Above Rubies

by Mary Cummins

  That night she wanted to dream of Nigel, but his blue in his friendly boyish face refused to stay in her mind. Instead it was Benjamin who grinned at her sardonically, and Merry fell asleep still feeling cross with herself.

  CHAPTER 3

  ON Wednesday Benjamin turned up for tea looking spruce in a brown tweed suit and fawn woollen tie. Merry was still getting used to the Scottish high tea which Mrs. Cameron preferred to serve, and which she, too, was beginning to prefer.

  It was obvious that Benjamin preferred it, too, as Mrs. Cameron greeted him with the news that tea wouldn’t be long. She had a nice bit of salmon she was serving up with two kinds of salads, and her scones would soon be out of the oven.

  “Good,” said Benjamin, rubbing his hands as he sat down in front of the sitting-room fire while Merry excused herself for a moment and ran to repair her make-up. When she returned, wearing a clover-pink angora dress, he looked very much at home with his long legs stretched out comfortably.

  “I like this room,” he remarked. “It’s got the right atmosphere. I could paint you one day, sitting on this chair here. Come and see what you look like.”

  Obediently she came to sit beside him on the chair he indicated, and he pretended to study her from all angles.

  “Very nice,” he approved, and Merry found herself blushing like a schoolgirl.

  “I’m glad you’re satisfied,” she said, a trifle tartly.

  “Tell me what you’ve been doing with yourself, apart from trotting up to Rossie House,” he commanded, and again Merry coloured a little.

  “I only went to tea,” she said defensively, “and to see some of their jewellery, though I don’t expect you’d be interested in that.”

  “Why not?” asked Benjamin. “Of course I’m interested. In fact, I’m going tomorrow night to photograph some of it for a new book cover I’m working on. It’s called The Seven Diamonds Mystery, and I expect Stephanie to find me at least seven diamonds.”

  “Are you being sarcastic?” asked Merry, and some of the laughter left his eyes.

  “I’m sorry you think that, Merry. In fact, I’ve no particularly strong feelings about the undoubted fine pieces of jewellery the Kilpatricks sell. I just can’t help remembering, at times, that one of their fine choice rings could provide quite a few dinners for the McConnells, and old Jake Grieve could not only have a new pair of boots, but a whole new wardrobe of clothes with the change.”

  “You can’t compare the two,” defended Merry. “The fact that hundreds of people are poor and ill-fed doesn’t mean that beautiful jewellery should not be made, jewellery which will last for ever. And in any case, I’ve seen the McConnells tucking into some good rabbit stew and apple pie, and Jake’s new boots, when he gets them, will give him even more pleasure than a new bracelet would give to a wealthy woman.” There was a gentle knock on the door.

  “Will you be coming now for your tea?” asked Mrs. Cameron. “I’ve laid it all ready in the dining-room, and I’ve lit the fire, Miss Merry. The days are a bit chilly now.”

  “Lovely, Mrs. Cameron,” smiled Merry. “Shall we go, then, Benjamin?”

  It was a cosy tea, but Merry felt very conscious of the strong-natured man sitting across the table.

  “Have you started writing yet?” he asked bluntly.

  She hesitated before replying, and Benjamin pursed his lips.

  “I shouldn’t like to think you were one of those people who talk plenty about writing, but are so busy talking they’ve no time for doing.”

  “Of course I’m not,” protested Merry. “As a matter of fact, I’ve been busy making notes. I’ve found lots of notebooks belonging to Aunt Ellen and they’ve given me an idea for a book. They capture the atmosphere of the twenties so vividly, and I’ve found plenty of photographs and things like theatre programmes.”

  She warmed to her subject, and was unaware how attractive she looked as her cheeks flushed and her eyes, glowed.

  “Aunt Ellen would make a wonderful heroine. I used to wonder why she hadn’t married, because she was so lovely, but I think I know now. I think she was in love with a young man who was killed in a climbing accident ... Ian Ross-Findlater.”

  “My uncle,” put in Benjamin.

  “Oh, I forgot,” said Merry, a trifle taken aback.

  “He was my godfather, and looked after me when my parents died. Grandfather was rather old, you see.”

  “I ... I’m sorry,” she said awkwardly, at a loss to express the sympathy she felt. “Perhaps I’d better not put him in the story ... even if I disguise both of them quite a lot.”

  “Why not?” asked Benjamin. “Perhaps it would make them happy to have their love story handed down to posterity.”

  “There you go again,” said Merry with annoyance. “You always seem to be laughing at me!”

  Benjamin’s black eyes regarded her thoughtfully.

  “It was meant to be a gently teasing remark,” he told her. “I think you’re far too sensitive about your writing, Merry. You mustn’t fly off the handle at perfectly innocent comments. I don’t know what your writing is like, but I remember Miss Blayne telling me you’d sold some of your stuff, so at least the potential is there, and I trust you are intelligent and tenacious enough to develop it. So for goodness’ sake stop looking for insults, and try to believe I’m taking an intelligent interest in you.”

  “Are you?” she asked, and his face softened into a smile at her look of wide-eyed innocence.

  “Of course I am,” he assured her. “I promised your Aunt Ellen I’d look after you, and that’s a promise I intend to keep.”

  “Oh.”

  Merry felt slightly taken aback, then she looked at Benjamin with new understanding of the slightly bossy attitude he used towards her, which irritated her so much. He felt responsible for her, because he had promised Aunt Ellen!

  “I’m old enough to look after myself,” she told him tartly, and again his eyes lit with amusement.

  “Of course you are,” he agreed placatingly. “Now, if we can go back to Uncle Ian. I’ll find out all I can about him for you, if you think it will help.”

  “Thank you,” she said mechanically, still feeling ruffled inside. The last thing she wanted was a watch-dog!

  But when Benjamin left for home, after tea, and waved to her casually from the gate, she watched his tall figure swinging down the road until he was out of sight.

  The showrooms above Kilpatricks at Hillington still showed signs of last-minute preparations, when Merry arrived with Nigel. Stephanie had asked if she would like to help to keep a check on the stock as Mr. Kilpatrick’s secretary had just left to get married, and Stephanie was to have taken her place.

  “Here’s a list of the goods on each stand,” she said, handing Merry a typewritten list, “and here’s the most important one, a list of our largest pieces to be worn by the mannequins. There are six girls in all, five and myself. I’ll wear the diamonds, and the final piece will be the topaz ring. I’ve got a black velvet evening dress for the diamonds, and a silver cocktail for the ring. I’ll show you the changing room, then you can collect the pieces and return them to Nigel where you’ll both initial the list after he has locked them in the case. O.K.?”

  “O.K.,” said Merry, rather nervously, feeling dazzled by her surroundings. Six stands had been set up in one end of the room, and members of Kilpatricks’ staff were busy laying out jewellery on the crimson velvet pads. One stand was devoted to cultured pearls and artificial grass had been used as a background for their wonderful milky-white texture. Another stand was entirely devoted to antique jewellery, and Merry was fascinated by the heavy, rather ornate pieces, her imagination stirred by the ghosts of gracious ladies of a bygone age, wearing these very pieces at glittering social occasions.

  “You’ve got an awful lot of stock,” she said to Stephanie.

  “Not quite so much as this,” the other girl told her. “Some of the London manufacturers who supply our stocks have kindly sent us extra pieces
especially for this evening. These cocktail rings, for instance, have been lent, as few people in Hillington buy cocktail rings at the moment and it’s helpful to show them what is available. It might create a demand.”

  Merry examined the tray of large, gem-studded rings, some designed like flowers, and watched while a smart young lady slipped them into individual pads, and placed them attractively on the stand.

  “They look fabulous to me,” she whispered.

  She glanced at her list.

  “Those are stock numbers,” Stephanie pointed out. “You’ll find a small ticket on each piece, and it will have that number written on it in red ink. On the other side, in black ink, is the price code. Sure you can read it, if asked?”

  “Quite sure,” nodded Merry. Nigel had spent some time teaching her this.

  “Good,” laughed Stephanie. “We’ll make a jeweller of you yet!”

  Merry coloured a little at the praise, glad that Stephanie appeared to have accepted her. The fair girl looked beautiful this evening, her lovely silvery blonde hair having been set in a crisscross style, her cool delicate features artistically made-up.

  Merry, too, was looking her best in a beautiful emerald green chiffon cocktail dress, expertly cut, with flowing panels down the back. Nigel had approved of it wholeheartedly when he called to collect her, and she was glad that Aunt Ellen had given her such good advice when choosing her clothes.

  Her only adornment, apart from her gold watch, was the small scarlet disc which a detective had given her at the door. Everyone wore a similar disc, and each name had been ticked off as the disc was handed out.

  “You’ll see one or two solid-looking gentlemen mingling with the guests,” Nigel told her, with a smile. “Don’t lose your disc, or you’re liable to be quietly removed. They’ve a good way of spotting anyone who’s been clever enough to gatecrash.”

  “You’ve thought of everything,” said Merry.

  “We have to,” Nigel told her grimly. “There’s been so many jewel robberies, the insurance companies are getting sticky, and I don’t blame them. If we’re careless, they won’t pay up if we lose anything.”

  Now Merry began to study her list, and to help Nigel sort out the pieces for each mannequin to wear. Mr. Kilpatrick was welcoming his guests and showing them to small tables at the other end of the room, where discreet waiters were serving champagne, and bowls of crisps and nuts had been put in the centre of each table, together with cigarettes and ashtrays.

  Merry had a moment to study the guests. Many of the women looked elegant and charming and were already wearing a lovely but discreet piece of jewellery. Their husbands, looking every inch the successful professional or business man, laughed and joked with Mr. Kilpatrick.

  There were others, however, with sharp discontented faces and tired eyes, whose fingers were already clustered with glittering rings, while gold bracelets jostled each other on flabby white arms. Merry watched them weigh up the scene calculatingly, and shivered a little with distaste, as though a splash of ugliness had been painted over a lovely picture.

  “New warm clothes for the McConnells and decent living conditions for some of the cottagers in Kilbraggan,” whispered a voice in her ear.

  Merry started, then smiled as she turned to find Benjamin grinning at her.

  “Boots for Jake Grieve,” she returned.

  “He’s got a pair,” he told her.

  “I didn’t know you were coming.”

  “I made up my mind at the last moment,” he told her smilingly. “See how the other half live. Stephanie invited me.” Proudly he displayed his red badge. “Are you enjoying yourself, little Merry?”

  “I’m here to work,” she told him proudly, folding her list.

  “Nice working clothes. In that dress, your hair looks like lovely ripe chestnuts.”

  Merry couldn’t stop the warm colour flooding her cheeks, though the compliment was made in such an indulgent tone that she knew she couldn’t take it seriously.

  “I’m glad you like it,” she said primly, and he laughed.

  “What sort of work?” he asked, looking round curiously.

  “Checking,” she told him. “I’ve been given a list of the jewellery to be shown, and I mark off each piece as I get it from the models.”

  Benjamin frowned.

  “Whose idea was that?” he asked, rather coldly.

  “Why, Stephanie’s or Nigel’s, I suppose. Does it matter?”

  He looked at her thoughtfully.

  “They’ve no right to ask you to take responsibility like this,” he said firmly. “You’re only a youngster, and there’s thousands at stake in this little lot. If anything should go wrong ... something missing, for example ... it means you’re involved.”

  She flushed scarlet.

  “You ... you aren’t saying I can’t be trusted?” she snapped, her eyes sparking. “Or that I’m some sort of incompetent fool? I’ve had a good office training, and I used to hold down quite a responsible job with my uncle’s firm. Do you think the Kilpatricks would ask me if they thought I was some sort of idiot? I...”

  “Steady on, steady on,” he told her. “Don’t keep flying off the handle because I talk a bit of horse sense to you. If you can’t see the risk, then heaven help me, I must try to point it out to you...”

  “Well, you can stop playing watchdog to me,” she told him stormily. “Even if you did promise Aunt Ellen!”

  “Why, Benjamin darling, I’m so glad you got here!”

  Suddenly Stephanie was with them, darting Merry an angry look, and her heart sank even more. She had no wish to be bad friends with Stephanie. While she couldn’t exactly foresee a bosom friendship between them, or a time when she’d be very fond of Stephanie, yet she was Nigel’s sister, and Merry would have welcomed a girl of her own age as a friend. She’d felt that the other girl was beginning to like her a little, and was annoyed with Benjamin, quite illogically, for giving her the wrong impression.

  “Where’s Nigel?” asked Stephanie.

  “Getting a quick cup of coffee,” said Merry. “He’ll be back in a moment. I’ve had mine.”

  “We need him, fast ... Oh, here he is now. Nigel, Claire Turner hasn’t turned up. Molly says she’s caught the ’flu bug. That means no one for the turquoise and pearls.”

  “Oh, lord,” exclaimed Nigel. “That puts the programme out. I suppose you can’t ... No, the timing would be wrong. Wait a minute ... What about Merry?”

  He eyed her emerald dress, and shook his head again.

  “Molly could wear the turquoise,” said Stephanie. “She’s in cream silk, for the garnets. They’d look O.K. on Merry ... quite vivid against the green.”

  They considered her speculatively, while Merry stood by uneasily, aware of Benjamin’s tall figure in the background.

  “Will you do it, Merry?” asked Nigel.

  “I ... I don’t know,” she said, biting her lip as she caught Benjamin’s stern face, as he stared angrily at Nigel. Then Stephanie made a gesture of impatience.

  “Why not?” demanded Nigel. “You’ve got the looks, you’re dressed properly, and you can walk. Why not, for goodness’ sake?”

  “She’s too timid,” sneered Stephanie, and Benjamin’s eyes snapped.

  “She’s only a child, Kilpatrick,” he interrupted. “You’ve no right to put responsibility on to her!”

  Merry’s chin came up.

  “Of course I’ll do it,” she said crisply, “if you think I can. What about the checking, though?”

  “I’ll manage that myself,” Nigel told her. “Dave Bruce will help. Go with Stephanie to the changing room and I’ll be right along with the case.”

  As they walked away, Stephanie’s fingers closed lightly on Merry’s wrist, then firmed slightly as they passed one of the stands. Merry saw a very tall young man with dark curling hair and very dark eyes looking at Stephanie fixedly, and felt sudden tension in the girl.

  “Who is that?” she asked curiously.

&nbs
p; “One of our managers,” the girl told her, and shrugged in an attempt to be offhand. “Does it matter?”

  Merry had to admit that it didn’t, though for a moment she had felt surrounded by tensions.

  “Now, let’s see your hair and make-up,” Stephanie was saying. “Here’s the other girls, Molly Green, Val Stoddart, Irene Price and Betty McArthur. Merry Saunders, girls ... our neighbour at Kilbraggan. She’ll take Claire’s place, or at least your place, Molly. The garnets will look better on her dress, and the turquoise will be fine with that cream silk.”

  “Suits me,” said Molly, with a friendly smile at Merry. “We’re all enjoying the change from clothes. We all model at some of the big stores in town.”

  Merry nodded, feeling suddenly nervous again. What if she made a fool of herself, with Nigel watching ... and Benjamin. The thought made her chin firm, and she decided she wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. She smiled as Nigel walked in the door carrying a black fitted jewel case, full of black leather-bound boxes.

  “All right, girls,” he said gently. “Here we are. Stephanie first, with the diamonds, then I think it’s Irene with the sapphire necklace and matching bracelet.”

  Somehow or other it was Merry’s turn, as she fastened on a heavy jewel-encrusted necklace, with bracelet, ear-rings and brooch to match. This was the only antique set in the collection, and she was very conscious of previous owners, as she walked up the centre of the floor, turning and twisting to allow the bright lights to catch the living fire of the jewels. The garnets glowed deep, rich red, so different from the bright pinkish crimson of the rubies worn by Betty. Merry felt the weight of them on her neck and arms, and decided that a whole evening wearing them was not for her.

  It was with relief that she walked back to the changing room amid polite but quite enthusiastic applause, and gave the gems back to Nigel, who marked off each piece, had it checked by the tall young man with dark hair, and locked it away in the case.