A Multitude of Sins

by Margaret Pemberton

  As she approached them, Ronnie rose to his feet, pulling back a chair for her, and Julienne said lightly: ‘Chérie, how lovely to see you! You’re looking wonderful!’ Her eyes flicked curiously from Elizabeth to the door. ‘But where is Raefe? I understood he was coming, too?’

  ‘He’s at a business meeting; he’s coming straight on here when it finishes.’ Raefe’s frequent visits to Government House were a closely guarded secret.

  ‘That is a pity,’ Julienne said with genuine regret. ‘But you will be able to keep Tom company. Melissa has at last decided that she is going to leave Hong Kong for America, and she has gone to the New Territories, to the farm, to collect the things she wishes to take with her and to arrange for her other possessions to be put into storage.’

  Elizabeth breathed a faint sigh of relief. She was not at all apprehensive about meeting Melissa, but she hoped that when she finally did so the occasion would not be quite so public.

  Julienne was wearing a turquoise satin ankle-length gown lavishly encrusted with crystals and beads. The bodice was very décolleté, revealing the lush ripeness of her breasts, the back plunging to her waist. Her fox-red hair was a short riotous mass of curls, tiny tendrils springing forward and lying seductively against her cheeks.

  ‘We are all morose,’ Julienne continued, not looking in the slightest morose. ‘Ronnie’s horse behaved very badly this afternoon. He was, I think, not very well.’ She began to giggle. ‘At the tote I saw Sir Denholm at the five-hundred-dollar window. I think perhaps he is very angry with Ronnie.’

  ‘So are a lot of other people,’ Tom said drily. ‘Old Gresby wasn’t the only one putting a packet on his wretched horse.’

  Both Ronnie and Julienne looked blithely unconcerned, and Elizabeth was sure that neither of them had staked any of their money on their own horse, or had lost any.

  ‘What was the Middlesex rugger match like?’ she asked Alastair, changing the subject. ‘You were there this afternoon, weren’t you?’

  ‘The Middlesex have a long way to go before they play a game of rugger equal to the game played by the Royal Scots,’ Alastair said with a grin. ‘Still, it wasn’t a bad game, all in all.’

  Rivalry between the 1st Middlesex and the 2nd Royal Scots was intense, with the Royal Scots considering themselves vastly superior.

  Ronnie hooted with laughter. ‘My God, Alastair! The Middlesex can thrash the Royal Scots to pulp on a rugger pitch, and you know it!’

  A waiter, depositing a fresh round of drinks on the table, mercifully subdued Alastair’s reply.

  The band was playing ‘It’s Only a Paper Moon’, and on the crowded dance-floor Elizabeth could see Leigh Stafford dancing very stiffly with Miriam Gresby, and Derry Langdon moving with practised ease, a diminutive blonde in his arms. Seeing where her gaze was directed, Helena leaned across to her and whispered: ‘Derry’s latest is Anthea Hurley.’

  ‘Mark Hurley’s wife?’

  Helena nodded. Elizabeth looked at the china-doll prettiness of Anthea Hurley with interest, well aware that she had once been one of Raefe’s girlfriends. She was dancing indecently close to Derry, and Derry, far from looking pleased with the arrangement, was looking distinctly discontented, his gaze roving constantly around the room.

  His eyes met hers and shot swiftly from her to Julienne. She saw by the change of expression in their vivid blue depths that he had at last found what he was looking for. The discontent had given place to open misery. Elizabeth looked away from him, feeling sorry for him, but glad that she had no longer to feel sorry for Ronnie.

  ‘What are the two Canadian battalions like, that arrived last month?’ Ronnie was asking Alastair, one hand cradling his whisky and soda, the other resting lightly and proprietorially on Julienne’s satin-clad knee. ‘Are they going to be any good to us if the Japs chance their arm?’

  ‘Any reinforcements are better than none,’ Alastair said drily. ‘And they appeared fit enough when they landed.’

  ‘They are extremely confident and well equipped,’ Julienne said, determinedly avoiding Derry’s pleading gaze. ‘I saw them just after they disembarked. They were being led through the streets to Shamshuipo barracks by a magnificent army band. They looked wonderful!’

  ‘Maltby must be grateful for them,’ Tom said as the band swung into ‘Blue Moon’. ‘Especially with this flap that’s on at the moment.’

  A cascade of streamers were released, drifting down over the heads of the dancers.

  ‘It still leaves us dangerously under-strength,’ Alastair said, removing a streamer from his shoulders. ‘And I’ve a feeling that this latest flap is the most serious one yet.’

  Julienne could see Derry making his way determinedly towards their table, Anthea Hurley hurrying in his wake. ‘Let’s dance, chéri,’ she said, her hand closing over Ronnie’s. ‘In a moment there is to be a floor-show and then we will not be able to.’

  Ronnie obligingly rose to his feet, and by the time Derry had weaved his way through the couples on the dance-floor his quarry had flown.

  ‘Hello, Derry old boy,’ Tom said affably. ‘How is the polo?’

  Derry was a renowned player with an incredible nine-goal handicap. ‘Fine,’ he lied, turning away from them and once more trying to locate Julienne. Since Julienne had terminated their affair his playing on the polo-field had suffered. At his last match he had ridden like a barbarian and had been disqualified in the second chukker for ‘riding at an opponent in such a manner as to intimidate and cause him to pull out’. He had been uncaring, his only wish that the player he had unseated had been Ronnie Ledsham.

  A breathless Anthea caught up with him and was embarrassingly ignored by him. Tom, aware that she had once been one of Raefe’s passing fancies, decided that it might be best if she was not still at their table when Raefe joined them. He rose gallantly to his feet. ‘Would you care to dance, Anthea? I’m wretchedly partnerless at the moment.’

  Anthea looked at Derry, obviously hoping that he would object, but as no such objection was forthcoming she had no alternative but unwillingly to acquiesce.

  ‘Why the hell won’t Julienne let me speak to her?’ Derry said savagely to Elizabeth. ‘I haven’t seen her alone since the night of her party!’

  Alastair, who disapproved of all extra-marital affairs, was listening to him frozen-faced, and Elizabeth knew that at any moment angry words would be exchanged. ‘Let’s dance,’ she said to Derry, rising to her feet.

  He nodded obligingly, moving out with her on to the dance-floor, ‘I don’t understand it,’ he said gloomily for the thousandth time. ‘We were happy together. I’ve never in my life enjoyed myself as much as I did when I was with Ju. Why has she spoiled everything? Has she suddenly got religion, or fallen sick? What is it?’

  As he led her into a smooth quickstep a smile touched the corners of Elizabeth’s mouth. ‘She certainly hasn’t got religion and she isn’t sick,’ she said soothingly. ‘In fact, I don’t think Julienne has changed at all. It is Ronnie who has changed. He still flirts, but he hasn’t been seen with another woman for nearly a year now.’

  ‘But what has that got to do with Ju?’ Derry demanded, mystified.

  ‘Julienne loves him,’ Elizabeth said gently as they skimmed past Tom and Anthea Hurley. ‘She may have fallen in love lightly and often elsewhere, but her love for Ronnie has always been the mainspring of her life. Once she knew that her affairs were beginning to cause him anguish, she ceased having them. It’s as simple as that.’

  ‘It isn’t simple to me,’ Derry said grimly. ‘I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t think. I can’t even play a decent game of polo any longer!’

  The dance was at an end, and it was announced that Miss Hilda Yen was now going to sing for them.

  ‘Let her go, Derry,’ Elizabeth said to him pleadingly as the couples around them began to return to their tables.

  He looked across to where Ronnie was escorting Julienne from the crowded floor. ‘I can’t!’ he said fiercely, a n
erve jumping at the corner of his clenched jaw. ‘God in heaven! I love her, Elizabeth. I can’t leave her alone!’

  The floor was emptying, and people were beginning to took in their direction. ‘You will make her very unhappy if you don’t,’ Elizabeth said soberly, and then reluctantly she stepped away from him, leaving him where he stood as she walked back to her table.

  Hilda Yen, a beautiful Chinese girl with raven-dark hair streaming silkily to her waist, sang a romantic song in Chinese and, while she did so, Elizabeth wondered if her own friends had felt the same despair when she and Raefe bad first fallen in love. She empathized totally with Derry. His love for Julienne was dominated by sexual passion, and she knew from her own experience that once in the grip of such joyous madness there was no room for restraint or common sense.

  Hilda Yen’s song came to an end and was enthusiastically applauded. The dancing continued, and she waltzed with Alastair and foxtrotted with Ronnie, waiting hungrily all the while for Raefe to enter the ballroom and stride towards her.

  Raefe’s face was grim as he drove through the darkened streets towards the Peninsula Hotel. He had trusted his informers, not his own judgement, and it was a mistake for which he would never forgive himself.

  For weeks, all the information he had received from Shanghai and Canton had been adamant that the concentration of Japanese military activity that had begun to take place in and around Canton was a Japanese preparation for an attack on the Chinese city of Kunming to the north west. Canton was a mere hundred miles north of Hong Kong, and he had not been convinced. He had voiced his doubts to the British at Fort Canning, but the consensus of opinion was that any visible Japanese preparations around Canton were more likely to be defensive than aggressive. They were taken note of. Reports were written and reports were filed.

  His jaw tightened as he swerved to a halt outside the Peninsula’s glitteringly lit Palladian entrance. Defensive be damned. There was now at least a full division of Japs mustering on the border, and they were facing south, not north.

  He strode into the hotel, cursing himself for not having acted earlier. For not having put Elizabeth on a ship or a plane. For allowing her to remain with him.

  ‘Good evening, Mr Elliot,’ a junior manager said respectfully as he crossed the lobby.

  ‘Good evening, sir,’ a bellboy said with genuine warmth as he continued on his way towards the ballroom. Mr Elliot was a generous tipper. The bellboy wished there were more like him.

  Raefe acknowledged their greetings curtly. He had only minutes in which to speak to Elizabeth before returning to the tense meeting still in progress at Government House. He had excused himself peremptorily, knowing that he had to tell her himself that an invasion was imminent. That he had to see her. That it might be days, even weeks, before he would be able to do so again.

  As he entered the crowded ballroom the orchestra was playing ‘The Best Things in Life Are Free’. Ignoring the greetings he received from all sides, he made his way quickly to the far end of the room and the large circular table around which Helena and Alastair, Julienne and Ronnie, Tom and Elizabeth were sitting.

  Elizabeth turned her head at his approach, her face lighting up joyously at the sight of him. ‘Darling! I thought you were never going to get here!’ It was nearly midnight and, though she had disguised it beneath smiles and laughter, her anxiety had been growing.

  He took her hand, drawing her to her feet, saying low and urgently: ‘I can’t stay, Lizzie. The invasion is imminent. Leave now and return to Victoria. You’ll be far safer on the island than you will be this side of the water. Whatever happens, don’t be tempted to cross back here. Do you understand me?’

  ‘Yes, but—’

  ‘No “buts”.’ His dark eyes burned hers. ‘Be safe for me, Lizzie! That’s all I ask!’

  His arms closed tightly around her, his kiss hard and savage, almost brutal. ‘I love you!’ he said harshly as he drew his head away from hers and then, before she had the chance to ask where he was going, what he was going to do, he was gone, pushing his way through the laughing couples that thronged the floor.

  ‘Well!’ Julienne said, her eyes wide. ‘What was all that about, chérie?’

  Elizabeth did not answer her. She was still staring after Raefe, fear roaring along her veins. What if anything happened to him? What if he were killed? What if…?

  The music came to an abrupt end. The president of the American Steamships Line appeared on the balcony above the dance-floor, waving a megaphone for silence. ‘Your attention, please, ladies and gentlemen! Your attention, please!’ he shouted.

  Helena and Alastair, Ronnie and Julienne and Tom, who had all been mesmerized by Raefe’s sudden appearance and his abrupt passionate leavetaking of Elizabeth, transferred their attention to him, their smiles and laughter fading.

  ‘Any man connected with any ships in the harbour,’ the president of the American Steamships Line continued to shout, ‘report aboard for duty. At once!’

  There was a second’s unbelieving silence, and then scores of chairs were scraped backwards as men rose hurriedly to their feet, the dance forgotten.

  ‘My God! Is this it?’ Ronnie asked, stunned.

  ‘Looks like it,’ Alastair said grimly. ‘I’d better be getting back to barracks.’ He rose to his feet. ‘Goodbye, my dear,’ he said soberly to Helena. ‘I’ll be in touch with you at the earliest opportunity.’

  She stared at him aghast. All around them men were saying goodbye to wives and sweethearts and making for the doors. As Alastair turned to join them, she pushed her chair away from the table, rising hastily to her feet.

  ‘No! Wait a moment, Alastair!’

  He turned and hesitated, and she threw her arms around him, hugging him tight. ‘I love you!’ she said fiercely. ‘I know I haven’t said it very often lately, but I do, Alastair! Truly I do!’

  He didn’t speak. He couldn’t He would have wept with relief, for he had begun to believe that she had never loved him and never would. He held her close for a brief precious moment, and then, his eyes suspiciously bright, he swung on his heel, breaking into a run as he made for the doors.

  Julienne and Ronnie, Tom and Elizabeth and Helena stared at each other. The orchestra had begun to play again, but only a few couples had taken to the floor.

  ‘What do we do?’ Ronnie asked awkwardly. Both he and Tom were members of the Volunteer Force. ‘Do we report for duty, too?’

  ‘I shouldn’t think so,’ Tom said doubtfully. ‘Not until there’s been a more official announcement.’

  ‘Raefe said that an invasion was imminent,’ Elizabeth said in a low voice. ‘He also said that when it came the island would be far safer than Kowloon.’ She looked across at Helena. ‘You’d better move in with me, Helena. We can go and collect the children now.’

  Helena shook her head. She was dressed starkly and sophisticatedly in a black cocktail-dress, and it did not suit her full-blown beauty. ‘No,’ she said stubbornly. ‘I have to stay in Kowloon. The hospital I have been assigned to is there.’

  ‘Whatever happens, the Japs will never fight their way as far south as Kowloon,’ Tom said, defusing the tension. ‘All the fighting will be around the border.’

  Ronnie grinned, his natural buoyancy reasserting itself. ‘We’ll soon shove the little men off,’ he said confidently. ‘To tell the truth, if this is the real thing, I shall be relieved. The sooner it starts, the sooner it will be over.’

  Elizabeth rose to her feet. ‘I’m going home now,’ she said quietly. ‘Are you sure you won’t come with me, Helena?’

  Helena shook her head again. ‘Positive. By tomorrow everything will have probably blown over. If it has, I’ll see you for drinks as usual at the Repulse Bay.’

  ‘I hope it blows over,’ Tom said with a wry smile. ‘The uniform I’ve been handed out as a member of the Volunteer Force isn’t exactly Sandhurst standard. The jacket was made for a man half my size, and I’m not sure whether the trousers are long shorts or sh
ort trousers; whichever they are, I look ridiculous in them!’

  Even Elizabeth found herself laughing as she said her goodbyes, but her laughter faded once she was on her journey home. As the vehicular ferry made its way across to Victoria she stood in the bow, looking out over the silk-black sea. The Peak was in darkness. She didn’t know where Raefe was, or when she would see him again. For the first time since they had moved into it, she did not drive home to their house near Mount Collinson. Instead she drove to the apartment in Victoria. It was more central. Wherever Raefe was, she would be nearer to him there than she would be out near the coast, on the east of the island.

  The next morning Victoria seemed, on the surface, much as usual. She had a light breakfast and then she telephoned Adam. He hadn’t been at the ball the previous evening, and there was still a chance that he knew nothing of the latest rumours.

  ‘Mr Harland not here,’ Chan said civilly to her. ‘Mr Harland a Volunteer. He been called up.’

  She put down the telephone receiver, her earlier optimism diminishing. If the Volunteers had indeed been called up and deployed, then it meant that things had gone further than they had ever done before.

  She made herself a cup of coffee, drank it and then telephoned Helena. ‘It looks as if there’ll be no pre-lunch drinks at the Repulse Bay today,’ Helena said wryly. ‘The whole garrison has been ordered to battle positions, the Volunteers included. The Royal Scots are on the mainland, up near the border. The Volunteers are somewhere on the island. It’s all beginning to look extremely grim.’

  ‘Don’t you think you should come over here and stay with me?’ Elizabeth said again. ‘I’m at the apartment in Victoria, not the house. You can travel by ferry to the hospital each day quite easily.…’

  ‘Not yet,’ Helena said again obstinately.

  ‘But why…?’

  ‘It looks so cowardly,’ Helena said briefly. ‘Can you imagine the panic among the Chinese community of Kowloon if all the Europeans did a quick flit across to the island? There would be pandemonium.’