“I suppose it is what I might have expected,” Mr. Thespidos said in what she thought was a disagreeable tone. “Now we have to put another plan into operation.”
“Another – plan?” Corena asked.
“I presume you still wish to save your father’s life?”
“Yes – of course! How can you – ask such a – thing?”
“Then you must do exactly as I tell you! Otherwise, make no mistake, Miss Melville, he will die and it will not be a quiet or pleasant death!”
For a moment Corena thought that she must scream at the horror of what he was saying.
Then because something strong and resilient in her refused to allow the Greek to trample on her, she said,
“I have told you I will do – anything I can to help my father, but I can see no point in indulging in threats and recriminations!”
There was a glint in Mr. Thespidos’s eyes. It told her that he was surprised at her air of defiance.
Then he said and she thought a little more respectfully,
“I have thought out a way of how you can save your father and give me the information I require.”
“What is – it?”
He looked at her speculatively as if he was considering whether to tell her the truth or leave her in ignorance until the last minute.
Then because, she was sure, it amused him to frighten her, he said,
“You had your chance to solve this problem amicably, but you failed!”
“I am – aware of – that,” Corena murmured.
“Now,” Mr. Thespidos went on as if she had not spoken, “we will have to do something more drastic!”
“W-what are you – suggesting?”
He paused for a moment before he said slowly,
“You will be a stowaway on Lord Warburton’s yacht!”
“A – stowaway?”
Whatever Corena was expecting, it was not this.
As she spoke, she stared at him in astonishment,
“When he finds you or rather when you reveal yourself after it is too late for him to turn back, he will be forced to take you to Crisa, where I shall be waiting.”
“B-but – such an idea is – impossible!” Corena protested.
There was a note of defiance in her voice that Mr. Thespidos did not miss.
“If he does discover me,” she added quickly, “there is every – likelihood that he will – throw me out at – Gibraltar or at one of the French Ports if I am discovered earlier.”
“In which case your father will die in a most unpleasant manner, which I imagine will haunt you for the rest of your life!”
Corena pressed her fingers together in an effort at self-control until they were bloodless.
Then she asked in a voice that by a super-human effort was calm and slow,
“What are you – suggesting? How are you – planning that I shall – do this?”
“Now you are talking sense!” Mr. Thespidos said. “It would be polite, Miss Melville, if you would invite me to sit down.”
Corena indicated a chair.
Then, because she felt that her legs would not support her any longer, she sat down on a sofa.
She was finding it hard to breathe and hard to suppress the fear that was rising within her and which she knew might at any minute overwhelm her.
“I have already worked out my plan,” Mr. Thespidos said, “and I cannot find a flaw in it.”
Corena waited, but he did not go on and after a moment she asked,
“W-what – have you decided?”
“I understand that his Lordship will be leaving the day after tomorrow,” Mr. Thespidos said, “and you will therefore be ready at nine o’clock tomorrow morning when I will collect you.”
“To go – where?”
“To travel to Folkestone where his Lordship’s yacht is in Harbour. You will be aboard before he arrives.”
“B-but – how? And when he – finds me there – surely he will refuse to – take me with him?”
Mr. Thespidos smiled.
“You can leave everything in my hands and all we have to do now is to make arrangements to travel to the nearest Station where we can pick up an Express.”
He looked her over in a way that she found repellent before he added,
“Bring your prettiest gowns with you, otherwise, if you are so foolish as to be put ashore and his Lordship goes on alone, you have only yourself to blame!”
What he insinuated was quite obvious and Corena rose to her feet.
“Because I have no choice, Mr. Thespidos,” she said, “I will be ready at the time you state – but I do not wish to – listen any more to your – insinuations as to how I should – behave. They are – repulsive and – extremely vulgar!”
She thought that he might be slightly abashed by her retort, but instead he merely laughed.
“I can see that you are a girl with spirit, Miss Melville!” he said. “If you drown, you will go down with all flags flying!”
Corena did not reply. She just stood waiting for him to leave.
Once again he was appraising her with his eyes, making her feel almost as if he undressed her and left her naked.
“Nine o’clock, Miss Melville,” he said and turning walked from the room.
Corena did not cover her face as she had done the last time he left her.
Instead she went to the open window as if in need of fresh air to counteract the way that he had fouled the atmosphere.
‘He is wicked, evil, cruel and unscrupulous!’ she said beneath her breath.
At the same time she realised that she was completely in his power, just as her father was.
There was nothing she could do therefore but obey him and carry out his plan, although she felt that it was doomed to disaster.
How could he possibly get her aboard Lord Warburton’s yacht without the crew being aware of it?
If he tried to hide her in some corner of it under cover of darkness, it was an attempt that was utterly impractical.
She could think of a thousand reasons why Mr. Thespidos’s plan of smuggling her aboard was bound to fail.
She wished now that she had argued with him further and then she knew that to be near to him made her feel a revulsion that stupefied her brain.
She realised that she had no option but to obey him.
She went upstairs to her bedroom.
It made her shudder to think of his purpose in telling her to pack her prettiest gowns to take with her.
She put a number of them on the bed.
Then she rang for a housemaid to tell her that they were to be packed immediately.
“You’re goin’ away, miss?” the housemaid enquired.
“I am afraid so,” Corena replied, “but I don’t think it will be for long.”
Mr. Thespidos’s ridiculous plan would, she was sure, result in her being exposed long before the yacht left Harbour.
Then she remembered that, if that should happen, her father would be murdered.
She felt the horror of it so intensely that it was impossible to say anything more.
She sat in her bedroom until she had composed herself and then she went in search of Miss Davis.
She had already seen her before luncheon and realised that she was not at all well.
“I shall be all right in a day or two,” Miss Davis had said vaguely. “I get these attacks and there’s nothing to be done about it.”
“Would you like me to send for a doctor?” Corena enquired.
Miss Davis had smiled.
“I have had him before and he could do nothing. I think it is just something wrong with my intestines and it will clear up within a few days, it always does!”
“You are very brave.”
“I have found in life there is not much alternative,” Miss Davis replied, “and sooner or later we all reach the end. At my age I try to keep my self-respect.”
Corena bent forward to kiss her old Governess on the cheek.
“You have
taught me to be brave too,” she said and knew that it was the truth.
As she walked along to Miss Davis’s room now, she realised that she was showing courage in not burdening the old woman with her troubles.
She would have liked to consult Miss Davis.
She had a sharp intelligent brain and might, although it seemed impossible, find a way out of this terrible impasse.
But Corena knew that it would shock and upset her to know of the alternative to doing what Mr. Thespidos had ordered her to do.
What was more, if she did go through with it and did not return immediately from Folkestone, Miss Davis would worry herself almost into the grave.
‘If she can be brave, I can be brave by keeping my mouth shut,’ Corena decided.
As she reached Miss Davis’s room, she said to her,
“As you are not feeling well, I am going away with a friend for a few days. It will give you a chance to rest and when I come back I know that you will be on your feet again.”
“That is a sensible thing to do,” Miss Davis approved, “and the change will do you good. I thought this morning you were looking a little pale.”
That was not surprising, Corena thought.
She had been awake practically the whole night worrying about her father and her interview with Lord Warburton.
“I am going to pack now,” she said, feeling that it would be a mistake to allow Miss Davis to ask too many questions, “but, of course, I will come and say goodnight to you.”
“Take your prettiest gowns, dear,” Miss Davis suggested. “You might meet a charming young Romeo!”
This was an old joke as there were few attractive men in the locality and with an effort Corena managed a smile before she replied,
“One never knows!”
As she returned to her own bedroom, she was thinking in horror of Mr. Thespidos and with apprehension about Lord Warburton.
She knew, if she was stowed away and he discovered her, they would have an extremely unpleasant interview.
She had the feeling that he would be very frightening if he was angry.
She was not frightened of him in the same way that she was frightened of Mr. Thespidos, which was a very different thing.
Yet because he was a very important and masculine man, he made her feel small, insignificant and completely inadequate.
‘Which is what I am!’ Corena told herself. ‘I suppose, if I was really intelligent, I would go to London to see the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and ask him to save Papa.’
Then she knew without being told that this would take time. What was more, no one knew where Mr. Thespidos had hidden her father.
‘If I approached the Secretary of State, I am sure he would contact either the Police or the Military in Athens, which might be the right thing to do,’ she thought.
Then something told her that Mr. Thespidos would be clever enough to avoid being arrested.
As her father was his prisoner, he would be killed.
Alternatively he could be left to starve before they could find out where he was hidden.
‘I can only – do what I have been – told to do,’ Corena thought despairingly.
She climbed into bed and knew that she was in for another sleepless night.
*
Corena was waiting downstairs in the hall.
Punctually at nine o’clock Mr. Thespidos arrived in an expensive-looking carriage drawn by two horses.
He did not waste time in getting out to greet her politely, so she hurried down the steps towards him.
Bates opened the carriage door and she stepped inside while her luggage was strapped onto the back.
“Have a nice time, Miss Corena!” Bates said in a fatherly manner. “I’ll look after everything while you’re away.”
“I know you will, Bates, and I hope to be back soon.”
As they drove away, she sat back on the carriage seat, moving as far away as possible from Mr. Thespidos.
She thought that there was a smug smile of satisfaction on his lips.
After quickly glancing at him, she looked away because the mere sight of him made her feel sick.
‘I hate him! I hate him!’ she found herself saying silently.
It took them about an hour to reach the railway junction where Mr. Thespidos knew that they could pick up a train from London that would go directly to Folkestone.
While he had taken First Class tickets, fortunately they did not have a reserved carriage.
There were two other people in their carriage and, although one was an elderly gentleman who slept most of the way, it prevented Corena from having to make conversation with Mr Thespidos, who sat opposite her.
As she looked out of the window, she could feel his eyes staring at her in a way that she greatly disliked.
After a time, although she had no wish to read, she opened the newspaper she had bought at the Station and held it so that he was unable to see anything but the top of her hat.
Their luncheon was brought to them by a white-coated Steward.
Although Corena ate a little of it, she felt as if she was swallowing sawdust and had no idea what anything she put in her mouth really tasted like.
To her relief Mr. Thespidos fell asleep immediately after luncheon.
She thought in repose his face looked even more repulsive than it did when he was awake.
His features were coarse and not in the least what she expected of a Greek. His skin was swarthy and there were a number of pockmarks that told her that he had suffered from smallpox when he was young.
There was no doubt that every line of his face was cruel and hard.
She saw too that without the brightness of his shrewd calculating eyes, there were lines on his face which made him look older than she had thought him to be at first.
However she tried not to think about Mr. Thespidos, even though he was sitting opposite her.
She sent out her love and thoughts to her father.
She felt somehow that he must know how worried she was about him and how she was trying to save him, even though it might be impossible.
If only she could talk it over with him, she was sure that he would find a solution.
But as it was, there was nothing she could do but pray and believe that God would somehow help her.
*
Mr. Thespidos woke up as the train neared Folkestone and said in a bright tone,
“Now the adventure begins! If you were a man, you would be excited by the thought!”
“Unfortunately I am a woman!” Corena replied.
“Meaning, I suppose,” he said, “that if you were a man, you would manhandle me until I told you what you wanted to know.”
Corena was about to make some reply.
Then she realised that the middle-aged woman on the other side of the carriage who was travelling with the old man was looking at her with curiosity.
Without replying she merely stared out of the window until the train ran into the Station.
Mr. Thespidos, giving orders in what Corena thought was a rude and unpleasant manner, collected her luggage from the guard’s van.
They were met at the barrier by a man who greeted Mr. Thespidos respectfully.
Corena decided that he must be a clerk.
“Is everything arranged?” Mr. Thespidos enquired and now he was speaking in Greek.
“It is as you ordered, sir,” the man replied.
Corena could understand, because her father had taught her to speak Modern Greek ever since she was a small child.
She also knew a little, but not much, of the ancient Greek that he could read fluently.
He frequently translated for her so that she could enjoy the odes of Pindar and the plays of Sophocles.
She wisely, however, gave them no hint that she could understand what they were saying.
Perhaps by some miracle, she thought, she could learn something about her father, the most important being where they held him imprisoned.
A carriage was waiting for them outside the Station.
Mr. Thespidos and Corena climbed inside while the man who had come to meet them sat on the box beside the coachman to show him the way.
She was sure that when they left the broad streets of the town they were going towards the Harbour.
Corena was wondering what Mr. Thespidos intended to do.
It was hardly possible that he meant to smuggle her aboard the yacht in daylight, as she was sure that there would be seamen moving about.
The carriage came to a standstill and she realised that they were outside one of the large buildings on the wharf.
The other Greek man climbed down from the box to open the door and he helped Corena to alight.
Then they waited outside the door of what appeared to be an uninhabited building for Mr. Thespidos to produce a key.
The door opened and the younger man went ahead.
Corena followed Mr. Thespidos who entered in front of her without apology.
There was just enough light from a window high up on the wall for Corena to see that they were moving along a narrow passage.
Now there were some stairs and, as they climbed up them, the Greek ahead lit an oil-lamp that was on the landing.
He picked it up to light their way and then Mr. Thespidos walked into what Corena saw was an office.
It was then she realised that they were in a storage wharf with an office on the first floor that was surprisingly well furnished.
There was a thick carpet on the floor and a large imposing-looking desk.
A number of filing cabinets covered one wall and two armchairs and a leather-covered sofa furnished the room.
The Greek put down the lamp on the desk and then descended the stairs.
He returned a few minutes later with Corena’s trunk.
He put it down beside the door and was obviously waiting for further orders.
“You have procured what I told you?” Mr. Thespidos asked, again speaking Greek.
“Yes, sir, it is downstairs.”
“Then bring it up! I want Miss Melville to see it.”
The Greek man disappeared and Mr. Thespidos, pulling off his coat and hat, said sharply,
“You might as well make yourself comfortable. We are staying here until dawn tomorrow morning.”
“I would like to know what you are planning,” Corena replied. “It was impossible to – speak on the train, but now we are alone and I – dislike being – kept in ignorance.”
The Goddess Of Love Page 5
