Tabitha in Moonlight (21 page)

‘Knotty, there's only one thing for it, you'll have to feel ill—just ill enough to stay home. If I know Tabby she'll insist on staying with you. Bill and Muriel can come with me and dine on their own, that will leave me free to dine with Lilith—I'll persuade her to get Mrs Crawley to join us afterwards—if only the woman would make up her mind where she wants to live. I must talk to them, Knotty, they're going in two days. Their coming in the first place has made things a great deal easier, but I must have my answer before they leave. And Tabitha is not to know. You agree to that too, don't you, Bill?'

Tabitha heard Mr Raynard's growling reply as she made her way back to her room. Once there she went to the mirror and stared into it, surprised to see that she looked just the same as she had done before she had gone downstairs. She was a little pale perhaps, but she could always plead a headache after the storm. She went on staring at her reflection, no longer seeing it, conscious only of the pain somewhere deep inside her because Marius, who had wanted to be her friend, was making a mockery of friendship. What was it he didn't want her to know, and why had he told Mr Bow and Bill Raynard? Did he think her such a fool that she was incapable of seeing for herself that he and Lilith…? She turned away from the mirror. It would have given her a great deal of satisfaction to have gone downstairs and flung open the sitting room door in a dramatic fashion and told him exactly what she thought of him, but on second thoughts she rejected the idea, she wasn't dramatic for a start and she had not the slightest idea what to say. She said out loud: ‘Listeners never hear any good of themselves,' and Muriel who had just knocked on the door came in wanting to know why she was talking to herself. They went down together to join the men and Muriel asked at once: ‘Well, what have you decided to do with the evening?'

Marius was pouring sherry into his beautiful glasses. He said unhurriedly: ‘How about all of us going up to De Campveerse Toren for a meal?' Which was so exactly what Tabitha had been expecting that she nodded her head slightly and looked across to Mr Bow, for he would be the one to answer. She wasn't disappointed, for he said at once:

‘What a splendid idea, Marius, dear boy, but I feel a little under the weather—the storm, you know. If I could be helped to bed, I shall be able to manage very well.'

Tabitha picked up her cue; since they were acting, she might as well make a success of her role. ‘I'll stay with you, Mr Bow, I don't mind a bit, because I've a headache myself.' She looked round the circle of faces, her smile the bright professional one she wore on the ward to hide her real feelings, although she was unaware of that, but Marius saw it and said sharply: ‘No—' and then stopped, giving her the chance to ask:

‘Why ever not? I came to look after the two invalids, if you remember. So far I've done nothing at all.' Which wasn't quite true, but sounded right. As though everyone had agreed with her she said to Mr Bow:

‘You shall go to bed, Mr Bow, with a nice supper tray, and later on I'll give you one of your sleeping pills.'

She smiled round the room again, nicely in control of her feelings and rather proud of the way she had risen to the occasion, and Muriel who of course knew nothing about it made it easier by saying: ‘Well, if you've got a headache, Tabby…though it won't be such fun without you. You don't mind if we go with Marius?'

‘Not a bit,' said Tabitha heartily, and saw Marius eyeing her with speculation and puzzlement though he smiled as he remarked gently: ‘You don't seem too upset, Tabby.'

Perhaps she had been a shade too hearty. She smiled directly at him, although it was an effort. ‘There will be other evenings, I expect. Of course I'm sorry I shan't be coming, but I wouldn't be much of an asset with a headache, would I?'

They went half an hour later, Muriel a little doubtful at leaving her, but Bill Raynard said nothing and nor did Marius, although he wished them a cheerful good night and advised Tabitha to take something for her headache. At the door he turned round to suggest that she went to bed early—advice she ignored, for once Mr Bow had been settled with his book, his spectacles and his glass of water within reach, she wandered down to the sitting room again and sat in Marius's great chair, leafing through a pile of magazines. Hans was in the kitchen and the house was quiet. She had had her own dinner while Mr Bow partook of a few suitable dainties on a tray and there was nothing to do except flip through
Vogue,
her mind on the dinner party at the hotel; it didn't bear thinking about. She got up and
prowled up and down the lovely room and finally went upstairs to see how Mr Bow fared. Since he was supposed to be feeling ill, she might as well treat him as though he were.

He was sitting up in bed, with a book open before him, not reading it but staring in front of him. He gave her a piercing look as she approached the bed and pronounced: ‘I am deep in thought, young lady.'

‘Pleasant ones, I hope,' observed Tabitha. ‘Is there anything you want?'

He answered her absently: ‘No—no, what should I need?' and glanced at his old-fashioned watch on the bedside table. ‘I had imagined that you would have gone to bed with that headache of yours—was it a very bad one?' His blue eyes looked very innocent.

Tabitha could look innocent too. ‘No worse than your sudden indisposition, Mr Bow. I daresay we're both feeling better, aren't we?' She smiled at him. ‘Now I'm going to bed. Good night and sleep well.'

But she didn't undress immediately, nor did she turn on the light as she went to sit in the chair by the window. She had only been there a few minutes when Hans, accompanied by Smith, went out. She watched them walk stolidly down to the end of the harbour and then back again, with frequent pauses for Hans to greet acquaintances on the way, and still more pauses for Smith to do the same. Ten minutes after they had entered the house again Tabitha saw the Raynards returning from the hotel. Bill Raynard was managing very well with his heavy stick and his wife's supporting arm—at the rate he was going he would be back at work in a couple of weeks' time. There was no sign of Marius; she undressed slowly, lingered over her bath and got into bed, only to get out again and peer out of the window. There were still a number of people about, for though it was past eleven o'clock the cafés were still open and the little town's visitors were strolling around enjoying the warm late evening. The bells had sounded midnight before she saw Marius walking back by himself. He didn't go into the house but went to stand by the water, his hands in his pockets. Presently he went over to the Bentley, got in, and drove away, leaving Tabitha, quite bewildered, to go back to bed where she lay thinking up an incredible number of reasons for his strange behaviour, none of which made any sense.

She was down early the next morning, but Marius was earlier, standing at the open door talking to the postman. He gave her two
letters from the pile in his hand and said: ‘Hullo—here are a couple for you—how's the headache?' He gave her a questioning smile and looked as though he really wanted to know.

‘Gone,' she said briefly, and couldn't resist adding: ‘Mr Bow has quite recovered too. I went to see him on my way down.'

Marius's eyes met hers; there was a gleam in their depths, but whether it was laughter or suspicion she couldn't tell. ‘I thought he would be,' was all he said.

They strolled across the cobbles and sat down on the grass bordering the harbour to read their letters—a lengthy business for Marius, for he had a great number, but Tabitha's two were quickly read—one from Meg, full of the unimportant but interesting happenings of home—the milkman's wife had had another baby, there was a new washer needed on the bathroom tap and did Tabitha know that the rent was going up in two weeks' time, and lastly, dear Podger was behaving beautifully and would Tabitha let that nice Mr Bow know that his pet was proving a very loving companion which she would find it difficult to part with. Tabitha smiled as she folded this missive and Marius glanced at her and asked: ‘A letter from Meg? I hope everything is all right at home?'

Tabitha opened her second letter. ‘Yes, thank you,' she said in a voice calculated to discourage further questions, and started to read the second, longer letter from Sue. Sue had a great deal to say; the theatre was dull because there were only the cases from the women's ward and the casualties were being sent elsewhere. The ward was almost finished—she had sneaked down after duty one day to have a look, and had Tabitha really been allowed to choose the curtains by herself and if so how had she got round Matron to let her do it; and did she know that there were two new housemen? And at the end of a further page of gossip, Sue wrote: ‘I'm getting married at Christmas. How about having a go at my job?' At the very end of the letter there was a P.S. ‘You didn't mention Mr van Beek—I wonder why?'

Tabitha folded that letter too. It was a little over four months to Christmas, time enough for her to make up her mind if she wanted Sue's job or not, and time enough, too, to know more about Lilith and Marius. She frowned, and Marius, without appearing to look up from his own letters, asked: ‘Bad news?'

‘No—' Tabitha hesitated, wondering if she should tell him, and decided against it. She sat quietly beside him until he had finished
reading and then asked: ‘Are there any plans for today?' because that seemed the natural question to ask and would perhaps prevent him from talking about the previous evening. She didn't want to hear how lovely Lilith had looked…besides, he had been looking quietly satisfied with himself ever since they had met that morning.

Marius got to his feet and pulled her to hers. ‘How about going down to the Zilveren Schor for a quick swim? I've a luncheon date and I don't expect to be back until after tea—perhaps later.'

She said ‘Oh?' in an uncertain voice, longing to ask who he would be with, and went scarlet when he added mildly: ‘You're dying to know who with, aren't you, but I daresay you can guess—Lilith and your stepmother. They're going back tomorrow, you know.'

Presumably that was reason enough to spend most of the day with them. She said composedly despite her red face: ‘Oh, yes. How quickly the week has gone—too quickly for you, I expect.'

He gave her a long hard look. ‘Why, now that you mention it,' he answered coolly, ‘yes, far too quickly.'

They went back into the house then and joined the others for breakfast. They, it seemed, knew about Marius's date and were full of an afternoon's shopping they had planned in Bergen-op-Zoom, and when Tabitha wanted to know why they couldn't go to Middelburg, which was a great deal nearer and surely just as interesting, they put forward so many reasons why Bergen-op-Zoom was the only place to go that she very quickly realized that Marius was going to Middelburg and they were all being very tactful about it.

The Zilveren Schor wasn't very far and they had the wind with them. They tied up to a convenient pole and went ashore and Tabitha discovered that only she and Marius were going to swim, for Muriel declared that she had no energy and the water there was far too deep for her anyway.

There was a very small island off-shore; Tabitha and Marius swam towards it without haste and then lay on its tiny sandy beach. It was pleasantly warm and the sun was bright, so that she lay with her eyes closed, hoping that this might discourage conversation. It did nothing of the sort, for Marius said almost immediately:

‘I shall miss these pleasant outings—you're a good companion in the water, Tabby.'

She kept her eyes shut and said ‘Um' in an unforthcoming way.

‘You're not bad at crewing either,' he conceded.

‘Uh-huh,' said Tabitha. ‘I'm not much good on a boat the size of the
Piet Hein
—I'm used to dinghies.'

‘All the more credit to you,' he went on smoothly. ‘You should go back to work feeling like a giant—giantess, refreshed.'

‘I shall, thanks to you. It's been a lovely holiday—I've enjoyed every minute of it.'

Which was by no means true and perhaps Marius guessed it, for he said on a laugh: ‘Oh, Tabitha, that's a sweeping statement.' He rolled over on his side to look at her. ‘Shall I ask Lilith and your stepmother in for drinks this evening so that you can wish them goodbye? You haven't seen much of them.'

Tabitha got up and started to wade back into the water. When he caught up with her she said with a little spurt of anger: ‘Are you trying to change me? I can think of no other reason…just because you're going to marry into the family doesn't give you the right…' She stopped because her voice had become a little shrill. ‘It would be nicer for you if things were different, but you don't have to be friends with me, you know—it upsets Lilith. We never have got on well and there's nothing you can do about it.'

She dived under the water and then went into a brisk crawl. What with temper and swimming beyond her strength she was breathless when they reached the shore again; it was annoying that Marius was breathing as easily as though he had just got out of a chair. He caught her by the hand at the water's edge. ‘Since I am to marry into the family,' he said silkily, ‘allow me to tell you that I shall do exactly as I wish to do. You talk wildly, dear girl, and that's not your usual form.'

She pulled away from him and ran away to change, and when she got back it was time to return to Veere. She hardly spoke to him on the way back and when she did he blandly ignored her curtness so that she derived little or no satisfaction from it.

She was in the little walled garden, hanging out the bathing kit in the sunshine when he joined her. ‘I'm off,' he said cheerfully. ‘Enjoy your afternoon's shopping. There's something I want to give you before you go.'

Tabitha adjusted her bikini top to a nicety on the line. ‘What's that?' she wanted to know coldly, and turned round to be caught and kissed soundly.