Oriental Hotel

by Janet Tanner

  ‘What did you say?’ she whispered at last.

  Those gentle blue eyes, now cold as icebergs, held hers. ‘ I cannot make you do anything, Elise. You are quite right; you are not a child and I cannot lock you up. But I will not have Alex involved in this kind of scandalous behaviour.’

  ‘You could not do such a thing …’ All her defiance, all her anger had died in the face of his threat.

  ‘I would not advise you to put it to the test, Elise.’

  The blood was singing in her ears. Not to see Alex again – ever! Then she heard other sounds, doors slamming, footsteps, voices – Su Ming and Alex.

  ‘Mummy, where are you? We’re home – we’re home!’

  She could not move; her eyes, mutely pleading, held Gordon’s. His lips tightened and he turned and went into his study just as the door burst open and Alex came running into the hail, throwing himself at Elise with such force that she almost lost her balance.

  ‘Mummy!’ His arms were round her legs, holding on tightly, his face was buried in her skin. ‘Mummy, for a minute I thought you’d gone away again. You’re not going away again, are you, Mummy?’

  She was trembling all over. ‘No, darling, no. Of course I’m not.’

  ‘Mummy, we saw soldiers. Tell her, Su Ming!’

  Elise experienced a chill that dominated all other emotions.

  ‘Soldiers, darling? Where?’

  ‘Down by the harbour on the Island. They were marching.’

  That would be the volunteers, she thought. ‘Was Mr de Gama with them?’

  ‘I didn’t see him. But they all looked the same in their uniforms.’

  Faceless soldiers, all looking alike. One of the harbingers of war!

  ‘And they had guns!’

  ‘Guns! Oh, darling!’

  Beneath her fingers his hair felt silky-soft, like a baby’s still. He mustn’t stay here, she thought. Whatever happens, he must be safely out of the way before the Japs come; before the beginning of the end. There would be fighting in the streets then: bombs, shelling, death. Houses would burn, prisoners would be taken. And for anyone left in the Colony there would be no escape. She looked up sharply.

  ‘Su Ming, will you please look after Alex for a little while longer? I was just having a talk with Mr Sanderson.’

  ‘But Mummy …’

  ‘He had been looking forward to seeing you, Mrs Sanderson.’ Su Ming’s tone was critical, her expression disapproving. That girl is getting above herself, thought Elise.

  ‘Su Ming, will you please do as I ask,’ she said coldly.

  Her resolve was returning now, fired by Alex’s mention of soldiers, and when Su Ming left with a protesting Alex she went into Gordon’s study.

  He was standing by the window with a glass in his hand; the sight of it shocked Elise again, for Gordon rarely drank. That he should be drinking before dinner was a sure sign of how upset he was.

  When he heard her enter the room he turned accusingly.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘I have to talk to you.’ Her voice was level now, if a trifle unsteady. ‘I meant what I said about wanting to take Alex to Australia. That was not a lie nor a ploy, whatever you may think. I believe there is a very real danger of Hong Kong being invaded. Everyone says so: the government – Hugh de Gama …’

  ‘Hugh de Gama wants to play at soldiers,’ Gordon said nastily. ‘And if there is anyone else you intend to quote at me, please refrain.’

  She ignored the barb. ‘This war is real, Gordon. The threat is real – you must realise it. We should all go – you too! the Japs …’

  ‘The Japs!’ He spun round, jabbing at the air with. an angry finger. ‘I have spent three years of my life building up a business here and I refuse to abandon it to a lot of foolish fat little men in pebble lens glasses. Do you know what would happen to the business if I left it? Gone! Kaput!’ He clicked his fingers. ‘The Japs will not be here to take it, but I can tell you who will: the damned Chinese! Oh no, we have nothing to worry about from the Japs, I assure you.’

  ‘At least let me take Alex,’ she pleaded.

  ‘And undermine confidence in the business by adding to the panic-mongering? While I can tell my contacts and associates that you and Alex are still here, I am demonstrating my faith in the future of …’

  ‘So that’s it!’ She was furious now. ‘You are a fool, Gordon, sitting there like Canute telling the tide to go back. Worse – you are a hypocrite, pretending to care about us when all you really care about is the business. Well, now I know!’

  ‘I am doing what I believe to be best for all of us,’ he said stiffly.

  ‘You expect me to believe that? All you ever think about is the business – morning, noon and night. And you have the supreme gall to criticise the Brittains for the self-same thing!’

  ‘Elise – I’m warning you …’

  ‘Warn away, but let me tell you this. Perhaps if you had been here a little more, putting your family first sometimes, I would have found neither the time nor the inclination to go to the Peninsula.’

  ‘All right, that’s enough!’ He set down his glass on his desk so roughly that gin slopped over onto the polished surface. ‘I don’t want to hear another word of this … I am telling you, Elise, I stay here and Alex stays here. If you don’t want to find yourself cut off from him, you will stay too. Now, I am going back to the office to finish the work I had to leave when Hugh interrupted me with this devastating bombshell. I shall be back in time for dinner and I shall expect all this to be forgotten. If not …’

  ‘Yes – if not?’ Her defiance was merely token now. She had become frightened, suddenly, by the way the situation was going and the things they were both saying.

  ‘I have already made the position clear, I think, Elise. I do not intend to waste my breath repeating it.’

  He turned and stalked out of the room. As she heard the front door slam after him her anger returned momentarily, fired by bitter resentment that he should treat her this way.

  She ran after him. ‘Gordon! Gordon!’

  But the car was already moving when she reached the front door and she stood helplessly watching as it disappeared down the drive.

  Damn him! He’ll never let me take Alex now. So because of me and what I have done, my son may be here when the Japs come. Oh, what can I do?

  Take him away!

  It was a drum-beat loud in her head, the words as clear as if someone had spoken to her. Take him away without telling Gordon you’re going.

  She stood with trembling fingers pressed to her lips. Could she? she had the means – Brit had promised transport and somewhere to go. But still it was an awesome prospect, rather like standing on the edge of a precipice.

  If she took Alex secretly and went to Australia, there would probably be no way back. When the war was finally over, who knew what would have become of Hong Kong? There might be nothing left of the places she had come to love. This lovely house might be burned or shelled to the ground. Japanese soldiers might enjoy their mistresses in its rooms, the furniture she had chosen with such care would be destroyed or – at best – damaged by cigarette burns and boot-marks. The harbour could become a watery grave, the Peak be a landmark for approaching enemy aircraft. Even if the Japanese were defeated and ousted by the Allies, Hong Kong would never be the same place again.

  And Gordon? Instinctively she knew that if she took Alex and went to Brit, she would be turning her back on him for ever. It was what she had wanted – to go to Brit – yet even now the thought of parting from Gordon in this way gave her a sinking feeling.

  I still love him in my own way, she thought with a flash of insight.

  But even as she debated and agonised she knew her mind was already made up. When Brit returned and contacted her, she would tell him she would like him to fly her and Alex to Australia. And when the war was over and whatever job he had to do was done, they would begin a new life together.

  Elise was in the nursery playing ludo with Alex
when the telephone call for which she had been waiting came.

  It was two days since she had decided to take Alex secretly and go to Australia; two days during which her thoughts had been in constant turmoil, her emotions a mixture of elations and poignant sadness, her decision challenged a dozen times a day with countless reasons why she should stay. There were so many things that could go wrong, so many snags to consider. But always she returned to the same central factor: Alex’s safety had to come first. She must take this opportunity to get him away from the threat of a Japanese invasion. And so, nerves tight-wound like a spring, she waited for the telephone call from Brit.

  Although he had said he would be gone for two days, as time dragged endlessly by she found herself beginning to worry and wonder. It was possible that he had gone into China already. If that were the case, there was always the risk that he might not be able to get back. The thought turned her cold with dread and she tried not to think about it. Yet it remained a sickening possibility haunting the corners of her mind.

  Each time the telephone rang she hurried to answer it, trembling with eager anticipation, but when it broke the sleepy stillness of the house on that second afternoon she was unable to reach it before Su Ming who – much to the annoyance of the cook amah – had been supervising the preparation of Alex’s tea in the kitchen.

  As Su Ming lifted the receiver Elise froze at the top of the stairs, her whole body tense.

  ‘Yes. I will get her for you. May I tell her who is calling?’ Su Ming’s voice was prim, but Elise guessed at the curiosity she was concealing and rushed down the stairs holding out her hand.

  ‘It’s all right, Su Ming. I’ll take it.’

  ‘Hello, Elise.’ His voice, deep and lazy, started fires within her.

  ‘Hello.’

  She forced herself to adopt a conversational tone until the door had closed after Su Ming, then her breath came our on a shuddering sigh. ‘Thank goodness you’re back! I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.’

  ‘I told you I would be.’

  ‘I know, but with this war … and what you have to do …’

  ‘Careful!’ he warned her.

  ‘Oh Brit, I’m sorry …’

  ‘Never mind about that now. Have you thought about what we discussed?’

  Th scent of the flowers in their pewter vase rose to her nostrils and tangled with the words in her throat.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘Yes. We will come.’

  His breath came out on a sigh. ‘Thank God. You talked Gordon round, then?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘No?’

  ‘No – there’s so much you don’t yet know, Brit. When I got back here that afternoon, Gordon was waiting for me. Hugh must have found out that we were at the Peninsula again and had telephoned him. There was a terrible row.’ Her voice shook at the memory of it. ‘He forbade me to see you again and he refused to allow Alex and me to go to Australia or indeed anywhere.’

  ‘So how do you plan to come?’

  ‘Secretly. Without telling him.’

  There was a pause. She could picture his face and wanted him so much that it was a pain inside her.

  ‘I don’t like it,’ he said. ‘I don’t like doing things under-handedly. If you want my opinion, you ought to tell him straight out what you intend to do.’

  She tore at her lip with her teeth. ‘I can’t.’

  ‘Why not? I’ll come and see him with you if you like. We will both tell him …’

  ‘No!’

  ‘But Elise …’

  ‘No! I haven’t told you everything, Brit. He says that if I don’t stop seeing you he’ll …’ Unable to bring herself to say it, her voice tailed away.

  ‘He’ll what?’ Brit asked with dangerous directness.

  ‘He’ll … he said I would never see Alex again.’

  ‘Bastard! That’s just a threat, Elise. How could he make such a thing stick?’

  ‘I don’t know but I can’t take the risk. I’ve thought it all out and I won’t tell anyone, not even Alex. That way it will be a big adventure for him.’

  ‘I still don’t like it, Elise.’

  ‘Please, Brit! I don’t know what Gordon would do if I told him. I just have the conviction we would never get on that plane.’

  ‘All right,’ he said at last. ‘I suppose if I want to get you and Alex to safety, I shall have to go along with that. Can you be ready the day after tomorrow?’

  ‘I could be ready in half an hour.’

  ‘That won’t be necessary,’ he said drily. ‘I have arranged for the company plane at one o’clock in the afternoon. And you won’t be the only passengers, by the way. My sister-in-law, Charles’s wife and her youngest child are coming too. Now, could you be at Kai-Tak airport by midday?’

  ‘Yes. I’ll take a taxi.’

  ‘Good. Now – how about coming to the Peninsula tomorrow?’

  She hesitated. ‘I think it might be safer not to. At the moment I’m moving about freely. I suppose Gordon thinks that after all his threats I have given in. But if he became suspicious …’

  ‘Point taken! Anyway, there’s no rush; we have the rest of our lives.’

  She flooded with happiness as all problems and anxieties were momentarily forgotten and she could see the future as it might be – with Brit and Alex. ‘Oh Brit, I do love you.’

  ‘And I love you.’

  ‘We’ll be at Kai-Tak the day after tomorrow.’

  As she replaced the receiver a small sound attracted her attention and she glanced up the stairs to see Alex sitting on the top step. She felt a moment’s misgiving, then she shrugged. If he had heard anything, he would not have understood it. He was only five years old, after all.

  ‘Mummy, when are you coming back to finish our game?’ he called.

  ‘I’m coming now.’

  She went back upstairs to his room where the ludo board was laid out on a table and felt a brief pang for cosy afternoons which would soon come to an end. But there would be other things to take their place, she reminded herself; other habits to be formed in a new and exciting life. And she and Brit would be building a future together.

  ‘What are you doing, Mummy?’

  Elise looked up swiftly from the case she was packing to see

  Alex standing in the doorway.

  She cursed silently, for she had thought he was downstairs and

  out of the way. But he seemed to be tailing her everywhere these last few days, as if he suspected something was going on and was unwilling to let her out of his sight.

  ‘Oh, just putting some things away, Alex.’

  ‘But those are my pyjamas; I shall be needing them,’ he pointed out.

  ‘You can’t wear more than one pair at once, darling.’

  ‘And my sun hat! That’s my sun hat! You can’t put that away! Summer’s coming; Su Ming said so.’

  ‘Alex, I’m just …’

  ‘Why a suitcase?’ His grey eyes grew round with anticipation. ‘Are we going away on holiday, Mummy?’

  She hesitated. Deceiving a five-year-old was far more difficult than she had imagined it would be.

  ‘We might be.’

  ‘Are we? Really?’

  ‘Not if you say one single word to anyone about it. It’s a very big secret. Can you keep a secret, Alex?’

  He nodded, sticking his hands into the pockets of his shorts and trying to look grown-up.

  ‘’Course I can.’

  ‘Well, I hope so, because if you tell anyone we would not be able to go and that would be a pity, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘He nodded. ‘ Where are we going?’

  Warning bells clanged loudly in her ears.

  ‘You ask too many questions,’ she scolded.

  ‘Oh, please tell me!’

  ‘I don’t know yet.’ She reached out, pinching his small, straight nose and teasing: ‘One of these days a blackbird will come and peck it off!’

  He laughed.
‘No, it won’t!’

  ‘Oh yes, it will! Now off you go and find something to do – and remember, not a word to anyone about our holiday or everything will be spoiled.’

  When he had gone, she stood for a moment in thought. Then she selected a few more items, put them into the suitcase, closed it and stacked it away on top of a tall cupboard. It wasn’t very clever, but it was the best she could do. With luck, Su Ming would never miss the things she had packed and had no reason to investigate the case.

  But as she went into her own room to sort and pack some of her belongings, she felt tense and jumpy as a kitten and began to wish she had agreed to meet Brit at the Peninsula.

  He always had such a good, calming influence on her. After an hour or so with him, everything would fall into place.

  But it was too late to change her mind now – and too dangerous. Tomorrow she would see him and they would fly off to begin a new life together. She would just have to be patient for a little longer.

  The following day was colder but still bright and clear, dispelling Elise’s lingering fears that the weather might in some way stop flights out of Kai-Tak. If their departure were to be delayed, she thought the strain would be unbearable. Things were bad enough now, wondering if there was anything they had forgotten. But incredibly, or so it seemed to her, the household appeared totally unaware of the imminent upheaval. And when Gordon left for work at his usual time, she could feel nothing but relief.

  Even after her mind had been made up, she had continued to wonder how she would feel when she had to actually bring herself to leave Gordon. This was one of the reasons why she had ignored Brit’s advice to tell him the truth. If he had been cruel to her, or if she hated him, she would have revelled in the opportunity to blast him with her decision. But she did not hate him; she was still very fond of him. And though she knew she was being cowardly, she shrank from the prospect of seeing his face when she told him and was desperately afraid that her own resolve might weaken.

  When the moment came, however, the fluttering of her stomach drowned out all other emotions and as she saw him walk down the path with briefcase in hand, she had to remind herself that six years of her life was coming to an end.