Tomorrow's Treasure

by Linda Lee Chaikin

  Inga’s eyes glittered and darted toward the closed door. Katie’s old nurse did not like Sir Julien. He was involved in British policy to bring all of South Africa under the Union Jack. Inga had lost her husband years ago in the first skirmishes between the Dutch Afrikaners—the “people of Africa”—and the British. Since then, the Dutch-settled area of South Africa, the Transvaal, had been annexed to the growing realm of the British Empire.

  But that did not put an end to the Dutch resistance to British rule.

  Inga’s low whisper pulled Katie back to the matters at hand. “Do you remember the missionaries who came here to see Sir Julien a year ago?”

  “Vaguely.” Katie frowned. “What about them?”

  “Dr. Clyde Varley, his name is. An’ the missus is a young mite. Junia Varley is her name. Junia’s sister is married to the vicar of Grimston Way in England. Dr. Varley and Missus Junia have your little one at the mission station near Isandlwana.”

  Katie stood still, her fingers tightening. “Who told you this?”

  “The Zulu woman. The one the missionaries turned into a Christian.”

  “Jendaya?” A hopeful excitement began to stir. Katie had seen Jendaya many times around the grounds of Cape House. The girl had been driven out of the Zulu kraal of beehive huts near Isandlwana, and she lived in danger of being put to death for her decision to be baptized in the Buffalo River near the mission.

  Jendaya now spent her time between the Isandlwana mission and the African huts on Sir Julien’s estate. Katie had seen the young woman in the stables with Dumaka and had at first mistaken them for lovers, but Jendaya had explained that he was her brother. Though Dumaka was not a Christian, he too had been driven from Zululand for not publicly disowning his sister. Jendaya was still trying to get Dumaka to visit the mission station and talk to the “wise daktari” about the God of gods, but Dumaka resisted. He was angry with his sister for causing him shame—and he was resentful of the “white skins” for interfering with his people. Though he lived and worked at Cape House, his gaze was not warm toward Sir Julien Bley or anyone in Capetown, be they British or Boer—especially the Boer, who were the Dutch.

  Katie forced herself to release Inga’s arm. “Send for Jendaya! Have her come below my window. I must talk to her.”

  Inga shook her braided head. “She is gone again, miss. She only came to the back kitchen door asking for me to say your little one was safe with the daktari’s wife.”

  The sound of carriage wheels distracted Katie. She hurried to the window, drew the portieres aside, and looked down into the courtyard. The coach was a hired taxi, and a tall man in black hat and cape was paying the driver. The driver rushed to unload the gentleman’s baggage, and the house butler was walking to meet the arriving stranger. Katie was startled when the man looked up toward the Great House.

  “What’s he doing here?” She turned to Inga. “Sir Julien all but tossed him out a year ago.”

  Inga joined her at the window. Her mouth pursed. Her glance at Katie seemed hesitant, cautious. “Why, that is Sir Julien’s stepbrother, Henry Chantry. He had his eyes on you last time he was here.”

  How well Katie remembered. Henry was well known for his roving eyes, and she doubted he had changed since she had seen him last before he’d sailed home to Grimston Way, England.

  “He’s surely come back for diamonds.” Katie watched him follow the butler up the walkway to the front veranda. From the looks of his luggage he expected to stay a time. What would Julien say?

  Sir Julien and his aunt, Lady Brewster, the Capetown matriarch of the extended family, had long favored Henry, wild as he was. She had even arranged for Henry’s blood brother, Lyle Chantry, to marry her niece, the lovely diamond heiress Honoria. But Lady Brewster was a strait-laced woman and so had no sympathy for Henry’s lascivious lifestyle. She had stood firmly beside Sir Julien’s decision to withhold an inheritance until Henry proved himself worthy of managing such a fortune.

  So why had Henry Chantry sailed back here all the way from England after being rejected by the Bleys and Brewsters?

  Katie turned her head and looked at Inga. “I wonder if Lady Brewster or Sir Julien expected him.”

  “Don’t think so, Miss Katie. Leastwise there’s been no hint of it in the doings about Cape House. And no word of getting his old room ready.”

  Katie wondered if Henry had known Lady Brewster was vacationing at her Dutch-gabled house at Pietermaritzburg some miles away in Natal, and that Sir Julien was planning a trek out to the Kimberly mines soon.

  She turned back to the window. Her fingers ran along the smooth rich texture of the portieres as her eyes narrowed. Cousin Henry Chantry just might be the answer to her present dilemma. The sight of the knave of hearts, baggage in hand, brought Katie a new expectation. Schemes took shape in her mind. Perhaps he could help her escape to the mission station to find her baby, and even arrange passage on a ship to London, and America. Perhaps all was not doomed after all!

  As she turned from the window she caught a glance of her image in the gilded mirror. She stopped short, surprised by her own expression. The little upturn of her lips looked sly. For a brief moment her conscience smote her—an uncommon experience since her father’s death in the explosion. How disappointed Carl van Buren would be in his daughter if he knew how she had grown up!

  Her tawny, wavy hair fell loosely across her shoulders, and her blue velvet empire gown showed a desirable woman. She clenched her teeth. Too late … too late to undo the past. I am unwed with no prospects of marrying the father of my child. I need money for myself and Evy. No—she met the amber gaze reflected in the glass—there is no turning back for you, Katie van Buren. You have set your sails, and now the wild winds must bear you along.

  Ideas churned in her mind, like little weeds growing taller and stronger, and she paced.

  How would she get money enough to escape, and a great deal more? It would do no good to flee if she ended up on the streets of New York with a babe in arms, no place to go, and nothing to make her new life respectable. That was no way to start if she was to realize her dream of one day establishing Evy in high society.

  I am still young. There can be another love in New York with a respectable name who will marry me and adopt Evy as his daughter. Yes. That was how it would be. After all, she had a right—she was Carl van Buren’s daughter. He had been partners with Julien Bley. Why shouldn’t she have what had rightfully belonged to her father? What Julien was now keeping!

  She must have the Black Diamond, the stone Sir Julien was always enticing buyers from London with by waving it under their noses. Once she had Evy and the Black Diamond, she would be free to do anything she wished.

  Her mind made up, she felt nervous perspiration running down her ribs. The Black Diamond. How could she get it?

  Henry Chantry was the man to approach about that. He insisted his father had found it, and that the diamond was by rights Chantry property, that Sir Julien had used deceit to secure it for himself.

  Katie grimaced. She must be desperate indeed to turn to Cousin Henry.

  A noise caught Katie’s attention, and she spun to see that Inga was about to leave. “Leave the door unbolted. Don’t you see? I must sneak downstairs and speak alone with Cousin Henry.”

  “If you get caught, Miss Katie, you know what Sir Julien will do to me for not bolting the door.”

  “I won’t get caught. Please, Inga, I’m desperate.”

  Inga fiddled with her apron. “Just this once, miss, but do be heedful. Do, please.”

  “He won’t catch me. I promise to be careful.”

  Katie waited until the woman’s steps faded away down the hall, then inched the door open.

  It was quiet. She crept to the stairway in time to see Cousin Henry entering the downstairs hall. He was looking toward Sir Julien’s office with a dark countenance that matched his swarthy appearance.

  Henry Chantry looked as dangerous as any blackguard pirate. He was tall, with black ha
ir and mustache, and Katie suspected he carried a pistol somewhere beneath his white linen jacket. The last she had heard he had been in uncharted territory in Mashonaland on an expedition to locate a mysterious gold deposit that he avowed his grandfather had learned about from some tribal chieftain. No one believed Henry about the gold, although he claimed to have his grandfather’s map. Henry’s wife had died several years ago on an expedition, and the Brewster family held him responsible. Katie doubted Sir Julien would receive Henry at all kindly.

  She stooped behind the banister, not wishing to be seen. She must approach Cousin Henry with caution—Sir Julien was downstairs in his office. What would he do when he heard of Henry’s arrival? Perhaps she could learn something to aid her own quest if she could listen in on their conversation. Putting her scruples aside, she hid until Henry walked toward Julien’s office, then prepared to sneak down the stairs to listen at the door.

  Henry Chantry left the veranda with its bright sunlight and was now standing in the entrance hall looking toward the room he remembered to be Julien’s office. His restless gaze flitted over the mansionlike amenities of Cape House, which was just as he remembered. He’d left for England two years ago, after his wife’s death of African fever. They had been camped out on the Shangani River on their way back to Bulawayo to bring her to a doctor at the mission station when she had succumbed to the summons of death. Her aunt, Lady Brewster, had never forgiven him for bringing Caroline on the trek.

  Henry forced his features into the semblance of a smile when he saw his stepbrother, Sir Julien Bley, standing in the hall beside the door to his office. Julien must have heard the carriage arrive out front.

  Henry felt the icy stare of Julien’s single eye; it seemed to bore through him with malevolent intent. So, matters had not changed.

  “What are you doing here?” Sir Julien demanded, his voice low and chilled.

  Henry felt the muscles in his jaw tense. The anger he had been living with ever since Julien had ordered him to leave Cape House blazed, feeling like hot coals in his chest.

  “Did I not tell you two years ago”—Julien spoke as though through gritted teeth—“not to come back until you have turned your last allowance into a profitable business?”

  Henry recalled that last meeting. He had relived the argument a thousand times over while in England. Each time he replayed the humiliating memory, he promised himself he would one day make Julien pay.

  Henry felt his shoulders beginning to sag in the face of his stepbrother, who stood straight-backed, his head high, a diamond stickpin flashing loudly on his black lapel. The day of revenge had not yet arrived. Though Henry had worked hard in London, it seemed that money in his palm turned to straw, while in Julien’s it multiplied into diamonds … heaps of them, all flashing brilliantly.

  Yet was he not a son of the family as well? Didn’t he have as much right to share in the family diamond mines as Julien?

  “Well?” Sir Julien’s tone was thick with disdain. “Have you come crawling back to me again? Cannot stand on your own two feet, eh? Well, you’ll get nothing from me. Do you hear? Nothing. If you want anything to fill your empty pockets, my boy, you can go work in the mines along with the Africans!”

  Sir Julien turned on his polished heel and strode into his office, shutting the door.

  Henry stood there, tasting bitter gall. His heart slammed in his chest. Tiny beads of sweat formed on his upper lip. It was enough that he had to deal with his own constant string of failures, but when Julien’s success was thrown in his face like this, it fed the resentment that ate at his heart like a canker.

  I’ll get my rightful share of the diamonds—or kill him in the trying. He walked with slow, steady steps toward the office door. His hand was sweaty as he grasped the doorknob and turned it. If it was locked—

  It wasn’t. He opened it and stepped in, shutting it quietly behind him.

  Sir Julien sat behind his polished desk, a small, golden lamp glowing on the surface. The Black Diamond sat glittering under the light like midnight fire. The very sight of it—and the thought of its value on the world market—made Henry’s breathing tense.

  The corners of Sir Julien’s mouth turned up, but his eye held no humor. “So you persist.”

  Curse the man, he sounded downright bored. Henry schooled his voice to be even, calm. “You will hear me out, Julien. I demand to be treated with respect.”

  Sir Julien’s mouth widened into a smile that Henry loathed, then inclined his dark head with what was clearly mock gravity.

  “Very well, I am listening.”

  Henry walked to the center of the room and stood. The diamond flashed. It was all he could do to keep from gazing at it.

  “It was my father who found that.” He nodded toward the diamond. “Both Lyle and I want what is rightfully ours—as his sons.”

  “Everyone suddenly claims to have found the Black Diamond, but I have an eyewitness who has sworn by the laws of England that it was I who discovered it, along with the Kimberly mine.”

  It seemed to Henry that the black patch on Julien’s blind eye began to expand into a gaping pit into which Henry would soon be engulfed.

  “A Chantry found the Black Diamond!”

  “As you found a gold mine?” came Julien’s impatient retort.

  “I did find a gold mine.” Henry braced himself with both hands on the wide desk as he leaned toward Julien. “One day I shall be rich. But I need that diamond to resume my expedition into Mashonaland.”

  “Don’t be a fool, Henry. You’ve had these expeditions before. The last time it was emeralds. Until”—his voice grew even colder—“you filled your pockets with wind and had to bury your dreams beside Caroline’s grave!”

  He straightened as though he’d been slapped across the face. “Curse you, Julien. Leave my poor wife out of this!”

  “It was you who dragged her into it, hauling her with you across wild, savage land—all while expecting your child! That they are both dead now lies at your doorstep—just as surely as though you had killed them.”

  Henry could bear it no longer. He would shut Julien up if it was the last thing he did! He made a lunge for Julien’s throat, but stopped cold when Julien lifted a large caliber pistol from his lap. He aimed it at Henry’s chest, his eye flickering in the lamplight—and Henry had the oddest impression that that one eye was a reflection of the Black Diamond.

  “You will get nothing from me, Henry. And nothing from Lady Brewster. She blames you for Caroline’s death. You robbed her of her only granddaughter—and her unborn great-grandchild lies buried in Mashonaland with her. Do you think either of us would give you a single shilling?” Julien stood. “Now get out of my office … and out of my life.”

  Dazed from bitter humiliation and weight of his guilt over his late wife, Henry just stood there. He felt as though he were in a trance, and the only thing that got through was the rage toward Julien.

  His stepbrother walked around the desk and moved to open the door. He stepped back and gestured, still holding the pistol. “Get out.”

  Henry turned and walked with leaden steps toward the door, then paused to meet Julien’s icy gaze. Neither spoke. Henry straightened his shoulders and walked out, his heels clicking on the polished marble hall.

  The housekeeper loitered nearby, glancing from the office door to Henry before she hurried toward the front door and opened it. Her gray eyes darted here and there as she managed a curtsy. “A good day to you, Mister Chantry, sir.”

  Henry walked out of Cape House onto the veranda. He stood there for a moment, staring at nothing. Now what? What to do next?

  He pressed his lips together. If it had not been for that pistol …

  Katie had listened at the door of Julien’s office through the entire exchange. When the housekeeper noticed her listening, Katie warned her to silence.

  Katie hurried out of sight when footsteps approached the door. When Henry exited the office, the housekeeper showed him to the door, then loo
ked only too glad to get away and be about her duties.

  The house was still now, with a sense of impending doom. Katie remained hidden behind the bottom of the staircase facing her guardian’s office. She was about to come around and go up to her room to think over what she had heard when the office door opened and Julien stood in the doorway. She dared not move … could not breathe. If he saw her, he would twist the truth from her, making her admit what she had overheard.

  Julien’s dark face was tense. He held something in his hand. At first she thought it was a gun, then she realized it was the Black Diamond.

  Katie’s heart pounded in her chest. Julien occasionally took the magnificent stone out of its hiding place and set it on his desk to admire it. Afterward he would put it away and go about his work as though he were fulfilled. No one knew where he kept it. He once taunted members of his family with his secret. “Do you think I would trust any of you to know where I keep it, eh? You, Anthony my boy? Or you, Katie?”

  She held her breath, waiting for him to return to his office and close the door so she could go up to her room, but Sir Julien did not return to his office. He walked to the front door and stepped out onto the veranda. There was no time to risk going up the stairway. The library was just across the hall, and she sped through the doorway, slipping inside. A window faced the front veranda, and she hurried there to look out. Why had Julien stepped outside? Was he wary that Cousin Henry might come back to the house? Did he know Henry had a pistol, perhaps even under his coat, but had not risked reaching for it?

  Katie felt weakened and sick. So much hatred and mistrust. Her hands were cold and tense as she quieted her skirts and peered out through the curtains.

  Oddly, she could hear Sir Julien’s low voice arguing with someone on the veranda, but she could not see who it was. It had to be Henry again. What if they killed each other? She was about to rush up the stairs to her bedroom when she heard the front door slam shut. Footsteps followed. She waited for them to disappear, but they drew closer. She caught her breath as she realized someone was coming. She did not want Julien to spot her now. He would see through her dismay and guess she had overheard the quarrel in his office. As the library door opened, Katie ducked behind the large leather chair and side table.