by Anne Hampson
‘You’ll be in trouble with Manoel in any case,’ she went on, but Joanne was confidently shaking her head. For only that morning Rosa had received a letter from her friends in England saying that as they had had some trouble in the family it wasn’t convenient for Rosa to come so early in January, but they would welcome her towards the end of the month. Joanne told Lynn of this, adding,
‘By that time I’ll be back in England, so if Rosa does discover the truth and tell Manoel, I shan’t be here to witness his reaction.’
‘Well, that’s something to be thankful for.’ Lynn gave a little laugh and shook her head. ‘You’re a goose, Joanne. Where did you get that stubborn trait that’s caused you so much trouble?’
‘From my father—so Mother always asserted,’ replied Joanne ruefully.
‘You want to watch it in future.’
‘I will,’ came Joanne’s swift and emphatic response. ‘I’ll never tell another lie as long as I live!’
‘You haven’t actually lied.’
‘I didn’t admit the truth, which is just the same.’
‘Your letters,’ Lynn said as the thought occurred to her. ‘I sent mine to Miss Barrie.’
‘It went to the farm, though.’
‘Oh, yes, of course.’
‘All my letters go there—for that reason. And I collect them myself.’ She turned as Glee bounced into the room, her eyes aglow.
‘How long is it to Christmas now?’ she asked, flopping breathlessly into a chair.
‘We’ve had this every day since I came,’ observed Lynn with an amused smile.
‘Six days to Christmas Eve,’ supplied Joanne. ‘And tomorrow it will be five days to Christmas Eve.’
Glee chuckled, and leant back in the chair, swinging her legs.
‘Why doesn’t it go quicker? I can’t wait!’
‘You’ll just have to wait.’
‘Filipa and Leonor can’t wait either.’ She glanced at Lynn. ‘Don’t you want it to come quick, Auntie Lynn?’
A shadow crossed Lynn’s face, but she said,
‘Yes, Glee, I want it to come quickly.’
‘I’m having a doll, and a bed for it, and some slippers and—’
‘How do you know that?’ inquired her aunt dryly.
‘Those are what I’ve asked for.’
‘Asked whom?’
‘Uncle Manoel, of course. He’s the one who puts the presents in the shoe.’
‘In the shoe?’ Lynn glanced questioningly at Joanne. ‘The shoe?’
‘It’s the custom in Portugal to put your shoe on the chimneypiece on Christmas Eve and the presents are put in it.’ ‘What a nice idea—but, Glee, you’re not going to get a doll and a bed and a pair of slippers in your shoe.’
Glee fell to contemplating her feet, still swinging vigorously to and fro.
‘No, I’m not,’ she agreed at length. ‘That’s what Filipa and Leonor said, though.’
‘I expect the small presents go into the shoes,’ said Joanne. And then, in a curious tone, ‘Did Uncle Manoel say you were having all those things?’
Glee did not answer immediately. She was absorbed in extracting from her pocket a rather grubby paper bag in which she had a large sweet which had apparently already been in her mouth, for the paper adhered firmly to it. With difficulty she managed to remove the paper and popped the sweet into her mouth.
‘No, he said I couldn’t have them— She had difficulty in talking and she pushed the sweet into her cheek, where it formed a bulge, rather like an outsize gumboil.
‘Really, Glee!’ Joanne exclaimed, endeavouring to appear stern. ‘Where are your manners? Take that thing out of your mouth!’
‘You mean—spit it out?’ Glee asked, shocked. ‘I can’t do that. Uncle Manoel said it was very rude indeed and he’d smack me next time I did it.’
‘You—? You took it from your mouth in front of Uncle Manoel?’
‘It was too big, and it choked me. So I had to take it out—but then I sucked it and it went smaller. Uncle Manoel said it was much too big and I mustn't buy any more. He hasn’t seen these kind, so I told him it was a gob-stopper, and they’re always big like this.’
‘You—?’ Joanne stared at her in dismay. ‘You didn’t say that to Uncle Manoel?’
‘That it was a gob-stopper? Of course I did. That’s what they’re called.’
‘What will he think?’ Joanne turned to her friend, little realizing how comical she appeared in her dismay. ‘Lynn, what will he think of her?’
‘I expect he’s used to kids, as he’s two nieces of his own,’ said Lynn unconcernedly. ‘Don’t look so put out; there’s nothing wrong in what Glee did. So he said you couldn’t have the presents you wanted?’ she added, turning to Glee.
‘Yes, but I know he’ll get them for me.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘I could tell by the way he looked. But he pretended to be stern, and so I just pretended to be sad and walked away.’
The two girls glanced at one another and burst out laughing.
‘That child,’ prophesied Lynn when she had recovered, ‘will one day twist the men round her little finger without the least effort at all.’
‘Exactly what her grandmother used to say.’
‘What did Gran used to say?’ Glee pressed a finger to her cheek and the gumboil disappeared.
‘That you’re a naughty girl!’
‘She didn’t. She loved me. Auntie Lynn, what are you having for Christmas?’
‘I don’t know, Glee.’
‘What do you want?’
Lynn suddenly looked very young, and very lost.
‘I really don’t know, Glee.’
‘Ladies like scent, or powder. I bought Mummy scent last Christmas. Would you like scent?’
‘That would be nice.’
‘I’ll tell Uncle Manoel—’
‘No, Glee dear, you mustn’t do that.’
‘Why not? If you don’t tell him he won’t know what to put in your shoe.’
‘You mustn’t tell him I want perfume, Glee. Promise me you won’t, dear?’
Glee looked at Joanne, who said she must do as Auntie Lynn told her.
‘All right—but you won’t get anything in your shoe,’ she warned, then added, ‘So it won’t be any use putting your shoe on the chimneypiece, will it?’
‘Glee dear,’ Joanne put in swiftly, ‘go and wash your face and hands. Mafalda will be taking your tea into the nursery in a few minutes. Where are Filipa and Leonor?’
‘They’re riding round on their bicycles. I wish I had a bicycle, then I could go with them.’
‘They’re not on the road?’ Joanne asked quickly.
‘No, just riding round the garden paths.’ Glee slid off the chair and a moment later she was gone. The glasses on the sideboard rattled as she closed the door.
‘Glee doesn’t change one bit.’ Lynn’s voice held a tinge of sadness, but no regret. Her fiancé had married someone else, and had a son of two years and a nine-month-old daughter. Was Lynn thinking about him now? Joanne wondered.
‘Let’s have some tea,’ she said, rising quickly. ‘I’ll go myself and bring it up.’
During the next few days great activity took place at the big house on the hill, and when at last the decorations were all up it did indeed look like the fairy palace which the children chose to call it.
‘They have a Christmas tree as well,’ Glee said in surprise when it arrived on a cart driven by oxen. ‘Do we have presents on that too?’
‘You’re a greedy girl,’ admonished Joanne, who was on a ladder, adding a final touch of silver spray to the leaves hanging from the pelmet over the main window. The cart was outside the door and Glee ran off to join Filipa and Leonor, who were already there.
‘She didn’t hear you,’ commented Lynn, who was also engaged in putting a few last touches to the decorations.
‘She didn’t want to hear,’ Joanne grinned good-humouredly, and came down the ladder
.
The two girls stood watching the tree being unloaded and Lynn gasped at its size.
‘It’s a giant!’ she exclaimed, but added, ‘I suppose anything smaller would look ridiculous in the hall here. I expect that’s where it’s going to be?’
‘Yes, Lynn, it will be put in the hall.’ They turned as Manoel spoke. He had entered quietly, and was standing behind them, also interested in the unloading operations. ‘On the evening of Christmas Day we have a party for all the workers on the estate. It’s a most happy occasion and I think you’ll both enjoy it very much.’ He looked at Lynn, for the coolness which had developed between him and his fiancée since the occasion of his kissing her still remained in spite of his generous act in extending this hospitality to her friend.
Lynn had instantly fallen a victim to his charms, flatly refusing to believe he could possibly have an altogether different side to his nature. And she now smiled gratefully at him, thanking him once again for inviting her to his house.
‘I was feeling so dreadfully depressed,’ she added, ‘and this visit’s changed everything. I feel different already.’
‘It is not good to be alone with one’s sorrow,’ he returned seriously. ‘One must have privacy, of course, but there should always be the knowledge that friends are close, and can be approached when the need for company is desired.’
Swallowing an unaccountable little lump in her throat, Joanne cast him a glance from under her lashes. And she could not help but be affected by the softness in his eyes and the compassionate curve of his mouth. There would always be a certain severity about him—how could it be otherwise with that haughty thrust of his chin and that dark and furrowed brow?—but the transformation effected by this inner understanding and sympathy was miraculous. For although he retained an air of rather forbidding austerity, he was at the same time incredibly handsome.
She caught her breath, watching his softened face and listening to the gravity in his voice as he spoke to her friend. Then he was telling Lynn about the party; and, as the tree was at last taken off the cart and being brought into the house he asked Lynn if she would like to help with its decoration.
‘I’d love to,’ was her eager response. She twisted round. ‘You’ll help too, Joanne?’
‘Of course.’
Manoel looked down into Joanne’s face; she sensed a sudden change in him, a return of the attitude of indifference he was now adopting towards her.
Why should he be like this?—just because his unnecessary over-acting annoyed her? Resentment swept over her, bringing a flush to her cheeks which in turn brought a slight lift to his arrogant brow.
‘Have I done something to embarrass you?’ he asked on a note of sardonic amusement, and her flush deepened.
‘No, Manoel, you haven’t done anything to embarrass me.’
‘Then you blush for nothing,’ he remarked, and gave his attention to Lynn. ‘We’ve some new decorations, which you’ll find already on the table in the hall, but we also have some from last year. Mafalda will tell you where those are.’ And with that he gave a slight nod to each in turn and left them. Joanne and Lynn were in the salon, and a few minutes later his voice could be heard in the hall, where the children were excitedly watching all that went on.
‘Uncle Manoel, do we have presents on the tree?’
‘Certainly.’
‘Will my doll be on the tree?’
‘I wasn’t aware you were having a doll.’
‘You haven’t to ask, Glee,’ explained Filipa. ‘Uncle Manoel knows what everyone wants.’
‘How can he if you don’t tell him?’
‘It’s magic.’
‘We never tell him, but we always get what we want!’ Leonor’s voice was soft and husky like her mother’s. ‘Last Christmas I wanted seven things, and I got them all!’
‘Do you come here every Christmas?’ Glee wanted to know.
‘We have ever since Daddy died—and for our summer holidays we go to another uncle’s house, but he’s got a wife because he married Mummy’s sister. But they’re not in Portugal at present—they’re visiting our uncle’s relations in America.’
‘So she’s your auntie,’ Glee commented, and judging by the way she spoke Joanne had an awful suspicion that she was involved with one of those disgusting sweets again.
‘Yes, that’s right— Oh, the tree nearly toppled over! Yes, she’s my auntie.’
‘We’ve three aunties,’ submitted Filipa. ‘How many have you, Glee?’
‘She’s only got two,’ Leonor put in. ‘Her Auntie Chris and her Auntie Lynn.’
‘So we’ve one more than you!’
A long pause; Joanne frowned, visualizing Glee with the sticky sweet in her fingers.
‘You haven’t got one more than me! I’ve got my Auntie Joanne.’
Lynn looked swiftly at her friend, saw Joanne’s whitened cheeks and went into the hall.
‘Glee, come here, I want to tell you something.’
‘You haven’t an Auntie Joanne!’ The derisive exclamation came from Filipa, and Glee turned to Lynn for support.
‘I have an Auntie Joanne, haven’t I?’
‘Manoel had turned, puzzlement on his face as he glanced inquiringly at Lynn.
‘Are you speaking of your mummy?’ asked Lynn unconcernedly.
‘But she’s not my mummy really. She’s my auntie.’ Glee turned triumphantly to her friends. ‘So you see, I’ve as many aunties as you!’
‘Then you have no mummy,’ Filipa said with a laugh, and Glee’s face fell.
‘You have to make up your mind, Glee,’ said Lynn, looking at Manoel and laughing lightly. ‘Glee’s a romancer, Dom Manoel, I’m afraid,’ she said, taking Glee’s hand and making for the salon.
‘What’s a romancer?’ inquired Glee, going meekly with Lynn.
‘Darling,’ said Joanne a moment later, her heart beating normally once more, ‘you must choose. Do you want me for your mummy, or your aunt?’
‘Can’t I have both?’
‘I’m afraid not.’
‘Then you’re my mummy,’ she said—as Joanne knew she would—and gave Joanne’s hand a noisy kiss.
‘That was a near shave!’ exclaimed Lynn when Glee had left the room once more. And she added, ‘You know what? It will be a miracle if Glee doesn’t eventually give you away.’
Joanne folded the ladders and picked them up.
‘Then let’s pray for a miracle,’ she responded fervently.
‘Prayers aren’t always answered.’
‘You sound as if you’d be glad if Glee were to give me away,’ Joanne accused, frowning.
‘Frankly, I don’t think the result would be half so uncomfortable as you’ve led yourself to believe,’ was Lynn’s thoughtful and somewhat cryptic rejoinder.
Joanne did not pursue the subject, for it would seem that Lynn was fully convinced Manoel would accept the truth with equanimity ... but Joanne knew otherwise.
Lynn joined them at dinner again that evening, but as usual she was very quiet, and Joanne guessed this was due as much to shyness as to her sorrow. But half-way through the meal Manoel decided to do something about it and he gave her a good deal of his attention. Lynn responded, as he intended her to, and by the time the meal was over she was much brighter than when she had sat down.
‘You’ve been in all day?’ he asked as they rose to leave the table. He glanced at her cheeks, noticing their pallor.
‘I went to the village with Joanne this morning.’
Manoel turned to his fiancée.
‘Would you care for a walk?’ His lip curled slightly, and there was a look in his eye which conveyed the rather sardonic assurance that she would be quite safe, seeing that they would have Lynn for company.
‘Yes, Manoel, that would be nice.’
Rosa was watching with narrowed eyes and, for her benefit, Manoel smiled at Joanne and said gently,
‘You’ll both require heavy coats; it’s rather cold this evening.’
> ‘Can I come with you?’ asked Helena. ‘I feel like a breath of fresh air myself.’
‘Certainly.’ Manoel smiled affectionately at her. ‘Why ask?’
Rosa stood by the door and Joanne, feeling sorry for her, said impulsively,
‘Are you coming, too, Rosa?’
‘Thank you, no.’ She swept from the room and went upstairs. Manoel glanced darkly at Joanne, indicating his displeasure at her inviting his cousin to accompany them on their walk.
They took to the lane this time, and although the weather had turned cooler the air was fresh and clear, with overhead an outsize moon so brilliant that the shadows it cast were as clearly defined as any silhouette picture.
‘Let’s take Lynn into the cafe in the village,’ suggested Helena, and Joanne gave a little start of surprise. Not by any stretch of imagination could she see Manoel sitting in Antonio’s cafe, drinking the local wine and listening to the music made by the mandolins and guitars of the villagers.
‘Would you like that?’ he inquired of Lynn, pausing on the roadside.
‘Yes, very much.’
‘Good, then we’ll fall in with your admirable suggestion, Helena.’ Catching his fiancée’s surprised gaze, he opened his mouth again, as if to make some remark to her, but she swiftly glanced away, for his eyes were hard and she knew instinctively that there would be veiled sarcasm in his words. At her action Manoel changed his mind, and something in her manner touched him, for after they had walked on a few yards more she felt his arm about her shoulders.
She looked up. For whose benefit this time? Helena’s, obviously ... and yet it did not seem all that necessary. A little quiver passed through her at his touch, and instantly his arm was removed. Had he misunderstood? Could it be that he believed his nearness had been distasteful to her? Impatiently Joanne shook off these thoughts. She meant no more to Manoel than did Lynn, so why should she suppose he might be interested in whether or not his touch annoyed her?
There were few people in the cafe, but one or two of the village girls and youths were dancing in the middle of the floor. They stopped on seeing Manoel, and so did the music. The respect with which he was regarded was evident on every face. The little scene fascinated both Lynn and Joanne, but Helena took this silent homage for granted, glancing round her and obviously expecting someone to appear and conduct them to a table. It was Antonio himself who did so, plainly honoured by the presence of the noble Dom Manoel Alvares and his companions.
