(1941) Up at the Villa (12 page)

`Well, darling, so the Empire-builder's tamed you down.’

`How d'you
know
?’ she asked
quickly.

`I put two and two together. When he came back to the
hotel he asked about trains and when he found he could catch the Rome-Paris Express
tonight he ordered a car to take him to Pisa. I surmised that if it hadn't been
a bust he would hardly have left with such precipitation. I told you it was
stupid of you to spill the beans. You couldn't expect a man like that to
swallow that story of yours.’

It was no good making a tragedy of it when Rowley took it
so flippantly. Mary smiled.

`He behaved very well.’

`He would. I'm sure he behaved like a perfect gentleman.

`He is a perfect gentleman.’

`
Which is a damned sight more than I
am.
I'm a gentleman by birth, but not by nature.’

`You don't have to tell me that, Rowley.’

`You're not sore, are you?’

`I? No, I don't ask you to believe me, but the truth is
that as we talked it all over I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't marry
him at any price!’

`You're well out of it. I didn't want to say too much as
you seemed so set on marrying him, but you'd have been bored to death. I know
women. You're not the sort of woman to marry an Empire-builder.’

`He's a great man, Rowley.’

`I know he is. He's a great man posing as a great man.
That's what's so fantastic about him. It's like Charlie Chaplin impersonating
Charlie Chaplin.’

`I want to get away from here, Rowley.’

`I see no reason why you shouldn't. A change will do you
good.’

`You've been very kind to me. I shall miss you.’

`Oh, but I think we shall see a great deal of one another
in the future.’

`What makes you think that?’

`Well, because as far as I can see there doesn't seem
much else for you to do but to marry me.’

She sat up and stared at him.

`What do you mean?’

`Well, a lot has happened since then and I dare say it's
slipped your memory, but I did make you a proposal of marriage the other night.
You don't suppose I took your answer as final. So far, every woman I've asked
to marry me always has, you know.’

`I thought you were joking. You couldn't really want to
marry me now.’

He sat back in the armchair, smoking a cigarette, a smile
on his lips and a twinkle in his good-natured eyes; and his tone was so casual
that you would have thought he was indulging only in badinage.

`You see, my dear, the advantage of me is that I'm a bad
hat. A lot of people reproach me for the things I've done; I dare say they're
right; I don't think I've done anyone much harm - women have liked me and I
have a naturally affectionate disposition, so the rest followed almost
automatically; but anyhow I've got neither the right nor the inclination to
reproach other people for what they've done. Live and let live has been my
motto. You see, I'm not an Empire-builder, I'm not a man of character with an
unimpeachable reputation,
I'm
just an easy-going chap
with a bit of money who likes to have a good time. You say I'm a rotter and an
idler. Well.
what
about reforming me? I've got an
estate in Kenya and I'm sacking my manager because he's no good; I've been
thinking it mightn't be a bad idea if I went out and managed it myself. Perhaps
it is about time that I settled down. You might like the life there.’

He waited a moment for her to speak, but she said
nothing. She was so surprised and all he said was so unexpected that she could
only look at him as though she scarcely understood. He went
on,
talking with a slight drawl, as though what he was saying were rather funny and
he expected her to be amused by it.

`You know, you were quite right in saying that at first I
only wanted to have an affair with you. Well, why not? You're very beautiful. I
should be a funny sort of cove if I hadn't wanted to do something about you.
But the other evening when we were driving you said one or two things that
rather touched me. I couldn't help thinking you rather sweet.’

`A lot of things have happened since then.’

`I know, and I don't mind telling you that at one moment
I was very angry with you.’

She gave him a glance from under her eyelashes.

`Is that why you hit me?”

‘When you got out of the car, d'you mean? I hit you
because I wanted you to stop crying.’

`You hurt me.’

`That was the idea.’

Mary,
looked down. When she told
Edgar what had passed between her and that unfortunate boy, his face had gone
grey with anguish. He had been profoundly shocked. But she had felt that what
afflicted him was that she could thus have sullied the purity which he so
prized in her; the truth was that he loved not the woman she was now, but still
the pretty little girl to whom he gave chocolates and who had fascinated him by
her ingenuous and childish innocence. It was the sexual jealousy of the male,
baulked in his
desire, that
had caused Rowley to give
her that vicious blow; it was odd what a strange, proud feeling it gave her
suddenly to know that. She could not help giving him a look in which there was
the suspicion of a smile. Their eyes met.

`But I'm not angry with you any more. You see, I liked
your sending for me when you were in a hell of a mess. And then the way you
kept your head - it looked pretty sticky at one moment; you've got nerve all
right and I liked that too. Of course you behaved like a perfect idiot. But it
showed you had a generous heart, and, to tell you the truth, not many of the
sort
of women I've known had that. I love you terribly, Mary.’

`How strange men are!’ she sighed.

`Both of you, Edgar and
you,
attach so much importance to something that really doesn't very much matter.
What really matters, what wrings my heart, is that that poor, friendless boy
through my fault should lie dead and unburied under the open sky.’

 
`He's just as well
off there as in a cemetery. You can't bring him back to a life he had no use
for by grieving over him. What does he mean to you really?
Nothing.
If he passed you in the street tomorrow you probably wouldn't even recognize
him. Clear your mind of cant. That's what Dr. Johnson said, and damned good
advice it was.’

She opened her eyes wide.

`What on earth do you know about Dr. Johnson?’

`In the leisure moments of an ill-spent life I've read a
good deal. Old Sam Johnson is rather a favourite of mine. He had a lot of
common sense and he knew a thing or two about human nature.’

`You're full of unexpectedness, Rowley. I would never
have thought you read anything but the sporting news.’

`I don't keep all my goods in the shop window,' he
grinned.

`I don't think you'd find it so boring to be married to
me as you might suppose.’

She was glad to find a flippant remark.

`How on earth could I ever hope to keep you even
moderately faithful?’

`Well, that would be up to you. They say a woman ought to
have an occupation, and that would be a very suitable one for you in Kenya' She
looked at him for a moment reflectively.

`Why should you bother to marry me, Rowley? If you love
me as much as you say I don't mind coming for a trip with you. We can take the
car and go for a tour in Provence.’

`That's a suggestion, of course. But it's a damned rotten
one.

'There doesn't seem much object in exchanging a good
friend for an indifferent husband.

`That's a nice thing for a respectable woman to say.’

`I'm not
so
respectable as all
that. Don't you think it s rather late for me to put on frills?’

`No. I don't. And if you start getting an inferiority
complex I shall give you such a hiding as you won't forget for a month. It's
marriage lines for me, my dear, or nothing. I want you for keeps.’

`But I don't love you, Rowley.’

`I told you the other night, you will if you give
yourself half a chance.’

She looked at him for some time, doubtfully, and then
suddenly the gleam of a shy but faintly teasing smile stole into her lovely
eyes.

`I wonder if you're right,' she murmured. The other
night, in the car, when those drunken people passed us and you held me in your
arms, though I was scared to death, I don't mind admitting that while your lips
were pressed to mine the sensation wasn't - entirely unpleasant.’

He gave a great throaty chuckle. He jumped up and dragged
her to her feet and flung his arms round her. He kissed her on the mouth.

`So now what?”

‘Well, if you insist on marrying me.... But it's an awful
risk were taking.’

`Darling, that's what life's for - to take risks.’

END