“I have a baby.” How painful so few words could be!
He remained silent, and she thought he must be stunned.
She whirled to face him. “I must escape. I want to leave Capetown forever, to go to America with my baby—to get away from Sir Julien’s power over me. He took my baby away.” Her voice cracked as pain chipped at her heart. “I’ve found out she’s at the mission station near Isandlwana—Jendaya told me.”
“The Zulu woman?”
“Yes. I must go to Isandlwana, find my daughter, and board a ship at Port Elizabeth bound for England. From there, if my plan works, I’ll sail for New York.”
He looked at her. She began to fear he would utterly refuse her, but then he spoke at last, as brutally honest as she.
“And you want me to rescue Anthony’s illegitimate child?”
“She is my daughter. I—I’ve no one else to turn to for help.”
“You were a fool to trust him, Katie.”
“Yes, I know that now. Will you help me?”
“It will take money to accomplish all this,” he said flatly, “and I don’t have it. Julien turned me down this afternoon, though I’m an heir to the diamond enterprise the same as he. He controls everything, thanks to old Ebenezer.”
Ebenezer Bley. Katie knew he was the first in the extended family to come to Capetown. He’d been at Kimberly when the first diamond was found there, as well as on the river when the first gold was discovered. His wily ability to manipulate was well known. Hadn’t he wheedled his way into the circle of just a few men who controlled these finds, thereby becoming wealthy and politically powerful both in Capetown and in London? Ebenezer died a very old man and left his son Julien the controlling interest over the family fortune. He must have felt that Julien would make the best financial patriarch.
Circumstances had proven Ebenezer right, Katie thought bitterly. Sir Julien even administered her portion of her father’s fortune to control her future for the benefit of the diamond business as though she, a van Buren, were a relation.
“You understand what you’re up against.” Henry’s question pulled her back to matters at hand. “How do you expect to pay for the ocean passage?”
“By taking some of what is being held back from me and from my daughter. What is partly yours as well. It—It would not be the same as stealing.”
“Has Julien ever suggested giving you some diamonds from the inheritance your father left you?”
“He will give me little unless I marry according to his wishes. He took my baby and gave her to the mission and has plans to send me to Europe for a year. As if that would heal my heart! He intends to arrange a marriage for me that suits his plans for the Kimberly mines. That is all he devotes himself to—the diamond mines.” Her voice quavered, and she cast another glance over her shoulder toward the house, where all was in shadow. The sound of the wind in the treetops and the creaking of the stables sent ripples of fear along her skin. What if Julien was watching, what if he knew? She remembered the pistol he kept. What if he was trying to trap her and Cousin Henry? He had used such a loud voice out on the front lawn—could it have been to draw her attention? To make her think he was leaving?
No, that couldn’t be. Sir Julien would never expect her to take the Black Diamond.
“Then are you are thinking of taking some diamonds from Cape House?”
This time it was she who arched her brows. “As though you have not thought that very thing.”
“I admit it. But if I help you, what do I get out of this?”
So like Cousin Henry to ask that, yet how could she blame him? She lifted her chin and confronted his hard gaze. She pretended brashness, using a masquerade of boldness to shield her precariousness. “You will get the same as what I intend to have—something of great value, Cousin Henry—the Black Diamond.”
His breath stopped short. “The Black Diamond!” he repeated in a soft murmur. “Are you out of your mind? Julien keeps it well hidden—he worships that stone. It would be next to impossible to get your hands on it.”
“You think so? It is because he worships it that he keeps his little idol where he can admire it anytime he desires without having to be seen going back and forth, to and from the safe. I know where he hides it.”
“Ah!” He seemed taken aback, and she could well believe he wondered how she had managed to discover such a thing. “The Black Diamond. If I could just get my hands on it—”
“You say it belongs to the Chantrys?”
“It does,” he stated firmly. “My father was there when it was found. Though Julien denies this, there is even some evidence that my father is the one who dislodged it from the strata.”
“My father, Carl van Buren, helped to find that mine, yet Julien keeps the mine for himself.”
“I can hardly believe you know where it is, Katie. You must be dreaming.”
“Dreaming of escape and freedom, yes”—she took hold of his arm—“and desperate enough to take what is mine. I know where the diamond is. We can get it and be on our way to Isandlwana at once. I—I will share with you whatever price the diamond brings on the London market, fifty-fifty.”
“It will need to be sold on the smuggling market. London, maybe. Russia, France—the Vatican …”
“But we need money now to get us to England!”
He regarded her, the flicker of condescension clear in his eyes. “If we are going to steal the Black Diamond, my dear, then we might as well help ourselves to anything else we need. In moderation, of course.” He laughed and took hold of her arms, pulling her toward him. “We belong together, Katie love. What scoundrels we both are.”
She wrenched free. “Speak for yourself, Cousin. I am not a thief.”
“No? Dear Julien will come to quite a different conclusion, even though he’s the real thief. Not that it matters to me. Evidently, it doesn’t to you, either.”
It did matter. She could imagine her father frowning in sadness if he could see her now. She could remember him reading the Commandments to her when she was a little girl. “Thou shalt not steal … Thou shalt not—”
But all that was behind her now. She had grown up isolated from the religious instruction that had meant so much to her father and the van Buren family of Afrikaners. She would do whatever she must to be free. And to have her daughter restored to her. Surely her father would understand that?
She fixed her gaze on Henry. “Well? Do we have a bargain?”
In the moonlight she saw his mouth turn into a slender smile beneath his mustache. “We have a bargain, Katie. Now suppose you tell me where the Black Diamond is hidden.”
For just a moment she could not escape the sensation that she was a fool to trust him—then, feeling his fingers enclose her arm and a tide of warm strength surge through her, she pushed the notion aside. She must take this chance.
“I will take you there. We must do this—together. Its in the library. Come.”
“You are certain Julien’s gone to Kimberly?”
She was as certain as she could be, and yet … there was that uneasy sensation that she was being watched. “I saw him ride away earlier this afternoon, but when it comes to your stepbrother, who can be sure of anything?”
“Here, leave your bag in that brush until we come back for the horses.”
Henry was still holding Katie’s arm as they came silently up the back porch steps. The door remained ajar from when she had fled. She reached for the knob.
The kitchen was in darkness as they entered, except for the stream of moonlight coming through the high window above the pantry cabinet. Katie stooped and picked up the candle she had dropped earlier. She went to the oven to relight the wick on coals banked in the oven for the morning cook.
Henry knew the house layout perhaps as well as she. He had come here from England several times with his father and Lyle. When his father had married Julien’s widowed mother, there had been a time when Henry and Lyle had lived in Cape House. That, of course, was long before
trouble developed between Henry and Julien. Lyle had been the silent one, the one who had made friends with Julien and married into the Brewsters.
When Katie turned around with the candle flaring, Cousin Henry was gone. She gasped, looking around. Had he abandoned her? No, she would have heard him if he’d opened the back door and gone out. She went into the hall. No sight of him. He must be in the library, waiting.
She trod the hall floor carefully, trying not to awaken anyone on the ground floor. The live-in Anglo servants all had their rooms near the kitchen and pantry, as did Anthony when he came to visit. Of course, Anthony had not dared show his face for some time. When she had written him about expecting the baby, he had not even replied.
When she came to the library, the heavy door stood open a few inches. She pushed it back and held the candle high. Henry was busy surveying the room of books, maps, and the hunting trophies Julien had collected from his trips into Angola.
She guessed he was checking his intuition as to where the Black Diamond might be hidden.
Katie pushed the door closed behind her. The candle flame reflected a bleak light in the mirror above the fireplace mantle, reminding her of a ghost.
She understood the danger with which she was flirting. Each step brought her closer to an action that she would never be able to reverse. There is still time to turn back, a small voice seemed to say.
No, not after getting cousin Henry involved. There is no other way out of my dilemma. I’m going through with it.
Henry came to take her arm. “Where?” His voice was barely audible.
Her hand shook as she led him to the old heirloom secretary. She hesitated—either she trusted Henry or she did not. There was no middle road. If he failed her as had Anthony, she would be twice a fool.
“Hurry!”
At his urgent whisper, she handed him the candle and turned to the secretary. Carefully she pulled aside the two cabinet doors, revealing the lion carvings and the two lion knobs.
“So that’s it!” He sounded furious with himself. “A hidden compartment in this old heirloom.”
Katie frowned. What had Sir Julien done when he’d had his back toward her? How had the secret door sprung open?
Outside the windows the wind rustled the leaves. The floors and walls creaked as the wood settled for the night. With her right hand she pushed against one lion, and used her left to maneuver the other, nothing happened. She tried again, her urgency increasing with the passing moments.
Her breath came rapidly. Standing beside her, she sensed Henry’s impatience.
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
“I’m trying!”
“Shh—quiet.” His fingers clasped her shoulder as he glanced toward the door.
Katie tensed. Had she heard something? Maybe she had just imagined the sound that day of a spring giving way in a drawer? Now, in the candlelight, she could see there was no keyhole. Julien must have pushed on something.
“There must be a secret lever or something—somewhere.” She looked helplessly at Henry.
“I’ll try it.” He pushed her aside, then set the candle on top of the secretary and began pushing on the lion knobs, then turning, shoving, twisting again.
From somewhere there came a heavier creak. Katie caught her breath and looked at Henry.
He was now so engrossed in trying to figure out the lion knobs and how they worked that he paid no mind. Her heart pounded with heavy beats that took her breath away. She continued to look toward the library door. If Julien had come home … But they would have heard his horse approaching the stables.
As Henry struggled to solve the puzzle, she inched her way toward the door. Was that creak from the wind, or a light footfall? Her mouth was dry. Her palms were slick with sweat, and her shaking fingers worked their way up the bodice of her dress to her throat. If Sir Julien found them here, he would use his pistol on Henry, she was sure of it.
Maybe on her too.
Oh, what have I done? What have I done? She hurried toward Henry, clawing at his arm. “I think I hear someone—”
“Ah!”
The exclamation caught her attention. She heard a faint click, and saw a section of the carved paneling open a crack. Henry pulled it farther out, then picked up the candle and held it close to a small, velvet-lined cavern.
Katie forgot all her fears as the Black Diamond winked at them.
They both reached for it, but Henry grasped first, turning it over in his hand before the candle.
Katie looked up at him. His eyes sparkled with an ugly humor that repelled her. “I’ve defeated Julien! Its mine!” Greed larded his rough whisper.
She snatched the diamond away from him. “It is ours.”
“Look.” He took some soft leather pouches out of the drawer, opened a drawstring, and poured some of the whites onto his palm. The diamonds glittered in the candlelight. He grinned, then put them back in the pouch and pulled the drawstring, stuffing three pouches in his trouser pockets.
“Give me that, we don’t have time.” He snatched the Black Diamond from her, rolled it in the velvet lining from the drawer, and shoved it in his inside jacket pocket. He pushed on the carved paneling and then closed the two cabinet doors.
“To the stables.”
Henry surged ahead of her toward the library door. Katie rushed after him, her stomach clenching with fear and guilt. The candle went out, and she swallowed back her fear. Henry opened the library door a crack, looked out, then moved toward the back of the house.
The moon must have clouded over, for the room was in darkness—just like Katie’s aching soul. She was close at his heels when his steps halted at what must have been the kitchen. Her heart, too, nearly stopped.
She turned to look behind just as Henry lunged toward the kitchen door. A gust of wind sent Katie’s skirts around her ankles. He reached back, latched hold of her arm, and pulled her toward the porch and down the steps. Crossing the backyard they started running.
When they reached the stables all seemed quiet. Laddie was nowhere to be seen, nor was Dumaka. Of course, they had not expected her to take anything from the house, so why would they be there? They would all certainly face Sir Julien tomorrow to be pounded by questions.
“Where is the Zulu?” Henry demanded impatiently. “She should have been here by now. Its after midnight.”
“She’s waiting farther down the road, behind the trees.”
As he entered the stable for his golden gelding, Katie looked in the brush near the corral for her bag. Carrying it back, she paused, hearing the nervous neighing of the horses in their stalls for the night. Odd that they should be so nervous—probably not used to Henry’s horse.
She waited. What was keeping him? She walked to the wide stable doorway and stared into the chasm of darkness, but could not see him. He must be farther toward the back.
She inched forward and whispered. “Henry? Where are you?”
The only sound meeting her was the nervous movements of the horses. She forced herself to enter, surrounded by deep shadows and the pungent odor of hay mingled with manure.
His horse, where was it? And where was the mare Inga had said would be saddled for her?
She turned full circle, glancing desperately about her. Then she heard a creaking sound—a door opening at the far end of the stable. The back door! She saw the wind moving it to and fro on its hinges. This discovery was followed by the one sound she feared: hooves, galloping away.
She ran through the stable and out the back door into the night. “Henry!” she hissed. In the moonlight she glimpsed him, hunched low in the saddle, rounding a tree-lined bend, where he disappeared in the direction of the African huts.
Her heart sank like a stone. “No! No!” Her hands formed fists, and she doubled over. He had taken everything and left her here. Betrayed!
Bitter rage filled her mind. She pressed the back of her hand hard against her teeth until it bruised. Tears streamed unheeded down her cheeks. Henry … Hen
ry, come back! I hate you … hate you …
She stumbled down the dirt road that led toward the African huts, running, sometimes staggering and stumbling, until she neared the trees. Here, she paused a moment to catch her breath.
A shrill bird’s cry startled her. It was followed by a humming sound, loud, then louder still. Katie looked toward the trees. Jendaya had the four-horse carriage waiting in the myrtle trees and was drawing her attention, Zulu fashion, by the humming sound that made Katie shiver.
Jendaya held the reins with one sturdy hand and reached across the seat with the other to pull Katie aboard as she came hurrying up. She clamored onto the seat, gasping for breath.
“Hurry, Jendaya!”
The Zulu woman slapped the reins and the horses bounded forward onto the dirt road.
Katie clutched the sides of the seat as they weaved and bounced ahead. The horses galloped past the African huts. Katie feared the carriage might topple over on its side, but Jendaya handled the horses skillfully.
The warm wind swept Katie’s face and sent strands of her tawny hair whipping. Soon, Cape House was left behind in the raw, dusty night.
Any hopes that Henry might be waiting for her along the road, or at the beginning of the township, proved vain. He, too, must be racing through the night astride his horse, the Black Diamond safely stashed in his jacket pocket. He must be throwing back his head and laughing with abandon at her folly for trusting him. She had delivered three pouches of cut diamonds, as well as the prized Kimberly Black Diamond, right into his hands, and he had simply ridden off.
Jendaya drove the carriage from the township and was on the road toward British-controlled Natal as the moon approached the hills that appeared like crouching lions on the horizon. They would reach the mission station near Rorke’s Drift bordering Zululand by early morning.
Katie moaned. Her head throbbed, and desolation filled her mind.
Jendaya lifted a long, sleek dark arm with tight, beaded bracelets and made a sweeping motion inland toward the hills. “When the sun rises we will be near the Rock of the Crouching Lion. We will see the daktari and the mission station.”
Tomorrow's Treasure Page 4