Juliet Armstrong - Isle of the Hummingbird

by Juliet Armstrong

  'He was such a sweet person,' she wept. 'Went out of his way to be nice to me, instead of more or less ignoring me, like most men do. If I hadn't liked you so much, Bryony, I'd have been dreadfully jealous of you.' She gave a loud sniff. 'I'd even begun to think that if you turned him down one day—and sometimes it seemed as though you might—I'd try for him myself. What a fool I've been I'

  Bryony put a comforting arm round her.

  'That makes two of us,' she said. 'And now what about going ahead with some cleaning? We mustn't touch any of the shelves in the dispensary, of course. The police say Dr. O'Dane and Dr. Leonard are coming as soon as they can to check exactly what has been stolen. But we might surely mop the surgery floors.'

  At that very moment Dr. O'Dane came in, followed by Dr. Leonard, both looking very grim.

  'This is a pretty kettle of fish,' Dr. Leonard said brusquely. And looking up at the raided shelf, he went on, frowning: 'Those scoundrels must have heard somehow of our stocking up recently with the sort of things they were after.'

  'And knew precisely where they were kept,' Dr. O'Dane observed. 'In fact, if they hadn't been disturbed they'd probably have left things looking so tidy we might not have noticed for days what had happened.'

  He looked at Bryony then.

  'From what the police tell me, you must be a lunatic,' he said. 'But, my hat, what a brave one!'

  Dr. Leonard nodded.

  'You're a great girl! Don't ever do such a crazy thing again, though. And now, off with you, and get a rest—and botheration take these mops and dusters. We've got to get down to this checking at once—and May can stop and help us.'

  The end of the week came, and Peregrine and Anne- Marie were due home from America.

  Deeply relieved at the thought of their return, Bryony nevertheless shrank from going to the airport to meet them. There was much that must be said—but not in a crowd of people milling around. Thankfully she accepted Dr. O'Dane's offer to drive Miss Fanier and Sally to Piarco. He was the one to break the news of the burglary to Perry; and the other two—they were, after all, his near relations.

  Alone in the house, as she thought, she dressed carefully in a tailored shantung frock, feeling— absurdly, perhaps—that its austerity would somehow help her to keep poised and self-controlled.

  She had just finished when Tina came along from the kitchen with a tray of tea, her kind brown face very sad.

  'I does know yo' folks from England drinkin' nuthin' but tea when yo' troubled,' she said. 'Yo' drinkin' this, honey, an' you' no lookin' so peaky when Dr. Perry comin'.'

  'How good you and Solomon are to me, Tina.' The tears had sprung to Bryony's eyes. 'And you in such distress over Lucy.'

  'Mis' Bryony, I jus' hab de news that de police done take her up dis mawnin',' Tina told her. 'An' after what I hear she done, her pa an' I finish wi' her. She plain bad, Mis' Bryony—after all Dr. Perry doin' to help her.'

  Bryony did not feel called upon to comment on this. She asked quickly: 'Have the police got those two men?'

  Tina shook her head.

  'Not yet, so I hearin'. An' now, mis', I goin' to comfort po' li'l Gloria an' Pearl. Some gossipin' person tellin' dem 'bout dere mam goin' jail 'gain.'

  'How cruel!' Bryony exclaimed. 'Wicked, I call that.'

  Tina sighed heavily.

  'Dis world surely wicked place,' she said. 'Now drink up yo' tea, mis'. Dey back from de airport soon now.'

  'How can I meet him? What shall I say to him?' Bryony asked herself feverishly. 'Suppose he blames me, in his heart, because a man who was supposed to be my friend—who was actually entertained here— has done this dreadful thing?'

  But she need not have tormented herself in this way.

  As soon as Perry and the others came into the sitting-room where she was waiting for them, he came up to her and took her by both hands.

  'How could you have been so crazy?' he demanded, pulling her to her feet. 'Do you realise you're lucky to be alive?'

  'I suppose I am,' was all she could find to say.

  His expression changed. He said, too softly for anyone else to hear: 'I'm terribly sorry for you,

  Bryony. But hearts do heal. We shan't talk to you about it, but we all love you—and we shall all try to help—in our clumsy way. Hold on to that, will you?'

  And he moved away to give place to Anne-Marie, who flung her arms round her and exclaimed in a choked voice: 'Bryony! Darling, darling Bryony.'

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  It was wonderful to have Peregrine and Anne-Marie home again. Even Sally felt this—with the ordeal before her of confessing to Perry how badly she had behaved during his absence.

  Afterwards she told Bryony that he had been 'absolutely marvellous' to her—had told her that he was going to trust her again as though the miserable experience she had gone through had never occurred. For her part, she was determined never to let the family down again—'and when I say "family", Bryony, I include you. For you truly seem to belong to us as though you were an extra older sister.'

  Anne-Marie also had confidences to make to her.

  She had been in correspondence with Yvonne who, joy of joys, was definitely expecting a baby. She had been pretty sure when she was over for Carnival, but now knew for certain. In spite of her thrill over this, she was keenly interested in her young sister's artistic education, and wanted to get her into the Chelsea School of Art. She would live with them, of course, and attend every day—the School being within easy walking distance. It would take time to arrange, and she suggested that she should wait until Bryony's year was up—working hard in Trinidad meanwhile—and then travel to England with her.

  'Doesn't it sound heavenly?' she demanded. 'You and I flying over together—or maybe going by boat! What fun we'll have.'

  And then she added: 'Aunt Isabel thinks you might rather go home sooner, after all this sickening business. She said she was going to put it to Peregrine, who might not think of it. I told her she was to do no such thing—that we couldn't possibly spare you—and of course she was relieved, really. She doesn't want to lose you, any more than the rest of us do, before you are obliged to go.'

  Bryony said nothing. She only smiled. And Anne- Marie was too full of what she was saying, and thinking, to notice that there was no happiness in that smile.

  It was a relief to everyone that Mr. Heathley, the artist who had come over with Perry and Anne-Marie, was tactful enough not to press his acquaintance on them.

  He had heard enough at the airport to convince him that the family would much prefer to be on their own for the present, and was content to renew his acquaintance with some of Trinidad's leading painters and sculptors, whom he had already met in New York.

  The main cause of tension in the Gray household— and a very natural one—was uncertainty concerning the drug-peddling gang. Had they managed to get away, in spite of all precautions? Or would the police pounce on them?

  Two days after Peregrine's return, at seven o'clock in the morning, the telephone bell rang—all damage having been put right—and he came back from answering it to call through Bryony's bedroom door: 'Are you dressed yet? There's news from the police, and I want to speak to you.'

  'I'll be ready in a minute or two,' Bryony told him, and at once Anne-Marie and Sally popped their heads out with an excited assurance that they would be along, too.

  'No, I don't want you two yet,' he told them abruptly. 'I must speak to Bryony first.'

  She had already had her shower and was half dressed, and it didn't take her a minute to fling on a cotton frock and join him on the front veranda.

  'Sit down, my dear,' he said. 'I've news at last. And I hope there won't be any backwash of misery for you when I tell you what it is. The police caught Leoni and Hugh Woods at dawn this morning—when they had nearly made their getaway. There must have been collusion with some local fisherman. For they had got hold of a motor-boat, and fishing-tackle, and were halfway to Venezuela—all this having been planned beforehand, no d
oubt. Fortunately the police launch had a far greater speed, and cut off their escape.'

  'There's no backwash of misery for me in that,' Bryony said, repeating his words. 'My only regret is that I've been such a fool.'

  'You've been quite extraordinarily brave, Bryony. Taking my gun and going out to cope with bandits——-'

  She laughed a little, rather tremulously.

  'All I did was to lose your gun,' she said. 'Before I could even point it, Hugh had got hold of it—jerked it out of my hand.'

  Anne-Marie and Sally came running now.

  'Perry, you must tell us what's happened,' Anne- Marie exclaimed. 'Have the police caught anyone?'

  'Yes. Leoni and Hugh,' Peregrine told them. 'And now for goodness' sake give me another minute or two with Bryony. I've something to say to her that doesn't concern you at all.'

  'I wouldn't be surprised if he's going to propose to her,' Sally observed in an audible whisper.

  Bryony went crimson, but Peregrine, who must have heard, ignored the remark completely. He looked at his watch and said evenly: 'I'm awfully sorry, Bryony, but the police want to interview you. They'll be here before very long. Would you like me to be there while they talk to you?'

  'I would, indeed!'

  'Then let's get some coffee from Tina right away and take it to the surgery. I've asked them to come there, for privacy's sake.'

  'Very well. But I'll tell Miss Fanier and the girls what's happening. They must be panting with curiosity.'

  Less than half an hour later two police officers had arrived, and were sitting down with Peregrine and Bryony to conduct their enquiry.

  'Miss Moore,' the senior officer began politely, 'we want you to understand that we are obliged to put some questions to you because of Hugh Woods' attitude. He is trying to implicate you in this affair— says that you are up to your eyes in it—that you had promised to marry him and had betrayed him because you had fallen for someone else.'

  Bryony went white. Her eyes were blazing with anger.

  'It's utterly untrue!'

  'He gives, as evidence, that you were working with him, your having in your possession a number of lipsticks—far more than you could possibly use. Lipsticks with room in their containers for small quantities of drugs.'

  'It's true that I had them. He gave them to me— said his firm allowed him to give away things of that sort as an advertisement, and told me I could use them as presents for my friends. I handed them over to you, as you know. They were just as he had given them to me.'

  'Another point in his story is that you accepted a costly bracelet from him, in full knowledge that it was stolen.'

  'You have that, too,' she said. 'I'd no idea it was valuable. He told me it was a cheap second-hand piece of jewellery.'

  'I can vouch for the truth of that,' Peregrine broke in. 'She handed it over to me so that I could get it insured for her. She would hardly have done that if what that swine had said was true.'

  'We're accusing Miss Moore of nothing,' the police officer pointed out reprovingly. 'Just asking routine questions. Now there's one that comes from another source. We have been informed that you showed great anxiety that the woman called Lucy Briggs, who was working for the gang, should be allowed to stay in the neighbourhood, instead of being paid off and sent to Port-of-Spain.'

  'That's true.' There was a note of contempt in her voice. 'Mrs. Forrest wanted to sack her without any real foundation for distrusting her. She's the daughter of the servants here, and I wanted Mrs. Forrest to hold her hand until Dr. Gray returned from America. He'd tried to keep her out of mischief for the sake of her parents, and I thought if she was packed off to Port-of-Spain ——'

  She left the sentence unfinished, and the officer nodded; then came out with his final question.

  'Miss Moore, is there the faintest truth in Woods' assertion that your name is not really Moore at all, but something quite different?'

  Bryony held her chin high, fighting down useless regrets that she had not confided in Peregrine rather than in this unspeakable villain.

  'Moore is my legal name,' she said, 'and the one I've always, without exception, used. But I happen, to be an adopted child. I was foolish enough to tell him this. We travelled from England in the same ship— and we became friendly. I had no idea of the sort of man he was. Indeed, I didn't know until I caught him in the dispensary, stealing.'

  The officer put away his pocket-book and he and his colleague got up.

  'Thank you very much for your co-operation, Miss Moore,' he said pleasantly. He turned to Peregrine, and pulled a gun from his pocket. 'And this is yours, I understand, Dr. Gray. It's been tested carefully for fingerprints, but as Woods made no attempt to use it when challenged by Miss Moore—simply stole it— there seems no reason why it should not be returned to you.'

  When they had gone, Bryony looked at Peregrine steadily.

  'You know one thing about me that you didn't before,' she said.

  'About your being an adopted daughter of the Moores?' His tone was elaborately casual. 'I may not have been certain, but I've guessed it for some time. So what?'

  She propped herself against the surgery desk.

  'I don't understand,' she said.

  Peregrine looked profoundly discomposed.

  'My dear, I didn't mean to blurt things out. But having started, I'd better go on. Sit down again.'

  She slipped into the nearest chair, and he went on quietly: 'It couldn't possibly, I suppose, have occurred to you that this Mr. Heathley, the American painter who was so interested in Anne-Marie's sketch of you, could have had any deeper reason for wanting to buy it—or for coming over here to make a drawing of you himself?'

  She shook her head, and after a moment exclaimed defiantly: 'You're not going to tell me that he's my long-lost father, or any melodramatic nonsense of that sort! It would take a lot to make me believe it. Even if it were true, I wouldn't want to hear anything about it.'

  'Would you mind meeting him—if it were indeed true?'

  'Yes, I would. The way he must have treated me at birth isn't much better than the way Hugh has behaved to me.' And she added in a choked voice: 'Can you blame me for feeling I could never trust another man as long as I live?'

  'I blame you for nothing, Bryony,' he told her gently. 'Anyway, you probably know something of the circumstances of your birth.'

  It was a full minute before she spoke again. Then she said unwillingly: 'Very little. My mother, as I shall always call her, didn't even tell me I'd been adopted until I was twenty-one. She knew nothing of my real parentage; and if my so-called father did— which I doubt—well, he died some years ago without saying anything. My own view is that they didn't want to know—so that I wouldn't torment myself and them later trying to find out.'

  'And you'd rather be left in ignorance?'

  'What's the good of learning for certain that I'm someone's illegitimate child, handed over for adoption to save my parents from disgrace?'

  'If this man really is your father, you are certainly not illegitimate—though you'd have nothing personally to be ashamed of if you were——————————————————————————— '

  'That leaves even less excuse for rejecting me. I'm sorry, Perry. But I don't want anything to do with this man.'

  'You can be very hard, Bryony!'

  She drew a deep breath.

  'That's just what Mother said when I attacked her for not telling me in babyhood that she'd adopted me. I told her that she'd done me a great wrong, that I could never feel the same about her. I'm ashamed now—horribly ashamed—of the way I behaved to her. All my loyalty is for her, all my love and gratitude.'

  'You don't think you may regret your hardness, now. I—I hate to see that bitter look in your eyes, my—my sweet!'

  She smiled faintly at this ridiculous remark.

  'Perry, how absurd you are. Using endearments to me when you really think I'm a—a Gorgon!'

  'Actually, I don't,' he sai
d coolly. 'As you very well know. But now, my dear, I must get on with my job. Patients will be arriving. Send May in to me, please.'

  'May? It's her day off. Mrs. Forrest will be coming in.'

  He scowled.

  'Laura? Neither now nor ever! I'll get her on the telephone right away. And when I've finished telling her what I think of her for the tales she's been spreading about you—which will take about sixty seconds— you must ring May and tell her I need her urgently. She lies around at home all morning on her day off, so you're sure to get her. I'll pay for a taxi for her.'

  During the next few minutes Bryony's thoughts strayed obstinately along channels firmly forbidden to them. Suppose Laura and Hugh were out of the picture—————- ! Well, Hugh was well and truly out—and unless Perry changed his. mind, Laura, too. Suppose——- !

  Sternly she recalled those wandering thoughts. They would lead nowhere but to a blind alley.

  Nothing was said for the rest of the day about Mr. Heathley and things gradually got back into some sort of routine, though everyone was troubled over the sorrowful expression that Solomon and Tina were wearing, and the subdued looks of the normally hilarious grandchildren.

  When evening came Bryony was surprised, and thrilled, too, by an invitation from Peregrine to dine with him again—at the Country Club, this time.

  'There'll be no question of running into that Heathley man?' she demanded nervously, before giving her definite acceptance. 'A well-intentioned "accident"!'

  He frowned alarmingly.

  'If you hadn't been through so much lately, I'd take strong exception to that remark,' he said. 'Why don't you say straight out that you trust me no more than that brute who's let you down so badly?'

  'I do trust you, Perry. But I'm in a horribly nervy state. Apart from this Hugh business, there's been the frightful worry over Sally. I can't tell you how frightened I've been over that dreadful affair. Anything might have happened to her when she was with those wretches—any thing!'

  'Drug-peddlers and addicts usually stick to one vice,' he assured her. 'She's all right, even after mixing Dexedrine and Sodium Amytal—of all crazy things. What's more, she'll give us no more scares from now on. But you haven't accepted my invitation yet. Are you coming? Or shall I take—let me see—Aunt Isabel?'