As he did so Lydia opened her eyes and had a glimpse through the open door of the Earl driving away in the Royal carriage.
The pain of the blow on her head had made her faint and although she had heard as if from a distance her sister’s voice shrieking hysterically, she had not understood what she was saying.
Now she told herself that the Earl was driving out of her life. The thought that she was losing him for ever was more agonising than anything she could suffer physically and she closed her eyes again.
Mr. Wodehouse took her into a bedroom where there were two Hawaiian maid-servants waiting for her arrival.
He put her gently down on the bed and said to the elder of the two:
“Look after Miss Westbury. Do not leave her alone, and do not let anybody disturb her.”
“Yes, that is right,” Mrs. Wodehouse said who had followed her husband. “Nobody is to disturb her until she has slept. She is very tired. But bring her something to eat and drink, as I am sure she must be hungry.”
She then went from the room with her husband following her and outside she said to the maid who had opened the door:
“Make quite certain no one goes near Miss Westbury until she wakes.”
“I keep watch, Mistress,” the girl replied.
As husband and wife walked down the stairs Mr. Wodehouse said:
“I hope your orders are carried out, Mary. That ghastly girl must not be allowed to upset her sister more than she has done already.”
“I could not have believed that any lady could behave in such a disgraceful manner!” Mrs. Wodehouse answered. “If you ask me, James, the Earl is well rid of her!”
Mr. Wodehouse smiled.
“That is exactly what I thought myself.”
Left alone in the Drawing-Room Sir Robert said to Heloise:
“Are you mad? How could you be so rude to Royston?”
Heloise was actually feeling somewhat abashed by the way first the Earl, then everybody else had disappeared, but she tossed her head defiantly.
“You know as well as I do, Papa,” she replied, “that he should have come with us last night, and taken care of me!”
“You were quite safe,” Sir Robert replied.
“He was not to know that! And how dare he spend the night alone with Lydia, and without a chaperon?”
Sir Robert laughed, but there was no humour in the sound.
“I do not suppose they chose to be capsized in a stormy sea,” he replied. “In fact, Mr. Wodehouse was saying, if you had listened, that they were extremely fortunate not to have been drowned.”
“If they had been with us they would have been perfectly all right, as we were,” Heloise objected.
Sir Robert was too tactful to remind his daughter that she had behaved hysterically all the time they were in the boat, clinging to him convulsively and reiterating over and over again that they would die.
Instead he said dryly:
“If you have lost Royston I think I shall wring your neck! You are not likely to give me another son-in-law who is so distinguished and so rich.”
“Oh, he will soon be back,” Heloise said complacently, “and will apologise abjectly to me for his neglect which is something I am not used to.”
“Oh, for Heaven’s sake, Heloise,” Sir Robert said crossly, “try to understand that Royston has more women running after him than he has horses, which is saying a great deal, and as you have been stupid enough to throw him over, he is not likely to come crawling back!”
“You are quite wrong—you will see!” Heloise retorted airily. “Now I must go to get ready for the Coronation, and Lydia must do my hair.”
She walked up the stairs, but when she tried to go into Lydia’s room the Hawaiian housemaid stood in front of the door and refused to let her enter.
When Heloise raged at her and insisted she must speak to her sister, the other maid went to fetch Mrs. Wodehouse who hurried up the stairs and said:
“I cannot believe, Miss Westbury, that you are not aware that your sister is in a delicate state of health after her terrible experience of last night. Besides which, when you struck her she fainted.”
There was a note of condemnation in Mrs. Wodehouse’s voice which for once made Heloise ashamed of the way she had acted.
“I can hardly go to the Coronation with my hair as it is at the moment!” she replied. “Perhaps you could send for a Hair-dresser.”
“I think it unlikely that one will be available at such short notice,” Mrs. Wodehouse replied, “but my head maid is very skilful with hair, and all the Hawaiian girls have theirs beautifully arranged at Festivals.”
There was nothing Heloise could do therefore but accept the services of the Hawaiian maid, who in fact, arranged her hair very prettily.
Heloise however made it perfectly clear that she would expect Lydia to wait on her before the Ball which was to take place that night.
“When you see my sister,” she said coldly when she was dressed and ready to leave, “will you please inform her that I expect her to be up by the time I return.”
“I will see if I consider her well enough to rise,” Mrs. Wodehouse replied. “Otherwise, Miss Westbury, I am afraid you will have to manage without her.”
Just after Lydia’s arrival with the Earl the luggage had been brought to the house, having been retrieved from HMS Victorious.
Heloise made a great fuss over which gown she was to wear but thanks to Lydia’s forethought in listing what was in every trunk, everything she required was found comparatively easily.
Mrs. Wodehouse did not miss the fact that while Heloise had more than a dozen trunks Lydia had only one, and after what she had seen and heard in the Drawing-Room her kind heart went out to somebody who she thought, was being extremely badly treated by her relatives.
When she was driving with her husband to the Royal Pavilion especially built for the Coronation she said to him:
“I cannot understand Sir Robert treating one of his daughters so differently from the other, and I am already convinced in my mind that poor little Cinderella who is the elder, is much the nicer of the two.”
“I think the same,” Mr. Wodehouse said, “but it is no use your interfering, my dear, you will get no thanks for it.”
It was not surprising that Lydia lying in bed feeling limp and listless, was depressed at missing the Coronation Ceremony.
When the King had decided to have a Coronation such as no King of Hawaii had ever had before, he ordered a Royal Pavilion to be built in front of Iolani Palace.
A covered amphitheatre surrounded it on three sides and provided seating for thousands of spectators.
Octagonal, the domed pavilion symbolised the Crown and its eight Grecian columns represented the eight uninhabited islands of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Inside the Royal Pavilion the Chief Justice of the Kingdom placed the Royal Mantle—the large feather cloak of Kamehameha I—on the King’s shoulders, and handed him a Royal Sceptre.
The Princess Poomaikelani, his sister-in-law, presented him with a pulo’ ulo’u Rapu stick and a whale tooth pendant suspended from a necklace of woven human hair.
Besides this he also received a Royal feather standard.
The Coronation’s greatest moment however came when one of the Princes stepped forward with the crowns which had been made in England.
As the choir sang: “Almighty Father! We do Bring Gold and Gems for the King,” King Kalakaua took his crown, placed it on his head, then placed a smaller similar crown on the head of Queen Kapiolani.
The choir sang: “Cry out O Isles with Joy!”
Cannons on land and at sea fired a salute after which the Royal Hawaiian Band played a spirited Coronation March.
Then the general festivities started and Sir Robert thought that King Kalakaua certainly lived up to his reputation as a ‘Merry Monarch.’
The whole populace was dressed in their best and Honolulu seemed to be turned into a Fun-Fair of beautiful girls dancing, every kind
of side-show and sport taking place as well as the beach being crowded with surf-bathers.
The gaiety of it was so irresistible that the Earl who had been treated as a Royal Personage kept thinking how much Lydia would have enjoyed it.
He had a special place in the Pavilion, to which he had been escorted by the Lord Chamberlain, and until he was seated everybody stood.
The King singled him out for a special greeting so that the people could understand that he was embracing the Queen of England in the personage of the Earl.
At the Royal Banquet which followed the Coronation the Earl was given the Seat of Honour.
Heloise was seated a long way away from him. He deliberately did not look in her direction and there was no question of either her or Sir Robert speaking to him while the ceremony and the banquet was taking place.
On the way back to the British Consulate Heloise grumbled all the way.
“You would think, Papa,” she said, “after his disgraceful behaviour that Hunter would have made some effort to speak to me and apologise.”
“You will be lucky if he comes near you!” Sir Robert replied.
He was actually very perturbed by the way in which Heloise had behaved.
Although it was something which he and Lydia were used to and they seldom took seriously anything she said when she was in a tantrum he was sensible enough to be aware that to the Earl it must have been an unpleasant ‘eye-opener.’
Then because he always tried to avoid unpleasant facts, Sir Robert told himself he was quite certain that the Earl was deeply in love with Heloise and bemused by her beauty.
He would therefore forgive her, even though such a vulgar exhibition should never have taken place in front of the British Consul and his wife.
There was however no point in saying so, and taking the line of least resistance Sir Robert said;
“I am sure tonight you will be dancing with Royston at the Ball. But do not expect him to grovel because no man likes doing that!”
Heloise did not answer.
She merely swept into the house and told the servant that she was going to her room to rest and wanted her sister to come to her immediately.
She, however, received a message from Mrs. Wodehouse saying that Lydia was still asleep and a maid would prepare her bath in an hour’s time.
Heloise was therefore forced to explain to a strange maid how to undo her gown and to find in her innumerable trunks the one she intended to wear at the Palace.
* * *
Lydia awoke feeling she had slept for a very long time and finding she had now recovered from the strain and fatigue she had felt when she got into bed.
She had eaten what the maids had brought her but she was hardly aware of what she was doing.
Then she had drifted away into a delicious sleep in which she thought the Earl’s arms were around her, his lips were near to hers, and she could hear his deep voice saying that he loved her.
“I love you!” she found herself whispering as she opened her eyes.
As she did so she realised that the sun was sinking low over the sea and the sky was a vision of loveliness.
‘I have missed the whole day!’ she thought with a little pang. ‘How could I have done anything so stupid when I can sleep at home?’
However she felt immeasurably better, and because it was difficult to think of the Coronation or anything else except the Earl, she knew the only thing that mattered was that she should see him again.
Then she remembered vaguely hearing Heloise screaming at her. She had seen him drive away and thought he was going out of her life for ever.
She felt the pain of it stab through her and told herself severely she would have to be sensible.
What had happened on the island where they had been marooned was something which would never happen again.
It had been so perfect, so exquisite, such an ecstatic memory, that nothing must ever spoil it.
‘It is in my heart and in his,’ she thought, ‘and will be ours for all eternity.’
She got out of bed and started to dress herself, thinking all the time of the Earl and finding it extraordinary that while she had been with him on the island wearing nothing but a nightgown she had not felt shy.
She had not been embarrassed until the Hawaiian boat had arrived to rescue them.
She knew the explanation was that she had felt she belonged to him and therefore everything they did together was right and perfect.
“I love him! I love him!” she said to the sunset, and felt that the crimson and gold wonder of it brought her the light of hope.
Because she was not certain if she was to be allowed to go to the Ball tonight, although she knew her father had intended taking her to the Coronation, she merely put on one of her simple white evening dresses which was less elaborate than any gown she would have worn to attend the Ball.
She quickly arranged her hair at the back of her head and opened the door of her bedroom.
The maid-servant outside in the passage smiled at her and said;
“You wake, Lady. That good! Why you not call?”
“I managed by myself, thank you,” Lydia replied. “Will you show me the way to my sister’s bedroom?”
The maid led her across the landing and as she went in she saw that Heloise was dressing herself and looking exceedingly sulky.
“Can I help you?” Lydia asked.
“It is about time you did!” Heloise answered. “And you will have to hurry! Papa sent a message to say he will be leaving in half-an-hour.”
“In half-an-hour?” Lydia exclaimed. “Where is Papa? I want to ask him if I am to come with you.”
“Come with us?” Heloise questioned. “Do you think I would want you there after the way you behaved? You will do my hair and help me dress, then stay here and try to behave yourself until we get back!”
The way she spoke was so rude and so peremptory that Lydia was quite certain that if she asked her father he would say she was not to upset Heloise and must therefore stay behind.
She was disappointed.
At the same time, knowing it was what she might have expected would happen, she merely arranged Heloise’s hair in silence, helped her into her gown, and fastened round her neck the jewels that had belonged to her mother.
Then without saying ‘thank you,’ Heloise swept towards the door and down the stairs with Lydia following her.
Her father looking very smart and wearing his decorations on his evening-coat was waiting in the hall.
As Heloise appeared he pulled out his watch and said:
“Come along! Come along! We are late! I have already had to apologise to our host and hostess, because we are travelling with them in their carriage.” As he spoke Mr. and Mrs. Wodehouse came from the Drawing-Room.
They looked at Lydia as she descended the last steps of the staircase and Mrs. Wodehouse asked: “Are you feeling better, my dear?”
“Yes, thank you,” Lydia replied. “You have been so very kind, and I am exceedingly grateful for all you have done for me.”
“It has been a pleasure,” Mrs. Wodehouse said warmly, “and now I hope you will enjoy the Ball.”
“It is very kind of you,” Lydia said, “but if it will be no trouble, I think I had better ... stay here.”
She glanced nervously at her sister as she spoke and almost as if she had asked the question Heloise said:
“My sister is too tired and exhausted to attend any Ball!”
As she spoke she handed the wrap she was carrying on her arm to her father who put it round her shoulders.
“You had better go to bed, Lydia,” she added. “I will wake you when I come back so that you can undo my gown.”
Mrs. Wodehouse looked from one girl to the other, then said:
“I think it is very disappointing for Miss Lydia, having missed the Coronation today, now to miss the Ball. I suggest she comes with us, at least for a little time. After all, it is almost a Royal Command!”
As she
spoke Lydia saw the anger in Heloise’s eyes and quickly put her hand on Mrs. Wodehouse’s arm.
“It is better if I stay behind,” she said in a low voice, “but I hope it will be no trouble to your household.”
Her fingers told Mrs. Wodehouse better than what she said that it would be a mistake to argue.
But she gave Heloise a hard look as she walked ahead of her towards the front door pausing to say to the servant who was seeing them out:
“Miss Westbury is staying behind, look after her and give her something to eat before you all join the festivities as you have been told you may do.”
“We do that, Mistress,” the servant said with a smile.
Then the Wodehouses, Sir Robert and Heloise all got into the closed carriage that was waiting for them and drove off.
Lydia watched them go, then she went into the Drawing-Room to stand looking out into the garden which lay on one side of the house, while there was a view of the sea on the other.
She watched the sunset, feeling that she was again on the island where the Earl had kissed her and told her he loved her.
“An Island of Love,” she whispered in her heart and knew she would never forget.
The servants came in to tell Lydia there was a meal waiting for her in the Dining-Room.
She sat alone at the large table where the British Consul and his wife entertained their guests.
She did not really envy Heloise at the Ball, except for thinking how delightful and interesting it would be if she could sit next to the Earl and hear him talking to her.
It would not be about themselves since they were in public, but about Hawaii and its long, complicated but exciting history.
When the simple meal was finished she went back into the Drawing-Room, not feeling tired enough to go to bed but reliving her own love-story, which perhaps would never have another chapter.
Now the sun had sunk in a blaze of glory and with the swiftness with which the night came in the tropics the stars were coming out overhead.
The Island of Love (Camfield Series No. 15) Page 12
