best possible enjoyment out of the drive. Well, why not? It was a beautiful day, and her work hadn't started yet. Ignor ing the dark head and thickset frame in front of her, she turned to the window and gave herself up to the view.
    There were all sorts of fascinating things to be seen. Though she was familiar enough with the setting hav ing spent many a Sunday with the family, picnicking in the New Forest, she never tired of its restful beauty; of the wild ponies munching negligently at the road side, of the lovely old thatched cottages, flowers spilling out of painted wheelbarrows and old-fashioned handcarts in the gardens.
    Leaving Lyndhurst behind, they drove past riding schools with their white paddock-railed enclosures and performing rings, and through hamlets and villages, some with amusing names like, Woodley Goose, Dunces Arch and Tiddlesdale.
    On towards Southampton the greenery began to dis appear. Housing estates could be seen in the distance. Skirting the city with its maze of narrow streets and shunning traffic was a tedious business. Further on there was the industrial town of Eastleigh which was even more depressing. But after this the country opened out again to reveal hawthorn hedges sprinkled with white blossom and little square-topped churches in the dis tance. - *
    When Carol saw the signpost for Shawford coming up she was surprised at how the time had passed.
    The school stood on the outskirts of the small town. A group of ivy-covered, dignified old buildings with tall church-like windows, stone terraces and quadrangles, it was set amongst green stretches and masked by trees. They drove through the open gates and along a winding drive, drawing in at the bottom of a flight of wide stone steps which were decorated by a pair of ornamental urns.
    Applying the brakes, Gray Barrett opened his door and climbed out. He cast a glance to where Carol was sitting uncertainly in the back and said crisply, 'You'd better come along too.' He left her to make her own way out so that she was some way behind him as he went up the steps.
    He couldn't have been visible across the open space at the top for more than a second when a shadowy figure appeared from the cloisters opposite and came running across the quadrangle towards him. Fleet of foot, dark hair flying, the girl's small piquant features were