Above Rubies (12 page)

“He’s host, after all.” put in Merry quickly. “All right, Benjamin, I’ll change.”

She put on a pale cream silk dress against which the tiger’s eye glowed darkly brown, the pale
li
ne down the centre wavering constantly, then clipped on her charm bracelet. She brushed her russet-brown hair till it shone, and applied a bright coral lipstick, then stood back
quite satisfied with her appearance. It was no good competing with either of the other two girls, and she didn’t realise that there was a warmth about her which the other two lacked. She was soothing and refreshing, and deeply satisfying to look at.

Benjamin took her hand as she said goodbye to Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle George.

“But what about tea?” Aunt Elizabeth asked querulously. “Surely you are leaving no one in the house by going out like this? I’ve already explained that I’m in a very over-tired state at the moment, and any extra work is bad for me.”

“There’s plenty of turkey left, Aunt Elizabeth,” Merry told her. “I’ve cut quite a few slices and there’s salad already mixed, and Christmas cake.”

“Well
!”
Aunt Elizabeth’s tone wasn’t at all mollified, and Merry found that Benjamin was gripping her arm tightly, his lips compressed. She knew he’d be furious if she changed her mind.

“I’m sure you’ll manage,” she said sweetly. “Don’t wait up. I may be late.”

“They’re utterly selfish, and you don’t improve them one little bit,” said Benjamin explosively, when they got outside. “You pander to them like a servant girl in Victorian times. You practically lick their boots
!”

“It isn’t true,” protested Merry, laughing a little at his exaggeration. “Besides, they gave me a home when I had none, and I don’t forget that.”

“What sort of a home could those two give anybody?” he demanded. “Oh, come on before I start to shake you. And if you don’t enjoy yourself this evening, relax a bit and have a good time, I shall push you in the loch at the next opportunity. You’ll dance if I have to dance every dance with you myself.”

“Don’t bother,” Merry told him. “I think I can find my own partners.”

Rossie House was in a gay, festive mood, and Stephanie seemed genuinely pleased to see Merry, even if Sylvia’s face momentarily took on a sulky expression, especially when Nigel came forward to greet her.

“The pendant’s lovely,” she told him, as he swept her into a dance. “It’s so unusual.”

“Rather like you, Merry,” he told her seriously. “You look very pretty tonight”

“
Thank you, Nigel,” she smiled, her eyes suddenly bright. It was wonderful to
feel gay and lighthearted again, and she looked round at the crowd of young
people, many of whom she had met already. Stephanie was dancing with David
Bruce and Sylvia
...
Sylvia was dancing with Benjamin and smiling up into his face. Merry saw him smile in return and bend down to listen to something she had to say, then laugh with amusement. She looked away and smiled again at Nigel. She was fast getting to the stage where the very sight of Benjamin with anyone else was causing her pain.

“Why do I love him so much?” she asked herself. “Sometimes he isn’t even nice to me,
and
hectors me shamefully, yet I only want him in the whole world. Why can’t I accept that I can’t have him, and lea
rn
to look on him objectively?”

But she could find no answer. She could feel the small charm bracelet, with the tiny typewriter, almost burning her flesh as she caught at it after the dance finished. Already it was very precious to her, and she caressed it gently. She must do as Benjamin suggested and have a gay happy time. Moping against fate never did anyone any good.

Nigel caught her hand and introduced her to several other young men, and Merry found, from then on, that she didn’t lack partners, and was half pleased and half chagrined when Benjamin was pipped at the post once or twice. It would teach him to think of her as a Cinderella! When he finally did claim her they danced together silently, as though they were one person, and Benjamin thanked her gravely at the end.

Merry merely nodded in reply, wondering if he had felt the wild beating of her heart when he held her close. Vaguely she realised that she had expected that his engagement to Stephanie might be announced at this party, but nothing had been said, and she still wasn’t wearing a
ring...

It was after midnight when Nigel took her and Sylvia home in the car. Sylvia was inclined to be sleepy and a trifle giggly. She’d been having cocktails, and had forgotten to count.

“It was lovely, Nigel darling,” she crooned. “Lovely, lovely party! Lots of lovely things, too. Best party ever.”

Nigel grinned as he escorted them into the house.

“I think you’ll have to help this infant to bed, Merry,” he said indulgently “She’s enjoyed herself too much.”

“I’ll see to her,” said Merry crisply, a sudden spark of anger in her eyes as she caught sight of the dining table. She was glad Benjamin wasn’t here to see that Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle George had obviously made a good tea. The remains of it were still scattered all over the dining table and the room looked dirty and untidy with papers and magazines. It had been too much to hope that Aunt Elizabeth might clear away and wash up!

After Christmas, Merry again tried to concentrate on her work, though it was difficult with
Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle George still showing no signs of going home. They had begun to find the old house with its faded comfort very relaxing, and both spent long hours doing as little as possible while Merry tried to keep her home running. Mrs. Cameron was still at her sister’s, getting over her bad dose of ’flu.

Sylvia was enjoying the festive season, accompanying the Kilpatricks and their friends to dances and parties, though Benjamin, too, had opted out as he had just received a batch of manuscripts to read, in order to do book jackets for them.

Two days before Hogmanay, Merry got up feeling headachy and rather shivery, so she dosed herself with aspirin and did her best to get through the day.

She prepared a light and not very appetising meal for Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle George and herself since Sylvia was lunching in Hillington, then sat down on the settee feeling her body aching strangely and her mind working feverishly and very clearly. Aunt Elizabeth was grumbling because the cheese had gone dry.

“I don’t mind such a
light meal, Merry,” she was saying, “so long as it is nourishing, and I do think that a nice piece of steak or a chop is rather more nourishing than sliced Spam, even with potatoes and vegetables. One can always
,
of course, have a
little
more cheese and biscuits
with the coffee, but the cheese was decidedly dry. Don’t you agree, George?”

“Indeed I do, my dear.”

“I consider that the fault lies with the local shops,” she continued. “I’m not sure that the food they sell is fresh. I should insist on fresh food only, Merry, when you shop. Remember that, my dear.”

Merry stared at her, seeing her a slightly grotesque caricature of herself, then very clearly indeed. Her cheeks flushed, and her flesh began to grow hot to the touch.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to see to that yourself, Aunt Elizabeth,” she said rather thickly, as she stood up unsteadily. “I shall have to go upstairs.” Elizabeth stared at her.

“Merry!” she exclaimed, outraged. “Surely you haven’t been drinking the sherry left over from Christmas? Really, it’s too irresponsible of you!”

Merry shook her head.

“No,” she said, making for the door. “Sorry ... I’m going to bed.”

It was a relief to be in her own room, though the bed felt alternately cool and comfortable, then hot and unbearably lumpy. She felt as though she sometimes floated in the air, then she wanted to reach out for a cooling drink, which wasn’t there.

As
it grew dark, Merry suddenly blinked to find Aunt Elizabeth there, asking if she intended
to sleep all day. She shook her head, feeling perspiration stream behind her neck, then Elizabeth laid icy fingers on her forehead.

“How appalling!” she cried, almost accusingly. “You’ve got ’flu. You’ve been visiting that old woman, and have brought her germs here. I told you what would happen if you were careless!”

“Can I have a drink, please?” croaked Merry, and felt that the glass of water Aunt Elizabeth brought tasted like nectar.

Figures floated round Merry’s head ... Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle George and Sylvia looking a bit scared. Then Nigel was there, and Merry tried to smile at him as he bent over her, floated to the ceiling, then bent over her again.

“Nigel
!”
she cried weakly, then summoned a little more strength. “Nigel
!”

He disintegrated into small floating objects, and changed into Benjamin.

“Her temperature is a hundred and four,” he was saying. “Why couldn’t you have rung Dr. Greer? And . for heaven’s sake, get Mrs. Cameron. She still isn’t a hundred per cent, but she’d never forgive us for Merry being in this state without telling her.”

Merry wanted to put out a hand and hold on to him till Mrs. Cameron came, but the knowledge that they were nearby rested and soothed her, and she slept.

It seemed a very long time later when she woke again, to find Mrs. Cameron gently tidying her bedroom. The older woman looked a trifle pale, but her face was bright and she slipped lightly over to the bed when Merry called to her.

“
I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered. “Are you better?”

“Right as rain,” Mrs. Cameron told her, then wiped her nose with a large white hankie. “Oh, Miss Merry, I should have been home before, leaving you like this to them
!”

“Are they ... are they downstairs?” Merry asked.

“No, gone, thank goodness, though Miss Sylvia is still here. Keeps telling us all that someone has to say and help, but if you ask me, she’s only staying because it suits her.” Mrs. Cameron straightened the bed, and bunched up Merry’s pillow. “There I go,” she said, in a more normal tone, “worrying you again, and you as weak as a baby after as good a dose of ’flu as I’ve seen
.
Mr. Benjamin has been a grand help. He’s fair taken care of you.”

Merry lay back, feeling at peace with the world, and contentment stole over her. No one else mattered at the moment, and all the small niggling things she usually worried about faded away. Benjamin had worried about her, and that meant
...
might mean
...
that he cared a bit for her.

“Mr. Nigel’s been here, too,” Mrs. Cameron went on. “He’s sent all these daffodils, all the way from Hillington.”

“It’s very kind of him,” said Merry softly.

Two days later Dr. Greer allowed her to go downstairs, and Mrs. Cameron installed her on the settee, propped up with pillows and cushions. Sylvia was relieved when she realised Merry didn’t particularly want her to hang around and keep her company. She was quite happy with a good book, though she was very pleased to see Nigel when he called in the afternoon.

“Well, young lady, you have given us all a fright,” he told her, mockingly reproachful. “What do you mean by giving yourself such a dose of ’flu?”

“I didn’t enjoy it a bit,” Merry assured him laughingly, and he looked with concern at her small pale face and large, blue-shadowed eyes.

“Don’t go overdoing anything, then,” he said, seriously. “’Flu can be nasty. Besides, we want you better for the next jewellery display and cocktail party. It’s at the Royal Hotel.”

“Goodness, that’s very grand,” exclaimed Merry.

“You were so good at helping last time. I was hoping you’d be willing to do the checking again.”

“But, Nigel dear, I said I could help if you like,” put in Sylvia, rather plaintively.

Nigel laughed and tweaked a silver curl.

“You’re much too pretty to do anything else but enhance the scenery,” he told her playfully, then coloured a little as he turned to Merry. “Not that you aren’t just as beautiful, Merry,” he said awkwardly, and she laughed with genuine amusement.

“No need to apologise, Nigel. We know what you mean, and of course I’d love to come and help with the checking if I can be of any use to you and Stephanie.”

“She’s sold on the enamel stuff now, she and David Bruce,” he told her. “David predicts big sales for it, and Stephanie wants to model a few pieces.”

“Can’t I even wear something?” asked Sylvia with exasperation, and again Nigel laughed with amusement, though there was a light in his eyes as he looked at her. Merry watched him, and knew that Nigel was very attracted to her cousin, and might even have marriage in mind after he had considered carefully. Nigel, she now knew, never did really important things in too big a hurry. He was often impulsive, but only over small things.

“I have something in mind for you,” he told her. “I thought the topaz
...
it’s still to sell,” he told Merry.

“I thought that was a lot less valuable,” put in Sylvia, pouting a little.

“It is,” Nigel told her, “but I think you’ll agree that this particular topaz is
...
very pretty, isn’t it, Merry?”

“It certainly is,” she agreed, remembering the fabulous stone. It had made her shiver a little when she handled it, and she hadn’t felt at all comfortable until Nigel locked it away. So far no one had felt able to afford it.

“By the way, I don’t think I shall be able to go to that concert of pop music after all, Sylvia,” said Nigel. “We’re going to be very busy over the next two weeks, and I’ll be working late most nights.”

“But, Nigel darling, you promised!” she cried, her pretty brows wrinkled with disappointment.