Читать книгу The Dark River онлайн

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"I'm sorry," he said, with some embarrassment. "I'd no idea there was anyone here."

She threw back her short curly hair and brushed the sand from her frock and her bare legs, glancing at the sun as she did so.

"What a time to be asleep," she said, with a faint smile--"in the middle of the morning! I was up very early, fishing."

She pronounced the English words with a slight accent very pleasing to Hardie's ear.

"I see that you were," he replied. "You've had good luck. I didn't mean to disturb you. I came down the lagoon from Tautira. This little island looked so pretty that I couldn't resist coming ashore."

"Were you coming to our house?"

"I meant to go along the cliffs of the Pari. Do you live on the point there, at the entrance to the valley?"

She nodded.

"Then you must be Naia?"

She nodded again. "And you're George McLeod, aren't you?"

"No; but I'm his friend. My name is Alan Hardie. I came down here with George a few days ago, but I didn't meet your mother. I walked back to Tautira along the beach."