Road to Paradise Island

by Victoria Holt

  I complimented her on the excellent meal and she asked if I would like to see the house and I said I would.

  "Then we'll leave the men to chat," she said. "They know the house very well and don't want to see it again."

  She took a candle and led the way up a carved staircase. There was something rather Spanish about it which I supposed was to be expected. I guessed from his name that Jose must have been Spanish, and very possibly Magda was too.

  "My husband built this house when he came here," she said. "I think he tried to make it like a corner of home. But you can never really do that in a foreign country."

  She showed me her bedroom. There was a large bed with dainty white curtains about it. I thought of Milton visiting her here, and I wanted to get out of that room. She took me through to others. I was not paying much attention. All the time I was wondering about her and Milton.

  I said: "You have made a charming home here."

  "I wonder," she answered. "We are rather remote. I was brought up in a big city. It is very different here. There is very little on this island. We have to go to Cariba for everything. It is nice to have friends there. I could not have survived after Jose's accident without Milton."

  "I can imagine that."

  "He did everything for me. He is a wonderful friend. And Jose was fond of him, too. We relied on him."

  "And now you have Mr. Callerby. I should imagine he is very efficient."

  "George ... oh yes. And I never forget that Milton found him for me. You see, he is my benefactor. He is a very good man although people don't always realize this because ... Well, he rules Cariba with a rod of iron. They are all in awe of him. It is wonderful to be able to inspire such feelings."

  I agreed that it was.

  "They know that if there was trouble here Milton would step in. That is a great comfort to us. On him really rests the prosperity of Cariba. Well ... I think we had better join the men. They will wonder what we are doing all this time."

  i

  We went down.

  "I thought you had decided to desert us," said Milton.

  "We were talking," explained Magda.

  "Not about me, I hope."

  "There," said Magda, "you see how important he thinks he is! Even when he is not present he thinks we are talking about him."

  He looked at Magda intently and I guessed he was wondering what she had said to me.

  "As a matter of fact," I told him, "you were mentioned."

  "Don't look alarmed," put in Magda with a laugh. "I only told the nice things about you."

  "What else could there be to tell?" He added: "It is time we went back."

  "Must you? It is not eleven yet."

  "My dear Magda, I have to take this young lady back to her hotel after rowing her across."

  "Well, I suppose we must let you go."

  "You will come and dine with me soon. You too, George. We will have a foursome."

  My cloak was brought. It was a flimsy cashmere affair which I had brought with me because the night could be a little chilly.

  As we came out of the house, Magda exclaimed: "It's still misty."

  "Thickened up a bit," added George.

  "Milton, do you think it is clear enough? I could put you up here."

  "It's nothing," said Milton. "After all we only have a short distance to go and if anyone knows the way, I ought to. Heaven knows I've done it times enough."

  A look flashed between them then. Was that significant or was I imagining it? I pictured his going over to the island at night, going quietly into the house. The invalid husband would be sleeping. Magda would come out to meet him. They would cling together passionately ... and he would go into the house with her.

  "Come on, Annalice. You're dreaming."

  Yes, I thought, picturing you and Magda together and not liking it at all and despising myself for harbouring such feelings. What was his past life to do with me? But that past was impinging on the present.

  He took my cloak and fastened it more tightly about me.

  "It's chilly," he said. "It can turn really cold with the mist."

  He helped me into the boat, pushed it out and leaped in. Magda and George stood on the beach waving.

  "Are you sure you should go?" called Magda.

  "Quite sure," replied Milton.

  And then we were skimming over the water.

  "Well?" he said.

  "It was a most interesting evening."

  "Yes, I could see you were interested."

  "She is a fascinating woman."

  "I agree."

  "And she runs that plantation with the help of George Callerby. That's very unusual for a woman."

  He looked at me almost maliciously. "She has good friends."

  "You, for instance."

  "I am gratified to be one of them."

  "A very special friend, I gathered."

  "Yes, you could say that."

  I was silent.

  "Cold?" he asked.

  "Yes, a little."

  "This mist is a curse."

  "Is it unusual?"

  "Well, it is not all that common. But if we once get it, it seems to be a feature of the season."

  "It seems to be thickening."

  "I believe you are a little uneasy. Haven't you learned yet that you can trust yourself with me?"

  "I am not entirely convinced."

  "Don't worry. Even if we drift out to sea you'll be safe with me."

  He rowed in silence for a while. Then he shipped oars and looked about him.

  "Where is Cariba? We should be there by now."

  "So you are lost."

  He did not answer but began to row again. After a few minutes land loomed out of the mist.

  "It looks familiar," I said. "But it is not the harbour."

  "It's not Cariba," he said. "I'm going to pull up here. It's no use going on in this mist."

  "Not Cariba! What is it then?"

  "It's the little one. We're some way from Cariba. It would be foolish to attempt to get there in this mist. It won't last long. It rarely does. I'm afraid you're going to be shipwrecked on an island with me."

  "Oh no!"

  "Oh yes. We have been around in a circle. I know exactly where we are now. We shall have to stay here until the mist lifts."

  "That could be ... all night."

  He was looking at me with some amusement. "Perhaps," he said.

  I thought to myself: I believe he has arranged this. I believe he knew where we were all the time. Excitement and anger were fighting with each other. It was typical of him. He was not to be trusted.

  The boat scraped on the sand; he jumped into the shallow water and picking me up waded ashore.

  "I'll have to pull up the boat," he said. "We don't want it washed away. Then we'll go and find shelter."

  "Are there people on this island?"

  He grinned at me and shook his head.

  "It's about half a mile long and less than that wide. Just a rock really sticking up out of the sea. It used to be much bigger, but the sea encroached."

  "Where could we find shelter here?"

  "There's an old boathouse if I remember rightly. At least it used to be here. I came here in my extreme youth. We'll see if it is still there and if it is it will provide shelter. Come on. Give me your hand."

  I did and he pulled me along with him.

  Suddenly he put his arm round me.

  "You're faltering," he said. "You're reluctant. You are just a little uneasy."

  "It has hardly been a comfortable journey."

  "I promise you comfort soon. Come with me."

  We went a short way up the incline.

  "A little hilly," he said. "Thank Heaven for that. If it hadn't been the sea might have claimed the lot. And yes... there is the old boathouse."

  "Why should anyone want a boathouse on an island where no one lives?"

  "It's a relic of the past ... of the days when people did live here. That's what I was always told
."

  The sand was getting into my shoes and it was difficult to walk. He lifted me under his arm as though I were a parcel and carried DM along.

  "Put me down," I said. "I'm too heavy."

  "Light as a feather," he retorted, ignoring my request. "Ah, there it is. A little more dilapidated than when I last saw it, but what can you expect."

  He set me on my feet and pushed open the door. It was almost falling off its hinges.

  A dark long object was there. I looked closer. It was a canoe.

  "It's still here," he cried. "Leave the door open or we won't see a thing. I used to lie in this when I was a boy and pretend that I was

  sailing on the high seas. It's quite comfortable. They knew how to make these things. I reckon it is more than fifty years old. They don't look solid, but they are."

  He put an arm round me and said: "We shall be comfortable here."

  I drew away from him.

  "Don't go out there. You'll be cold. It will be warm and cosy in here. We'll make a comfortable resting place in the canoe while we wait for the mist to rise."

  "They'll be wondering where I am."

  "They won't until morning."

  "I should have said good night to Felicity. She'll be very worried."

  "She knows you are with me."

  "That might make her very uneasy."

  He laughed aloud. Then he said: "They'll think we stayed at Magda's. They'll see the mist. They'll say no one would attempt the journey back in this."

  "You did."

  "Well, I attempt many things. Come on. We'll make it cosy. We'll make a bed for ourselves in the canoe."

  "Oh no."

  "Isn't it time?" he asked. "How long are you going to keep me at bay?"

  "I believe you arranged this."

  "You give me more credit than I deserve. Brilliant as I am, I cannot control the weather."

  "I think you could have got us back to Cariba."

  "Do you?"

  "Yes, and I think you brought us here deliberately."

  "And you would be pleased at that?"

  "Pleased! I wanted to go back to the hotel."

  "You will find our canoe a little more interesting than your virgin couch."

  "You ... planned this."

  "I could not arrange the mist, as I told you."

  "You seized the opportunity."

  "I always seize my opportunities."

  He put an arm round me and kissed me. Somewhat to my alarm I was responding before I withdrew myself with a show of indignation. I could not get Magda Manuel out of my mind and I was realizing that I did not trust myself any more than I trusted him. It would be so easy to forget everything but that I was here alone with him. In truth it was where I wanted to be... alone with him... but I was afraid.

  I was haunted, partly by my obligations to Raymond, but more I think by my experiences on Lion Island. It was almost as though Ann Alice was there urging me to be strong, not to give way to impulse. She had not haunted me, brought me across the world for this. I had met him once... and I should see him again. During that brief hour we had spent together something had happened to me. I knew as sure as I stood on this island that I had not seen the last of Magnus Perrensen.

  I was not alone on this desert island with Milton Harrington; Ann Alice was there with me.

  He went on kissing me. He was saying: "Don't be afraid. This was inevitable ... from the moment we met. I knew you were the one for me... and you knew it, too, didn't you? It happens like that sometimes."

  For a moment I lay against him. Go away, Ann Alice, I thought. I am not you, I am myself. Your life ended in that walled-up room: but I am here, alive and I want to be with this man, because it is true that I love him—if loving is wanting to be with him, close to him, sharing his life.

  He was quick to sense my mood. He picked me up in his arms and set me down in the canoe.

  He took the pins out of my hair and put them in his pocket which I thought fleetingly was rather a practical thing to do. I should need to put my hair up before I returned to Cariba. The thought crossed my mind that he had probably done this before.

  He said: "You look beautiful."

  I replied: "How many women have you brought to this island ... to this canoe?"

  "You have the honour of being the first and I swear here that there shall never be another. Perhaps you and I will make a pilgrimage here before we leave for England. We will remember this night... the true beginning."

  "The beginning of what?" :« "Of shared love."

  "So you think that the seduction will be completed tonight?"

  "It's an ideal spot. Very romantic really if you don't mind being a little cramped, and it may be that the canoe lacks that pristine brightness which it must once have had. Outside the gentle swishing of the waves on the sand and about us the gentle Heavensent mist."

  "No," I said.

  "No?"

  "I don't want that."

  "My dearest Annalice, do you think I don't know you'.' You do.

  You love me... you want me absolutely ... as I want you. And you have for a long time."

  "I have explained to you that I am almost engaged to someone else."

  "After tonight you will realize that is quite out of the question."

  I ignored that remark and said: "This smells of the sea."

  "What did you expect it to smell of? The perfumes of Araby?"

  He was beside me and his arms were about me.

  "I want you to listen to me," I said.

  "I am listening."

  "I realize I am here at your mercy. You are physically stronger than I. If I resist you can overcome me. Is that what you intend to do?"

  "You will come to me willingly."

  "Yes," I said, "or not at all."

  "But since you admit to my superior strength, how could I fail?"

  "You could have a temporary success if you forced me. That would be rape."

  "That is the technical term."

  "I should never forget it and never forgive it. You might get temporary satisfaction but that would tell me what I have been trying to discover for a long time."

  "You don't mean that."

  "I swear that I do. I would leave at once. I would take Felicity with me. I would tell her what had happened. I believe that if she feels she has to look after me she would regain her strength. She would understand. Similar things happened to her. She had no redress. She happened to be married to her brute. I am free and I will come to you willingly ... not on a makeshift bed because the opportunity was there, but because I want to, because it is of my own free will."

  He kissed me gently. "Yes," he said. "Go on."

  "This is a night for the truth, is it not?"

  "It is."

  "I will explain. I think I am in love with you. I want to be with you. I think I am happier with you than anywhere else. But I did care for Raymond Billington. He is quite unlike you... self-effacing almost, selfless. You are not like that."

  "More human" he said.

  "Indeed yes. You stride in and take what you want. You can take me now but that means you will lose me forever."

  He said: "It wouldn't be like that. I would show you what joy we could give each other. I would make you see how well we suit each other. I would show you that we could have a lifetime of happiness together."

  "How well do you know me?"

  "Very well indeed. That is why I love you, because I know you so well and that tells me you are the one for me."

  "Then if you know me well you will know my pride. I would not submit to you. I would come willingly or not at all. You see, I was with Felicity in that dreadful house where she suffered nightly. She was not the only one who was affected by what happened there. I was, too. And I know that when I married or loved a man I would never submit. I would be his equal. I would not be forced ... as Felicity was. Do you understand?"

  "Yes," he said. "Go on."

  "I think I want to be with you more than anyone. But t
here is Raymond. I know Raymond well. He is gentle and kind. I think I could be happy with him. There would not be the excitement I should know with you. I am fully aware of that. It would be even... no heights... no depths..."

  "Which you would find excessively dull."

  "Not dull. Just pleasant... sailing along on an even keel."

  "Squalls come along on the smoothest seas. Mists..."

  "Yes, I know, but Raymond could be relied on."

  "And I should not be."

  "I should never be sure. You have known many women, I don't doubt."

  "And Raymond has been completely chaste, of course. The perfect knight. Was it Galahad? I expect he is sitting at home polishing his holy grail and not worrying about what is happening to you."

  I couldn't help laughing. "That is ridiculous," I said.

  "It is your fault for introducing such a paragon on such a night as this."

  "And don't forget," I reminded him, "I came out here for a purpose. I want to find my brother. I have an extraordinary feeling that I am going to solve the mystery."

  "You are still thinking of the stranger on Lion Island."

  "Yes," I answered. "I am."

  "And where does he come in?"

  "It is so strange. Sometimes I feel I am really Ann Alice ... that she is part of me. That she lives again through me."

  "You were bemused by this man. Do you know, I think he is more dangerous than the saintly Raymond."

  I was silent. Was he? Here was I lying in a canoe with this man whose very presence excited me and it was as though Ann Alice was there with me, putting words into my mouth ... telling me that 1 must keep myself chaste as she was ... so that when the time came for her

  to marry Magnus Perrensen she could go to him as a bride should. But she had died. It was as though she had chosen me to play out the life which had been denied her.

  "You have some very strange ideas," he said, kissing my forehead.

  "I have been truthful to you. You were Magda Manuel's lover, were you not?"

  He hesitated. Then he said: "She was lonely and there she was up there... her husband an invalid. I used to go often. We became very friendly."

  "And the husband?"

  "I think he knew."

  "I see ... a convenient arrangement."

  "It was not meant to be a match, you know. I was still waiting for you to come along. It is a pity you delayed so long."