Master of the Game motg-1

by Sidney Sheldon

  "Not yet." Kate turned to Banda. "Tell me about the sharks..."

  From that time on, whenever David was in town, Kate made him take her to visit Banda and his family.

  David's assurance that Kate would grow out of her high-spiritedness showed no signs of coming to pass. If anything, she grew more willful every day. She flatly refused to take part in any of the activities that other girls her age participated in. She insisted on going into the mines with David, and he took her hunting and fishing and camping. Kate adored it. One day when Kate and David were fishing the Vaal, and Kate gleefully pulled in a trout larger than anything David had caught, he said, "You should have been born a boy."

  She turned to him in annoyance. "Don't be silly, David. Then I couldn't marry you."

  David laughed.

  "We are going to be married, you know."

  "I'm afraid not, Kate. I'm twenty-two years older than you. Old enough to be your father. You'll meet a boy one day, a nice young man—"

  "I don't want a nice young man," she said wickedly. "I want you."

  "If you're really serious," David said, "then I'll tell you the secret to a man's heart."

  "Tell me!" Kate said eagerly.

  "Through his stomach. Clean that trout and let's have lunch."

  There was not the slightest doubt in Kate's mind that she was going to marry David Blackwell. He was the only man in the world for her.

  Once a week Margaret invited David to dinner at the big house. As a rule, Kate preferred to eat dinner in the kitchen with the servants, where she did not have to mind her manners. But on Friday nights when David came, Kate sat in the big dining

  room. David usually came alone, but occasionally he would bring a female guest and Kate would hate her instantly.

  Kate would get David alone for a moment and say, with sweet innocence, "I've never seen hair that shade of blond," or, "She certainly has peculiar taste in dresses, hasn't she?" or, "Did she use to be one of Madam Agnes's girls?"

  When Kate was fourteen, her headmistress sent for Margaret. "I run a respectable school, Mrs. McGregor. I'm afraid your Kate is a bad influence."

  Margaret sighed. "What's she done now?"

  "She's teaching the other children words they've never heard before." Her face was grim. "I might add, Mrs. McGregor, that I've never heard some of the words before. I can't imagine where the child picked them up."

  Margaret could. Kate picked them up from her street friends. Well, Margaret decided, it is time to end all that.

  The headmistress was saying, "I do wish you would speak to her. We'll give her another chance, but—"

  "No. I have a better idea. I'm going to send Kate away to school."

  When Margaret told David her idea, he grinned. "She's not going to like that."

  "I can't help it. Now the headmistress is complaining about the language Kate uses. She gets it from those prospectors she's always following around. My daughter's starting to sound like them, look like them and smell like them. Frankly, David, I don't understand her at all. I don't know why she behaves as she does. She's pretty, she's bright, she's—"

  "Maybe she's too bright."

  "Well, too bright or not, she's going away to school."

  When Kate arrived home that afternoon, Margaret broke the news to her.

  Kate was furious. "You're trying to get rid of me!"

  "Of course I'm not, darling. I just think you'd be better off—"

  "I'm better off here. All my friends are here. You're trying to separate me from my friends."

  "If you're talking about that riffraff you—"

  They're not riffraff. They're as good as anybody."

  "Kate, I'm not going to argue with you. You're going away to a boarding school for young ladies, and that's that."

  "I'll kill myself," Kate promised.

  "All right, darling. There's a razor upstairs, and if you look around, I'm sure you'll find various poisons in the house."

  Kate burst into tears. "Please don't do this to me, Mother."

  Margaret took her in her arms. "It's for your own good, Kate. You'll be a young woman soon. You'll be ready for marriage. No man is going to marry a girl who talks and dresses and behaves the way you do."

  'That's not true," Kate sniffled. "David doesn't mind."

  "What does David have to do with this?"

  "We're going to be married."

  Margaret sighed."I'll have Mrs. Talley pack your things."

  There were half a dozen good English boarding schools for young girls. Margaret decided that Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire, was best suited for Kate. It was a school noted for its rigid discipline. It was set on acres of land surrounded by high battlements and, according to its charter, was founded for the daughters of noblemen and gentlemen. David did business with the husband of the headmistress, Mrs. Keaton, and he had no trouble arranging for Kate to be enrolled there.

  When Kate heard where she was going, she exploded anew. "I've heard about that school! It's awful. I'll come back like one of those stuffed English dolls. Is that what you'd like?"

  "What I would like is for you to learn some manners," Margaret told her.

  "I don't need manners. I've got brains."

  "That's not the first thing a man looks for in a woman," Margaret said dryly, "and you're becoming a woman."

  "I don't want to become a woman," Kate screamed. "Why the bloody hell can't you just leave me alone?"

  "I will not have you using that language."

  And so it went until the morning arrived when Kate was to leave. Since David was going to London on a business trip, Margaret asked, "Would you mind seeing that Kate gets to school safely? The Lord only knows where she'll end up if she goes on her own."

  "I'll be happy to," David said.

  "You! You're as bad as my mother! You can't wait to get rid of me."

  David grinned. "You're wrong. I can wait."

  They traveled by private railway car from Klipdrift to Cape Town and from there by ship to Southampton. The journey took four weeks. Kate's pride would not let her admit it, but she was thrilled to be traveling with David. It's like a honeymoon, she thought, except that we're not married. Not yet.

  Aboard ship, David spent a great deal of time working in his stateroom. Kate curled up on the couch, silently watching him, content to be near him.

  Once she asked, "Don't you get bored working on all those figures, David?"

  He put down his pen and looked at her. "They're not just figures, Kate. They're stories."

  "What kind of stories?"

  "If you know how to read them, they're stories about companies we're buying or selling, people who work for us. Thousands of people all over the world earn a living because of the company your father founded."

  "Am I anything like my father?"

  "In many ways, yes. He was a stubborn, independent man."

  "Am I a stubborn, independent woman?"

  "You're a spoiled brat. The man who marries you is going to have one hell of a life."

  Kate smiled dreamily. Poor David.

  In the dining room, on their last night at sea, David asked, "Why are you so difficult, Kate?"

  "Am I?"

  "You know you are. You drive your poor mother crazy."

  Kate put her hand over his. "Do I drive you crazy?"

  David's face reddened. "Stop that. I don't understand you."

  "Yes, you do."

  "Why can't you be like other girls your age?"

  "I'd rather die first. I don't want to be like anybody else."

  "God knows you're not!"

  "You won't marry anyone else until I'm grown up enough for you, will you, David? I'll get older as fast as I can. I promise. Just don't meet anybody you love, please."

  He was touched by her earnestness. He took her hand in his and said, "Kate, when I get married, I'd like my daughter to be exactly like you."

  Kate rose to her feet and said in a voice that rang through the dining salon, "You can bloody well
go to hell, David Black-well!" And she stormed out of the room, as everyone stared.

  They had three days together in London, and Kate loved

  every minute of it. "I have a treat for you," David told her. "I got two tickets for

  Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch." "Thank you, David. I want to go to the Gaiety." "You can't. That's a—a music-hall revue. That's not for you.' "I won't know until I see it, will I?" she said stubbornly. They went to the Gaiety.

  Kate loved the look of London. The mixture of motorcars and carriages, the ladies beautifully dressed in lace and tulle and light satins and glittering jewelry, and the men in dinner clothes with pique waistcoats and white shirtfronts. They had dinner at the Ritz, and a late supper at the Savoy. And when it was time to leave, Kate thought, We'll come back here. David and I will come back here.

  When they arrived at Cheltenham, they were ushered into the office of Mrs. Keaton.

  "I want to thank you for enrolling Kate," David said.

  "I'm sure we'll enjoy having her. And it's a pleasure to accommodate a friend of my husband."

  At that moment, Kate knew she had been deceived. It was David who had wanted her sent away and had arranged for her to come here.

  She was so furious and hurt she refused to say good-bye to him.

  Cheltenham School was unbearable. There were rules and regulations for everything. The girls had to wear identical uniforms, down to their knickers. The school day was ten hours long, and every minute was rigidly structured. Mrs. Keaton ruled the pupils and her staff with a rod of iron. The girls were there to learn manners and discipline, etiquette and decorum, so that they could one day attract desirable husbands.

  Kate wrote her mother, "It's a bloody prison. The girls here are awful. All they ever talk about are bloody clothes and bloody boys. The bloody teachers are monsters. They'll never keep me here. I'm going to escape."

  Kate managed to run away from the school three times, and each time she was caught and brought back, unrepentant.

  At a weekly staff meeting, when Kate's name was brought up, one of the teachers said, "The child is uncontrollable. I think we should send her back to South Africa."

  Mrs. Keaton replied, "I'm inclined to agree with you, but let's look upon it as a challenge. If we can succeed in disciplining Kate McGregor, we can succeed in disciplining anyone."

  Kate remained in school.

  To the amazement of her teachers, Kate became interested in the farm that the school maintained. The farm had vegetable gardens, chickens, cows, pigs and horses. Kate spent as much time as possible there, and when Mrs. Keaton learned of this, she was immensely pleased.

  "You see," the headmistress told her staff, "it was simply a question of patience. Kate has finally found her interest in life. One day she will marry a landowner and be of enormous assistance to him."

  The following morning, Oscar Denker, the man in charge of running the farm, came to see the headmistress. "One of your students," he said, "that Kate McGregor—I wish you'd keep her away from my farm."

  "Whatever are you talking about?" Mrs. Keaton asked. "I happen to know she's very interested."

  "Sure she is, but do you know what she's interested in? The animals fornicating, if you'll excuse my language."

  "What?"

  "That's right. She stands around all day, just watching the animals do it to each other.'

  "Bloody hell!" Mrs. Keaton said.

  Kate still had not forgiven David for sending her into exile, but she missed him terribly. It's my fate, she thought gloomily, to be in love with a man I hate. She counted the days she was away from him, like a prisoner marking time until the day of release. Kate was afraid he would do something dreadful, like marry another woman while she was trapped in the bloody school. If he does, Kate thought, I'll kill them both. No. I'll just kill her. They'll arrest me and hang me, and when I'm on the gallows, he'll realize that he loves me. But it will be too late. He'll beg me to forgive him. "Yes, David, my darling, I forgive you. You were too foolish to know when you held a great love in the palm of your hand. You let it fly away like a little bird. Now that little bird is about to be hanged. Good-bye, David." But at the last minute she would be reprieved and David would take her in his arms and carry her off to some exotic country where the food was better than the bloody slop they served at bloody Cheltenham.

  Kate received a note from David saying he was going to be in London and would come to visit her. Kate's imagination was inflamed. She found a dozen hidden meanings in his note. Why was he going to be in England? To be near her, of course. Why was he coming to visit her? Because he finally knew he loved her and could not bear to be away from her any longer. He was going to sweep her off her feet and take her out of this terrible place. She could scarcely contain her happiness. Kate's fantasy was so real that the day David arrived, Kate went around saying good-bye to her classmates. "My lover is coming to take me out of here," she told them.

  The girls looked at her in silent disbelief. All except Georgina Christy, who scoffed, "You're lying again, Kate McGregor."

  "Just wait and see. He's tall and handsome, and he's mad about me."

  When David arrived, he was puzzled by the fact that all the girls in the school seemed to be staring at him. They looked at him and whispered and giggled, and the minute they caught his eye, they blushed and turned away.

  "They act as though they've never seen a man before," David told Kate. He looked at her suspiciously. "Have you been saying anything about me?"

  "Of course not," Kate said haughtily. "Why would I do that?"

  They ate in the school's large dining room, and David brought Kate up to date on everything that was happening at home. "Your mother sends her love. She's expecting you home for the summer holiday."

  "How is mother?"

  "She's fine. She's working hard."

  "Is the company doing well, David?"

  He was surprised by her sudden interest. "It's doing very well. Why?"

  Because, Kate thought, someday it will belong to me, and you and I will share it. "I was just curious."

  He looked at her untouched plate. "You're not eating."

  Kate was not interested in food. She was waiting for the magic moment, the moment when David would say, "Come away with me, Kate. You're a woman now, and I want you. We're going to be married."

  The dessert came and went. Coffee came and went, and still no magic words from David.

  It was not until he looked at his watch and said, "Well, I'd better be going or I'll miss my train," that Kate realized with a feeling of horror that he had not come to take her away at all. The bastard was going to leave her there to rot!

  David had enjoyed his visit with Kate. She was a bright and amusing child, and the waywardness she had once shown was now under control. David patted Kate's hand fondly and asked, "Is there anything I can do for you before I leave, Kate?"

  She looked him in the eye and said sweetly, "Yes, David, there is. You can do me an enormous favor. Get out of my bloody life." And she walked out of the room with great dignity, her head held high, leaving him sitting there, mouth agape.

  Margaret found that she missed Kate. The girl was unruly and contrary, but Margaret realized that she was the only living person she loved. She's going to be a great woman, Margaret thought with pride. But I want her to have the manners of a lady.

  Kate came home for summer vacation. "How are you getting along in school?" Margaret asked.

  "I hate it! It's like being surrounded by a hundred nannies."

  Margaret studied her daughter. "Do the other girls feel the same way, Kate?"

  "What do they know?" she said contemptuously. "You should see the girls at that school! They've been sheltered all their lives. They don't know a damn thing about life."

  "Oh, dear," Margaret said. "That must be awful for you."

  "Don't laugh at me, please. The've never even been to South Africa. The only animals they've seen have been in zoos. None of them has ever seen a di
amond mine or a gold mine."

  "Underprivileged."

  Kate said, "All right. But when I turn out like them, you're going to be bloody sorry." "Do you think you'll turn out like them?" Kate grinned wickedly. "Of course not! Are you mad?"

  An hour after Kate arrived home, she was outside playing rugby with the children of the servants. Margaret watched her through the window and thought, I'm wasting my money. She's never going to change.

  That evening, at dinner, Kate asked casually, "Is David in town?"

  "He's been in Australia. He'll be back tomorrow, I think."

  "Is he coming to dinner Friday night?"

  "Probably." She studied Kate and said, "You like David, don't you?"

  She shrugged. "He's all right, I suppose."

  "I see," Margaret said. She smiled to herself as she remembered Kate's vow to marry David.

  "I don't dislike him, Mother. I mean, I like him as a human being. I just can't stand him as a man."

  When David arrived for dinner Friday night, Kate flew to the door to greet him. She hugged him and whispered in his ear, "I forgive you. Oh, I've missed you so much, David! Have you missed me?"

  Automatically he said, "Yes." And then he thought with astonishment, By God, I have missed her. He had never known anyone like this child. He had watched her grow up, and each time he encountered her she was a revelation to him. She was almost sixteen years old and she had started to fill out. She had let her black hair grow long, and it fell softly over her shoulders. Her features had matured, and there was a sensuality about her that he had not noticed before. She was a beauty, with a quick intelligence and a strong will. She's going to be a handful for some man, David thought.

  At dinner David asked, "How are you getting along in school, Kate?"

  "Oh, I just love it," she gushed. "I'm really learning a lot. The teachers are wonderful, and I've made a lot of great friends."