“Don’t encourage her,” said another, only too familiar voice. “She’s hoping you’ll give her the kiss of life! Morag can swim like a fish!” Delia!
Morag leapt to her feet in one swift movement. Her stepsister wore a cool white dress and looked as smart as paint, whereas she, she knew, looked a complete mess, her hair wet and straggly, and the swimming-suit she was wearing so old that she couldn’t remember when she had first had it, and without an atom of makeup to hide the freckles that the hot Greek sun had brought out on the bridge of her nose.
“Hullo, Delia,” she said in a strained voice.
Delia took a step backwards and looked her up and down,
managing to draw attention to the faded colour of the swimsuit and the signs of wear on the straps that would soon fall into holes. “Hullo yourself!” she drawled.
“Very cosy!” Delia murmured, looking round the bedroom Morag had helped to prepare for her. “You certainly knew what you were doing when you took off for Greece, didn’t you, pet?”
“What do you mean?” Morag countered.
“I should have thought it was obvious. The only flies in the ointment are the children. Is that little girl always such a trial? I’m surprised Pericles allows her to hang round him like that.”
“She’d been badly frightened,” Morag pointed out. “She wanted to swim out to the rock with me and it was further than she could manage.”
“Showing off, I suppose, like you!”
This came uncomfortably close to the truth. “I’m very fond of
both the children!” Morag claimed.
“Especially when their father is around? Oh, don’t bother to
pretend with me! I’d do exactly the same!” Delia sank down on to
the bed and looked about her. “Where do you sleep? Or is that one
of your little marriage secrets?”
“No.” Morag wished that she had outgrown the habit of always
having to answer Delia’s questions, no matter how inconvenient
they were to herself. “I sleep on the other side of the house. Our
room looks over the sea too, but it’s at the other end.”
“Our room? Well done, my dear. I thought you were here more or
less as governess to those brats.” She frowned, her eyes cold and
hard. “That’s the impression I received from Perry. He isn’t in love
with you - but I suppose you know that?”
“Did he say so?” Morag couldn’t resist asking.
Her stepsister smiled slowly. “Now that would be telling! I must
say he’s the most attractive man I’ve seen for a long, long time. He
makes David seem a wishy-washy shadow of what a man can be. But
then I keep forgetting, you were in love with David, weren’t you?
Does Pericles know that?”
Morag fiddled with her fingers. “You were in love with David too!”
“Was I?” Delia laughed. Morag remembered that laugh of old. It was supposed to sound like the tinkling of a distant bell and had hours of hard practice behind its soft, clear tones. To Morag it sounded like the knell of doom.
“You said you were. He thought you were too. You know he did! He wouldn’t - he wouldn’t have taken you out otherwise!”
“Thus dishing you? My dear, I did you a favour. More of a favour than I knew, seeing you might have married him! It would have suited me a great deal better if you had!” Morag was astonished. “Why?” she asked flatly. “Why?” Delia laughed again. “Well, really, surely you don’t have to ask? It would have suited Pericles a great deal better too!”
Morag made no answer. She pointed out the towels the maid had left beside the dressing-table, and the various other facilities of the room, and then she turned to go. “If there’s nothing more you want, I’ll be with the children,” she said.
Delia yawned delicately. “Oh, but I was hoping you would unpack for me,” she smiled. “It was all such a rush, and you know how bad I am at folding things. I’m sure I’ve forgotten quite half of what I meant to bring with me!” “Why did you come?” Morag asked.
“Why? I thought you knew. I came to see your husband - at his request - against other things!”
“Then what was all that about your falling out with Daddy?” Morag said bluntly.
“He has been a trifle difficult lately. He was quite reassured when I said you would be home again soon. It was quite touching how worried about you he’s been, especially when you think how easily he took the David incident in his stride!”
“Oh?”
“Well, he did think that you'd killed David, and I don’t suppose he enjoyed the trial and all the gossip. It gave him a shock to find that anything to do with your mother could be less than perfect.” She slanted a look of pure dislike at Morag. “You always were naive about your father. I suppose you didn’t know that he avoided you because you look like your mother? I thought not! What a fool you are, Morag Grant!”
Morag’s hands clenched into two fists. “Morag Holmes,” she corrected.
Delia got off the bed and went over to the window, looking out at the clear blue sea and the beauty of the headland.
“But not for long,” she said to no one in particular. “Not if I can help it!”
CHAPTER TEN
Delia had no hesitation in accepting the offer of the loan of Dora’s car. Morag, already on edge by her stepsister’s attitude to her mother-in-law, tried in vain to suggest that she should hire her own, or should use the buses as Morag did herself.
“Why should I?” Delia had asked.
“I should have thought you’d know that!” Morag answered more tartly than she usually spoke to anyone.
But Delia only smiled. “It was you who was banned from driving!”
Morag bit her lip, hoping that Dora hadn’t heard that. “I still don’t think you ought to take Dora’s car. It isn’t easy driving in Athens and -and supposing anything should happen?”
“Don’t be ridiculous! What should happen? I don’t intend to use the car often. Pericles has offered to show me some of the countryside and I’m not likely to turn down an invitation like that to drive myself!”
Morag stiffened. “Where is he taking you?”
“Oh, some place near Athens. Eleusis, or Elefsis, I think he called it. I expect you’ve already been there?”
“No,” said Morag.
“Well, a governess can’t expect such little treats, can she? Cheer up, I’ll return him to you with a good grace when we get back.”
Morag’s eyes darkened. “Will you?”
“If he wants to be returned to you. Frankly, my dear, I think he’s more likely to have second thoughts about you - like David did! - and make some comparisons between us in which you can hardly expect to show up very well. I nearly died when I saw you in that old swimming-suit! How long have you had it? But then you never did put much value on glamour. David used to say you were the drab
sister - ”
“I don’t believe you!”
“About David? He wasn’t the kind, simple young man you thought him at all! I came as quite a relief to him, I can tell you. At least I knew how to kiss and wasn’t afraid to have a little fun! Do you bore Pericles too?”
Morag flushed. “I -I don’t want to talk about Pericles,” she said. “Or David either!”
“No?” Delia was plainly enjoying herself. “You wouldn’t! You’re the complete coward! Did you tell Pericles that you didn’t want me here? Or did you pretend that we’d always loved each other, like good girls should? He didn’t mind my coming here! I can stay as long as I like!” Morag said nothing. She looked up as her mother-in-law, until now on the verandah outside, came in and smiled at them both. “Ah, there you are, Delia,” she said with every sign of pleasure; “Did Morag tell you that my nephew is staying here for the time being? Pericles is so jealous of Morag that the poor boy has been feeling quite out of things and he’ll be all the more ple
ased to entertain you. I’m expecting him home any time now and I promised him I’d be on hand to introduce you,”
Morag stared at her mother-in-law in astonishment, only to receive a fierce dig in the ribs and a command in Greek to sit up and behave herself, which she recognised as much by the tone of voice as by how often she had heard the same rebuke addressed to Peggy.
“Pericles has asked Delia to visit Eleusis,” Morag said in a small voice.
Dora sniffed. “A very industrial site,” she commented. “I suppose he wants the children to see it. They are beginning to interest themselves in growing things and it’s time they learned the story of Demeter and how she gave the first crops to humanity. Of course she was worshipped there more as the mother of Persephone, who came back from the dead. But I don’t suppose you want to hear our old stories, do you? You look a very modern young lady to me.” It was obvious that Delia wasn’t sure whether this was a compliment or not. “I like to enjoy myself,” she said, less sure of herself than Morag had ever seen her.
“With my son?” Dora looked faintly bored. “He looks more Greek than English, don’t you think?” Her eyes narrowed. “Do his looks please you?”
“Why yes, I suppose so,” Delia answered.
“In Greece, it is the woman who pleases the man!” Delia managed a light laugh. “Isn’t that kind of thing reciprocal anywhere?”
“Do you think so?” Dora, too, laughed softly. “No, a man may play with a pretty toy, but when it comes to his wife - then he will make sure that he is the only man in her life. Marriage, in Greece, is not a
thing to be taken lightly. Every Greek wants a bride who will put him at the centre of her existence. Morag makes the ideal wife for Pericles in that respect.”
Delia opened her eyes very wide, looking the picture of innocence. “But didn’t you know? Morag was engaged to another man before she came to Greece!”
Dora looked at her with dry amusement. “You mean this David of yours? If Morag had been a Greek girl, she would have been protected from the attentions of a man like that! Girls of good family are not made use of by their relations in that way here, not even by their more worldly-wise sisters!”
“Ouch! said Delia. “Some time I’ll tell you my side of that story, Mrs. Holmes. Morag isn’t always very reliable when it comes to telling the truth!”
“Morag has yet to tell me anything.” Dora rose to her feet. “She didn’t have to. I know very little about her family, as a matter of fact, but she has a family here now and she is very dear to us all.” She made a more familiar gesture of impatience. “Those children! For heaven’s sake, Morag, go and see to them! I will not have them making such a noise in the house. It’s time Peggy learned a little restraint and didn’t shriek like that!”
Morag needed no second bidding. She much preferred the company of the children just now. They knew nothing of the undercurrents Delia had brought with her, that swirled dangerously about Morag, threatening her happiness with the spite of years. It was good of Dora to defend her as she had, but it was Pericles’ opinion that mattered, and Pericles had agreed to Delia coming to Greece. Worse still, he showed every sign of enjoying her company as much as David had before him!
Morag did her best not to encourage the children when they told her what they thought of her stepsister.
“She’s awful!” Kimon said stolidly.
“Yes,” said Peggy, “she’s awful!”
“But she’s very pretty,” Morag said.
“I like looking at you better,” Peggy assured her. “I don’t want to draw her. Her eyes are awful! You have nice green eyes, hers aren’t even blue! They’re - ” She broke off at a loss for words. “They’re horrid!”
Kimon nodded. “Like pebbles,” he put in.
“Some people think pebbles very pretty,” Morag said, trying not to laugh. “Her eyes are grey, if you want to know!”
“They’re not. They’re not anything much - and she changed into a blue dress and they still weren’t anything much!”
Morag gave Peggy an exasperated look. “Don’t let her hear you say that!”
“Why not?” Kimon asked. “If Peggy were to paint her, she would have to know, wouldn’t she? It seems a reasonable thing to discuss to me.” “Oh, does it? Well, I think it’s just an excuse for making personal remarks! She’s my stepsister, don’t forget!”
“But you don’t like her either,” Peggy stated as a known fact.
“Do you?” Kimon added, his smile the image of his father’s when he was most determined to bend her to his will. “You said you thought her silly, and so she is! You should have seen her when she arrived, running down the steps to the beach and practically sitting on top of Daddy! I hope she knows that he married you?” he added, giving the coin he was looking at a fierce jab with his finger. “You did tell her, didn’t you?”
“Of course she knows!” Morag replied. “She was there when we got married.”
“Oh, good!” the boy said with relief. “She can have Takis if she likes.”
Peggy nodded soberly. “Good idea,” she agreed.
“No, it isn’t a good idea. It’s a terrible idea, unless they both happen to want it that way,” Morag protested. “Why were you making so much noise just now? Grandma doesn’t like it when you shout at one another in the house!” It was bad enough that Dora should have decided that Takis could entertain Delia, without the children getting the same idea! No, Morag wanted her stepsister gone as quickly as possible, not playing around with anyone as close to the family as Takis.
“We were having an argument,” Kimon told her.
“About you,” Peggy added.
“Me?” Morag asked.
Kimon turned and looked at her. “Did you invite Delia here, or did she ask herself? Peggy says that Daddy asked her!”
Morag replied abruptly. “She asked herself!” she said. “That’s
what I thought,” said Kimon. “But Peggy says she heard Daddy and Grandma talking, and that Daddy said - ”
“I don’t want to know.”
“He said you’d never be free,” Peggy went on where her brother had left off, “not until she came. Grandma said it was an awful risk!”
“You shouldn’t repeat other people’s conversations,” Morag quelled her. What had Pericles meant - she would never be free? She felt weak at the knees and more vulnerable than ever. Could he have meant free of him?
The children stared at her. “Are you all right, Morag?” Peggy asked.
“Yes, I’m all right. Will you be quiet now if I go and change for dinner?”
“Of course!” they agreed, full of injured innocence. “What are you going to wear?” Peggy said almost in the same breath. “I suppose your gold dress would be too grand?”
“Yes, I think so,” Morag said, not thinking what she was saying. “I’m going to wear my jade pendant, though.”
Peggy screwed up her face thoughtfully. “Yes,” she approved. “And with your hair loose. Daddy likes it better that way.”
Now when could, she have heard him say that? Morag wondered. Had he really voiced an opinion and, if he had, what else had he said?
It seemed strange not to go to the room she had had before, the one which was now Delia’s. She had to restrain herself from knocking on the door of Perry’s room. It didn’t seem like hers at all. To her relief it was empty. She turned on the light feeling like a burglar. She was glad to see that there was no trace of her possessions anywhere. At least she didn’t have to feel she was imposing on him.
The dress she chose to wear was not new. Delia would have seen it hundreds of times before, she thought with a wry smile in the glass, but she looked nice in it and part of the pattern was green to match the jade pendant Pericles had given her. It made her eyes look greener than ever too, and she thought how suitable that was too. Green-eyed meant jealous, and that was exactly what she was. She was jealous of any other woman
Pericles looked at.
She brushed her hair i
nto a cloud round her head, ready to fasten it into the nape of her neck. Then she hesitated. Should she leave it free as Kimon had suggested? She fingered the loose ends and decided that she would, even if it did make her look younger and as vulnerable as she felt. Last of all, she looked for the jade pendant to hang round her neck, but she couldn’t' find it anywhere. Annoyed to think that she had left it behind when she had brought the rest of her things from the other room, she decided she would have to go back to Delia’s room to look for it. She hurried down the corridor before she could change her mind, coming to a stop outside the door.
At first she could not believe her ears. It was Pericles that she could hear through the shut door. She stood completely still, unable to bring herself to move, just as Delia’s tinkling bell laugh rang out. A second later the door opened and Pericles stood before her.
“What do you want?” he asked her.
“I - ” She put a hand up to her mouth, found herself quite unable to continue, and turned on her heel and fled.
She did not get far. His arm flashed out and held her hard against him. “Well, Morag? Are you reducing to listening outside doors now?”
“No,” she whispered.
“No? Then what are you doing?”
It was ridiculous to feel so guilty. Surely it was he who was that! What had he been doing in Delia’s room?
He let her go with a suddenness that unbalanced her and had to put out a hand against the wall to save herself from falling. “Well, I hope you liked what you heard!” Pericles shot at her.
“I didn’t hear anything!”
“Then what were you doing?”
She tried to hide her face from him. “I wanted my jade pendant. I must have left it behind when I moved - moved my
things - ”
“Into my room?”
She nodded, rubbing her shoulder where she had caught it against the wall. “May I get past, please?”
There was an inscrutable look on his face. “I didn’t know you’d moved,” he told her. “I couldn’t see any of your things around.
Do you always keep everything so neat?’ “Please, may I get past?”
The Beads of Nemesis Page 14