The Man in Possession

by Hilda Pressley

  Max watched them go too, a smile of amusement on his face. ‘And what time did Madam arrive back last night after her wild night out with dear Roger?’ he asked.

  Julia let the sneer go over her head. Of what use was it to keep getting angry whenever Max said something like that about Roger? He did not seem to know he was doing it.

  ‘Oh, around eleven-thirty,’ she answered, trying to sound casual, trying not to dwell on the dreamy look on Celia’s face when she had come in.

  ‘Do you want anything to eat or a drink?’ Julia had asked her politely.

  Celia had yawned extravagantly. ‘Heavens, no! Roger and I had a lovely meal alone together. We decided not to go out after all. We thought we’d have a nice cosy evening at home, just the two of us.’

  Julia sighed impatiently and forced herself back to the present. The sail hoisted, Max let go the moorings and Julia swung the helm over and hauled in the sheet. But her heart was not in sailing this morning, and she very much doubted whether she would ever again find complete joy in the simple pleasure. The next few weeks, the rest of the season, indeed the whole of her life stretched out barren and useless without the love of Roger. She had loved David with a kind of brief, swift ecstasy, and a part of her had died too. But what she felt for Roger was like a burning, living flame which would remain within her for as long as she lived.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The half-decker was just turning into the main river when Max gave an exclamation.

  ‘I’ve just remembered something. Do you mind if I slip back and use your phone? Don’t bother to turn her round,’ he added swiftly as she gave the helm a push, ‘just pull into the bank and I’ll walk along the edge and make my way by the back of the sheds.’

  ‘All right.’

  She brought the half-decker alongside the bank and let the sheet go free. Max jumped ashore and jabbed an anchor into the soft ground.

  ‘The office will be locked,’ she told him. ‘But Bob Winters will give you the key.’

  Bob was the only man on duty today. After working for some weeks with only short breaks, the boatbuilding team were taking an overdue Sunday off. The two halfdeckers now had small cabins, the tops of which could be raised and lowered from amidships when required, and two entirely new ones built, tested and ready for hire. The building of the first of the new auxiliaries would begin in earnest tomorrow. There had been a little hold-up with the design of these. Frank Willis had found some fault in the first drafts and second drawings had been necessary.

  Max was gone quite a long time. Julia began to feel restless and wondered what on earth was keeping him. At last he appeared, smiling and apologetic.

  ‘Sorry and all that, Julia. First I couldn’t find Bob—he’d found a quiet spot to fish, then when I took the key back we got talking. Once Bob starts he doesn’t know when to stop. I couldn’t get away.’

  Julia made no answer. It was true that Bob liked to talk, but she felt it hardly fair of Max to speak that way of him. It was not worth pursuing, however, and as soon as Max had let go the moorings and jumped aboard she set the nose of the yacht to the open river which led to Barton Broad. She fully expected that Celia and Roger would have sailed in the same direction. The Broad was a very beautiful one and the way to it extremely pleasant and picturesque. Max and herself might or might not catch them up. It would depend, Julia thought, on how much sailing tuition Roger was giving Celia. Lucky Celia!

  ‘Hey, you’re daydreaming, aren’t you?’ Max said suddenly as she allowed the craft to sail too closely to some broken piling. ‘Let me take over.’

  She relinquished both helm and sheet without a word and sat down to one side, resting her arms on the cabin top, barely noticing the pale blue sky and the drift of milky cloud, the swaying reeds and the wild life. All she could see was Roger’s face, and all she could feel was a great ache in her heart.

  Max and herself did not catch up with Celia and Roger at all, and there was no sign of them on the Broad.

  ‘Maybe they’ve gone up to Neatished or Sutton,’ said Max.

  But when they returned to the boatyard themselves, the other boat was already tied up at its moorings and Roger was in the act of stepping aboard the high-powered launch they kept for emergencies like towing craft home or getting them out of difficulties. He looked extremely worried.

  ‘What’s happened?’ Julia asked swiftly.

  ‘One of our six-berth cruisers is stuck on Breydon Water,’ he answered. ‘It’s already got a list and the tide is running out fast. I thought Bob had better stay here until you came back.’

  ‘Shall I come with you? That is, if Bob will stay here for a little while longer.’

  Whether Roger heard or not, he pulled the self-starter without answering.

  ‘I should go, Miss Barclay, if I were you,’ Bob Winters murmured in her ear. ‘If the tide is running out and it is, by the look of things—he may find it more difficult than he realizes. You’re more used to handling these boats and one of you might be needed to get more help. Meanwhile I’ll got in touch with the Yarmouth Harbour Master and ask him to keep a look out.’

  Roger looked up. ‘Will someone let go the moorings for me?’

  ‘Jump in, miss, I’ll do it,’ said Bob.

  Julia stepped lightly into the launch and took the front passenger seat.

  Roger glanced at her swiftly. ‘You don’t have to come—unless you really want to.’

  ‘I want to,’ she answered.

  As soon at the launch was free of its moorings Roger opened the throttle, and once clear of the dock he sent the launch as fast as regulations allowed in the direction of Breydon Water—that expanse of water, once an estuary of the North Sea.

  ‘What happened to the cruiser to make her drift on to the mud?’ asked Julia.

  ‘Engine trouble, I gather. Then they just drifted, I suppose.’

  ‘Engine trouble?But that’s terrible. Think of the damage to our reputation!’

  ‘I am thinking of it. And I don’t like it,’ Roger answered shortly.

  Julia frowned. ‘I simply don’t understand it. It's is something that’s never happened before to one of Wingcraft’s boats, I’m sure of it.’

  Roger took a deep breath. ‘There’s a first time for everything, I suppose.’

  ‘But this is serious. It should never happen. Our engines are checked each time they’re taken out. We’ve had too many instances of engine trouble this year for them to be put down to accidents

  Roger gave her a swift glance. ‘What are you driving at exactly?’

  Julia hesitated, but she simply had to say what was in her mind, and she felt sure the same thing would be in Roger’s thoughts.

  ‘I think I made a mistake in hiring Tony Sheldrake. He has not turned out to be such a good engineer, after all.’

  ‘You think you should give him notice?’

  ‘It seems the only thing to do. I was with the firm all last summer and we never had one engine fault. It’s something David and his father prided themselves on.’ Then she remembered what Max had said. ‘Of course, it could be that he’s better at general fitting than maintenance. You—wouldn’t consider swapping him and George around—putting George back on maintenance and letting Sheldrake work on the new yachts with Frank?’

  Roger thought for a moment, then said quietly but decidedly: ‘No.’

  Julia took a sidelong glance at his face and was surprised at the toughness she saw there.

  ‘I’m—sorry,’ she jerked out. ‘It was only a tentative suggestion. I don’t want to be harsh or unjust towards the man, and it’s never very pleasant giving a man the sack.’

  ‘You could give him another chance.’,

  But Julia shook her head. ‘He’s had plenty of chances already. We simply can’t risk another Breydon Water incident. If we don’t get them off in time they could be stuck there until the next tide, and that can be a very nasty experience for anyone on holiday. It would be enough to put them off a Broads holiday for life.
Or if not for life, they would never hire one of our craft again—neither would a great many more people. News like this travels fast along the rivers and Broads.’

  ‘Very well. Perhaps you’d like me to take the unpleasant task off your hands.’

  But she couldn’t let him do that. ‘That’s very good of you, but I think I’d prefer to do it myself,’ she answered.

  By keeping up a good speed and cutting off corners they reached Breydon Water in just over half an hour. A brisk wind was blowing from the seaward side, making the water choppy, and as Roger put the engine to full speed small waves broke over the bows and slapped on the foredeck. Julia picked up the binoculars and swept the wide area. A few cruisers having left it almost too late to deal with the mill-race current which would surge through Yarmouth harbour were headed in that direction. The rapidly falling tide was showing wide expanses of mud outside the marked channel and in a number of places the blackened and ugly teeth of the old wooden revetment broke through the brown water.

  ‘Can you spot her yet?’ Roger asked, a note of anxiety in his voice.

  ‘I think—yes. There she is, near marker twenty-four, about half a mile away.’

  Roger kept the launch to the centre of the channel. In a few minutes they were almost up with the grounded cruiser and Julia could make out the shallow-draught inshore rescue bobbing about close to the cruiser. Roger took the launch as close in as he dared. Julia saw the anxious faces of the holiday crew as she was picking up a ready coiled throwing line. She threw it expertly so that it fell right across the rescue launch.

  ‘Good,’ Roger called to her. ‘Take over the wheel while I pass the towing warp. It’s too heavy for you to handle.’

  Julia took his place and held the engine at slow ahead so that the pull of the falling tide held the launch about stationary. She watched the distance between herself and the listing cruiser anxiously as Roger bent the warp on to the throwing line, then passed it yard by yard to the crew of the rescue launch, one of whom made it fast on to the stern of the cruiser. Then Julia went astern slowly, turning by degrees until the towing rope was over their stern and tight enough not to foul their propellor. She faced about with her hand still on the wheel. Roger signalled to her to increase speed. The warp vibrated under the strain, throwing off drops of water like a dog shaking itself. The rescue launch also added its power and the threshing screws of both churned up a brown muddy foam. For some minutes the cruiser would not move from the black, clinging ooze, then Julia gave a cry of relief.

  ‘I think she’s moving, Roger.’

  ‘It’s doubtful. We need just a little more power.’ He cupped his hands and called to a youngish man on the cruiser, ‘Could you jump into your dinghy and come alongside our bows?’

  The man waved in reply and a few strokes on his oars and the outward run of the tide brought him alongside the cruiser’s bows. Julia watched, puzzled for a moment by the manoeuvre. Then she saw Roger lower the launch s kedge anchor into the stern of the dinghy and begin paying out the chain.

  ‘I apologize for making you work,’ he said to the man, ‘but if you row out as far as you can, then throw the anchor overboard it might just do the trick.’

  That’s all right. I’m finding it quite exciting.’

  Julia managed a smile although she was feeling a little strained. She ought to have thought of this trick too, ferrying the anchor out and using the launch’s winch to get further hauling power.

  The anchor splashed to the bottom. Roger began working the winch. The stern of the cruiser swung a little, then with a great sucking sound she slid into clear water. Julia immediately lowered her engine speed. Roger ran aft and hauled the warp in to make a short tow rope.

  ‘Which way were you going?’ he said to the man in the dinghy.

  ‘We had planned to spend the night in Yarmouth. That’s where we were going when the engine cut out.’

  ‘Right. We’ll tow you there and send a man along first thing in the morning to look at it.’

  Others aboard the cruiser were a middle-aged couple and a younger woman along with two children, a girl and a boy, obviously all of the same family.

  ‘I do apologize for any inconvenience caused,’ Roger said before they left the holiday-makers. ‘And I hope you were not too alarmed by what happened.’

  Julia noticed that the elder of the two men said nothing. He could be a difficult customer to placate. But his wife smiled and so did the younger woman, though the older one admitted the experience had been a little frightening.

  Roger and Julia set off back to the boatyard, Roger navigating as before. Julia stole a glance at him.

  ‘I think I ought to congratulate you on the way you handled things there.’

  ‘Oh?’ he answered. ‘Did you think I wouldn’t be able to?’

  ‘No-o, but you can’t have had a lot of experience of that sort of thing.’

  ‘I’m used to facing difficult engineering problems, so there was nothing to it really.’

  But Julia considered he was being modest, and the way he had handled the situation added to her admiration of him.

  The following morning Julia called Tony Sheldrake into her office.

  ‘I expect that by now you have heard what happened yesterday,’ she began.

  He shrugged. ‘I hope you’re not blaming me. The engine was perfectly all right when I sent her out on Saturday.’

  Julia picked up her paper knife. ‘I’m sorry to have to say this, but this sort of thing has never happened before with Wingcraft.’

  ‘Then you’ve just been lucky, haven’t you?’ he threw out insolently.

  She eyed him calmly. ‘No, Mr. Sheldrake, I don’t think it was a matter of luck at all. We simply had a good maintenance engineer.’

  ‘And I’m not?’

  It was Julia’s turn to shrug. ‘Perhaps you don’t really like maintenance work. But whether you do or not, if you have no explanation to offer about the failure of the cruiser’s engine, I think it would be best if you found employment elsewhere. I don’t think you’ll have any difficulty.’

  ‘You’re darned right I won’t,’ he said unpleasantly. ‘I was a fool to take this job, anyway, but I was only marking time. Do you want me to go now today? In which case—’

  Julia shook her head. ‘No, you can find out what’s wrong with the engine of the cruiser and put that right, if you will, then leave on Friday. We will, of course, pay you the full week’s wages. If you left today, you would naturally forfeit a week’s wages.’

  She felt she had to be firm with the man. It had been a mistake to take him on, she realized that now. Quite apart from his offensiveness, there was something about his whole manner which she could not quite lay her finger on. She certainly did not feel she could ever trust him again.

  He gave another shrug and strolled to the door. ‘All right, Friday it is, then. It suits me.’

  She made a mental note to tell Bob Winters to supervise the man very closely and certainly to check over the cruiser’s engine before it went on its way. She went through to the inner office to tell Roger what she had done. He nodded his approval.

  ‘I’ve been having a talk with George,’ he said. ‘And he’s willing to take care of maintenance as well as fit out the new craft. Strictly speaking there’s not a lot for him to do on the new auxiliaries at this stage, and if he’s willing to go from one job to the other, we shan’t need another engineer. Maybe what we need most is a general yard man—a good all-rounder, one who can turn his hand to anything, what used to be called a “Jack of all trades and master of none”, though you don’t hear the expression much nowadays.’

  Julia agreed that such a man might be more useful than a qualified engineer. ‘But I’d rather you did any future hiring,’ she told him.

  He gave her one of his penetrating looks. ‘I will if you like—but don’t be afraid of making a mistake. The man who never made a mistake never made anything. I’m sure you’ve heard that saying, and it’s true.’

/>   She smiled, loving him with all her heart. ‘You’re very—kind and understanding.’

  But at this he frowned. ‘Kind and understanding? Nonsense. It’s common sense. But we won’t advertise for a man, I’ll have a word with Frank Willis. He may know of someone.’

  He lowered his eyes to some papers on his desk and she felt herself dismissed. There was a great knot of pain in her heart, and she knew she was never going to be able to feel normal in his presence ever again. She would always know either joy or pain.

  He looked up again suddenly. ‘Was there something else?’

  She tried to take herself in hand. ‘There—was one other thing. Do you think it would be a good idea to offer the hirers of the cruiser a rebate for inconvenience caused? It might make all the difference to their attitude, and consequently our reputation.’

  ‘Thank you. It’s nice of you to be so concerned about “our reputation”. And I do think it’s a good idea. I had the same thing in mind.’

  ‘Oh. Oh, I see. Perhaps you’ll let me know the amount before the week-end, then I can give it to them when they hand the cruiser in.’

  ‘I will.’ Again, there was that tone of dismissal. She went back to her own office worried and unhappy.

  What was wrong with him this morning? Even allowing for her heightened sensitivity where he was concerned, there was something. When he had repeated the words ‘our reputation ‘he had almost been sarcastic. Was it that he still did not trust her, at heart, to be wholehearted about the interests of his boatyard, that he still thought she was hankering after ownership for herself The thought hurt her beyond belief.

  The sound of a motor engine starting up brought her out of her thoughts and she went outside to see Tony Sheldrake in the driving seat of the van, obviously going to where they had left the cruiser moored last night.