‘How flattering!’ she sneered. ‘To be dismissed like any trollop you might have picked up for the evening. I never thought any man would do that to me.’
‘Then it’s extremely good for your vanity.’
‘You swine!’
‘I see. I’m a swine now, because I’m not begging for some more of your remarkably good brand of kisses, am I? You’d like to continue the affair, it seems.’
‘I’d like to beat your face in with a hunting crop. Above all, I’d like a bath to try and wash the very touch of you away from me. I feel like a leper at the moment.
‘Don’t worry! I wouldn’t touch you again if you paid me; but since, apparently, you’re not prepared to try and forget the whole thing, what’s the alternative? ‘D’you want to tell Sam about it when we reach Stapleton?’
‘Good God, no!’ Lavina’s voice suddenly changed to a note of anxiety. ‘You won’t, will you?’
‘Of course not. I’ve nothing but contempt for people who kiss and tell. What good does it ever do except make some other person miserable?’
‘Yes. I’ve always felt that, too.’
‘All right, then, let’s declare an armistice. What’s done’s done, and there’s no sense in continuing a slanging match. I’m prepared to take your word for it that you didn’t really mean to tempt me, if you’ll take mine that the comet absolutely overcame all the decent instincts I’ve ever had and the principles of a lifetime. Naturally, we’re hating each other at the moment, because we’re normal again and we’ve both got certain standards which the other caused temporarily to be thrown down the drain; but we’ve got to try our damnedest to get back to the natural friendly footing we were on yesterday round about midday.’
She nodded slowly. ‘Yes, you’re quite right. It won’t be easy, and how I’ll be able to look Sam in the face I can’t think. But I’m sure now that you couldn’t help what happened. I’ve said awful things to you and I’m sorry.’
‘I don’t know how I’ll face Sam again either. But I’m equally sorry about all the nasty things I said to you. I’m sure you know I didn’t really mean them.’ For the first time that morning he smiled, and he held out his hand.
She took it and with a firm hand-clasp they made their peace.
‘How are you feeling?’ he asked after a moment.
‘Pretty mouldy. How about you?’
‘Hardly at the top of my form. Still, I think we ought to get a move on.’
She stretched her arms and yawned. ‘Wouldn’t it be better to get another hour or two’s sleep and set out in the dawn?’ ‘No. We’ll be safe while darkness lasts.’
‘Safe?’ she echoed.
‘Yes. But that’s just as long as we will be,’ he answered grimly. ‘This accursed comet’s so close to us now that even when the sky’s cloudy its rays come through. You saw that for yourself from about four o’clock yesterday afternoon, and to-day it’s certain to be much stronger. If we don’t reach Stapleton by the time the sun gets up we’ll be liable to go off the deep end again, just as we did last night.’
‘I see. Then we’d better start at once.’
He laughed.
‘I didn’t mean to be rude or anything,’ she added quickly, ‘but we mustn’t let that sort of thing happen again.’
‘Well, we’ve only got about five miles to cover so we ought to be able to make it,’ he said standing up.
They had nothing to pack so they set off at once, side by side, down the steep hill towards Pebble Combe.
When they reached the village, about half an hour later, Hemmingway happened to glance towards a villa standing quite close to the road. In the faint light he saw that there was a shed beside it and that the door of the shed was ajar. Touching Lavina’s arm, he said:
‘Wait here a moment,’ and turned in up the garden path.
His luck was in. As he had half-hoped that there might be there was a bicycle in the shed. Quite unperturbed by the thought that he was stealing, he wheeled it out and back to the roadway. If he had been called upon to justify his act he would have defended it on the grounds that it was essential for Lavina and himself to get to Stapleton before sunrise and that, barring accidents, the bicycle would ensure their being able to do so.
Having adjusted the saddle he got on to it and Lavina mounted the step.
Everything went well until just after they had crossed the main Dorking-Reigate Road. When they were on the outskirts of Betchworth another earth-tremor ran across the night-shrouded land.
The bicycle wobbled violently. Although Hemmingway applied the brakes he could not control it as it swerved to the side of the road and they both fell off, landing in a ditch.
Having picked themselves up they sat there for a few moments, while fainter tremors continued to agitate the earth.
‘With this sort of thing going on here,’ Hemmingway said, ‘God knows what must be happening in the volcanic zones—places like the West Indies and Peru.’
‘Thank goodness we’re out in the open anyhow,’ Lavina sighed. ‘At least we won’t be killed by bricks falling on our heads, or be buried alive under a building.’
When the tremors had ceased they mounted the bicycle again; but they proceeded very cautiously as here and there they came upon cracks in the tarmac of the road’s surface, some of them as much as two or three inches wide, which made the going difficult.
In Betchworth a number of people were endeavouring to cope with the effects of the recent ‘quake. A water main had burst at one end of the street and was flooding the roadway, while a little farther on there was a strong smell of escaping gas and they knew that at any moment there might be a nasty explosion. Just outside the village they saw that a jerry-built cottage had subsided and some men were dragging the victims from its ruins; but there was a faint greyness now in the eastern sky so, knowing that dawn was close at hand, Hemmingway pressed on.
Another two miles and in the greyish light the gates of Stapleton Court at last came into sight before them. They ran along the moss-grown drive and past the lake up to the old Georgian mansion. As they dismounted before the front door Hemmingway glanced at his watch and saw that they had done the last stage of their journey in just an hour.
The house was in darkness; its inmates apparently sleeping or else, perhaps, already on board the Ark. Lavina was just moving towards the front door when Hemmingway touched her arm.
‘One second. I hadn’t thought about it before but d’you mean to tell your uncle how Roy died?’
She hesitated. ‘Perhaps it would be kinder not to.’
‘Sure,’ Hemmingway nodded. ‘Let him think Roy got separated from you with Derek and that they may both turn up here at the last moment.’
‘Derek—’ she drew in her breath quickly. ‘For the moment I’d forgotten that you’d left him behind.’
‘On the contrary,’ Hemmingway’s voice was sharp. ‘It was he who stole my car and left us in the lurch. He may be here already, in which case he’s probably told your uncle about Roy. But if he hasn’t made it, and does so during the day, one of us can tip him off not to say anything.’
‘But you wouldn’t have known about me if Derek hadn’t escaped. And if Roy had still been alive the two of them would have been imprisoned and escaped together. How can we get over that?’
‘We’ll just say Derek said he lost Roy in the excitement and didn’t know what had happened to him after he’d escaped himself. It’s better for your uncle to imagine that Roy is still alive and has an equal chance with everybody else when the balloon goes up to-night, than to know that he’s dead already, don’t you think?’
‘Yes. I hate having to lie about anything, but poor Uncle Oliver would be terribly cut up if he knew the truth.’
They were looking at each other, not at the house door, so they did not see it open a crack as Hemmingway said:
‘Well, this is just one of those cases where we’ve got to do a bit of lying for the sake of sparing somebody else’s feelings.’
> Out of the corner of her eye Lavina glimpsed a faint line of light coming from the slightly open doorway. Turning at once she ran to it and cried:
‘Hullo, there! It’s us. We’re here at last.’
The moment she moved, the door was swung wide open and Margery stood outlined in the dim light of a solitary candle which she had left on a table farther down the hall.
‘So it’s you!’ she exclaimed. ‘I heard voices so I came to see.’
‘Oh, Margery!’ With unaccustomed abandon Lavina flung herself into her sister’s arms. ‘I am so glad to see you. We’ve had a simply frightful time.’
‘There, there!’ Margery patted her back and kissed her affectionately. In spite of her jealousy she was really very fond of Lavina. ‘We’ve been most terribly anxious about you—all of us—and we had to lock Sam up to prevent his going back to London to look for you yesterday.’
‘Then, he got here safely! Thank God for that!’ Lavina breathed, and, turning, she added: ‘You know Hemmingway, don’t you?’
Hemmingway stepped forward into the candlelight. ‘Margery entertained me quite a number of times down here while you were on your honeymoon.’
It was as though the word honeymoon had rung a bell in Margery’s brain. Hemmingway sensed a sudden hostility in the tensing of Margery’s figure and as her eyes switched for a second to Lavina’s face he felt sure that she had heard those last words of his outside the front door about lying for the sake of sparing people’s feelings, and was putting a wrong interpretation on them. He tried to persuade himself that it might only be his own guilty conscience that had suggested it, but he could have sworn that Margery had guessed there had been something between him and Lavina. In a second, however, she recovered herself, smiled at him and said:
‘Of course. Hemmingway was best man at your wedding. He’s an old friend of the family now; but where are Roy and Derek?’
‘We’re a bit worried about them,’ Hemmingway confessed. ‘It’s rather a long story so perhaps we’d better keep it until the others can hear it as well, but we’re hoping they’ll get down here some time to-day. By-the-by, where are the others?’
‘Getting up, I hope. I called them half an hour ago.’
‘Why this early rising, darling?’ Lavina asked. ‘It’s not half-past four yet.’
‘It’s on account of the comet,’ Margery explained. ‘You know that beastly red light it gives out that affects everybody so strangely? Oliver says that, even if it’s cloudy to-day, the light will come through quite strongly almost directly after sunrise and get worse as the day goes on. Sunrise is at 4.43, and the comet will be over the horizon twelve minutes later; so it was decided that we ought all to be in the Ark before five o’clock.’
‘Won’t it affect anyone in the Ark, then?’ Hemmingway inquired.
‘It would in the ordinary way, but for the last few evenings Oliver has been experimenting with micas of various colours and he’s found one which will neutralise the rays. Yesterday afternoon he and Daddy covered the port-holes of the Ark with it and they think we won’t be affected if we sit in there all day.’
‘I must go up and see them,’ cried Lavina. ‘Where’s Sam?’
‘He’s in the nursery. They lured him in there by a trick and locked him up when he wanted to go back to London to try and find you.’
‘What, they locked him up with Finkie?’ Hemmingway laughed. ‘Poor old Sam! You might at least have put them in separate cells.’
‘Oh, but Mr. Fink-Drummond went days ago,’ Margery said quickly. ‘Didn’t Roy tell you?’
‘He said nothing about it when he arrived at St. James’s Square.’
‘Well, it was the evening before he left.’ Margery looked a little uncomfortable. ‘You know Roy drinks rather a lot, and I think he’d been at the bottle. Anyhow, he went up to have a chat with Fink-Drummond that evening and next morning he confessed to Daddy that he’d been sorry for our unwelcome guest and let him go.’
Hemmingway shrugged. ‘Well, as it was much too late for Finkie to have done any harm, it doesn’t really matter. In any case it wouldn’t have been fair to leave him a prisoner with the chance that an earthquake might bring down the house, so we’d have had to free him before taking to the Ark ourselves.’
Margery nodded. ‘You’d better run up and let Sam out yourselves. It’ll be a glorious surprise for him. I must hurry and get breakfast ready because the others’ll be down in a moment.’
Up in the nursery they found Sam. He was sitting, still fully dressed, hunched up in a chair with his head between his hands, and it was clear that he had not been to bed that night.
The second he saw Lavina he sprang up and, absolutely choking with relief, seized her in his arms; then, immediately his first excitement had subsided a little, he gripped and wrung Hemmingway’s hand as though he would never stop. For the last hour Lavina and Hemmingway had been dreading that meeting but, when it came, Sam carried them both away by his intense, infectious joy at seeing them again. In a moment all three of them were talking at the same time; babbling out the hopes, fears and anguish through which they had passed during the last forty odd hours. As they went downstairs Gervaise and Oliver joined them. There were more kisses, embraces, handshakes. It was almost as though Hemmingway and Lavina had returned from a war or a journey to the North Pole.
Breakfast was a hurried meal as time was flying; but, as they ate, Lavina gave a carefully expurgated account of her adventures and Hemmingway helped her out when she was questioned about Derek and Roy.
On Sam’s asking about the private papers which Hemmingway was to have brought down he had to confess that, having dropped the satchel containing them behind the counter in the tea-shop at Burgh Heath when the fight started there, the ensuing earthquake had caused him to forget all about it.
The loss of the papers was such a little thing compared to Lavina’s safety that Sam only laughed about it; but the fact that they had been left behind reminded Lavina that the bags she had packed were still at St. James’s Square and she had little hope that if Derek did arrive he would bring them with him.
Fortunately, she had left many of her older garments at Stapleton when she had run away three years before, so, taking Sam with her, she dashed upstairs to her old room. Spreading the coverlet from the bed on the floor they hastily pulled any of her clothes that they could find out of drawers and cupboards, flung them on the coverlet and made it up into a big bundle. By the time they had done, the others were shouting to them from the hall to hurry.
Everything except last-minute articles had been loaded into the Ark already so apart from Lavina’s things there was little for them to carry down to it. After a last look round the house they crossed the lawn and walked along the edge of the lake to the landing stage beside the slips from which the Ark had been launched.
It was almost daylight and the sun was on the point of rising as they settled themselves in a big, flat-bottomed punt, and Gervaise and Sam began to pole them out to the centre of the lake where the Ark floated. The summit of the huge, steel sphere stood over sixteen feet above the water, as it was ninety feet in circumference and a little less than half submerged, with the two-foot-wide landing stage, which ran round its equator just clear of the lake’s placid surface.
Ten minutes were occupied in poling the heavily laden punt out to the centre of the lake. Except for a few small fleecy clouds the sky was clear and they had covered only half the distance when the sun came up over the distant tree tops. As they reached the Ark the sinister pinkish light which heralded the rising of the terror of the heavens was already colouring the sky to the east.
Quietly but quickly Gervaise opened the steel door in the curved side of the Ark and, ducking their heads, they scrambled through into its interior. Having hitched the painter of the punt to the landing-platform, in case they might need it again later, he followed them inside and closed the steel door behind him. As he did so, the others were gazing from the port-holes of the Ark in sile
nce and awe upon what was, perhaps, the dawning of the last day of the world.
19
PREPARE FOR DEATH
Lavina and Hemmingway had seen the Ark when it had been nearing completion but not since it had been fully equipped and, on looking round them, they marvelled at the manner in which every spare inch of space had been made use of.
Its main deck was on the same level as the landing-stage that ran round its equator and its upper part was divided into five compartments.
One half of the upper part—a quarter of the whole sphere—was fitted up as a living-room, having a maximum length along its partition wall of 30 feet and a breadth, from the dead centre of the sphere to its rim, of 15 feet; which gave a semi-circular floor-space of approximately 350 square feet—roughly that of a rectangular room measuring 20 by 17½.
The other half of the upper part was divided into four segments, two large and two small. The larger each had approximately 105 square feet of floor space, and the smaller 62 square feet, being the equivalent of rectangular rooms measuring, roughly, 12 by 9 and 10 by 6 respectively. Where the segments met there was a tiny hallway, measuring 4 feet by 3 feet, cutting off their points but enabling separate doors to lead into each of them. The two biggest consisted of a men’s cabin and a kitchen; the two smallest, of a women’s cabin and a bathroom with the usual conveniences.
The height of the segment rooms at their inner ends was 14 feet, which, allowing for the ceilings curving gently down to the outer extremity of the sphere, still gave room in the men’s cabin for two sets of three bunks above one another on the partition walls; but the smaller, or women’s, cabin had one set of two bunks only. At eye level in the curved walls there were twelve thick port-holes, now covered with mica shades to neutralise the rays of the comet; six in the living-room, two each in the men’s cabin and kitchen, and one each in the women’s cabin and bathroom.
Sixty Days to Live Page 23
