by Susan Barrie
He walked in when they were midway through sampling the host of dainty sandwiches and little cakes that Aunt Heloise had provided for the occasion and accepted a cup of tea that he did not, however, drink. He was particularly nice to Lisa and sat beside her on one of Madame d’ Auvergne’ s striped Empire couches, and gave her a lot of helpful advice about the various things she should and should not do in the immediate future. He urged her to persevere with her exercises and advised her to be patient and wait a little while before attempting seriously to play her piano again, warning her with a smile in his eyes that he would expect to be notified of her first big recital and adding that if it was humanly possible he would be amongst her audience.
Lisa was plainly almost overcome by her gratitude, but she was happy and bright and confident about her future. Only Clive Maddison, standing beside the window and gazing out rather glumly across the garden, did not appear to share her confidence.
Virginia, to whom Dr. Hanson barely addressed a word, gravitated after a while over to the window also, and Clive pushed the glass doors open and invited her to accompany him outside. Together they descended the steps to the lawn.
Clive was drawing furiously at the end of a half-smoked cigarette and he suddenly flung it away into a flower bed and scowled as he produced his case from his pocket. He passed it to Virginia but she shook her head.
“No, thanks,” she said. Then she told him reprovingly, “You’re smoking too much. Clive! I’ve noticed it particularly lately and the tips of your fingers are becoming quite noticeably stained. And, anyway, it’s expensive.”
“It is,” he agreed, “it’ s confoundedly expensive—everything’ s expensive when you don’ t really earn enough to keep yourself in socks, let alone support a—wife!” His brows were meeting above his brilliant blue eyes and they were staring harshly at the lake.
“I’ m sorry,” Virginia murmured, touched by something hopeless in his voice which had never been there before. “Are you and Lisa parting merely good friends or are you hoping to see one another in
the future?”
“We’re certainly not parting friends,” he bit out, “and we’re hoping to meet again just as soon as it can possibly be arranged! ” He stood still suddenly and looked down at her, his hands thrust deep into his pockets. “Virginia, you’re the only person who can help us and I had your half promise several weeks ago that you would if you could! ”
“Well?” She looked up at him. “In what way can I help you?”
He took her by the arm. after glancing back quickly over his shoulder to make sure that they were not being followed, and maneuvered her into a cool green arbor overlooking the lake, where they were scarcely likely to be disturbed.
“I’ll tell you.” he said, providing her with a chair and taking another beside her. “I want you to have dinner with me at the Milano tomorrow night. Lisa leaves in the morning, and I shall be glad when she’ s gone, because at this stage she’ s not really fit enough to be brought face to face with anything in the least likely to prove unpleasant.”
“I quite agree,” Virginia said. “But is there any unpleasantness that she’ s likely to be brought face to face with?”
“Well, it’ s not really likely but—” He smiled rather ruefully at Virginia. “I don’t want to tell you everything just now,” he admitted, “but I’ m expecting a visitor tomorrow who will be staying at the Milano a visitor from England. If Lisa had been one hundred per cent fit I’ d have been delighted for her to meet him. and I can’ t imagine any man least of all one who was once very impressionable, to say the least, if all that I’ ve heard about him is correct not being knocked completely sideways by Lisa and her big dark eyes. They reminded me of the eyes of a startled fawn when I first met her. She’s so full of strange, unworldly charm and sweetness—”
“Yes, yes.” Virginia said, interrupting him not because she was in any way averse to listening to this catalog of her sister’ s various attributes, but because she had a feeling that their absence would be noted and if not commented upon, almost certainly misconstrued in one quarter at least. “But where is all this leading us? Don’t tell me you want me to impersonate Lisa?”
“Of course not,” Clive reassured her at once. “But as Lisa’s sister— a genuine representative of her family....” And then he broke off and shook his head. “I want you to trust me, if you will, and I promise you my scheme is perfectly simple and is not in the least likely to recoil upon you. And you may be doing an immeasurable service to me, and
what must be more important to you, to Lisa—”
“And all that it involves is that I dine with you tomorrow night at the Milano?”
“That you dine with me and my—my friend! ”
Virginia thought quickly. She could quite easily get the evening off she knew, for a free evening was certainly due to her and she was faintly intrigued by this extraordinary invitation, and anything that she could do for Lisa she would do. But the Milano! The Milano was smart and it was now the height of the season and what would she wear?...
She thought of her black dress, but that might be a little over smart far a simple dinner party.
“Would you wish me to look my best for this occasion?” she inquired. “Because my wardrobe is strictly limited and I’ve only one good dress, which might or might not be suitable—”
“If it’ s the one you were to have worn on the night of Madame d’Auvergne’s dance and that I’ve heard about from Lisa, then wear it,” he answered her, smiling. “I understand you really launched out for that occasion and it was a thousand pities you weren’t able to be there. But I was fully prepared to take over your job as night nurse, only that fellow Hanson never allowed me the opportunity.”
“Yes, it was kind of you.” Virginia said quickly, gratefully. “Dr. Hanson did tell me.”
“Oh, he did, did he?” He gave her a rather curious look. “He’s an odd fellow at times, Hanson. Quite unshakable when he makes up his mind, and he made up his mind on the night of the party that he was the one who was going to relieve you, although I don’ t think his lady friend. Miss Spengler was entirely appreciative of the consideration he showed for you. She was a little bit peevish afterward, anyway.”
Virginia said nothing, although any mention of Leon Hanson made her heart quicken its beat uncomfortably these days, and then she thought she heard footsteps coming along the path toward them and she looked up quickly. Clive said persuasively, “Then you will dine with me tomorrow?”
“I will if you really want me to.”
“Good! Then I’ll pick you up about a quarter to eight—”
“Oh, so there you are! ” Lisa’ s voice exclaimed lightheartedly as she made her appearance around a bank of shrubbery. She smiled at Clive. It would never have occurred to her to feel in the least suspicious because he and her sister were apparently enjoying a quiet tete-a-tete together, but her companion. Dr. Hanson, who walked just behind her had a look on his face that caused Virginia’s heart to sink like a plummet. Was there, she wondered, a faint hint of contempt in his eyes as he glanced at her or was it purely her imagination?
“Your sister is making an early start tomorrow morning, so I advised her to spend a quiet evening and go to bed early,” the doctor observed in his incisive tones to Virginia “You’ ll probably want to spend a little while alone together, so if I can give you a lift back to your hotel, Maddison...?” he asked with a bleak, unfriendly look at the tall Englishman.
“Thanks very much,” Clive replied quite imperturbably, “but I shall walk back later on. I’m not in any hurry.” Leon Hanson’s chiseled lips seemed to tighten a little and the expression in his dark eyes was suddenly inscrutable as they rested upon Virginia.
“Then I’ll say goodbye to you, Miss Holt.” But he did not attempt to touch her hand, although there was something like an ache in her cold fingers as they waited for even that fleeting contact. “And a happy return to your family circle to you, Lisa! ” he said, quiet
ly gripping her hand.
Lisa’ s lower lip quivered noticeably and a sudden tear spilled over and ran down her cheek, which was still a trifle wan.
“Thanks to you, it will be a happy return!” she whispered.
“I’ m sure it will,” he replied, and his warm and comforting smile was for her alone.
When he had left them, walking briskly away to his car, all three stood silent for perhaps half a minute listening to the subdued noise of his engine starting up and then Lisa turned impulsively to her sister.
“I wish I knew why he isn’t quite the same,” she said. She stared hard into Virginia’s face. “He isn’t the same to you, Jinny!”
“Isn’t he?” Virginia appeared astonished. “Don’t you think you’re inclined to let your imagination run away with you, Liz, my dear? Dr. Hanson is an extremely busy man and I just happen to be your sister! He’s made a most satisfactory job of you and there’s no reason at all why he should waste any more time on me.”
“But at one time I thought—” Lisa bit her lip, and then she gave vent to a little sigh. She was obviously perplexed by Virginia’s apparently quite natural smile and by her air of being a little amused. “Oh, well, so long as you don’t mind—and I must admit that glamorous creature Carla Spengler is quite something! If he marries her they’ll be a very attractive pair, for he is attractive, and perhaps she’ll make him happy. But he doesn’t look terribly happy at the
moment.”
And then she looked at Clive and Virginia realized what she was thinking. Their last night! And they must have so much to say to one another!
“I’ll go and have a chat with Madame d’Auvergne,” she said hastily. “I haven’t had much opportunity to do so lately and she’s going away soon. But you must remember what Dr. Hanson said to you, Liz—you must go to bed early.”
“I’ll see that she goes to bed early,” Clive answered for her very quickly. And then he took her almost roughly by the hand. “But first she’s coming with me to have a look at the lake!”
The next night, when Clive called for her at the appointed time, Virginia could see that her appearance took him by surprise, despite the fact that he was looking and obviously feeling downcast because Lisa was no longer in Switzerland.
“My word! ” He put his hands on her shoulders, turned her around and she saw the honest admiration in his eyes. “No wonder women spend such a lot of time worrying their heads about clothes! Before you were a very attractive young Englishwoman—exceedingly English! Now you’re almost too exciting to be English!”
Mary Van Loon, who had also spent some time admiring Virginia, came forward to greet him in the hall before they left for the Milano and there was a teasing look in her eyes as she lifted a warning finger.
“I hope you won’ t forget that Lisa has scarcely touched down at Heathrow Airport! And please don’ t let this be a flagrant case of off with the old and on with the new! ” Clive grinned at her.
“Nothing of the sort,” he assured her. “Virginia and I have business to discuss, that’ s all! ”
Mary elevated an amused eyebrow.
“Well, it’ s a very good dress to discuss business in, anyway,” giving a little pat to the cloudy dark stole that was all that protected the girl’s slim white shoulders from the caress of the warm night air. “It should give you confidence if nothing else.”
And Virginia felt that she needed confidence when once more she found herself ascending the steps of the Milano and entering the brilliantly lighted vestibule. The last time she had descended those steps Leon Hanson had been at her side, his arrogant head in the air while he led the way out to his car, and she had been new to Switzerland and everything had been touched with a hint of magic.
But now the magic was no longer there, somehow, although the hotel was as luxurious as she remembered it and obviously crowded to capacity. In the great glassed-in veranda, which overlooked a kind of central courtyard where a fountain played, sending diamond spray high into the rose-flushed air—for the sun was just about to disappear into the lake, crimson as blood—and masses of exotic plants bloomed in ornamental tubs and stone vases, people were drinking cocktails and laughing and displaying the tans they had acquired during the golden hours of daylight. And the women without exception were tremendously smart and the men were beautifully groomed and attractive in black and white.
Clive, as faultless in his appearance as any man among them and better-looking than most, with that indefinable air which never deserted him and set him apart as unmistakably English, led her to a table where there were two other chairs and where a waiter hastened to take their order for drinks.
“You’d better have a sherry while we’re waiting,” Clive said. When it arrived he put it into her hand and lifted his own glass. “Let’ s drink to the success of this evening!”
Virginia obediently lifted her glass.
A twinkle came into Clive’ s eyes.
“I think we should drink to you, too, in that dress—and the exciting future that must one day await you!”
“Hear, hear!” said a somewhat gruff voice behind them, and Virginia very nearly dropped her sherry as she looked up into the intensely shrewd eyes—very blue eyes they were, like Clive’s—of an unusually tall elderly gentleman with white hair and a fierce white mustache, who was gazing down at her through a monocle, which sat securely in front of his right eye. “Hear, hear!” he repeated. Then he said briskly, “Present me to this young lady, Clive! ”
Clive obeyed with alacrity.
“Miss Virginia Holt, sir!” He looked with apology across at Virginia. “Miss Holt—Virginia—let me introduce my father, General Maddison.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Well, well, well!” boomed the general when at last he had installed himself in the spare chair at the table, stretching his long legs out in front of him as if in disdain of the cramped accommodation the chair afforded him. His monocle was still in place and he made no attempt at disguising his study of Virginia; indeed, he carried it out with a good deal of zest and obvious approval. “You certainly know how to pick ‘em, my boy! And if this one’s anything like the other one the one you want to marry—”
Virginia felt herself blushing almost to the tips of her small, shelllike ears where a pair of dainty pearl studs—presented to her while she was dressing that evening by Mrs. Van Loon as a mark of appreciation she said, and on condition that she wore them and didn’ t hide them away in a trinket box—gleamed against her pink skin. But Clive did his best to come to her rescue.
“You mustn’t embarrass Miss Holt, sir—she isn’t accustomed to these open tactics, and in any case Lisa isn’t a bit like her. Lisa’s dark, while Virginia’ s fair—”
“Always did prefer a blonde myself! ” the general exclaimed with a wicked little wink at Virginia, and then he examined the contents of their glasses and uttered a snort of disgust. “Sherry! I hope you don’ t expect me to follow your example and drink that! There’ s nothing like a whiskey and soda at this hour of the day. Hey, waiter!”
While he was issuing his instructions to the waiter Clive leaned forward and attempted to mitigate any sore feelings Virginia might be nursing because he had allowed her to be so ill-prepared for this meeting, and for a certain amount of ordeal that lay ahead of her.
“I didn’t want to let you know in advance that it was my father you were going to meet because I wanted you to be entirely yourself and not prepared to meet someone who might alarm you a little. And although I’ll admit the Old Man is a bit alarming at times, he’s not really the least bit tough at heart. The only one he ever decided to get tough with was me and I expect I richly earned it. However—” he said with a wry twist to his lips “—the important thing is that I felt from the beginning that he’d fall for Lisa, as it’s quite obvious he’s
already fallen for you. And although it’s five years since we met—”
“Five years is a long time,” the older man observed, catching the tail end
of the conversation after sampling his whiskey appreciatively. “A very long time when you’ve only got one son. and he persists in roaming like a gypsy about the globe without a thought for those he’s left behind!” He glared at Clive, an angry flash in his blue eyes under the bushy white eyebrows. “You’ve got a lot of talking to do, my boy, before you’re going to convince me that you’ve had a change of heart and want to come home and try an honest job of farming for a change. At one time you despised farming—”
“I don’ t think I despised farming, but I didn’ t think I’ d make a good farmer,” his son corrected him, a whimsical gleam in his eyes. “There’s a subtle difference, you know.”
“Well, there may be a subtle difference, but if there is it’s too subtle for me to follow. All I know is that you cleared out you didn’t want anything as dull as farming, although apparently your wanderings about the world have not resulted in your making your fortune.”
This was so undeniably true that Clive could do nothing but admit it, and Virginia flashed him a sympathetic glance as she detected the wry note in his voice. The general uttered a few hoarse noises and then glared at him afresh.
“And now you want to come back to High End and I’m not at all sure that I want you back at High End! ” However, he produced his pocket handkerchief and blew his nose violently for several seconds, after which he admitted, “But your Aunt Hetty’s more sentimental than I am and she’s already preparing to kill the fatted calf to. welcome back the prodigal! Making all sorts of plans, too, which I think she’s a fool to make—but women are fools!”
He grinned at Virginia, not so much apologetically as in almost a puckish, schoolboy fashion, and she smiled back at him with a sudden feeling of relief for Clive—and, of course, Lisa as well— because she was suddenly certain that this seemingly fierce old man was not really at all fierce at heart. Not nowadays, anyway. He might have been at one time, when he and his son first began their differences, but possibly being without his son—and feeling intensely lonely at times—had brought about a change of feelings.
