The Isle of Song

by Hilary Wilde

  Simon stood up abruptly, asking them to excuse him as he had a letter to write. No one except Kate seemed to notice he had gone. Nancy was trying to teach

  Adam a rhyme she had learned as a child. She was laughing because he was pretending he could not remember a word, and Kate thought, remembering Simon's unexpected anxiety about Adam, that Simon must be feeling pleased about it. Not that Simon would ever say anything. He seemed to find it hard to give praise, even when it was due. Yet, oddly enough, Nancy loved working for him. Nancy, Kate thought, who normally needed appreciation and spoken praise.

  Caterina and Jerome were involved in an argument about the new hospital that would have to be built to take care of any ill or injured tourists and the large staff required to run the different hotels. Jerome had produced a massive drawing which Caterina was studying.

  Quietly Kate stood up and left the room, hurrying a little as she reached the staircase, her honey-brown silky hair bobbing as she moved. This was her chance to slip in and see Mike.

  He was sound asleep, his thin body sprawled across the bed under the mosquito netting. Gently Kate straightened his limbs, tucked the white sheet loosely round him, and brushed his forehead with her fingers. He seemed cooler. Maybe the injection Caterina had given him was helping.

  She left the room, closing the door quietly behind her, just as Jerome came along the passage.

  He smiled. 'Two minds with the same thought,' he said quietly. 'How is he ?'

  `He seems much cooler,' said Kate, grateful that it was Jerome who had seen her leaving Mike's room, and not Simon.

  Jerome nodded. `Caterina said these things take time. Now I'm beginning to understand Simon's insistence that we all wear sneakers when we're on the reef. Caterina says the cuts can be very dangerous.' He paused, looking shrewdly at Kate. 'You're not really worried about Mike, are you ?' he added.

  Kate shook her head. 'Not worried at all, Jerome, it's just I thought he might be thirsty or ... or maybe couldn't sleep.'

  Jerome's hand was warm on Kate's bare arm. 'Dear Kate, I often wonder how we'd have managed without you,' he said, his voice, a little unsteady. The illness you've nursed us through, the depressions ...'

  `I loved it, Jerome,' Kate said quickly, and realized that it was the truth.

  She had loved it. Loved being needed by them, being necessary to them, in fact. Maybe that was the reason for her feeling of being out of things here. No one needed her. And a woman, Kate thought worriedly, had to be 'needed' if she was to feel complete. Maybe Simon understood that — maybe he hadn't meant to be sarcastic when he called her 'a happy martyr', for that was what she had been ! Yet his voice had been so ... so chilling, so unpleasant.

  `Kate, we're very lucky to have a doctor like Caterina here,' Jerome was saying earnestly.

  They walked down the passage to an alcove where there was a couch by a large window. It was uncurtained and they could see a huge orange moon in the dark sky.

  `I know we are,' agreed Kate.

  They sat down, Kate tucking her feet under her

  frock. It was not often she and Jerome were alone and she welcomed the little moment of intimacy. She was very fond of Jerome and realized how much she had missed his companionship.

  `She's a wonderful woman,' Jerome went on thoughtfully. 'I know she lost the man she loved, but I can't understand why she's never married again.'

  `I agree,' Kate agreed quickly. 'She's so lovely to look at, and so intelligent.'

  `And such a fine woman,' Jerome added. He hesitated for a moment, stroking the pattern of the damask that covered the couch as if he was seeking the right words. D'you think Simon and Caterina are in love ?' he asked abruptly.

  Kate had asked herself the same question a hundred times but having it put into blunt words came, surprisingly, as a shock.

  `I . . . I don't know,' she said slowly. 'Sometimes I think they are, sometimes I wonder. The way Caterina talks about Simon makes me think she is.'

  `The trouble, to my mind, is that Caterina is a strong woman,' Jerome pointed out. 'Maybe Simon is looking for a doormat.'

  They both laughed.

  `You could be right,' Kate said. 'He's so sure of himself, maybe it irritates him to have anyone stand up to him.'

  `On the other hand,' said Jerome, 'it might be good for him.'

  Kate laughed. 'I wish I could do it, but I do so hate it when he gets sarcastic,' she confessed.

  Jerome looked startled. 'I don't think he means to

  be. It's just his sense of humour.'

  `A very strange one,' Kate said dryly.

  Jerome looked worried. 'Kate, he's a kind man. He wouldn't willingly hurt anyone.'

  `I know, but . . .' Kate agreed. They sat in silence for a moment, Kate telling herself that perhaps she had been foolish to let Simon browbeat her. Maybe she should stand up to him.

  Jerome turned abruptly. 'Kate, I've just thought of something. D'you think it's her work ? Caterina's, I mean? After all, she's a dedicated doctor and she loves her work here. How would that affect her life with Simon, I wonder ?'

  Startled, Kate swung round to look at him. 'But she couldn't just stop being a doctor.'

  `That's what I mean.'

  For a moment, they stared at one another and then Jerome went on:

  `You see, Kate, this isn't the beginning and end of Simon's life. He's a wealthy, ambitious man, his head's full of new projects. That means he'll be travelling. How does that fit in with Caterina's long-term plans for this island ?'

  `Perhaps he could make this his headquarters?'

  Jerome looked sceptical. 'What sort of marriage would that be ? Can you see Simon accepting a part-time wife ?'

  Kate found herself smiling. 'No, I certainly can't. But if Caterina loves him ..

  `Ah, but does she love him that much? Caterina is a woman, not a girl on the threshold of life. She's chosen her path, I doubt if she'd ever leave it,' Jerome

  said thoughtfully. 'What a terrible choice to be asked to make ...' He stopped speaking abruptly as Nancy came up the stairs.

  `Hi!' she greeted them cheerfully. 'Having a natter?' She came to join them. Party's broken up. Simon, looking very stern, came in after you two vanished and suggested Adam and I played table tennis. You should have seen poor Adam's face!' She laughed. 'I don't think he's ever played in his life, and he got in such a mess trying to get out of playing that I took pity on him and said I was tired.'

  Kate stood up. 'I am,' she confessed, yawning. "Night, you two.'

  "Night,' they both said, with one voice, and Kate left them, Nancy curling up on the couch by her stepfather's side as they began to talk.

  Alone in her room, the huge golden-red moon shining in, Kate quickly undressed in the dark, tying her soft green dressing-gown round her, thrusting her feet into matching mules. She went to the window, staring out at the magical beauty of the scene — the palms starkly still in the moonlight, the wide silver pathway across the dark lagoon. Distantly she could hear music, the twanging of guitars, the soft nostalgic music of the Polynesians.

  On an impulse, she opened the windows and stepped out on to the balcony, quickly closing the screen doors behind her to keep the mosquitoes out of her room. She stood very still, drinking in the beauty before her. Where else in the world could you see, hear and smell such beauty? The strange sweet tang of the tropical flowers drifted up towards her — the odd

  nocturnal sounds of birds and animals, the distant roar of the breakers on the reef and all the time, the quiet but stirring music of the singers.

  `Look, we've been over this a thousand times,' a deep voice said from below.

  Startled, Kate leant over the balcony rail and then drew back hastily into the shadow thrown by the overhanging roof. Her bedroom was above the drawing-room and Simon and Caterina must have just walked out into the garden. Kate stood very still. What should she do? Discreetly cough to let them know they were not alone ? Or would Simon think she had been snooping? Open the door which they were
bound to hear and which would be even worse? Before she had time to decide, it was too late, so she stood still, flattening herself against the wall.

  `And likely to go over it a thousand times more,' Caterina replied, her voice husky yet trembling with what sounded like anger.

  `Caterina, please be sensible. See it from my point of view,' said Simon, his voice almost pleading.

  `You want me to be sensible ?' Caterina's voice rose slightly. 'How like a man ! You are all the same. Impossible!' Her slight accent was becoming stronger as if she was growing angrier every moment. 'Selfish. What about me ? I am a dedicated woman and you talk such nonsense. It has happened before — always you men say .

  `Caterina,' Simon's voice was stern, 'I wouldn't argue that, for I do respect your point of view. At the same time, you must see that it's ridiculous to expect me to agree ...'

  `Simon—' Caterina's husky voice broke, 'I refuse to argue. Why I have patience with you, I do not know!'

  `I do,' Simon replied dryly. 'You have a one-track mind and refuse to see my point of view.'

  `You've a one-track mind, you mean. Selfish, blind, unable to look ahead. What sort of future will .

  `Look, let's stop arguing and call it a night,' Simon said abruptly. 'My answer is still no – I cannot agree.'

  `That is your last word? It is senseless to argue with so stubborn a man,' Caterina told him. 'I do not wish to stay any longer. My car is in the drive. I will go!'

  `I'll follow in my car in case . . Simon began, but Caterina cut him short abruptly.

  `Please do not trouble. You will only offend me more. I feel exhausted enough already without driving to the hospital with your bright lights continually chivvying me to drive faster.'

  `As you wish,' Simon said stiffly, and Kate heard him moving and then the closing of the french windows below.

  She could see Caterina hurrying across the velvet smooth lawn in her high heels. And Kate saw something else, something that was most disturbing.

  Caterina was crying.

  Slapping the mosquitoes that had been viciously biting her, Kate hurried into her bedroom, sliding into bed, pulling the sheet over her. Why had Caterina wept? What was the quarrel about? Perhaps Jerome was right – Caterina and Simon were in love, but neither would give way. Caterina would always want to be a doctor – yet wasn't it natural for Simon to want, as Jerome put it, a full-time wife?

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE next day Simon left the island. Adam told Kate that Simon had business to attend to in Papeete and might be away for a week or longer, but Kate wondered if it had anything to do with Simon's quarrel with Caterina.

  It was a strange week to Kate — somehow the island seemed different. The sun still shone, the strange wind still blew the palm trees wildly in abandoned dances —the islanders still sang and strummed their guitars, but the island was different.

  Maybe it was the relaxed atmosphere, Kate decided. Adam and Nancy seemed to be becoming more friendly, Jerome spent several evenings at the hospital with Caterina, and Kate found herself free to sit in Great-Aunt Adele's studio, gazing at the paintings or reading the diaries.

  The day Simon returned on a schooner was one Kate would never forget. She was working with Adam in the office when Tehutu, the Polynesian maid, came running. The pretty girl looked terrified. Kate was wanted.

  `Quick, quick, quick !' called Tehutu, and turned and ran back to the big house.

  Kate and Adam stared at one another.

  `I didn't know Simon was back,' said Adam.

  `Why does he want to see me so urgently ?' Kate asked, absurdly scared.

  `Probably some small thing,' Adam said comfortingly. `Simon's living under great tension and the smallest problem can explode into a major disaster.'

  `That doesn't sound like him,' Kate said.

  Adam smiled. 'I know, but even Simon is human —at times. You'd better hurry, Kate, don't make it worse.'

  Kate obeyed, telling herself it was ridiculous to feel so scared. Simon was only a man, after all. The worst that could happen would be for him to be displeased with her work and say she must go — and he wouldn't do that, for he was pleased with both Nancy's and Jerome's !

  Simon was alone in his office when Kate reached it. There was no sign of Nancy, Kate noticed, but then that was probably because no one had known Simon was returning that day and Nancy had no work left to do.

  `You wanted to see me ?' Kate asked as she stood in the doorway, Simon ignoring her while he finished writing some letters.

  He looked up. 'Yes,' he said curtly. 'Sit down.'

  Kate obeyed, annoyed with herself for feeling like a schoolgirl in the presence of the headmaster.

  Simon looked at her, his strange grey-gold eyes narrowed thoughtfully. It seemed an endless moment. Was he doing it on purpose, Kate wondered, to terrify her? Defiantly she lifted her head and looked at him. When he spoke, his accusing voice and unexpected words were like a slap in the face.

  `Why did you tell Georgia that Jerome only got the job because I liked you ?' he asked.

  Kate caught her breath. She was on her feet in a moment.

  `I never said anything of the sort,' she began angrily — and then stopped speaking, feeling the hot colour in her cheeks.

  Simon looked up at her. 'You can't deny it, can you ?' he said coldly.

  `Yes, I can,' retorted Kate, finding courage again. 'I didn't tell her that, but she asked me how well I knew you and I told the truth. That I had only seen you three times. The first was when I went to see you before Jerome got the job and...'

  `Which implied that it was because of you I gave Jerome the job,' Simon pointed out.

  Kate coloured again. 'I didn't mean it to sound that way, because it wasn't the truth.'

  `It most certainly wasn't,' Simon said with cutting contempt. 'I've never yet engaged a man because I liked his daughter — or stepdaughter. In fact, had I met you first, I doubt very much if I'd have considered Jerome at all. I dislike men who are tied down by domestic ties.'

  `Jerome was not tied down,' Kate began.

  `I engaged Jerome because I believed him to be a good architect,' Simon continued, ignoring Kate's words. 'I offered him the job and discovered that he was in bondage to his family.'

  `That's not true and you know it,' Kate said angrily. `Jerome was never in bondage, as you put it. But a married man — and a father — has certain responsibilities and ...'

  `How smug you sound, Kate,' Simon said. 'Is life as

  straightforward as that? A man marries and so he must never again do what he wants to do ? He must knuckle under and do what his family says ?'

  Kate was so angry she could hardly speak. 'You're deliberately distorting everything, and you know it! Jerome was never in bondage to us. I tried to keep the home together ... if I'd been older, able to earn more money, we might have managed, but ...' Suddenly her anger vanished as she remembered something. `Are people talking about us in Papeete ?' she asked.

  Simon nodded. 'Yes, they are.'

  `Then it's your fault,' she said accusingly, her voice triumphant. 'Everyone saw us when you carried me down the pier in your arms, like some bold sheikh kidnapping a slave!' she added scornfully. 'No wonder people are talking when you do things like that!'

  She saw by Simon's face that her taunt had reached its mark. He had forgotten that ridiculous moment on the pier.

  `I was in a hurry and you were walking slowly,' Simon began, and then stopped as if recognizing the foolishness of such an excuse.

  Kate was still caught up in her courage-giving anger. 'I think you owe me an apology,' she told him. `I certainly don't want my name linked with yours!'

  She was startled and annoyed, when Simon burst out laughing. She stood there, staring at him indignantly, as he laughed and laughed, moving in his chair as if unable to stop laughing.

  `I don't think it's very funny,' she said stiffly.

  In a moment, Simon stopped laughing. He stood up and came to stand near her, tower
ing above her. Then

  he put his hands on her shoulders and she could feel the pressure of his warm fingers.

  `It isn't really funny, Kate,' he admitted, 'but I was furious with you for having got me mixed up in the irritating gossip that Papeete is full of — and then I learn it was my own fault. I apologize,' he said solemnly, but there was laughter still in his eyes.

  Kate found herself smiling up at him. 'I apologize, too,' she said. 'Maybe I should have made sure Georgia understood what I meant, but she was always in such a hurry.'

  `I know,' said Simon, and took his hands from her shoulders. 'Well now, having cleared the air, where's that lazy sister of yours ?'

  `We didn't expect you back yet and she's finished all you left her to do,' Kate said quickly.

  Simon frowned. 'Do stop clucking like a broody hen, Kate, I'm not going to tear a strip off Nancy. I just have some letters to dictate. She's probably swimming or sunbathing. I'll find her.'

  Kate walked slowly back through the hot sunshine to the office. She felt absurdly elated and ridiculously deflated at the same moment. Elated because she'd had the courage to stand up to Simon — deflated because it had seemed an anti-climax when he scolded her for fussing. Had she leapt to Nancy's defence? Was she too inclined to worry about the others? Yet she couldn't help it. She loved them. She was made that way.

  Adam looked up with a grin. 'Glad to see you're in one piece,' he said.

  Kate sat down. 'Just a misunderstanding,' she said

  tersely. 'For once Simon was wrong and apologized.'

  Adam whistled softly. 'He actually apologized ?'

  Kate turned round and suddenly began to laugh. `It was funny, really, Adam,' she confessed. 'I couldn't see it before, but...'