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Show 172 "I," said Phyllis at last, her voice strangling, "can't. It's Chieko's day off." "I," said Mike, "must go shop." "And I - " said Louise, floundering, but was saved by fortune, The Murakamis arrived, along with Captain Bain, and in the ensuing round of introductions her failure to reply was not noted. Or not noted officially. So Harriet went alone. The Major lent the staff-car, with Corporal Biggs as pilot, and on the way Harriet gazed about curiously at the scenes that, to the Detachments, had long grown stale: the alternating forests and paddies of the coast-road; Higashi's box-like series of shops along the main street, and the long sweep below the gun-mount mountain. As they drew onto the Engineers grounds she too was struck by the wind-flayed desolation, the duckboards, the small, bent, long-suffering trees, nor was her surprise mitigated when she was admitted to the Satterwhite's house. The door was opened by a small, shy girl who ushered her into the living-room and left her to summon her hostess. Harriet gazed about, noting that the Colonel's billet was neither as large nor as well-appointed as the one she herself had left behind in Otsu. In a moment Mrs Satterwhite appeared, tucking back a strand of hair, goose-pimples dimly apparent above her thin frock, but her sharp features softened by a smile. "Mrs --?" "Lambert. My husband is Captain Lambert; we've just joined the Detachments." |