The Stars of San Cecilio (17 page)

Aunt Grizel had been right in one of her predictions. Dark, masculine heads did swing round abruptly when Lisa became part of a mixed gathering, and her striking fairness seemed to arouse admiration almost immediately. Ricardo Espinhaco took one look at her and capitulated at once, and throughout the whole of the evening, while the celebrations for the birthday went on, he remained at her side, and even Peter found it well-nigh impossible to dislodge him.

The party was held at one of Madrid’s gayer, but still highly reputable restaurants, and it was a very lavish party, with toasts drunk in champagne, as well as champagne cocktails to get everyone into the right frame of mind. There seemed to be endless uncles and aunts and cousins, as well as guests, and Lisa estimated that the party would cost Papa Espinhaco quite a large sum of money. But money was plainly one thing that didn’t trouble that particular family. The women’s dresses were nothing short of superb, while their dazzling displays of jewellery took her breath away when she first saw them. Even the younger girls sparkled like a display window of a fabulous jeweller’s shop; but they were extremely nice young girls — in fact, the whole family was nice — and Lisa was greatly attracted to them.

It was Ricardo who became a bit of an embarrassment, for his admiration was so unconcealed, and he used every sort of persuasive argument to remain near her throughout the evening.

‘I have not known many English girls, and not one who looked quite like you,’ he told her, his black eyes resting almost caressingly on her fairness. ‘You are like a combination of moonlight and an English spring.... I have been once to England in the springtime, and I know that it is a little like you! ’ He touched her pink net dress, which she was wearing for the occasion. ‘This makes you look like a flower, senorita!’ he told her.

Lisa looked faintly amused, although not being accustomed to these fulsome flatteries she was also a little embarrassed.

‘ Moonlight, and an English spring, and a flower at the same time! ’ she murmured. ‘I must be quite a combination! ’ ‘You are indeed,’’ he assured her, seeking to touch her hand as they sat side by side at the large flower-decked table given over to the party. ‘ You are all things that I have sometimes dreamed about! . . . I must see you, senorita — more of you, I mean! — while you remain in Madrid. You must permit me to escort you sometimes! You will, won’t you?’ he pleaded, his shapely olive fingers reaching more determinedly for her hand, Which, however, she snatched away. ‘Please, senorita!’ he begged.

The lights had just gone up again after a floor show, and some of the enthusiastic younger ones had started to dance on the glistening ballroom floor. It was Peter who came to Lisa’s rescue, leaping quickly to his feet and all but snatching her off her chair and saying briskly:

‘Come on, Lisa, let’s dance!’

As they circled the floor he remarked on an obvious note of displeasure:

‘These Spaniards don’t lose any time, do they? But that young man Ricardo is a fast worker even for a Spaniard! Has he been successful in dating you up yet? I noticed his mama was looking anxious when she was watching the two of you a short while ago! Most of these young men have their futures already planned for them, you know, and no doubt she was sensing difficulty later on

— when the time draws near for Ricardo to settle down! — if he got involved with anyone like you! Not part of the prearranged plan, if you know what I mean. ’

Lisa answered coolly.

‘Senora Espinhaco need have no fears. Her son is perfectly safe where I am concerned. ’

Peter grinned down at her with something sceptical about the grin, nevertheless.

‘ You could be swept off your feet! These Latin types are rather like inflammable matches — the non-safety type. They ignite suddenly, and the rest of the box goes, too! ’

‘I am not in the least likely to go too, ’ Lisa said, frowning at the top of his shoulder because the subject of arranged Spanish marriages was not one she found at all palatable just then. She didn’t want to think of Spanish marriages at all

— certainly not arranged ones! — and the coldblooded manner in which the partners set about things (or permitted their relatives to set about them) made her feel almost angry. She was certain that it would be a marriage of expediency if Dr. Fernandez married Dona Beatriz, and not because he was in love with her, attractive woman though she was.

Why she was so certain of this she couldn’t be sure, but she was sure of it.

When she first caught sight of him and Dona Beatriz, standing between Senor and Senora Espinhaco, within a few feet of their table, she could hardly believe her eyes. The evening had spent itself, and sambas and tangos had followed sambas and tangos, as well as more intricate Cuban dances, and Lisa was feeling a little exhausted, because she had never once been without a partner. She wondered whether exhaustion was causing her to see things that were not actually there when she caught her first glimpse of the doctor. She had seen him several times now in white tie and tails, and she might easily have conjured him up out of sheer concentrated dwelling upon him even when she was with other people, and she hadn’t heard a word of him for days.

For there had been no messages for her, no inquiries, no information as to what was happening to Gia, or when they were to return to the coast. She had written to Gia twice — little, affectionate notes, which had not actually called for any answer — and she had sent her a small present in the shape of a novelty for her dressing-table, but none of these had been acknowledged, and she had been feeling concern because of the persistent silence.

But now— and without any doubt he was there in the flesh, and not just a figment of her imagination — her employer, as well as the woman who proposed to marry him, were standing between her own host and hostess, being plainly welcomed by them, although such late additions to the party, and Miss Tracey was in the group, too, looking complacent in her pearl-grey satin, and as her partner led her up to the group Lisa could hear her say:

‘Oh, yes, Lisa is thoroughly enjoying Madrid. Aren’t you, my dear?’ stretching forth a hand to her, as Lisa reached her side. ‘So thoroughly that I don’t believe she’s had a moment to herself the whole of the evening! ’

Her eyes beamed at Lisa with so much satisfaction that Lisa felt it was almost unnatural, but Dr. Fernandez was surveying her without any expression at all on his face. His eyes were slightly narrowed, his mouth and chin rather sternly and ascetically set, in spite of the fact that his hostess had just been gushing all over him, and assuring him that she perfectly understood the reason why he was late. The important

thing was that he had managed to find some time to devote to them — he and Dona Beatriz, and she beamed round on the lovely redhead as if it was very well understood that she had to be included in any transports that were poured out over Dr. Fernandez.

But Dona Beatriz’s eyes were at that moment for Lisa, and Lisa alone — unless it was the oyster-pink net that was billowing round her. Lisa’s slim and creamy neck was encircled by a row of finely graded pearls that belonged to Miss Tracey, and which the latter had insisted on her wearing for the occasion — ‘They’re insured, my dear, so don’t worry too much if disaster overtakes you and you lose them! ’ she had declared —and her hair had been cut rather short, and framed her face in a soft aureole of gold. She looked young and rather touchingly lovely, but poised and in complete command of herself at the same time, and the look she directed at Dona Beatriz was neither subservient nor surprised. In fact, it was for the first time cool and withdrawn.

‘You look as if you’re enjoying yourself, Miss Waring,’ Dona Beatriz remarked, with condescension in her tone. ‘ In fact, you look as if you haven’t wasted a moment of your time in Madrid, and used up quite a bit of your salary!

Lisa made no reply to this, but turned to the doctor.

‘How is Gia?’she asked.

He returned her level look with a distant one of his own.

‘ Gia is quite well. ’

‘I wondered how she was getting on. I was a little anxious about her. ’

‘If you were anxious you could have satisfied your

anxiety with a simple inquiry. ’

‘ I have written twice and received no reply to either of my letters, and I also sent her a present which it was not necessary to acknowledge,’ she told him with a slight stiffening of her slender figure.

At that his eyebrows ascended in the way she knew so well, and Dona Beatriz interposed somewhat hurriedly:

‘Yes; that is quite right, Julio, but I’m afraid Gia has been so caught up in a whirl of unusual excitements that she hasn’t had either the time or inclination to bother about answering anyone’s letters. But it was naughty of her not to acknowledge Miss Waring’s present, and I’ll mention it to her.’

‘Don’t bother,’ Lisa said, the stiffness in her voice this time. ‘It was only a very trifling present, and one doesn't expect a child of that age to bother about writing formal letters of thanks. But I thought I might have had some sort of message to indicate that she was well, or even that she was looking forward to returning to the coast. ’

‘You don’t think that she might so much enjoy her stay with me that she wouldn’t even think about returning to the coast?’ Dona Beatriz inquired, a trifle icily.

Lisa looked at her coolly.

‘The coast is a child’s natural playground at this time of the year, and Gia is a very normal child. And Madrid is hardly a change for her. But so long as she is happy that is all I care about. ’

‘An admirable sentiment on the part of a governess, I’m sure,’ Dona Beatriz remarked, and people standing round looked at Lisa in faint surprise, as if for the first time they were seeing her in the role of a governess — or that was the impression she received.

Peter, who was at her elbow, suddenly touched her on the arm and smiled at her.

‘They’re playing a waltz,’, he said, ‘the first of the evening. So come along and remember that you’re not a governess at the moment. ’

‘ Dear Peter! ’ she thought, as she slipped easily into his arms, and their steps matched perfectly. ‘I don’t believe he likes Dona Beatriz any more than I do! . . . But not for the same reason that I feel I could never like her in the whole of

a lifetime!’

And she had the distinct impression that, while the strains of the dreamy waltz tune filled her ears, and Peter guided her effortlessly, her employer, on the fringe of the floor, was frowning more noticeably than ever. But why she couldn’t be at all certain.

Later, when she was sitting for the first time alone at the table, and resting rather aching feet in high-heeled silver sandals, he took the chair beside her and said:

‘I should very much like the pleasure of dancing with you, Miss Waring, if your many importunate partners have not entirely worn you out,’ She looked up into his dark eyes; they were strange and enigmatic, and regarding her with gravity as well.

‘Thank you,’ she returned. ‘That is very kind of you, Dr. Fernandez’ — and it was not intentional if her voice sounded a little dry — ‘but is it permissible for an employer to dance with an employee at this sort of function?’

For a moment he looked straight down into her eyes, and she had the feeling that he was rebuking her in some strange way.

‘Perfectly permissible, I should say. But you may not feel that you have the energy?’

‘I have the energy!’ And while Dona Beatriz watched them with narrowed eyes over the top of the shiny bald head of a short elderly man who was rushing her over the floor in a rather frenzied version of the tango, Lisa stood and melted into the arms of the man who was exactly a head and a half taller than she was, so that her golden hair strayed all over his white shirt front, and when he bent his head the tip of his square chin actually seemed to touch it, and nestle amongst the silken strands.

Lisa’s heart was beating so wildly as she thought: ‘It would be a tango, this one and only dance I’ll ever have with him! . . . And I’m not much good at dancing it, because I haven’t had much experience!’ that at first she really did muff her steps, and then she looked up at him helplessly. His eyes looked down into hers, and were so near to hers, that she gasped. . . . For there was nothing enigmatic in them now, and they seemed to glow in a way she had sometimes dreamed they might — if only she had an opportunity to know him better, and he to know her! If only their employer-employee relationship could be set aside for just a short while! ...

Her lips fell a little apart, opening softly, like the petals of a flower, and her eyes were suddenly clear and transparent as water. There was still a helpless look in them, too, and she knew it wasn’t her imagination that he drew her closer into his arms.

‘You dance beautifully,’ he said, ‘but you are almost too light for a human being! You are like thistledown! ’

‘I’m sure I’m much more solid than thistledown,’ she heard herself replying, and he smiled.

‘You might be if you ate a great deal more, and someone took an enormous amount of care of you! I don’t believe you are capable of taking a great deal of care of yourself, ’ he declared rather musingly.

‘I’ve done so for at least three years now,’ she told him, and he did not reply.

She gave herself up to the sheer bliss of dancing with him, and now that her moments of panic had passed, she realized that they danced beautifully together. Peter was a good dancer, and with him she had felt at her best, but Julio Fernandez made her conscious of surpassing herself. She supposed dreamily that it was because he was a member of a Latin race that his movements seemed to be fluid and almost boneless, so that she herself felt fluid and boneless, and it was just as if there was some fusion of their bodies that was not merely physical, but in part spiritual. In fact, it was complete fusion. . . . And it wasn’t until the dance was over, and they were two separate entities again, that she realized how complete that temporary union had been.

But while it lasted the world about her ceased to exist, and her body floated in a haze of rapture, while her mind was almost dulled with the happiness of being where she was — in the arms of the man she loved!