The atmosphere, while she could not control her thoughts, was suffocating. She went to her room for a scarf, wound it about her head and came back to the living-room. Her hand was reaching for the door when it opened, and Paul came in quickly, shutting it behind him.
He shoved a hand over his bright hair, stared at her. “Going out?” he asked, with polite satire.
“I was. It’s not cold.”
“It’s odd, but I got an idea you might take it into your head that this was like a wind in England—that’s why I came home. This is a taste of the monsoons to come—and you certainly don’t go out in them.”
She dragged the scarf from her hair, turned as if to return to her bedroom.
He said coolly, “Let’s have some tea. My throat feels like a hacksaw.”
“Hot?” she asked quickly.
“Nothing like that—thanks for the concern. I was on the jetty when this started and I took in some sand.” He went to the door. “Jake! Bring tea for two.”
“I’ll go and see that it’s done properly.”
“No, leave him to it. As a matter of fact I was coming home early in any case. I had to date some things forward today and suddenly realized it’s Colin’s birthday next week. I generally go over for a celebration, but I thought we might ask him here for the week-end instead. Incidentally, we could use the event to give a party for the staff. It’s a long time since I entertained them here, and that kind of thing does keep them happy.”
“A big party?”
“Fairly. Feel up to it?”
“Yes. Where will Colin stay?”
The blue eyes took the masked look she knew so well. “It’ll only be for one night—he can use the verandah. There shouldn’t be much more wind.”
“What sort of party—dinner?”
“We haven’t the room. It’ll have to be buffet, but plenty of food. I’ll get you more help in the kitchen.”
“It won’t be necessary. Supposing Colin can’t come?”
“We’ll have the binge all the same. But he’ll come.”
“Do we ... make him a present?”
A sardonic smile. “The party’s enough. Ah, here’s the tea.”
She poured, and set his cup near to the arm of his chair, leaned back and dropped a cube of sugar into her own cup. “Shall I send invitations?”
He considered this. “Before, I’ve simply asked the chaps and they’ve brought their wives. The women might like to have a written invitation from you, though. Want me to rough one out for you?”
“Not if you feel you can trust me to work one out for myself.”
“Yes, I trust you,” he said, without expression. “You can leave out Bill and Elise—I’ll ask them myself.”
“I thought you would.”
He flickered a glance at her but ignored the implications in her tone. “Just lately you’re smiling less than ever. I don’t like it.”
“You needn’t be anxious,” she said unemotionally. “I’ll rustle up a few smiles for your party.”
His mouth tightened slightly. “You’re becoming quite an expert at that kind of remark. Bitterness is all wrong in a girl of eighteen, and you’ve nothing to be bitter about, anyway.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not used to having to stay indoors all day.”
A pause. Then, offhandedly, “What have you been doing?”
“Just wasting time.”
“You haven’t even opened the last lot of books I had sent over.”
“I’m tired of reading.”
“What about the new records?”
“I must try them. More tea?”
He stood up and brought his cup to the tray, remained close while she refilled it, so that her hand became unsteady and the spout of the teapot quivered tea into the saucer Hurriedly, she pushed back her chair and got to her feet. “I’ll get a clean one.”
“No, leave it.” He caught her wrist. “Heavens, you’re shaking like a straw!”
She wrenched the hand from his grasp, said quietly and white-lipped, “Don’t touch me—ever. And for pity’s sake stop thinking that you have to bother with how I feel and look. I’m normal and in the best of health, and if I tremble sometimes it’s because I can’t bear the way you treat me. Just leave me alone!”
His eyes were hot steel. “For days I’ve said nothing about that grey look you’ve been carrying about with you, but now that you’ve finally given way a little, I mean to know what it’s all about. I’m already aware that you hate being alone with me, but there’s more to it than that, particularly today. What’s been happening this afternoon?”
“I can’t argue. Please leave me alone.”
“I demand an answer, Lorna!”
Her jaw went rigid so that she could hardly speak. “That’s all you know—ordering and demanding. Inside you, you blame me for spoiling your life; you don’t want to, but it’s inevitable. Well, I blame you for spoiling mine! I want to end this ... this phoney business of living here as your wife. I want to go away ... and be free.”
His mouth thinned. “So that’s it. You’ve had it tossing about inside you ever since we left Main Island, haven’t you? You’ve discovered that others admire and desire you, and you want to get out and enjoy it. Today, being cooped up in the house, you’ve been milling it around so that everything here seems to you to be unbearable. You can forget it, Lorna! You’re my responsibility and you’ll stay that way.” He paused, breathed rather heavily before adding, “Heaven knows I want you to be happy, but at the moment it’s not the most important thing. It’s far more necessary that we should shatter this wall of antagonism between us. I don’t blame you for anything you couldn’t avoid—you must believe that.”
“But I blame you,” she said recklessly. “Where you’re concerned I’ve served my purpose, but you won’t let me go because you're the big boss here and your pride couldn’t stand the scandal. You admit that it doesn’t matter to you that I’m more unhappy than I’ve ever been in my life!”
“Stop it, Lorna.”
But it was as if the floodgate had been lifted. “I won’t stop. You’ve always said you wanted candour, but now you’re finding it unpalatable—and that suits me. I detest this house and the way we have to live. I can’t stand feeling uneasy about everyone who comes to the place, frightened that something may come up which I can’t handle. You mustn’t think that I’m ignorant of all the things that go on outside! I know darned well that Elise gave a party of some sort and that you called in there for half an hour...”
“I’d turned the invitation down for both of us, but it was only polite to make a small effort.”
“And why did you turn it down? Simply because you didn’t care for the idea of taking me into Elise’s house! Having her here was permissible, of course—it was just too bad that I had to be here at the same time...”
“Will you be quiet!”
She laid the back of her hand against the muscle that worked in her jaw, looked dazedly into his blazing eyes. “I ... I’ve gone too far, haven’t I? I’m far too young and absurd to know what a man of your experience is thinking and contriving.”
“You may be sure,” he said furiously, “that I never contrive anything that doesn’t include you in some way. What’s got into you, Lorna?”
But she was spent. She shook her head and said wearily, “I don’t know. If you’d leave me alone when I’m on edge I’d get over it, but you have to prod and become overbearing. You’re suspicious when I’m silent—but it’s the best way for me to be.”
The anger died from his expression, but his fingers snapped together with a vicious sound as he said, “It’s not natural. You make everything so much more difficult than it need be.”
“I apologize for making a scene.”
“It isn’t the scene that’s worrying; it’s what’s behind it. You must wish very desperately to leave Panai.”
“What is there to stay for? If I made you happy, then I’d be happy, too. You know yourself that you had far more
enjoyment from your life before I came into it.”
“You’re here and you belong with me,” he said with icy quietness. “We won’t go any further than that just now. And I don’t want to hear any more remarks about Elise Ramsay. If there should be any question of our parting I’ll be the one to make the decision.” A savage note came into his voice. “We’ll go ahead with this party for Colin. It may the answer to one or two of our problems!”
He swung about and went out. The wind howled suddenly, the door thudded and almost at once the car started up on the drive. Lorna gripped hard on to the, back of a chair. She had the feeling that he would not return till late tonight, that when he did come he would look through her, coldly and mercilessly.
Was there any way out of this heart-breaking muddle, she wondered despairingly.
Arranging for the party was a full-time occupation. The guests would number fourteen, and food would have to be varied and cold but substantial. Jake was far too good-humouredly sluggish to be entrusted with the bulk of the preparations, but Lorna found the extra chores a boon.
She went to Panai Town in the jeep with a driver, bought ordinary and outlandish foodstuffs which she set about preparing in the kitchen. She grilled dozens of small sausages, pilchards and tinned mushrooms, hard boiled numbers of eggs, fried joints of chicken, baked spicy little cakes and flan cases. She crystallized pineapple and papaia, made dishes of savoury concoctions which could be spread on snippets of toast and garnished with chopped pimento and herbs.
The couple of days she gave to the preparations passed with surprising speed, and then it was Saturday morning, and the house itself had to be looked over. She had asked Jake to get the flowers through his numerous friends, and from mid-morning the islanders arrived, carrying all kinds of blossoms that were likely to wither within a few hours, and a few other types which might last till tomorrow. And the majority of the bouquets were of frangipani—pink.
Her first impulse was to throw out the stuff, but there was no doubt it could look wonderful without much arrangement, and the scent was delightful. She compromised, and made up a huge bowlful for her bedroom, where the women would leave their accessories; the living-room she decorated with magnolias and camellias with a huge poinsettia flower here and there.
Colin came in with Paul for lunch. His hair looked fairer than ever, his smile more debonair as he shamelessly kissed Lorna and dropped a tiny parcel into her hands.
“Perfume from Paris,” he said. “Guaranteed to smother men’s wits and sharpen their appetites. How’s my little playmate?”
“Fine,” she answered. “Are you getting that holiday, after all?”
“Not yet, but it’s promised. Well, it’s grand to be over here for the week-end. I gave Paul the messages.”
“Any concerning me?”
Paul said, “Only one—Sir Ronan and Lady Alys send you their love.”
“I brought my love with me,” Colin put in artlessly. “Never let it out of my sight. What time is this party tonight?”
Lorna replied, “People are invited for seven, which means nearer seven-thirty. You might like a bathe this afternoon.”
“I might. On the other hand I might like to take you out in a canoe. It’s too bad, but you’re the only really young thing in these parts. I can’t think why you had to get hitched up with Paul before you met me.”
“She possibly wouldn’t have,” said Paul coolly, “if she’d met you first.”
“Now that’s a thought! Do I pour myself a drink or wait till I’m offered one?”
“I’m going to wash,” Paul said. “I’ll bring some ice back with me.”
Colin waited till he had gone before saying softly, “Touchy, isn’t he? I suppose it’s that blithering rubber thief again. I hear he re-started operations the day of the squall.”
“Did he?” Lorna paused, then added casually, ‘Tm never told about these things—too juvenile. Wouldn’t it be more difficult to steal in a wind?”
“He’d laid off, you see. Then he took advantage of the wind to slip ashore about half a dozen bales—more than ever before. It’s very strange, because the bales are counted on at the other end and counted off at the jetty. They disappear on the way and yet the barge doesn’t put in anywhere.”
“Perhaps a maniac is dropping them overboard.”
He looked at her pityingly. “Don’t offer that solution in committee, will you? In fact, I shouldn’t think about it, if I were you.” He went to the window. “You’re making quite a garden out there. That’ll please the old lady.”
“You mean Lady Alys?”
He nodded. “It’s the only human thing about her—a passion for gardens.”
“But you said it would please her ... Does that mean she’s coming here?”
“She and my father make a state visit round the islands every three months or so. They’re talking about it now but it takes a lot of planning.”
Paul brought the ice and mixed the drinks. Colin went on talking, right through lunch and afterwards. It was amazing that in his rather narrow existence he could find so much that interested him. He was not a deep thinker, hardly ever read a book or analysed a newspaper article, but he was one of those happy souls who find everything highly coloured. After coffee he stood up.
“Come on, Lorna, let’s go to the beach.”
She looked quickly and obliquely at Paul. “Do you mind?”
“No. It’s normal for children to play together.”
Colin looked injured. “If that’s a crack at me I refuse to be cowed. Time was—and not many months ago, either—when I could have challenged Paul to a canoe race or a swim.”
“Run along, Colin,” Paul said, “and don’t do anything rash. I’ve some stuff to write up.”
Lorna went to the beach almost every day, but today it was more of a relief than usual, partly because she was with Colin, who saw nothing remarkable about her. He was so undiscerning that he had not even noticed she was pale and a little blue under the eyes. He talked and laughed, appropriated someone’s canoe and paddled a short way out to sea, where he rested while he related incidents which had happened at the Residency during the past week or two. He saw fun in everything, was so refreshingly ingenuous in his conclusions that Lorna envied him. She was eight years younger than Colin, but sitting there in the canoe and thinking about him dispassionately, she felt at least that much older. He knew nothing about the depths, never would know anything about them because they would never enter his orbit. She imagined him meeting someone frothy and pretty, falling very obviously in love and having the time of his life ever after. Lucky Colin.
At about five they went back to the house and had tea, after which Lorna left the two men to put in an hour or so on the finishing touches for the party in the kitchen.
The dishes were lined up on the kitchen table, given their ornamentation and eventually covered with damp mosquito netting. Other food was placed handy in the fridge, so that empty dishes could easily be refilled. A trolley was loaded with glasses and coffee cups, cutlery and plates, the wine cup was set to chill slightly on the shelf above the glazed fruits.
Then Lorna went off to take a bath and dress. She wore the second evening frock which Madame Roza had assembled from several yards of blue-green silk which was sparsely patterned in black. Elise had chosen the material and style, and perhaps for that reason Lorna was by no means enchanted with her reflection. Yet the close-fitting bodice with stand-up collar, the slightly full skirt and narrow belt did enhance her youthful prettiness, though the colour accentuated her pallor. She used the merest touch of rouge, took the diamond earrings from their box and hesitated, before putting them back again. It wasn’t that kind of courage she needed this evening.
In the living-room Paul was alone but quite ready in a white dinner jacket. His glance raked her, momentarily, and then he poured a small whisky and added water. He put it into her hand without a word; since the scene the other day it seemed that he was as loath to make conversation a
s she. Lorna sipped, took a larger gulp of the drink because her knees felt uncertain. Then Colin came in and the atmosphere eased.
The guests began arriving, all the men in dinner packets and the women in pretty frocks. This was an occasion; a full-sized party at the manager’s house. They all meant to enjoy it.
Elise made something of an entrance. She wore black and white with a necklace of very good sapphires, and she came in with a smile which the women knew as sultry; for the men it had no name—they were merely drawn by it, even though some of them might not care for the type.
She held out a hand to Paul, and Lorna saw the long white fingers close round his; then the dark head turned, and the vivid smile rested upon Lorna.
Elise looked sophisticated and svelte, but her voice was as light and indolent as Lorna remembered it. “Hallo, my dear. It seems ages since I last saw you. How pretty you’ve made the room!”
“May I take your stole?” asked Lorna politely.
“I’ll take it myself, if you don’t mind. Which bedroom?” Lorna led the way but came straight back to the living-room to greet someone else. A few minutes later Elise appeared again, and perhaps accidentally stood between Lorna and Paul.
“Where did you get all the frangipani?” she queried. “Your bedroom’s like a love bower.”
Too Young to Marry Page 18
