The Dark Stranger (18 page)

“
Oh, well,
”
said Belle, stifling a yawn.
“
Better luck next time.
”

“
Next time?
”

“
There
’
s always a next time. No Pentreath gives up easily, you know.
”

“
So Craig says.
”

“
Craig?
”

“
Yes. The pirate, the wrecker, the dark stranger
...”
said Tina dreamily.

Belle frowned.

“
Adwen could be your dark stranger, too,
”
she observed.

“
Yes,
”
agreed Tina,
“
I thought once perhaps he was, but the fortune-teller said he entered my life violently and Craig did that.
”

Belle plumped up the cushions and turned over on her side.

“
How absurd you are! He might have been married with several children and then what would you have done?
”

“
Nothing,
”
said Tina simply.
“
The fortune-teller only said a dark stranger would, enter my life. She didn
’
t say if he was important or not.
”

“
I
’
m glad to hear it. I should hate you to get romantic ideas about someone totally unsuitable just because he was dark and looked like a pirate,
”
Belle said a trifle tartly, and Tina laughed.

“
Cousin Craig would hardly consider
me
suitable if it comes to that,
”
she said, and Belle sighed comfortably and settled among the cushions.

“
A very sensible conclusion,
”
she remarked.
“
You
’
re more
worldly
wise than I took you for, Tina. Now run away and let me sleep. The right young man will come along when you least expect him—that
’
s what young girls like to hear, isn
’
t it?
”

Made bold by her stepmother
’
s unusual tolerance, Tina bent to kiss her, and as Belle did not push her away, she laid her cheek for a moment against the crisp black hair.
“
Not me,
”
she said with a smile.
“
I
’
m very happy here.
”

II

Early in November the gales started, lashing across the bleak countryside and making Tina think of the days of the wrecks and the tinners in their ragged bands fighting with the fishermen for possession of what the sea would yield. Log fires blazed in the big rooms with their cold flags and bare stone walls, and the lamps, lighted at teatime, flared in the draught from open doors, casting strange shadows on the high ceilings. Breakfast was served in the small parlor for greater warmth, and in the evening if the wind was in the wrong quarter, they sat in the book
-
room on the other side of the house in an intimacy which seemed suddenly close because the room was a quarter the size of the other.

Sometimes Tina thought Craig shared her notion, for he would leave them without explanation and go to his study, or sit in the gun-room smoking his pipe as Brownie had said he liked to do when
Keverne
was alive. Often she wondered if the purely feminine companionship which had been forced on him irked him, but he only smiled when she asked him and lifted an eyebrow.

“
You
’
re getting on better with Belle, now, aren
’
t you?
”
he asked her once and frowned at the happiness which flooded her face like a light.

“
She
’
s quite different,
”
she said.
“
Perhaps, now I
’
m older, she has more use for me as a companion, but—well, I can talk to her and she listens as if she
’
s really interested. She even gives me little things.
”

In the
lam
plight
his dominant nose with its high bridge looked suddenly beaky.
“
Beware the Greeks
...
”
he said softly, and for a moment her childlike acceptance of Belle
’
s change of heart gave place to the old hardly-learnt caution.

“
But Belle isn
’
t like the Greeks bearing gifts,
”
she said, not liking his occasional habit of throwing cold water.
“
I mean she wouldn
’
t be bothered to be guileful, and there
’
s never been anything she could possibly want from me. I just think she likes me better.
”

“
Well, I hope so. It shouldn
’
t be very difficult.
”

Her mouth curved up in a smile.

“
That means you like me, too—well, a little, anyway,
”
she said.

“
Does it?
”
he asked, imperturbably.
“
Liking is such a negative word, don
’
t you think? It covers such a lot of things.
”

She sat, considering this with the gravity which always amused him.

“
No,
”
she said at last,
“
not negative. I mean liking as such is important, I think. You could love a person without liking them at all.
”

“
Could you, Tina? And would that matter?
”

“
I think so. I think you could like a person first and—learn to love them, but never the other way round.
”

His eyes were on her upturned face, speculative, considering.

“
Yes, perhaps you
’
re right,
”
he said after a pause and wandered out of the room without further comment.

Tina had grown careless with Belle, or perhaps with that childlike
adaptability
which had always irritated her stepmother, she had come to believe in a relationship which
had always irritated her stepmother, so that it was an added shock when she found herself in the middle of a violent quarrel with Belle one wet afternoon.

_}
She never remembered how it started, but suddenly Belle was flinging abuse at her, accusing her of running after Craig and setting everyone against her.

“
You
’
re all soft soap and dewy-eyed innocence,
”
she said.
“
But you don
’
t deceive me. Do you think Craig wants to be bothered with you? Do you think at his age he isn
’
t bored to death with adolescent chatter? You should have stuck to your own generation, Tina, and taken what Adwen had to offer. At least you weren
’
t under any obligation to him.
”

Tina began to tremble. She did not understand what had prompted this outburst, but she knew with a sick certainty that she had been foolishly mistaken in these last weeks. Belle had no more fondness for her than before, and now because she was bored or annoyed she was indulging
in
her old trick of not troubling to control a spiteful tongue.

“
I don
’
t understand you, Belle,
”
she said.
“
I haven
’
t been running after Craig. I wouldn
’
t dream of forcing myself on him.
”

“
Oh, wouldn
’
t you?
”
jeered Belle.
“
All this talk of dark strangers and pirates doesn
’
t fool me, and it won
’
t fool him. He must be heartily sick of the quixotic notion that cost him so much more than he bargained for.
”

“
What do you mean? I haven
’
t cost him anything besides my keep and he won
’
t let me work for that.
”

“
My dear child, don
’
t be so naive! What about that expensive schooling, the clothes, the pocket-money—even the presents you gave us all at Christmas? It might interest you to know that the past year has run into several hundred pounds, and there
’
s still the future.
”

“
But, Belle, that was my father
’
s money. It was because we were living here you said you could afford it.
”

Really, Tina, you must be as credulous as a child! There was little enough left of Clement
’
s money when we came here. I couldn
’
t have afforded all the luxuries an expensive school entails, let alone fit you out with the sort of wardrobe you possess now.
”

The
cl
ocks in the room all began to strike, and Tina stood and listened, her face slowly whitening.

“
You mean,
”
she said when there was silence again,
“
that everything that has been spent on me since we came here I owe to Craig?
”

“
Every penny, my dear. He did it for my sake in the first place, of course, but it
’
s a little hard, don
’
t you think, that you should remain a mill-stone round his neck for ever?
”

“
Very hard,
”
said Tina quietly,
“
and quite unnecessary.
”
She was so white now that Belle moved uneasily.

“
How would you propose to prevent it?
”
she asked. She had made her point. T
h
ere was no sense in driving the girl too hard.

Tina
’
s eyes, wide and stretched with shock, focussed on her with difficulty.

“
I don
’
t know,
”
she said.
“
I don
’
t know at all, but I can
’
t stay here ... I mustn
’
t stay here
...
”

Belle yawned.

“
Oh, you
’
re probably making too much of it,
”
she said.
“
After all, Craig can afford to pay for his hasty actions.
”

“
No,
”
said Tina, her eyes still wide and unblinking,
“
I have no claim on him—no claim at all.
”

“
Very true, but don
’
t go embarrassing the poor man by crying all over him and telling him you know his horrid secret. I wasn
’
t supposed to tell you, but, after all you
’
re not a child any more.
”

“
No, I
’
m not a child any more.
”

Belle gave her a quick look.

“
Pull yourself together, darling, it isn
’
t the end of the world,
”
she said sharply.
“
And, Tina—there
’
s a way out, you know.
”

“
What?
”

“
You could marry Adwen, He
’
s very willing, and there was a time when you rather liked him, wasn
’
t there?
”
Brownie came into the room, grumbling that Belle had left a cigarette burning on the polished wood of her dressing table.

“
What were you doing in my bedroom? Snooping, as usual?
”
Belle snapped before she could stop herself.

“
I went in because it
’
s my job to see the maids have dusted everywhere properly, as well you know, Belle Linden. I
’
m not interested in any little secrets you may hide up there,
”
retorted Brownie and her eyes travelled to Tina, who still stood silent and unheeding in the middle of the room.

“
What
’
s got into you, child?
”
she asked, sharply.
“
You look proper mazed.
”

Tina made an effort to turn and smile at her and Brownie saw the shock in her eyes and the dazed whiteness of her delicate face.

“
Nay, you
’
re not well,
”
she said quickly.
“
Sit down and I
’
ll fetch you something to soothe your stomach.
”

“
I
’
m all right,
”
said Tina and walked stiffly out of the room.

Brownie
’
s eyes narrowed as she looked at Belle.

“
Oh, I see,
”
she observed.
“
It was just you, was it, up to your old tricks? What have you been telling the girl to make her look like that?
”

Belle smiled and sank indolently onto the sofa.

“
Nothing,
”
she said, looking amused.
“
You
’
ve forgotten how silly and emotional young girls can be, Brownie
.
I
’
m afraid Tina
’
s fretting more than we think for Adwen Pentreath.
”

“
Adwen! There was nothing in that but any maid
’
s innocent pleasure at being admired. If Tina had known his reputation she
’
d have been a bit more careful.
”

“
Would she? Well, you know best, Brownie, of course, but personally, I think a great deal of fuss is made about the Polrame Pentreaths. Adwen is quite ready to settle down with the right girl.
”

“
Aye, marry from spite like his father before him, to pay o
ut
a grudge! That s as far as Adwen
’
s willing to settle down now! Belle, you
’
re up to something, I can tell. You
’
d best be careful. Craig won
’
t be made a fool of twice.
”