by Anne Mather
Maria shook her head. ‘Boys bore me. I guess being with Nick such a lot spoils me for younger men. I like Harvey…but he just considers me a precocious child. He likes me, I think, but he’s in his thirties and I’m not sixteen yet.’
Madeline sighed. ‘I think you’re too young to care anyway,’ she remarked. ‘After all, with your opportunities, you’re bound to meet lots of eligible young men and you’ll forget all about Harvey Cummings.’
‘I doubt it,’ said Maria seriously, and then smiled. Let’s talk about something else – Easter, for instance. We’re going to Italy for Easter. Grandmother has a house in a place called Vilentia. It’s about fifty miles south of Rome, a village on the Mediterranean coast. The house is divine, all flower-clustered balconies and terraces with fountains playing in the courtyard. Grandfather had the house built for her after the war. The village is just a collection of whitewashed dwellings, and the people are warm and friendly.’
‘It sounds wonderful,’ agreed Madeline, smiling.
‘It is. Of course, I like the yacht just as much. My father called it the Maria Christina after me. My grandmother’s name is Christina, too.’
‘A yacht?’ Madeline shook her head in bewilderment.
‘Didn’t you know?’ Maria sighed. ‘It’s lying in the bay of Naples at the moment, I believe, but I expect Nick will go and bring it to Vilentia.’ She laughed. ‘Don’t look so concerned! Naturally my father has all the attributes that money can buy.’
‘It’s rather frightening,’ confessed Madeline. ‘There’s such an enormous gulf between us. I’m surprised he even looked in my direction.’
She was speaking half to herself, thoughts which were rampant in her mind, but Maria laid a hand on her arm, warmly.
‘I think that’s the reason why he did,’ she murmured, ‘if you won’t think I’m speaking out of turn. Nick is so utterly sick of these society women with their penchant for handsome, moneyed men. They think appearances are everything and spend literally pounds or dollars, just as you like, a day on their faces and figures. You’re not at all like them. You seem natural and unassuming, and you don’t need expensive corseting to give you a slim figure, or loads of cosmetics to clear your complexion. A man wants a woman who looks as good in the morning when she gets up as she did the evening before when they were dining out.’
Madeline looked astonished. ‘It’s hardly believable that you’re only fifteen!’ she exclaimed. ‘You seem to understand so many things.’
Maria smiled. ‘As I said before, I’ve always had Nick to guide me. I don’t think I could ever take people in our set on their face value alone, after the things Nick has experienced.’
Madeline reflected that Nick seemed to have made a better job of bringing up Maria, for all their rarefied atmosphere, than she had Diana.
There was suddenly a ring at the doorbell and Maria rose to her feet. ‘That will be Harvey. I’ll go.’
Harvey strolled in looking tall and familiar in light slacks and a sweater.
‘Hi there!’ he said, smiling. ‘How’s the gorgeous widow?’
Madeline managed to control her embarrassment and Maria giggled.
‘Say, that was a nice brush-off you gave me last week,’ he continued accusingly. ‘There you were, with Nick hardly out of the country, eating dinner with that creep Sinclair.’
‘Adrian is not a creep!’ exclaimed Madeline indignantly. ‘And Nick knows all about Adrian, although why I should explain my actions to you I can’t imagine.’
‘Ignore him,’ advised Maria, and picked up her straw boater.
‘I’m your guardian, Midge, while your dear papa is away,’ he reminded her, ‘and I’ll have a bit more respect from you if you don’t mind.’
‘Don’t call me Midge!’ she exclaimed exasperatedly. ‘The name is Maria. M.A.R.I.A.’ She spelt it out for him.’
‘Is that a fact?’ exclaimed Harvey good-naturedly. ‘Well, there’s a little gem of wisdom I’ve learnt today!’ He dodged Maria’s playful punch and turned again to Madeline. ‘Look, Madeline, how about you coming and having lunch with us today? You have to be there at two-thirty for Nick’s call, so why not come now and be done with it?’
‘Oh, yes, do come,’ said Maria eagerly. ‘Harv’s right. Nick is telephoning at two-thirty.’
Madeline frowned. ‘But what about Diana?’ she exclaimed. ‘No, really, thank you, I can’t leave her to fend for herself.’
Maria grimaced. ‘I would say bring her with you, but I doubt if she would come,’ she said knowledgeably.
Madeline nodded. ‘That’s true. No, thank you all the same, but I’ll come over after lunch. I can come on my scooter.’
Harvey shrugged. ‘Okay, suit yourself. But I think you’re crazy, turning down an invitation to lunch with me!’
Madeline laughed and they all moved to the door. ‘I’ll see you later,’ she said. ‘I’m sure Harvey will give you lunch, Maria.’
Maria grimaced again. ‘I’m sure he will, except that Miss Sykes, my companion, will expect to be invited as chaperon. She’s an English lady, who my father employed when I was just a child. I suppose that’s why I can speak English so well. We use it a lot at home.’
‘Ah, the good Miss Sykes!’ exclaimed Harvey. ‘A delightful person!’
Maria pushed him out of the door. ‘She’s all right, I suppose, when you consider she’s a middle-aged spinster and rather old-fashioned.’
Madeline looked amused and Maria sighed. ‘Aren’t I unkind? Seriously, she’s not so bad. Well, let’s go, Harvey. See you later, Madeline. I may call you Madeline, mayn’t I?’
‘Of course,’ Madeline nodded. After they had gone she closed the door and leant back against it weakly. Now she had time to wonder what on earth Nicholas wanted to speak to her about and she couldn’t help but feel anxious.
As she prepared lunch she wished Diana had been more like Maria. They could have both gone for lunch at the Stag with Maria and Harvey and she had little doubt but that they would have enjoyed themselves. Harvey was very good company and she could understand how much Maria liked him, knowing that he was very close to Nick himself.
Diana came home in a bad humour. Jeff had spent the entire morning questioning her about Maria and she had naturally objected to it. Had Maria been a friend, Diana would probably have laughed it off, but Maria belonged to the ‘enemy’ and was therefore taboo.
She ate her lunch in silence and when Madeline said she was going over to the Stag to take a telephone call that afternoon, Diana raised no objections. Madeline wasn’t sure whether she preferred the silent, moody Diana or the aggressive antagonist. Either way wasn’t particularly pleasant.
She did not change to ride over to the Stag on her scooter and merely donned her sheepskin coat. It was fine, but a slightly overcast sky preluded rain later and the wind was still chilly.
The Stag was still full of lunchtime visitors and she felt rather conspicuous and unsophisticated in her slacks when she approached the reception desk. The reception clerk gave her a strange, aloof look and said:
‘Yes, madam. Can I help you?’
Madeline nodded. ‘Yes. Could you tell Miss Maria Vitale that I’m here? The name is Mrs. Scott.’
To say the clerk looked surprised was a gross understatement. The Vitales were his most influential guests and if this girl wanted to see Miss Vitale then she could not be exactly what she seemed.
‘Certainly, madam,’ he murmured politely now, and lifted the inter-communication telephone.
A few moments later a bell-boy escorted Madeline, via the lift, to Maria’s suite. It was further along the same corridor as that accommodating Nicholas’s suite and Maria herself opened the door.
Dismissing the boy with a casual smile, Maria drew Madeline into the room. As in Nicholas’s suite the rooms were massive and opulently furnished and Madeline wondered how Maria could live in such surroundings without becoming a little prig. She realized anew that for all Nicholas’s rather inconsequent mann
er at times he had given Maria a strong sense of values.
A woman rose from a low couch as they entered. Dressed in a tweed suit and thick stockings she could be none other than Maria’s companion, Miss Sykes. Her rather sparse, mousy-coloured hair was fixed in a bun at the nape of her neck and Madeline mused that she was the living image of everyone’s idea of a governess.
But she had a sweet and generous smile and Madeline took an immediate liking to her.
Maria introduced them and then looked at her watch, a slim platinum bracelet with a tiny watch face taking the place of one of the links.
‘It’s only two-fifteen,’ she remarked, smiling. ‘Sit down, Madeline. I’ve ordered coffee and we can have that while we wait for the call.’
Madeline was a bundle of nerves. She alternately wished the call was coming through and yet dreaded the outcome when it did so.
‘I understand you work for a schoolmaster, is that right?’ asked Miss Sykes, accepting one of Madeline’s cigarettes, much to Madeline’s surprise. Tobacco didn’t quite fit in with the image, she thought half-amusedly to herself.
‘Yes, that’s right,’ replied Madeline, glad of something to take her mind from the next few minutes. ‘I’m Adrian Sinclair’s secretary. He’s the headmaster of one of the schools here in Otterbury.’
‘I see,’ Miss Sykes nodded. ‘I used to be a secretary once. Not to a schoolteacher, though. My employer was a writer, John Brooks – have you heard of him?’
‘Have I not?’ exclaimed Madeline with interest ‘I’ve read all his books. I think he’s a fascinating writer.’
‘Who’s fascinating? Are you talking about me again?’ A door had opened and Harvey strolled in and immediately the conversation became a light-hearted banter.
Madeline laughed and even Miss Sykes allowed herself a discreet chuckle. Coffee was brought in and they all had some, even Harvey, who remarked that something stronger would have been more to his liking.
At two-thirty, almost exactly, the telephone pealed shrilly.
Madeline felt her nerves jangle with the noise and Maria rose swiftly to her feet.
‘There’s an extension in my bedroom,’ she said, indicating a door across the room. ‘Would you like to take the call there, Madeline?’
Madeline blessed her understanding nature and rose too.
‘Oh, yes, thank you,’ she said eagerly, and Maria smiled as she lifted the receiver.
Madeline waited to make sure it was Nicholas calling and when Maria nodded her head, she walked quickly into the bedroom and closed the door. She had a hazy impression of rose-coloured carpet and drapes and a pure white satin bedspread, before she lifted the white receiver of the telephone.
She sank down on to a low basket chair and listened for her cue.
She heard Maria greet her father and then say: ‘Madeline is waiting on the other phone. I’ll let you speak to her right away.’
Nicholas’s deep voice was music to Madeline’s ears as Maria replaced her receiver and he said: ‘Madeline, honey, is that you?’
‘Yes, it’s me,’ she managed huskily. ‘How are you, Nick?’
‘In health or temper?’ he asked a little dryly. ‘Oh, I’m okay, I guess. Have you missed me?’
‘That’s a leading question,’ she parried evasively.
‘Well, I’ve sure missed you,’ he muttered roughly. ‘But listen, honey. I can’t get back before next Saturday.’
Madeline pressed a hand to her stomach. ‘Oh, Nick…’ she murmured, a little desperately.
‘Don’t you think I know how you feel?’ he groaned. ‘I want to come back right away, today even, but I can’t. We’re expecting some overseas visitors, buyers I should say, and the board seem to think they should take a more active interest in the deal. At any rate, I said I would stay for a few days at least. Can you understand?’
Madeline sighed. ‘Darling, of course,’ she murmured softly, and heard him catch his breath.
‘I rang you today because I guessed you’d be expecting me back this weekend some time and I didn’t want you to think I was in the country and not contacting you.’ He chuckled. ‘I guess I’ll have to ring you every day for another week. Do you think you can stand it? or will I cause a riot?’
‘I don’t care,’ she replied easily. ‘I’d adore you to ring me whatever happens. It’s wonderful speaking to you like this. I can almost imagine you’re in the same room.’
‘I wish I was,’ he muttered intensely, and then sighed. ‘I guess I’d better go out on the golf course today and get rid of some of this emotional turmoil…’ He chuckled and she felt her stomach lurch.
‘Who will you play golf with?’ she asked swiftly.
‘My brother-in-law,’ he replied lazily. ‘Don’t worry, darling, there won’t be any other women now.’
Madeline felt her hands grow clammy. His voice was so wonderfully warm and expressive and she knew in that moment that he meant what he said.
‘I’m glad,’ she managed a little tightly, wanting to cry because he was so far away and she so wanted to touch him; feel him close to her again.
‘Are you?’ he murmured. ‘But surely you knew that already?’
‘I think I did,’ she admitted, her heart leaping. ‘But I’ll be glad when you’re back.’
‘So shall I! Now, about Saturday, could you come up to London and meet me when I land?
Madeline’s fingers tightened round the receiver. ‘Oh, yes,’ she breathed expectantly.
‘Good. I leave here late Saturday afternoon, so I guess it will be about seven when I arrive in London. Could you find out the exact time of arrival?’
‘Of course. Will Maria be meeting you too?’
‘God, no. I want you all to myself,’ he muttered passionately. ‘She already knows about this, so all you’ve got to do is get yourself to the airport in time to meet the plane – right?’
‘Right,’ she said, feeling lightheartedness stealing over her. In five days they would be together – well! six days anyway. It was wonderful.
‘How have you been?’ he asked suddenly. ‘I’ve been so busy talking about other things I forgot the formalities.’
‘Oh, I’m all right. I had dinner with Adrian again last night. Do you mind?’
‘It’s a bit late now to ask,’ he remarked dryly, ‘but no, I don’t mind. I don’t think I have anything to be jealous about there.
‘And Harvey? Would you be jealous about him?’
‘Of course,’ he muttered shortly. ‘Hell, Madeline, what’s Harvey been up to?’
‘Nothing, darling. But he came up to Adrian and me last week and asked me to go dancing with him and the Lucases.’
‘Is that right?’ Nicholas sounded amused.
‘What’s amusing you?’ she was curious.
‘Simply that I asked Harv to keep an eye on you as well as Maria while I was away and he was probably trying to protect my interests by luring you away from Sinclair.’
‘Oh!’ Madeline felt reasonably pleased.
‘Harvey knows what he can and can’t do as far as you are concerned,’ went on Nicholas softly.
‘Does he? That sounds intriguing.”
‘Yes, but I don’t intend going into that over the telephone. Not even when I know you are at the hotel. It has been terrible this past week telephoning you at the office. I always have the feeling that Sinclair is listening in.’
‘Oh, Nick!’
‘Well, anyway, this place has no appeal for me just now. My mother can’t understand my restlessness to be back in England, or why I’m not going out as I usually do.’
‘And how is your mother?’
‘She’s fine. She’s naturally looking forward to visiting her relatives in America.’
Madeline was suddenly conscious that they had been talking for quite a while and she said: ‘This call must be costing you the earth.’
He laughed. ‘Not only in lire, cara. I’m convinced I’m losing weight by the minute.’
Madelin
e smiled at this. It was so wonderful to know that all her anxieties of the past week had been unnecessary.
‘Well,’ she murmured half-heartedly, not wanting to break contact with him. ‘Saturday will soon be here. Look after yourself and – and be good.’
‘Madeline, the only woman I want is a thousand miles away!’ he groaned. ‘I couldn’t be anything else! Even I am unable to console myself on that score.’
‘Good,’ she whispered, her voice shaky. ‘Good-bye, Nick.’
‘G’bye, honey, till Saturday.’
Madeline replaced the receiver, and felt the hot tears flood her eyes, which was ridiculous considering she had nothing to cry about. Hastily she dried her eyes and stood up, looking at her reflection in the dressing-table mirrors. Fortunately the tears did not show and she hoped no one would notice anything amiss. She almost wished she could steal away without seeing anyone and relive every word he had said in private.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE week that followed dragged by, each day seeming interminable to Madeline. The only bright spots were the telephone calls from Nicholas, but they were only short, and as she was at work she felt unable to express herself with any spontaneity. Nicholas was wrapped up in his work and was obviously finding it absorbing.
Diana, who had known that Nicholas had gone to Italy, couldn’t understand why he hadn’t returned, and she half began to think that he had indeed gone for good. Was it possible that his visit to England had only been a flying one? Surely it was possible that a man in his position should have to spend a great deal of time travelling around making certain that his subordinates were working smoothly.
She saw Jeff several times, but he talked about Maria Vitale and it was obvious that he hoped to meet her again. Diana got impatient when he said how attractive she was and refused to discuss her with him.
Madeline herself tried several times to tell Diana that she was going up to London on Saturday evening to meet Nicholas. Diana had a habit of changing the subject if she thought the conversation was veering into channels which she did not like and Madeline grew impatient with her.
Finally, at tea-time on the Friday evening, she said bluntly: