‘Why, Sir!’ exclaimed the merchant rapturously, ‘to my eternal joy she has accepted me.’
A dozen different emotions, none of them pleasant, simultaneously whirled and fought for first place in Roger’s mind. It was obvious that Clarissa had determined to adopt the course she had implied she might on the first night of the voyage and that she had ensnared the poor fool who stood before him in order to achieve her object more quickly as, with him already course she had implied she might on the first night of the voyage and that she had ensnared the poor fool who stood before him in order to achieve her object more quickly as, with him already engaged to her, she could be married within a week of their arrival in Calcutta. But Winters was far from being the sort of man Roger had had in mind when he had so thoughtlessly put the idea into her head. The merchant was neither old enough to be impotent, nor of a fitting station in life to make a suitable parti for her. Roger could only thank his stars that there were at least two months yet to go before the Minerva reached Calcutta. The time should be ample for him to dissuade her from the folly of taking such a husband, even for the purpose she had in mind. After a moment he said:
‘It seems then that I have little option but to sanction this engagement, Sir; but I would ask you to keep it secret for a while, in case Miss Marsham should change her mind before we arrive in India.’
Winters gave a sudden laugh. ‘There is no fear of that, Sir. I gather that revictualling at Cape Town will require the Minerva to lie in the port for some ten days; and it is Miss Marsham’s own wish that we should be married there.’
10
Clarissa makes her Bed
Roger’s life had hung too often on his ability to absorb an unpleasant shock without giving himself away for him to be stampeded into showing his surprise and fury on this occasion. Instead, he said in a not unfriendly voice:
‘Then I must offer you my congratulations, Sir.’
Winters thanked him effusively and began to babble about his good fortune, but Roger cut him short by saying: ‘I think, Sir, this conversation has fulfilled its purpose. We will speak further on the matter when I have discussed it with my niece.’
Taking quick alarm, Winters stammered, ‘I … I trust, Mr. Brook, you … you do not intend to use your influence with your niece in an attempt to make her change her mind?’
‘I have so far to meet the woman who has a stronger mind than Miss Marsham,’ declared Roger, with cynical truth, ‘and without consulting me she has already made her intentions clear to you. Let us go below.’
Down in the saloon, Clarissa was playing a game of backgammon against Robert McIvor, while three officers stood behind her chair, giving her good advice and endeavouring to make witty remarks that would discomfit her opponent. Roger’s bow to her included the whole group, and he said in the authoritative voice that he occasionally used to her in his guise of uncle:
‘Gentlemen; perhaps one of you would take over my niece’s hand. I regret to break up her game; but we shall shortly be in Cape Town and I wish to discuss with her how we can best employ our time there.’
Demure as ever, Clarissa rose, made her apologies to McIvor, and laid a hand on the arm that Roger offered her. As soon as they were out of earshot of the group, she whispered:
‘So Sidney has told you?’
‘Sidney, forsooth!’ he hissed back. ‘Clarissa, how could you? But this is no place to discuss it. Get your cloak and meet me up on deck near the main mast.’
Five minutes later he saw the pale blur of her face above the outline of her long grey cloak as she came towards him in the semi-darkness. Stepping forward, he took her by the arm and drew her into the still deeper shadow behind the bollards with their masses of rope and tackle.
‘Well, dear Uncle?’ He could guess at her wicked smile from her tone as she asked, ‘Was it really necessary to get me up here in order to congratulate me?’
‘Clarissa!’ he said earnestly. ‘This is no laughing matter. You are proposing to do a great wrong to a very decent man and also make a mess of your whole life.’
She shrugged. ‘He’s mad about me, but knows that I am not drawn to him by passion. How could I be? I do him no wrong, but on the contrary bring him great happiness. Think of the pride he will feel on producing me in Calcutta as his wife, and the joy he will get from seeing the amazement arid envy of his friends.’
‘Maybe; but their envy will turn to derision the moment it gets out that you have provided him with a pair of horns. Besides, he is utterly unsuited for the rôle that I most foolishly put into your head.’
‘Why so?’
‘To start with he is only in his late forties and has already been married once, so there is no reason whatever to suppose him impotent.’
‘I have dealt with that.’ Clarissa gave a low laugh. ‘I told him that, as first pregnancies were often difficult, I considered it a great unkindness to get a new-made bride with child, and that doing so had ruined many a marriage. I asked a year to enjoy myself before starting to provide him with a family; and it is part of our agreement that our marriage should not be consummated for twelve months.’
‘For cleverness I vow you beat the Devil!’ Roger exclaimed in grudging admiration. ‘But what when the twelve months are up? And that’s not all! He is not, as I suggested, an old fellow with one foot in the grave whose last hours you could make happy in exchange for the fortune he would leave you.’
She shrugged again. ‘Let the future take care of itself.’
‘Futures do not take care of themselves. You will have saddled yourself with this man. And who is he? A nobody! A tradesman! Even if you can continue to deny him his rights indefinitely he will be your husband. From his talk at table on several occasions, he has made it plain that in a few years he intends to retire from business and settle down in England. To be married to a rich merchant in Calcutta is one thing, but do you return home with him your marriage will be regarded as an appalling mesalliance. Neither men nor women of breeding can defy custom in such a matter. No doubt Georgina would receive him for your sake but, decent fellow though he is, he would be a constant source of shame and embarrassment to you; and in the main you would find yourself ostracised by the sort of society you were brought up to mix with.’
‘Roger, dear Roger,’ she shook her head. ‘Your concern for me is needless. No doubt had I waited till we reached Calcutta, I would have found a man to whom there would not have been these objections. But Sidney was ready to hand and he will serve my purpose well enough. In fact he has proved a godsend for I’ll be able to hold you to your promises so much sooner.’
‘But it’s the future, girl! You must think of the future!’
‘I’ll not be thwarted by consideration for it. In the last event I can always leave him.’
‘You’d still be his wife, and he’d have every reason to refuse to support you.’
‘Then I’d support myself.’
‘How? By returning to Europe and becoming a kept woman? No, I’ll not have it. I’ll not allow you to marry Sidney Winters.’
‘How do you propose to prevent me?’
‘You are not yet twenty-one.’
‘You’ve no proof of that and, if need be, I’ll take an oath that I am.
‘You’ve no proof even that you are my Uncle. It will be said that you are trying to prevent my marrying him on snobbish grounds. They are no legal objections, and there are no others.’
‘There is one way I can stop you,’ he said suddenly. ‘That is by marrying you myself.’
‘Roger! D’you mean that?’
‘Yes, Why not? This voyage has been hell for me. Day after day I’ve had to watch you flirting with those nincompoops, while having got myself into a situation where I could hardly exchange a word alone with you. Although I know I have no right to be, and that you have given me no cause, there have been nights when I have been driven half insane with jealousy and longing for you.’
‘Then you do love me!’
‘Did
I ever say that I did not?’ Throwing his arm round her waist, he made to draw her to him, but she swiftly put a hand on his chest and pushed him back.
‘Wait!’ she gasped. ‘One moment! Don’t kiss me yet or I too shall lose my head.’
Both their hearts were hammering wildly. He refrained from tightening his hold and, when her breathing eased, she said:
‘It’s no good, Roger. Everyone believes you to be my Uncle.’
‘Hell!’ he muttered. ‘I had forgotten that. But we’ll get round it somehow. I’ll swear an affidavit that we agreed to call one another “niece” and “uncle” only to make our association appear more conventional while travelling and that you are, in fact, only my deceased wife’s cousin.’
She gave a sob. ‘It … it’s not only that! I cannot take you at the price.’
‘Price!’ he repeated, frowning. ‘What price?’
‘Why, at the price of knowing that you are doing this only to save me from myself again. You made it abundant plain how much it meant to you to keep your freedom. We’d be deliriously happy for a time, I know. But later you’d come to hate me for the restraint I put upon you. I came aboard the Minerva to be your mistress, not to trap you into taking me as your wife; and I’ll not do it.’
For a quarter of an hour they argued about it, but she remained firm in her determination. All she would agree to was that if, after she had been his mistress for six months, he then wished to marry her she would, by hook or by crook, make Winters secure an annulment of their union on the grounds of non-consummation.
Even then Roger still strove to persuade her at least to postpone her marriage to Winters until they reached Calcutta, hoping that during the two or three months the voyage had yet to run something might occur to make her change her mind about going through with it. At length he wrung a reluctant promise from her that for the next twenty-four hours she would consider the question of a postponement, and that she would tell Winters that in the meantime he was not to mention their engagement to anyone else.
Still intensely worried, Roger accompanied her across the deck then down the companionway. At the bottom they separated to take their cloaks back to their cabins. As he hung his up his natural buoyancy of spirit came to his aid. He had before now countered in much less than twenty-four hours worse blows of Fate.
Having secured a night to think in and a day to work in, he felt that he would have lost his touch if he could not prevent Clarissa marrying Winters in Cape Town. There must be some way of sabotaging the old fool’s joyful expectations; and in the long run that would be for his own good, however much Clarissa might have persuaded herself to the contrary. If there were no other way, Roger decided, he could always force a duel on him; although it would be hateful to have to do so. The odds were all against the merchant’s daring to fight and, if he refused, Clarissa, who admired bravery above all things, would never marry him after he had displayed cowardice.
But wouldn’t she? There was no question of her admiring, or not admiring, Sidney Winters. She was simply making use of him for her own ends. She would probably marry him all the same and all he, Roger, would have done would be to earn the frigid disapproval of the whole ship’s company for having challenged a man who was so obviously unable to meet him on equal terms. He would be sent to Coventry and Winters would have everyone’s sympathy. No, that would not do. But there must be a way and he was determined to find it.
He met Clarissa again at the entrance of the saloon and they went in together. On their appearance there fell a sudden hush. The various games that had been in progress twenty minutes earlier had all broken up; the passengers had congregated in a little crowd at the far end of the saloon, and in their centre stood Sidney Winters. Lady Beaumont broke from it and came hurrying towards Clarissa.
‘My dear!’ she exclaimed, fluttering her plump hands, uncertainly. ‘My dear; can this really be true? If so, I’m sure I wish you happiness.’
Winters, a seraphic grin on his face, came forward just behind her. Clarissa, frowning at him over her chaperone’s shoulder, said quickly: ‘It seems, Sir, you have deprived me of the pleasure of informing our friends of our intentions.’
‘My love,’ he replied, with a smile of contrition. ‘Having obtained your uncle’s consent to our engagement, how could you expect me to wait one moment longer before publicly declaring myself to be the happiest man in the world?’
At that Roger really was hard put to it to restrain an impulse to stride forward and smack the ecstatic smile from the merchant’s face. He felt certain that Winters, having seen him take Clarissa up on deck, had feared that he would persuade her to change her mind; so to make it more difficult for her to do so he had deliberately made the announcement while they were still absent. And he had played an ace. Clarissa had been loath to postpone the announcement for twenty-four hours; so she would not now retract. Winters had, too, been justified in saying that Roger had ‘sanctioned the engagement’. That was another ace; for, although Roger had actually prefixed the words with ‘it seems I have little option but to …’, he could not now flatly deny that he had done so. Seething with concealed fury, he was compelled to admit to himself that, for the time being at least, Winters had got the better of him.
Everyone was now crowding round Clarissa offering congratulations. Even the sour Mrs. Armitage and her pimply Jane politely hid their surprise by gushing and simpering. Winters sent a steward for champagne and, as it was now getting on for ten o’clock, asked the Second Mate, who happened to be present, to use his good offices with the Commander to secure an hour’s extension of ‘lights out’, and to request his presence at the celebration.
Captain Finch and the champagne arrived together. The engaged couple’s health was drunk, their plan for marrying in Cape Town was discussed, and Clarissa, all smiles, graciously asked Jane to be her bridesmaid. The ladies retired soon after eleven, but the Commander did not insist on the extra time being limited to an hour; so it was near one o’clock before the party broke up and most of the men, having taken full advantage of Winter’s liberal supplies of champagne, staggered tipsy to their bunks.
Next day a more sober atmosphere prevailed. Winters proudly paraded Clarissa about the deck but whenever they paused to talk with some of her young men conversation proved slow and awkward. None of her ex-court now attempted to laugh and jest with her; they seemed to regard her with different eyes, as though she were some strange bright-plumaged bird that might without the least warning either lay a golden egg or suddenly peck at them.
Roger went into private conference with the Beaumonts. He told them that the engagement had been sprung upon him, that he had been more or less trapped into giving his consent and most strongly disapproved of the match. He then admitted that Clarissa called him ‘uncle’ only as a courtesy and because his late wife, being considerably older than herself, had been looked on by her as an aunt.
The Beaumonts also regarded Clarissa’s choice as most unsuitable, but her conduct in the matter tallied with the way in which she was supposed to have smuggled herself aboard from a wilful determination to see the gorgeous East. As Roger unburdened himself to them, they received his confidences with the deepest sympathy; but the judge ruled that since Roger was, in fact, only a kinsman of Clarissa’s by marriage, and had been vested with no powers as her guardian, although she was under twenty-one, there was no legal step that he could take to stop her marriage.
Roger then detached Winters from Clarissa on the plea of discussing business with him. As soon as they had found a quiet corner, the merchant said, ‘From your manner last night and your abruptness this morning, Mr. Brook, I very much fear that you do not approve of me as a husband for Miss Marsham.’
‘Frankly, I do not,’ Roger replied crisply. ‘I have nothing against you personally, Sir, but I consider you far too old for my niece; and, without offence, I have no reason to believe that your family is one with whom mine would ordinarily seek an alliance.’
Winters made a sl
ight bow. ‘I will not argue with you on either point. I can only say that no man could be prepared to do more to make her happy.’
‘Whatever you may do it will not be enough,’ Roger retorted brutally. ‘Within three months she’ll have a gallant in your bed.’
‘Sir!’ Winters’s heavy face went as red as a turkey cock’s. ‘You have no right…’
‘Right be damned!’ Roger cut him short. ‘Although I am twenty years your junior, I’ll vow that I have forgotten more about women than you have ever learned. Once Clarissa’s natural passions are aroused you’ll never be able to satisfy her. She will swiftly come to desire young, handsome men, and soon take one or more as lovers. If you truly love her, your life will become a misery and you will become the laughing stock of all your friends. Have some sense, man! Relinquish her before it is too late. I’ll deal with any tantrum she may throw, while you save your face by leaving this ship at Cape Town and transferring to another.’
Drawing himself up to the limited height that his absurdly short legs would allow, Winters replied with dignity: ‘You insult me, Sir; and I count your conduct in traducing the virtue of your own niece infamous.’
Roger bared his teeth for a second in an ugly grin.
‘So far, I have prophesied only what any reasonable man would agree with me is most likely to come about. Now I intend to insult you. But before giving open vent to any umbrage you may take, be good enough to get it clearly into your mind that with my sword I could spit you in thirty seconds like a turkey-cock, and that with a pistol I could shoot you dead at a hundred yards. All your life you have been a man of business. Act like one now. Accept the substance and reject the shadow. If you will repudiate your engagement to Miss Marsham, I will enter into a bond to pay you the sum of ten thousand pounds.’
‘No, Sir!’ came the swift retort. ‘I’d not do it if you paid me a hundred thousand.’
The Rape of Venice Page 16
