The Good Life (21 page)

The dignitary in charge of their car came to them to ask if he could be of any assistance at the station, and Perry repeated George's suggestions. There was an abrupt transition from country to city, and they were in London. Perry realized that it was the first real train trip he had ever taken. The shuttle to the fair in New York didn't count.

They were delivered to porters and escorted to a taxi. It was almost as roomy as Billy's mother's limousine. They set off through wide streets that made most of New York look like a slum — wide, curving, laid out haphazardly, lined with handsome buildings, and lots of trees everywhere.

They passed a huge pile of masonry that looked familiar, and then Perry saw the balcony and recognized Buckingham Palace. He had seen it in newsreels on state occasions — the death of George V, the prince of Wales becoming king, the recent coronation of George VI.

“Hey, that's Buckingham Palace,” he exclaimed, catching a glimpse of a brilliantly uniformed guard on a horse.

“Hyde Park,” Billy said, waving at a huge expanse of greenery. There were people riding horses in it.

The taxi turned into narrower streets with a lot of expensive-looking shops, and Billy identified the area as Mayfair. They drew up in front of a grand hotel. The doorman sprang forward, followed by porters, and they were engulfed in luxury that matched the ship.

They were taken up to a suite that featured a bedroom and bath for each of them and a sitting room between. The sitting room looked more like a rich private house than a hotel, with flowers in vases and beautiful antique furniture. It reminded Perry of the Wimans' place in New York. Billy ordered drinks when the bags had been distributed to their rooms.

The summer, an insubstantial dream a few weeks ago when he'd given up his job at the fair, had really begun. He had crossed the Atlantic. He was in London, living in luxury with an older man who liked to be whipped. No matter how often he pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming, he still couldn't take it for granted. When he had made that adjustment in his mind, he might begin to feel that his life was permanently altered.

He stood at a richly draped window and looked out over the vast expanse of greenery. He knew now where Hyde Park was. It was the first step in knowing his way around one of the world's great cities.

Fleeting thoughts of being here with Timmy came to the surface but, now that he was on dry land, turned out to be painless. Just being here and wondering if everything was going to turn out all right with Billy kept his mind sufficiently occupied to shut out sentimental memories. Nobody took shipboard romances seriously.

He turned away from the window. His companion was sitting at the desk looking over a small stack of mail that had been waiting for him. He opened a cable and looked up as Perry approached.

“No hitches so far,” he said serenely. “Bet says she'll see us next week. She's already in France with her chum Monique. Now that the airmail is working regularly, it's going to revolutionize our lives. A couple of these letters took only two or three days to get here. It's extraordinary. When I first came to Europe, I used to feel completely cut off from the rest of the world.” He picked up an open letter and dropped it. “Now Arlene starts bossing me before I'm even there. The next thing you know they'll have telephones for yachts, and there'll be no escape.”

“Is she afraid I'll disgrace you?”

“Not you, dearest boy. She knows I'm quite capable of disgracing myself. That's nothing new. What's new is that I'm with a young man who might take an interest in a girl. Her first concern is for Bet to make what she considers a good marriage, which is a polite way of saying money. That eliminates you, but why is she so obsessed by the possibility that Bet might fall for you? She must think you're irresistible. Did you get the impression that she was consumed by lust for you?”

Perry managed a dismissive laugh, but the warning was even more explicit, and his determination stiffened to see how far he could get with Bet. “I just thought we were having a pleasant evening,” he said casually.

“I trust your judgment about that just as I trust your decency and good taste not to take advantage of an impressionable schoolgirl. There's something distinctly unsavory about the idea of a rather special friend of mine having intimate relations with my daughter. Can you understand that?”

“Good lord, Billy, of course. Why should I be interested in a schoolgirl? I hope we'll be friends. That's all.”

There was a chair beside the desk, and Perry sat down on it, increasingly on guard about the impending cruise. He was just beginning to grasp the complexities of being kept by a rich man. All the fuss about Bet was getting a bit silly. Billy was becoming as obsessed with her as Perry was himself.

“If Bettina has any idea about your life, she'll rule me out anyway,” Perry pointed out, giving it more conviction than he felt.

“Parents are the last people who know anything about their children's morals and sexual inclinations. She may be having an affair with Monique, or she may have become a raging nymphomaniac. If she's determined to get you or anybody else into bed, nobody can stop her. I'm sure you're levelheaded enough not to let it turn into anything more than that.

“I'd be happy for you to marry a girl who can be useful to you, but Bet can't offer you anything socially. More and more I'm thinking about your future. Together we can make it rewarding. I know what you want, and I'm weighing the possibilities. We needn't worry about Arlene's nonexistent dangers. She can't change Bet's plans at this late date even though she still hints that she might.

“There's less and less doubt in my mind that Arlene's the one who's determined to get you into bed. Poor old dear. I never expected us to be rivals. I'll write and tell her that we intend to have a happy, carefree time in the sun and that we might even find Bet a rich, titled husband while we're at it.”

“Yes, a title,” Perry agreed. “That's what rich American girls are supposed to be after.”

“I'll give Arlene credit for not being a snob. The title doesn't mean nearly as much to her as the money. Very practical. I sometimes think life would be more peaceful if I'd stayed married to her. I didn't hear from her for years on end when I was her husband. When you're considering marriage, don't forget that divorce doesn't always free you from a wife. They have a way of sticking.”

Billy shuffled his letters into a neat pile and stood. “I don't feel too travel-stained, do you? I think I'll stay as I am for the evening. I promised Skippy Boynton we'd look in at White's if we arrived on time. Oh, I'm sorry. I feel so relaxed with you — rather as if we'd been together for years — that I forget you don't know everybody yet. Skippy is an earl — Lord Boynton — and a brief love years ago. White's is a club. The Brits spend their lives in clubs. Clubs generally are essential in London. I can put you up for temporary membership if we find any need for it.”

Perry sprang up with a burst of exuberant laughter. “Imagine me being a member of a London club. Can you arrange for me to become an earl? May be Arlene will want me as a son-in-law after all.”

“I could manage an earldom more easily than I could make you rich enough to satisfy her as long as my mother is still with us.” He put a hand on Perry's arm and gave it a squeeze. A good strong arm. He was ready to go ahead with his plans for the future.

“One doesn't come to London for the restaurants, but I won't subject us to club food,” said Billy. “We can take a look at White's and then perhaps step around the corner to the Ritz for some dinner. They won't poison us, and the room is pretty.”

“Sounds fine to me,” Perry agreed. They wandered across the room and settled with their drinks on a sofa. Perry wondered if Billy was going to tell him more about his future. A warning had been issued about Bet, and conditions laid down, but so far Billy had avoided threats. They were making progress. He could deal with Bet as he chose, so long as he didn't let her think of him as a big romance. Fair enough. He would quite simply play it by ear.

“We're going to be busy after tonight,” Billy said. “A week isn't very much time. Now that we're here I feel as if we're beginning to live together. Nothing I do in New York ever seems quite real. We've had a month to get used to each other. It's been a delight for me. Do you think you'll be satisfied with the life I can offer you?”

Unable to guess what this was leading to, Perry didn't want to commit himself until Billy was more specific. He stiffened with anticipation. “You mean this trip, coming to Europe and everything? It's fabulous, of course, but I can't think of it as a life. It's more like hitting the jackpot, something that might happen once in a lifetime. I'm in sort of a peculiar position. I mean, we're not family. You have to do something pretty bad before your family throws you out, but you can throw me out tomorrow if I get on your nerves. I can't let myself count on anything.”

“Quite so. It's horrid for you. I've been thinking about it. Shall I assume you want to stay with me and go ahead with what I have in mind?”

Perry took a deep breath and hoped his heart would survive the strain. “Shouldn't you tell me what you have in mind?” he asked with a successful imitation of detachment.

“Fair enough. This is as good a time as any. It's still early. We don't want to get to White's before 7. I'll freshen our drinks and tell all.” He took their glasses to the shelves at the end of the room where the bar had been established and brought them back full.

Perry took his. “Laszlo serves drinks for you. You should let me,” he said to prove that he could take his mind off whatever Billy was going to tell him.

“It's Laszlo's job, not yours. We can share the burden of bartending.” Billy sat back in the sofa and took Perry's hand affectionately. “Now, then. Let's talk business, I hope for the last time.

“I've told you that I hope we'll go on together long after this trip is over, but, as you say, you have nothing to count on except my word. I don't like the position that puts us both in, but money is all that really matters, and I don't have any. I have what they used to call expectations, and the best I can do is give you the legal right to share in them.

“I'm going to give you a document that will guarantee you an unconditional claim on my inheritance up to a quarter of a million dollars, like a will that takes effect while I'm still alive. The amount is simply what Bettina received in a legacy from her aunt, and it would not be fair to favor you over my own daughter. The only difference is that she actually has hers even though it's in trust. Do you know what that means?”

“Not exactly,” Perry mumbled. His scalp was prickling while his mind grappled with the staggering prospects Billy had abruptly unfolded before him. The amount was too far removed from his own experience for it to have any reality, but he grasped that Billy intended to make him rich. One or the other of them was insane. He couldn't speak. Billy sounded rational as he talked about capital and income.

“She can't dispose of the capital,” he explained. “Trustees invest it and pay her the income. It brings in about $12,000 a year, but, of course, it could be considerably more if it were managed with more daring and imagination.

“I don't like trusts and won't impose one on you, but it's a very comfortable income for a young bachelor. I know families who live well on less. I'll speak to my solicitors tomorrow and have them draw up a statement of intent that they can send on to New York. I want it to be legally binding so that I can't change my mind — like an outstanding debt. I've heard of people borrowing on their expectations. You'll have something more substantial than words to hold on to. Will that allay your anxieties about the future?”

Perry still felt slightly numb. He had recovered his voice but didn't know what to say. “I don't get it, Billy. What anxieties? I've never had a future I could count on. Are you talking about giving me $250,000?”

“Exactly. As soon as I have it. My mother is as coy as most women her age, but she can't be under seventy. Depressingly enough, I'll be fifty in two years. She didn't get married until her mid twenties. Even my mother is at the mercy of arithmetic. I'm genuinely grateful that she appears to be in excellent health. I wouldn't want her to meet an untimely end, even for your sake.”

“I suppose you know what you're doing. Has anything happened to bring this on?”

“Not that I know of. Call it a natural evolution. I want you with me. You want money, and you want to feel free. This seems to be the only solution. It may look as if I'm trying to buy you, but in fact it's quite the opposite. Once the document is drawn up and filed, I will have done all I can for you for the time being, and we won't have to think about buying and selling ever again. You'll be as free as I can make you.

“You've been with me for a month, so you know what I expect in return. I trust you not to accept my offer under false pretenses. I'll be making an irrevocable commitment. If you think you may want us to go our separate ways in the fall, just warn me, and we'll leave things the way they are.”

Perry had a long way to go before he could think like the rich. He was supposed to seriously consider turning down a quarter of a million dollars. The Vernons thought of Bet as having no money at all because that was all she had. How many other girls would he meet with as much?

He didn't even know how to pretend to react the way Billy expected him to. May be he should be offended. As the offer began to acquire some reality, his triumph became an ecstasy of deliverance. He had checked out of the Y for the last time. He would never pump another gallon of gas or wonder if he could afford a fifteen-cent meal or hustle a guy in the street. He could take Bet if he wanted her; the summer was limitlessly promising.