Illyrian Summer (4 page)

CHAPTER TWO

Sarah was able
to return the following day to her work with Edmund
’
s unit. The American director, Chester Ke
rn
ick, had been working on his portion of the film before Edmund arrived. Now the two directors had to dovetail their work before moving the generators and cameras elsewhere, and they hoped this would be the final day in the center of Dubrovnik. The city authorities had generously provided facilities for bringing in the heavy generators and Chester and Edmund were anxious not to outstay their welcome in a walled city where ordinarily no wheeled traffic was allowed.

“
You could hardly keep our presence here in the town a secret, could you?
”
Sarah observed to Radmilla.
“
Wherever we go, there are the generators humming and throbbing away and miles of cables just waiting to be tripped over.
”

Moored to the harbor wall was a small fishing boat, and close by on the quay a tent had already been erected so that the leading players could sit inside in privacy when they were not actually on the set.

Part of the roadway had been temporarily roped off and traffic directed through an alternative route, but by nine o
’
clock the usual crowd of sightseers lined the edges of the roped-off space.

Daniel and Melanie arrived together by car. Sarah from her position on a folding chair outside the tent watched Miss Roche, who waved to the crowds and hesitated for a few seconds before entering the tent.

Even in the simplest nondescript clothes, blue
-
checked shirt tucked into jeans, Melanie Roche was fascinatingly beautiful. More than that, even the critics admitted that she could also act. Now, when Melanie had stood for that brief moment under the harsh lighting from powerful lamps directed onto the boat, Sarah could not fail to admire as always the lovely face, brilliant eyes and the superb tilt of that chestnut head.

Edmund came out of the
tent.
“
Sarah, just go in there and check the costumes, will you? We
’
ll rehearse the scenes in the cabin on the boat, but if everything goes well, we might be able to shoot. But don
’
t let
’
s have any inaccuracies.
”

“
Yes, Edmund,
”
Sarah agreed at once.
“
I
’
ll be most careful.
”

“
And, Sarah,
”
he called, and drew her away farther from the tent,
“
don
’
t ruffle Melanie, for heaven
’
s sake. She
’
s not in the best of tempers. Try to arrange that when we go to the hotel where we
’
re having a late supper, at least half a dozen people will ask for her autograph.
”

“
Won’
t she be returning direct to the villa?
”
Sarah queried.

“
Oh, yes, of course. Then arrange something. I leave it to you.
”

Inside the tent Sarah made her notes of costume and property details, while Melanie and Daniel sat in folding chairs waiting until everything was ready in the boat
’
s cabin.

“
Have you recovered from your injuries?
”
Melanie asked Sarah.

“
Yes, thank you, Miss Roche.
”

“
Not true,
”
interposed Daniel lazily.
“
Sarah isn
’
t fit for dancing yet, so I shall have to devise quiet, sitting
-
down amusements for her.
”

Sarah
’
s face flamed and she was grateful for the dimness of the tent interior lit by a table lamp connected to one of the cables. If Miss Roche was in an unpleasant temper, it was unwise of Daniel to annoy her.
“
Quiet, sitting-down amusements?
”
Melanie echoed.

“
You should be expert at those, Daniel.
”
She gazed at Sarah.
“
You ought to be warned, Miss, er. I
’
m sorry, I
’
ve forgotten your name—
”

“
Catherall. But everyone calls me Sarah.
”

“
Then listen to me, Sarah. Don
’
t be misled by Daniel or his quiet pastimes. What he promises today he
’
s completely forgotten by tomorrow.
”

“
I
’
ll remember,
”
Sarah answered demurely. She avoided looking at Daniel in case Miss Roche intercepted a glance that might hold more meaning than either Daniel or Sarah intended. She escaped out of the tent as quickly as she could and was relieved when Edmund called that he was ready for Daniel and Melanie to go aboard.

When filming was finished soon after midnight, Daniel did not accompany Melanie back to the villa. He walked instead with Sarah to the hotel facing the harbor, where a substantial meal had been prepared for the camera crews and technicians and the twenty or so extras.

“
Listen, honey,
”
he told her,
“
if Edmund finishes our night work by tomorrow night, and I hope he does, I can get seats for a concert in the town. It
’
s something quite special—in a courtyard of the Rector
’
s Palace. You remember that building on the left where we were filming by the clock tower? So don
’
t let Edmund give you some fool typing job.
”

“
I
’
ll have to wait and see whether he wants me to work,
”
she said dubiously.

“
No, you won
’
t. You
’
ll come with me. But don
’
t let Melanie know.
”

“
Is this one of the quiet, sitting-down pastimes that she warned me against?
”
Sarah glanced down at the tablecloth first, then raised her eyes to his.

“
You
’
ll be sitting down—and resting your knee. What more do you want? Of course, there
’
s a first-class symphony orchestra and a pianist from Belgrade to play to you.
”

“
A
ll
right, Daniel. Thank you. I
’
d like
^-
to come.
”
Surely there could be no harm in accompanying Daniel to an open-air concert? But why the warning not to let Melanie hear about it?

All next day Sarah was so busy that she had no time to think about personal pleasures, for Edmund and Chester had decided in collaboration with the script editor that a new scene ought to be written in to link up two other scenes, and Sarah had to type out the copies. Later in the afternoon when Sarah went out to the terrace to give Edmund a telephone message, Melanie seemed graciousness itself.

“
Do sit down, Sarah. You seem to be flying about everywhere today,
”
Melanie said as soon as they were alone.

Sarah obeyed, wary of what might lie behind Miss Roche
’
s friendliness.

“
Tell me, Sarah, what do you intend to do when we
’
ve finished all this filming on location?
”

The question took Sarah by surprise.
“
I...
I don
’
t know. I haven
’
t thought about it yet. I suppose I shall go back to work in the London office of the film company.
”

Melanie
’
s eyebrows raised.
“
Isn
’
t that rather tame after all this?
”
She waved a hand to take in the sapphire sea, the cypresses and lemon trees and away in the distance the hazy line of mountains.

Sarah half smiled.
“
Yes, I think it will be tame, but as soon as I can I shall find another job that will take me abroad. I want to see places.
”

Melanie
’
s deep brown eyes flashed with interest.
“
Good! I
’
m sure you
’
ll make a great success of your career. Now, I have some suggestions I
’
d like to discuss with you. Oh, not now—let
’
s say this evening after dinner. Could you come here then?
”

Sarah hesitated for a moment or two. Tonight was the evening when Daniel had promised to take her to the open-air concert in the courtyard of the Rector
’
s
Palace, but he had not mentioned the subject again and it might be wiser to avoid his invitations.

“
Yes, I could do that, Miss Roche,
”
she agreed.

“
You haven
’
t an engagement for tonight?
”

“
No, nothing.
”
Sarah firmly burned her boats.

Back in her hotel, Sarah had just finished changing her dress to go down to dinner when her room telephone rang.

“
I
’
m afraid we shall have to postpone our little chat,
”
came Melanie
’
s voice.
“
So sorry, but I find I
’
m going out to a concer
t
—with Daniel.
”

“
Yes, I understand, Miss Roche,
”
Sarah answered quietly.

“
I shall probably see you tomorrow and we
’
ll fix up another time,
”
Melanie suggested.

Sarah was in a thoughtful mood as she went down to the hotel restaurant. So Daniel was taking Melanie to the concert—but he might have had the courtesy to let Sarah know of his changed intentions. Supposing she had blurted out to Melanie that Daniel had promised to take her? That might easily have caused no end of trouble.

But when Sarah was drinking her coffee with Radmilla on the hotel terrace, she was again called to the telephone.

Daniel made hasty explanations.
“
I
’
m terribly sorry about this, but I had no option. I told Melanie that I
’
d arranged to take you, but she stormed like a maniac, so in the end I agreed to take her instead.
”

“
It
’
s all right, Daniel. Go and enjoy the concert. For one, I shall be glad to have an early night.
”

“
It
’
s sweet of you to take it like this, darling, but I
’
ll make it up to you somehow. Bye for now.
”

Sarah stood for a few moments outside the telephone box. Had Melanie known of Daniel
’
s plans before she invited Sarah to see her after dinner? Sarah was suspicious. Melanie was evidently testing Sarah
’
s capacity to forgo an outing with Daniel if something more important turned up.

She rejoined Radmilla on the terrace and found Edmund was there now.

“
Oh, Sarah! There you are,
”
he greeted her.
“
Would you like to come to a concert in the town with Radmilla and me?
”

“
The open-air one at the Rector
’
s Palace? Oh, yes, I
’
ve seen posters advertising it,
”
she added belatedly.

“
Good, Then be ready in ten minutes, both of you,
”
he ordered.

It was an exciting experience to listen to a symphony and, in the second half, the Grieg piano concerto, played in these surroundings. Seats were ranged on three sides of the orchestra in the spacious courtyard where a great stone staircase curved to balconies above, and overhead the starry sky made a ceiling.

During the intermission, when the audience emerged into the main street and stood about in little groups, Sarah looked for signs of Daniel or Melanie, but she could not see them; perhaps, after all, they had not come.

Next day Daniel made profuse apologies for taking Melanie instead of Sarah to the open-air concert.

“
I hear Edmund took you and Radmilla after all, so I was glad that you didn
’
t miss it,
”
he said.
“
But Melanie!
”
He shuddered with distaste.
“
She
’
s enough to drive us all insane. She even told me that you had said you didn
’
t want to come with me anyway.
”

“
That was twisting my actual words,
”
Sarah returned.

“
Anyway, we
’
ll go dancing somewhere tonight,
”
he promised.
“
Whatever storm Melanie creates. She can
’
t expect me to tag around after her every night.
”

But that night there was no dancing for any of the unit, for Edmund kept the whole of the company working long hours for days on end rehearsing and filming at the villa, as well as on the cliffs outside and below. Daniel
’
s part called for him to scramble up an almost sheer vertical rock face from the sea, but while close-up shots were taken of him in various risky
-
looking positions, his stand-in, an amiable young Serb, clambered up and down while long shots were taken by cameras placed at sea level or out in a small boat offshore.

Sarah was always fascinated by Edmund
’
s skill in cutting, so that pieces of film were dovetailed into a convincing run that gave an audience no time at all to speculate on how much the principal player owed to his stand-in.

Melanie had made no further mention of Sarah
’
s future plans, and Sarah was content enough not to introduce the subject herself.

At the end of the current schedule of scenes, Edmund gave the unit a couple of days off before starting on the next part of the script. Melanie and Daniel had finished their scenes the day before, and today, Sarah was told, they had gone off together to visit one of the islands. Sarah wondered if Daniel had been forced into the trip so that he would be unable to take Sarah dancing or anywhere else, but she thought this was putting too high a price on her own company. Melanie would not regard her in such a dangerous light as that.

For an hour or so she had absolutely nothing to do and flopped into a chair on the villa terrace, where she could enjoy the sun and sea without the slightest effort.

She must have dozed in the sultry heat, for she dreamed that Adam stood facing her. She blinked her eyes open and gave a startled exclamation when she found he was actually there.

“
Sorry! I
’
ve disturbed your siesta,
”
he apologized, smiling at her.

“
Not in the least. I wasn
’
t asleep.
”

Disbelief spread over his lean features, and she added hastily,
“
Well, I hope I wasn
’
t snoring—or had my mouth open.
”

“
I assure you—neither.
”

“
I thought you were in Krasnograd, back at your work,
”
she said conversationally.

“
Do you grudge me a day or so off?
”
he demanded mockingly.

“
Of course not. Why do you always put me in the wrong?
”

For a few seconds he regarded her face as though he were considering her words or else his own answer. Then he said in quite a different tone of voice,
“
I came to Dubrovnik today for a special reason. The summer festival here doesn
’
t begin for a fortnight, but there
’
s a special performance of
Hamlet
tonight on the battlements of the fortress. Would you care to go?
”

Unaccountably, her heart leaped wildly. Had he come back especially to take her to see
Hamlet
?

His next words set his invitation into perspective.
“
I have half a dozen tickets. Edmund and Radmilla will probably come, and I have my secretary, Mirjana, here with me, too.
”

“
Of course, I shall be delighted to see the play.
”
Legitimately, she could now afford to show enthusiasm.
“
I
’
m told it
’
s a wonderful sight in such a natural setting.
”

“
I
’
ve seen it twice at the fortress, but it
’
s a sight one shouldn
’
t miss
.
”

She wondered if Adam knew that Melanie was unlikely to return in time for the performance, but she decided that unless he asked her point-blank, someone else could convey that news to him.

After a while he asked about her injured knee.

“
Oh, that
’
s quite recovered now,
”
she returned airily, fervently hoping that she would not trip within the next few hours.
“
Will you have coffee or tea? Or an iced drink?
”
she asked him.

“
Tea with lemon, please.
”

Edmund came out to the terrace at that moment and greeted Adam. Sarah experienced a curious division of feeling, half glad, half sorry that a third person had intruded. Perhaps she was still dreaming the whole episode, but with the arrival of tea and Edmund
’
s matter-of-fact conversation, she knew that the scene was real.

She returned to her hotel early in order to give herself time to dress leisurely and go to the villa for dinner, as Edmund had instructed. If she had known earlier of Adam
’
s invitation she would have had her hair done, but there was no time now and she had to be content with brushing her hair until it shone silkily.

She put on a fairly new peacock-blue cotton brocade dress that accorded well with her golden-tanned arms, but on arrival at the villa when she was introduced to Adam
’
s secretary, Mirjana, wearing a superb national costume, Sarah felt no peacock at all.

“
That is the Konavli dress,
”
explained Radmilla.
“
You have already seen it in the streets here. Many women wear it.
”

Sarah had indeed admired this most lovely national dress of white cotton, with dark sash and little bolero jacket, and at the embroidered neck of the bodice a dazzling yellow tassel.

“I
wish we had such colorful national dresses at home,
”
she told Mirjana, who now pointed to the little red porkpie hat with white headband perched on her dark hair.

“
This means I am not married.
”
she explained to
Sarah.
“
Married women wear different
—
“
She stopped
to fumble for a word.

“
Different headdress,
”
Radmilla supplied.

During the quickly served dinner at the villa, Sarah was dismayed to realize that she was mentally keeping her fingers crossed in case Melanie should return too soon. Yet, she scolded herself, she would lose nothing if Melanie were in the party. Adam had definitely invited Sarah along with the others.

“
Isn
’
t it heavenly to be able to do these outdoor shows in this climate!
”
Sarah sighed when they found their seats in front of the Lovrijenac fortress.
“
In England it would rain or there would be a gale.
”

Adam sat next to her with Mirjana on the far side. He smiled with derision.
“
It
’
s just that prophetic pessimism that stops courageous people in England from putting on shows even when the weather is fine.
”

“
Then it must be some time since you
’
ve been home,
”
she retorted gaily.
“
The last two summers have been very wet.
”

The play began, and the natural surroundings, the battlements, the great arches, the shadows, gave it almost the reality and depth of life itself. For Sarah,
Hamlet
was being enacted by people, not actors, playing out
their lives in earnest. Costumes flared and shone against the gray rock walls; skillful lighting picked out a figure here or created an inky shadow there.

When the final cannon had been fired, echoing among the fortress walls, Sarah had to force herself back from that too real world into what now appeared to be the superficial atmosphere of her own life.

She could not join in the enthusiastic chatter on the way back to the villa, and not until she arrived there and sat down at the table on the terrace could she find words to thank Adam.

“
It was a wonderful experience,
”
she said to him quietly.
“
I
’
ve seen
Hamlet
twice before, in London and at Stratford-upon-Avon, but now whenever I see it again I shall remember Dubrovnik and the solid fortress walls, and not the cardboard and canvas stage sets elsewhere.
”

Adam smiled gently.
“
I
’
m glad you enjoyed it. I hope we shall—
”
He broke off as Melanie came out of the villa.

“
I hear I
’
ve missed a great treat!
”
she exclaimed.
“
Adam, why didn
’
t you tell me you were coming? I wouldn
’
t have gone out for the day if I
’
d known.
”

Adam murmured his explanations. Radmilla and Mirjana conversed animatedly in their own language, but Sarah had withdrawn to a quiet, enclosed world
where she was free to conjecture on what Adam might have said if Melanie had not interrupted.

Presently, she glanced at Mirjana, the girl from the Konavli Valley, where the women were considered to be the most beautiful of all Southern Slavs. Mirjana was lovely indeed, with sparkling dark eyes and a tender sweet expression.