The Secret Woman (36 page)

“What of the boy?” she asked.

“We think he'll recover,” said Chantel.

“He will owe his life to you,” she said. “It is something he will never forget.”

Chantel smiled. “He's shocked,” she said. “I've got him sleeping now. I shall go over and see him in the morning. The doctor will be there then.”

“But it was you…”

“I had drunk no Gali.”

“You must be very tired,” said Madame.

Chantel did not deny it. We said good night to her.

“I must speak to you, Chantel,” I said. “Something fantastic has happened.”

I lighted the candles and turned to look at her. I thought she had never looked so beautiful and in spite of my excitement I could not help pausing for a few seconds just to gaze at her.

“What's wrong?” she asked.

I shook my head. “You look…elated.”

“It's having succeeded against death. I feel I've snatched that boy from death tonight.”

“What a night. But something happened to me too, and I must talk of it.”

I told her of my discovery.

She gasped. “Those diamonds? Are you sure?”

“I feel certain. It was the figurehead. I had seen a replica of it. In fact I have one. And the name was on it… And those stones were all round it.”

“They may not have been diamonds.”

“I feel certain they were. You see, Chantel, if they really are the diamonds it means that Redvers will be cleared of this suspicion. So many people thought he had stolen them.”

Her face had hardened a little. I could not imagine why she disliked him so much. Did she know something which she had kept from me? It seemed strange.

“You can't be sure,” she said. “There are a lot of weird figures around and stones, well… They sound too big to be diamonds. They'd be worth a fortune.”

“The Fillimore diamonds
were
worth a fortune. Chantel, what can we do?”

“It looks to me as if they treat it as though it were some sort of goddess. That could well be. They have this story about coming from the Fire Country. It may be it has something to do with that. Diamonds flash fire.”

“I am sure they attach some significance to this but the point is what shall I do? Shall I go and tell them? Shall I ask them how the figurehead came into their possession with the stones?”

“They'd probably be furious because you'd seen it. You were after all wandering about their house unknown to them.”

“Yes, and I'd trespassed before.” I told her about the day when I wandered into the grounds. “Perhaps
you
could do something. They'll be grateful to you.”

She was silent.

Then I cried suddenly: “We will do nothing until the ship comes. I will tell the Captain then. I will leave it to him.”

She did not speak for a while; her mood of elation seemed to have passed.

I felt it had something to do with her dislike of Redvers.

***

The next weeks were the hardest to live through. I was in a fever of impatience, terrified that something would happen to the diamonds—for I was sure they were the diamonds—before the ship came home. I studied the calendar with greater eagerness than Edward did. Even the thought of Redvers's letter in the hands of Suka or Monique was pushed to the back of my mind.

The whole household knew that we would be returning to Sydney. There was an unpleasant scene with Monique when she demanded to know what I was going to do. Chantel managed to quieten her; since the flame dance incident Chantel had acquired a new authority. I had seen both Suka and Pero look at her with special respect; when we went out I was aware that people watched her in a different way. Some of the European residents congratulated her and wondered why they had not met her before. But the fact was that we were at Carrément where Madame de Laudé lived like a recluse. Chantel was delighted with this attention, I could see. I thought: What a wonderful Chatelaine of the Castle she will make. I told her that when she was as old as Lady Crediton she would be every bit as formidable. This amused her.

I said to her once: “Chantel, it's a mystery about that letter. Nothing has happened.”

“It's a good sign. Perhaps it wasn't stolen after all. What if it fell into your wastepaper basket and was lost that way. It's probably been destroyed by now.”

“But I was sure that someone had been in my room.”

“Guilty conscience, Anna,” she said.

I protested. “But there is nothing…”

She gave me a quick peck on the nose. “I like to think that you are just a little guilty, Anna. It makes you more human. But stop worrying about the letter. It's lost.”

I had finished the inventory and had calculated that there were several thousand pounds worth of treasures in the house. I told Madame that I would see that the account of them was sent to dealers, and I was certain that some business would result.

She was delighted; she became quite animated contemplating what a difference it would make.

There was a big scene with Monique one evening and I wondered then whether she had the letter and was holding it for some purpose.

She was going back on
Serene
Lady
, she said. She was not going to stay when we left. And Edward was coming too.

It was necessary to call in the doctor and he and Chantel between them managed to calm her.

Edward believed that he was going with us. I said to Chantel: “But what of Madame Laudé. She will not want Monique to go surely?”

“Madame is thinking chiefly of the fortune you promised her. Edward is delighted at the prospect of going back. He would have been heartbroken to stay on here. What is there for him but his hysterical Mamma, his parsimonious Grandmamma, and mad old Suka.”

“Can these matters be so quickly decided? I thought that Monique had come out here to be with her family and because the climate was more suited to her than ours is.”

“No climate would suit her. She would never be happy. That's part of her trouble. There are too many tensions in her life. Now she is buoyed up by the Captain's return. She wouldn't let him calmly sail away with you, Anna, she's working up for something. I haven't told you before because I didn't want to upset you. She talked of little but you and the Captain.”

“Then she has the letter.”

“I'm sure she would have said. And I've looked everywhere. She's even a little quieter than usual, as though she is planning, plotting.”

“Oh Chantel…it's rather terrifying.”

“She is sure you and the Captain are lovers. She said that you were planning to murder her to get her out of the way.”

“I don't know what to do, Chantel. There's Suka watching me as though she suspects I'm going to do Monique an injury. Pero too. Something is building up against me. I believe that is what Monique intends should happen.”

“She loves drama and of course wants to be in the center of it, but there's a lot of playacting in it.”

“What if she were to carry this playacting too far?”

“How?”

“Suppose she killed herself and made it seem that I…or the Captain…”

“No! How could she enjoy the drama if she were dead?”

“If there were a ship that called here before
Serene
Lady
, Chantel, I think we should be wise to get on it. To go to Sydney, to try to find some post there…”

“But you can't just take a berth on a ship like that. And no ship will be calling in any case. You're here, Anna.”

“Yes and I feel…trapped.”

“I thought you wanted to stay to tell your Captain you think you have cleared his name?”

“I do but I'm afraid, Chantel. There is something menacing hanging over us.”

“A wild hysterical and passionate woman, a straying husband, and the woman he loves. What a situation and who would have believed it of you, my dear calm practical Anna!”

“Please don't joke about this, Chantel. It's a very serious matter.”

“A very serious matter,” agreed Chantel. “But don't worry. I'm here, Anna, now as I was before. Is that a comfort?”

“It's a great comfort,” I assured her fervently.

***

As the days passed, Monique's condition worsened. The attacks were more frequent and one followed another. They were not severe attacks, Chantel told me; but she was alarmed for her patient's health. She never left her and when she was bad I know she often sat up during the night. She was a wonderful nurse.

She told me that Suka sat in the room watching her with great mournful eyes. “I'd like to get rid of her but it upsets Monique when I suggest she go and I mustn't upset her when she's in that state. The old lady's furious at the prospect of losing her Missy. I believe she blames you. I heard her mutter something. She thinks that if you didn't exist Monique wouldn't be jealous and would be content to let her husband go without her. Be careful she doesn't slip something into your mint tea. I'm sure the old witch has a store of poisons, tasteless in Gali, coffee, and the aforementioned mint tea. Tasteless and deadly. The two necessary attributes.”

I shivered and she said: “It was a joke, Anna. What's come over you? You take life too seriously.”

“It seems to have become serious,” I said.

“Life is real, life is earnest,” quoted Chantel.

“‘And the grave is not its goal,'” I finished, and wished I hadn't spoken. I hated even to mention death.

“Don't worry,” said Chantel, “we'll soon be in Sydney.”

***

Edward was frankly excited. When
Serene
Lady
came we were going to sail away on her.

How many more days to the red letter day? We counted them, Fourteen, thirteen…and then ten.

Each morning I awoke wondering what the day would bring. I used to open my door and look out into the corridor. Sometimes I heard her shouting and my name would be mentioned. At others there was silence.

And in my thoughts too was the precious letter I had lost and the memory of that room in which was the figurehead of
The
Secret
Woman
and what I believed to be the Fillimore diamonds.

Why were the days so long? I was living for the time when I should see
Serene
Lady
in the bay. I would not think beyond that. I just wanted to sail away from the Island and when I reached Sydney I would find some post and reshape my life.

Tension was mounting. I longed to tell the Captain of my discovery. I should be so proud and overjoyed if I had been the one to find the diamonds. I longed for his return and yet at the same time I feared it.

Monique grew quieter. A sly calculation had taken the place of unreasoning wildness which was even more alarming and I could not get out of my mind that we were moving toward some tremendous climax. This Island had been but lightly touched by our Western ways. Beneath the veneer there was something deeply savage. These people believed in strange gods; a stone rock to them was a living thing. Curses and spells were commonplace. And I believed that Suka had marked me down as her enemy because she believed that I had come between Monique and the man she loved.

There was no one to whom I could speak of my deep disquiet. Chantel treated the matter too lightly. She refused to accept it as serious. I believed that her thoughts were far away in Sydney when she would be reunited with Rex. Even the discovery of the diamonds meant little for the clearing of Redvers's name was a matter of indifference to her. When she talked of the future she never mentioned him. She didn't trust him. She had plans for me. Dear Chantel! She was concerned for me. I knew she was planning to launch me in society, to make a grand marriage for me. She did not want me to be involved with Redvers. This slipped out in her conversation and although it hurt me in a way I knew it was a measure of her affection for me. She really believed she had to look after me and in her usual determined manner had decided to do it.

I could not look into the future. I could only wait for the return of
Serene
Lady
. So the uneasy days passed and one afternoon when we had all been resting behind shutters because the heat was intense, I rose, opened my shutters and saw it in the bay—the white gleaming ship.

I ran to Edward's room and cried, “Edward. She's come.
Serene
Lady
is in the bay.”

The events of the days which followed were so dramatic that it is difficult now to remember the exact order in which they occurred. I could scarcely restrain my impatience. I wanted to go out to the ship. I wanted to tell him of my fears, of the lost letter and most of all my discovery of the figurehead and the diamonds.

But I had to curb myself.

Chantel came into my room, her eyes gleaming.

“There'll be a scene tonight,” she said. “Missy's working up for it.”

“She must be delighted that he's here.”

“She's madly excited. But she's got a devilish look in her eyes. She's planning something. I wish I knew what was in her mind.”

I waited in my room. He would come soon. I put on my blue silk dress and piled my hair high on my head. I had worn that dress many times; my hair was dressed in the usual way. Yet I had changed. My eyes shone; there was a faint color in my cheeks. Would others notice the change in me?

I heard his voice below and my emotions were almost unbearable. What a fool I was! Was Chantel right? Could I trust him? The understanding came to me that it would make no difference whatever she could tell me of him. I loved him and I would go on loving him forever.

I opened my door. I wanted to stand there listening to the sound of his voice.

Then among the shadows I saw the crouching figure. Suka! She was listening too. She had seen me. I could feel rather than see her baleful eyes fixed on me.

I went back to my room. When I get to Sydney, I said, I must find a post. Perhaps I'll stay there. Perhaps I'll find some people who are returning to England. But I must get away.

Pero was beating the gong in the hall. It was time to go down to dinner.

***

We dined as we had on that first night—Madame, Monique, myself, Chantel, Redvers, the doctor, and Dick Callum.

Dick had changed. He was subdued and had lost that air of truculence which I had so often noticed. I was aware of Redvers—in fact I was aware of little else. Now and then I would find his eyes on me, but I dared not return his gaze. Monique was watching us, I was sure. I wondered whether she would suddenly talk of the letter. It would be like her to produce it at such a time.

Conversation was conventional. It centered round the voyage and of course an account of the flame dance.

As we went through to the
salon
, I was able to whisper to Redvers: “I must see you. It is very important.”

Dick talked to me while we drank our coffee but I scarcely listened to him. Madame de Laudé was talking about my discovery of the antiques in her house. Dick was very interested and she asked if he would like to see a French console table which I had declared to be particularly valuable. He rose and I slipped out with him and Madame but instead of following them I went out into the garden and waited in the shadow of the trees. It was not long before Redvers came out.

He took my hands in his and looked at me but before he could say anything I began to pour out the story of my discovery. I said: “You must go to that house. You must make some excuse to see the figure. I am sure it is the figurehead of
The
Secret
Woman
and that the stones are the diamonds.”

He was as excited as I knew he would be.

He said: “There's something I must tell you. Dick Callum confessed to me. He couldn't get over the fact that I had saved him from the sharks. He's told me everything—who he is and his jealousy of me. I had no idea. He wanted some sort of revenge on me. I was under suspicion but what greater disgrace for a captain than to lose his ship! He suggested to those people that the ship should be blown up. It was something to do with the name. He arranged that no one should be on board, which was not impossible in his position, so at least he made sure that no lives were lost. But Anna, if you're right about this…”

“I'm sure I am. And if
I
have made this right for you, I shall be so proud and so glad that I was that one.”

“Anna,” he said, “you know nothing can be right for me without you.”

“I must go in now. They will notice that we are missing. They mustn't. I'm afraid of what could happen. But I had to tell you this. I must go now.”

He was holding my hands tightly but I pulled them away.

“Please,” I said. “Go as soon as you can. At least make sure of this.”

I turned and ran into the house.

I had told him nothing of the letter. Later I must do so; but let him first go to the house and discover the diamonds before I told him that I had been so careless as to lose that letter which could be so incriminating.

Madame de Laudé was still showing Dick pieces of furniture and I joined them; so that when we returned to the
salon
I hoped the impression was given that I had been with them all the time.

Redvers was not in the
salon
. Monique said that he had business to attend to on the ship and would be away for a while.

Dick talked to me of the voyage and how dull it had been.

“I missed you,” he said. “I thought of you often. It's hot in here. Let us walk in the garden.”

I asked if he would excuse me as I was very tired; he seemed disappointed.

***

I sat by my window. There would be some sign from Redvers, I knew. Sure enough it came. I heard the light rattle of pebbles against my shutters.

I went down to him to that spot among the bushes which we had made our meeting place.

Redvers was there. He was elated. It was wonderful, he said. I was right. I had made this great discovery. I, Anna, whom he had loved from the moment he had seen her!

I was caught up in his excitement, and once again I experienced the ability to shut out everything past and future and live entirely in the moment. For years he had been under suspicion and I had dispersed that cloud almost effortlessly and by chance. What did it matter now? I had done it!

It was a wonderful moment. “It's significant,” he said. “It proves that your affairs are mine and mine yours.”

“I must know what happened,” I said. “How did you persuade them to show you the figure and give you the diamonds?”

“It was not difficult,” he explained. “There was great shame in the house of the Flame Men. One of them had failed. They waved aside the fact that he was only a boy not so skilled in his art as they, and looked on it as the sign of some divine wrath. This gave me my opportunity and I took it. I had to. I suggested that there was an evil influence on the house and I talked of the ship that had been blown up in the bay. I took a pencil from my pocket and drew the figurehead. ‘You took this goddess from the sea,' I said, ‘and she is an alien goddess.' They told me that they had been promised good fortune if they destroyed the ship. I knew this already because Dick had told me. And when the ship blew up, the figurehead, as they said, leaped from the ship and floated on the water and came to rest near the rock of the Woman of Secrets. They took that as a sign. So they brought in the figurehead and set her up as they set up their own gods. They told me that in the figurehead was a concealed cavity and in this had been the bag of stones. This convinced them, because their custom is to surround their statues with stones and shells. And these were such bright and beautiful stones. They set her up and waited for the good fortune. But it did not come. Instead there was great misfortune for nothing could be worse than for the fire to cease to be a friend of the Flame Men.

“I have the diamonds,” he went on. “I told them that there would be no luck until they were taken to those to whom they belonged. Ta'lui will destroy the figurehead and I told him that there will be a reward for finding the diamonds which will enable him to set up a new statue. He is completely satisfied. I will take the diamonds to England and the matter which began when Fillimore died of a heart attack will be settled. If only he had told someone that he had hidden the diamonds in the figurehead a good deal of trouble would have been saved.”

“But at last it is over.”

“No one can talk of the fortune I have salted away in some foreign port now. And Anna…”

But I could hear voices and I believed that we were closely watched and it might even be that now it was known that I was in the garden alone with him. I could hear Monique's voice. She was on the porch and Chantel was with her.

Chantel was saying: “You should come in. Come in and wait.”

“No,” cried Monique. “He is here. I know it. I will wait here for him.”

“Go quickly,” I whispered to Redvers.

He went toward the house while I cowered among the bushes, my heart beating wildly. “What did I say? Here he is. So you are back.”

“It appears so.” His voice was cold when he spoke to her. How different when he addressed me!

“You look as though you have been having an exciting adventure,” said Monique, her voice shrill.

“I should go in,” said Chantel firmly. “I am sure the Captain would like that coffee you said you would make for him. No one makes it quite as well as you do.”

“Yes, I will,” she said. “Come on,
mon
capitaine
.”

The silence was broken only by the hum of insects in the garden. I waited for some minutes then went swiftly into the house.

There was a tap at my door and Chantel came in. She looked excited. Her eyes were enormous.

“I had to tell you, Anna,” she said. “She has the letter.”

I put my hand over my heart, and half-closed my eyes; I felt as though I was going to faint.

“Sit down,” said Chantel.

“When did you see it?”

“Not till tonight. She was reading it and when I came in she put it on the table and pretended it was nothing. I had a quick glance and saw your name on it. Then she picked it up and put it inside the neck of her dress.”

“Chantel, what do you think she intends to do?”

“We can only wait and see. I was surprised how calm she was. And she has said nothing.”

“She will.”

“I think she will say something to him tonight.”

“But she calmly went up to make coffee for him.”

“I don't understand this calmness; but I thought you should be prepared.”

“Oh Chantel, I feel terrified of what may happen.”

She stood up. “I must go back. I may be called in. But don't worry. I promise you, Anna, that it's going to be all right. We have nearly finished with this place, with all of it. You've always been able to trust me, haven't you?”

She came up to me and kissed me coolly on the forehead.

“Good night, Anna. Only a little while now.”

She went out and left me.

I knew that sleep was impossible. I could only think of Monique reading that letter which had been intended for me alone.

***

A night of strange emotions. This tremendous tension had to break sooner or later. It could not last. That was my only consolation. I must get away, get away from them all. Perhaps even Chantel for she was bound irrevocably to the Creditons. A few weeks now and I should be in Sydney, and there I must find the courage to break away, to start a new life of my own.

I heard Monique's voice raised in anger and tried to shut my ears to it. A little later I heard footsteps in the garden and looking through my shutters I saw Redvers striding across the garden. I gathered he must have been called back to the ship and that Monique was protesting. Had she shown him the letter? What was she planning to do with it?

I undressed and got into bed but sleep was naturally impossible; I lay as I had often lain in the Queen's House listening to the sounds of the house.

As I lay there my door was opened silently and a figure stood in the doorway. I leaped up. I cried out in relief when I saw that it was Chantel.

She looked strange; her hair was loose and she wore a soft silk dressing gown of her favorite shade of green; her eyes were dilated.

“Chantel,” I cried, “what's wrong?”

Her voice sounded high pitched and unlike itself.

“Read this,” she said. “And when you have read it, come to me at once.”

“What is it?”

“Read it and see.”

She threw some papers onto the bed and before I could pick them up had glided out.

I jumped out of bed and lit my candles; then I picked up the papers and read.

Dearest Anna,

There is so much you don't know, so much I have to tell you. I don't think there is much time so I must be brief. You remember I told you that there were so many facets of truth and that I had told the truth but not the whole truth. You don't know me, Anna; not all of me. You know only one little bit of me; and you are very fond of what you know, which pleases me. You read my journal. As I said it was the truth but not the whole truth. I would like to have read it through so that I could have rewritten pieces for you, but that would take too long. You see, I didn't tell you that Rex fell deeply in love with me. You knew that he was attracted by me but you thought it was mild flirtation on his part. You were sorry for me, anxious for me. I loved you for that, Anna. You see as soon as I entered the Castle I wanted to be mistress of it. I saw myself as the future Lady Crediton and nothing else would satisfy me. I am insatiably ambitious, Anna. In almost all of us there is the secret woman who does not appear for her friends and acquaintances, perhaps not even for the man she marries. But Rex must know me fairly well now. It has not changed his devotion to me. You will remember that I was interested in Valerie Stretton; there was the occasion when she came in with her muddy boots. There was the letter in her bureau. I wrote that Miss Beddoes came in and found me with it in my hands. That was not all the truth. I had read the letter; I had read other letters; I had discovered that Valerie Stretton was being blackmailed. I married Rex and when he was to go to Australia I was determined to go with him. He wanted me to go openly as his wife. I was not going to alienate Lady Crediton at that stage. She could have diverted a large part of her fortune from Rex and I wanted him to have complete control. I knew it was better to keep our marriage secret for a while so I put the idea into Dr. Elgin's head that our climate was killing Monique. Then I made Monique decide that she wanted to go to see her mother. As this meant sailing on the Captain's ship she didn't need a lot of persuading. But I had to have you with us, Anna, and poor old Beddoes was very incompetent. I helped to get her moved on. She sensed it. Who would have believed that? But adventuresses learn to watch for opposition in the most unexpected quarters.