“Understandable,” Judith said. “And just in case she might see me as an error, I think we should be discreet. I’d like to keep my job, and your wife-to-be might have a different idea if she discovered we went out dining together regularly.”
The organist who played in the Harbor Room in the evenings had taken his place and started to play soft pleasant mood music in the background. The myriad of tiny light bulbs fixed in large clusters in a number of overhead spots gave the suggestion of distant stars. It made a truly romantic setting, and Judith could just barely catch the vexed expression on Alan’s face across the table.
He said, “You know I sometimes wonder what happened to us.”
She smiled. “Happened to us?”
Alan nodded. “Yes. We went around together as youngsters and in high school. It would have been logical if we’d gone on dating. Why didn’t we?”
She shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you. Perhaps because you went away to college. You were at Dartmouth and I went to Durham. We made different friends.”
“And when I came home on holidays, I found you were seeing Brian for an occasional date,” he reminded her.
“Brian and I had grown up together, too,” she said, “even though he was a little older.”
“I suppose I got jealous. I always steered clear of Brian’s girls.”
“But I wasn’t really Brian’s girl! We didn’t have more than four or five dates altogether.”
He smiled sadly. “That would have been enough to keep me away from you in those days. I avoided any competition with Brian.”
“So that’s why you stopped asking me to go anywhere?”
“I’m afraid so,” he admitted. “I can see it was wrong now.”
“Perhaps not,” she said, looking down. “You’ve found Pauline. She’s a beautiful girl.”
“Sure,” he said quietly. “But then so are you.”
Judith was thankful for the dimness of the room, since it prevented him from seeing her blush. She said, “Times change, Alan. I’m quite happy to be your secretary now. I’m not the rich little miss I was a few years ago.”
“Money hasn’t anything to do with it.”
“I think it has,” she argued. “Two people in a town like this should be of the same background if they plan to marry. Otherwise they open themselves to a lot of criticism.”
“Your social position is as good as mine or better,” Alan pointed out. “Your mother comes from one of the oldest families in town. You’ll find the Melrose name on half the historical plates.”
She laughed. “But I don’t even have the Melrose name. My father was an ordinary Barnes. And we don’t have any money left at all. Just the house, if we can manage to keep that.”
“So?”
“If I married anyone in Port Winter with money, I’d be accused of fortune hunting,” Judith said. “Thank you. I’m happier as a secretary.”
Alan gave her a penetrating glance. “What about Miles Estey?”
Again she blushed and looked down. In a low voice she said, “That’s over.”
“I’d hope so, for your sake,” Alan told her. “But are you sure?”
“Very sure.”
“Have you heard from him since he left here?”
She still avoided Alan’s eyes. “I had several letters.”
“Lately?”
“No.”
“I never felt he was right for you,” Alan said earnestly.
“Would you be a fair judge?” she asked, finally looking at him.
He hesitated before replying; then he said, “Frankly, I suppose not.” There was a moment of silence. Then, somewhat awkwardly, he said, “I suppose we’d better go.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “I think we should.”
CHAPTER THREE
Darkness had fallen by the time he drove her home. They went up King Street and around the park, which was bounded by central business streets on all but one side. Here were congregated the city’s chief theatres and largest hotel, along with several of the more popular restaurants and shops. As usual, the streets were busy at this time of night.
“How much the city is changing,” she said, glancing out her side window at the old burial ground that dated to Revolutionary Days.
“We have to change with it,” he reminded her from the wheel.
“In many ways I find that somewhat sad,” she said. “I liked Port Winter as it was.”
His lean face was illuminated by the faint light from the dash so that she saw his smile. “You were always sentimental! I remember that once you had a sad time when your mother wanted to give one of your favorite dolls to a charity.”
She laughed. “Don’t remind me! I’d forgotten! I was heartbroken!”
“As I say, you always had a strong streak of nostalgia.”
They drove past a rather hideous auto clinic covering several blocks of what she remembered as a pleasant residential district. “Don’t tell me that monstrosity is an improvement,” she said, indicating it with a nod.
Alan gave it a brief glance. “I think Dad negotiated the properties for the deal. The builders expect to make a lot of money.”
She settled back against the seat with a sigh. “A lot of money! That’s all that seems to count! Any horror is endured if it means someone is going to make a lot of money! So we have the fumes from the pulp mills, the oil refineries and the steel mills, all in the pious name of S.C. North.”
He laughed. “A truly Spartan character. They tell me he doesn’t even smoke.”
“I don’t wonder,” she exclaimed. “Not after the way he’s polluted the local air. He knows it’s dangerous enough breathed straight!”
They went down a steep hill and then made a sharp right and drove up an equally steep grade that led to the fashionable Mount Pleasant district. From this area there was an unrestricted view of the city, and when the new bridge was completed a separate roadway would make this part of Port Winter much more accessible. The fine houses built in the neighborhood over the years bordered on the Port Winter Public Gardens and Lake. Indeed, on a fine afternoon Judith often went there for a stroll.
Judith’s home was located on rocks above the level of the street. A fairly imposing total of concrete steps led up to the cottage, and they were often treacherously icy in winter. Since her father’s death they had been able to pay out little for upkeep of the property, so the gray-shingled cottage with its quaint white shutters was showing some signs of neglect Prominent among them were the cracked and broken steps that cried out for repair every time she went up and down them.
Now, as Alan saw her to the door, she apologized for their condition. “We just don’t seem to get around to repairs,” she said.
He held her lightly by the arm. “Dad has a good handyman,” he said. “I’ll have him come over some day.”
“Don’t without checking with me,” Judith begged. “You know how odd Mother is about having people around when I’m not here. She has an obsession that we’re going to be robbed by some stranger, though what they’d find worth taking I’m sure I don’t know,” she ended breathlessly as they were at the top of the steps.
Alan smiled at her. “It’s been a pleasant evening. We ought to work overtime more often.”
Judith regarded him with a twinkle in her eyes. “I’ve tried to warn you of possible consequences.”
“Hang possible consequences,” he said, still standing there admiring her. “I’m really able to talk to you. Pauline doesn’t take an interest in anything but her own affairs and the gallery. She pretends she doesn’t understand when I talk about the bridge.”
“Perhaps she doesn’t.”
“She could make it her business to learn more about it.”
Judith smiled. “Then she’d bore you by talking about the same thing you live with every day. I don’t think there’s any pleasing you!”
“You do very well,” Alan said quietly. And without any warning he reached and took her in his arms for a lasting kiss.
>
“Well!” she said in a startled tone as he let her go.
“It’s been a long time,” he said quietly.
“And it really shouldn’t have happened at all.”
He smiled. “I’m not sorry. What about you?”
Again she was glad of the protecting darkness. “Don’t ask me!” she said quietly. And then, “Good night, Alan.”
“Good night, Judith,” he said with warmth. “It was truly a good evening, and don’t let your conscience bother you.”
She made no reply but unlocked the door and went inside. A moment later she watched as he went down the steps to his car. From the living room came the sound of a television drama, with dramatic cries, the sound of running and outbursts of pistol fire. Then she heard it snapped off, and her mother appeared in the living room doorway to greet her.
“Well, darling, so you’re finally home!” Millicent Barnes said. “Did you have a good evening?”
“Dinner was good,” Judith said. “Alan felt he owed it to me because I worked late. Of course he really didn’t.”
Her mother was wearing one of the faded dressing gowns that seemed to match her own ruined beauty. She was painfully thin and had the gown tied tightly about her. Now her worn face showed a sly smile.
“You don’t have to be coy with me, darling,” she said with meaning. “I slipped away from the television a moment and watched you through the curtain at the window.”
“Mother! How could you!”
Millicent raised a thin hand. “You don’t have to hide things from your own mother,” she protested in a voice overly sweet with understanding. “I’m just so happy for you!”
“What do you mean?” Judith asked suspiciously.
Her mother clasped her hands at her waist and made strange little movements with her lips before she spoke. “Well, if I must say it, I saw you in Alan’s arms. I don’t mind telling you it’s what I’ve been hoping for, only I didn’t think you had the sense to let it happen!”
Judith’s pretty face flamed with ashamed astonishment. “Mother, how can you say such a thing!”
“Well, it’s true,” Millicent went on in her drab, trembling voice. “I have prayed that Alan Fraser would fall in love with you and we’d be able to hold up our heads in this town again.”
“Look,” Judith said helplessly, “you’re getting this all wrong.”
“You can be frank with me,” Millicent said. “I won’t let on to anyone you two are going to be engaged. A mother has the right to know first!”
“We are not engaged!” Judith said angrily. “If you recall, Alan is engaged to Pauline Walsh!”
Her mother’s lips quivered. “But I supposed he’d broken that.”
“He hasn’t!”
“But I saw him kissing you just now!”
“Mother!” Judith said reprovingly. “That didn’t mean anything!”
“Didn’t mean anything!” Millicent Barnes echoed, her voice becoming very high-pitched.
“No!”
“Then what kind of a way was that to be acting?” Her mother was angry in her disappointment.
“What did you mean by spying on us?” Judith wanted to know.
“A mother has the right to watch over her own!”
“Let me say you’ve nicely twisted that to your own convenience,” Judith said, angry herself now. “I won’t put up with your prying. I warn you!”
“To think you’d make yourself cheap in the eyes of a man like Alan,” her mother wailed. “No wonder no decent fellow will take an interest in you, and you wind up with somebody like that awful Miles Estey!”
“Leave Miles out of this!” Judith said sharply.
“A thief!” her mother cried indignantly. “That’s what he was! And if he hadn’t slunk out of town, you’d probably have decided you should marry him!”
“Perhaps I would have,” Judith said grimly between her teeth.
“You’re reckless and wild, just like your father before you!” Millicent went on, going into high on a favorite subject. “My parents warned me not to marry him, but I wouldn’t listen! And I’ve lived to rue the day! And then when I think you’ve done something to help us, you let me down just as your father did!”
Judith took a few steps toward her own room and then turned to warn the weeping woman, “Mother, I’m telling you if you don’t stop this kind of nonsense, I’m going back to that job in Manchester again.”
“You’d do anything to torment me!” Millicent sobbed.
“I’d do anything to keep you from peeking out windows and poking your silly nose into my affairs,” Judith said grimly. “Good night, Mother! Thank you for watching over me!” She strode into her own room and slammed the door after her.
So often had Millicent behaved stupidly and bungled things for them both that Judith had lost patience with her. It had been Millicent’s pathetic attempts to push her in a social circle that no longer was interested in them that had made Judith certain she must find new friends and a new life in another group. And it was this decision that had led her to falling in love with Miles Estey.
She’d met Miles at a party one night and thought him one of the nicer young men who were newcomers in town.
“I’m a wrong-side-of-the-tracks kind of guy,” he’d been frank to tell her with a smile on his friendly freckled face. “And from what I hear, you’re entitled to a high rating in local society. One of the debs who live up on the hill.”
“I’ve come down a mite,” she told him jokingly as they stood in a corner of the crowded, noisy room. “My family have lost their money.”
Miles was tall and red-haired, with careless good looks and disturbingly clear blue eyes. Those eyes now searched hers as he said quietly, “You’ve got real class and that’s something you won’t ever lose.”
“Thanks!” she bantered. “Now I won’t worry about getting it insured.”
He continued to stare at her. “You are also the first good reason I’ve found for remaining in this silly old New Hampshire town.”
Judith raised her eyebrows. “Didn’t you come here to take a job?”
“I can find a job anywhere.”
She laughed. “You’re lucky.”
“I mean it,” he said seriously. “As I told you, I come from the wrong side of the tracks in a small Rhode Island town. But I learned one thing early. You can make it in this country if you’ve got a few natural brains and a little education. So that’s how I happen to be an accountant.”
“And you’re going to work for S.C. North, aren’t you?”
He gave her a mocking smile. “Doesn’t just about everyone in this town work for North or some company owned by him?”
She sighed. “It’s getting to be the truth. I wish it weren’t. He’s too powerful.”
“Smart girl!” Miles glanced around the room. “You know the old saw about absolute power corrupting absolutely. It’s true. And it is happening here. Pretty near everyone in this room gets his living money from the great North, and they’d all be in a panic if you asked them to say honestly what they think about his policies.”
“How about you?”
He smiled. “Not me. I’m a free agent. That’s why I’m not apt to be popular in this town.”
“What kind of job have you taken?”
The red-haired giant winked at her. “I’m an executive,” he said. “You don’t expect an up-and-coming young man like me to settle for anything but an executive position!”
She smiled. “I should have known better.”
“I’m to be chief assistant to Charles North,” Miles said proudly.
Her eyebrows rose. “The great man’s youngest son!”
“Correct!” Miles went on. “I’m looking after the timber division under him. It’s a pretty important part of the whole operation. We buy lumber land as well as look after pulp for the mill.”
“I wish you luck,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll do well.”
“Just by meeting you I’m doing
fine,” he assured her in his intense way.
And it had seemed that he was headed for a fine future in Port Winter. Judith began dating him regularly. They made a happy combination, and it seemed likely that Miles might ask her to marry him.
Then the shadow had fallen on him. It happened overnight. Suddenly there were ugly rumors making the rounds of Port City that larceny had taken place in the offices of the North Timber Division. Books had been fixed, entries forged, and large amounts of cash were missing. Miles didn’t mention it to Judith for a while. But she saw a change in him and knew that he was badly upset.
Two weeks passed before he brought it out in the open. He was bitter and defeated. “A lot of money has been stolen from the company, Judith,” he said. “And I’ve been tagged as the thief.”
“But you didn’t!” she protested, certain it wasn’t possible.
He smiled bitterly. “I’ve tried to prove that, but Charles North is as slick as his father. He’s fixed it neatly so that I’m the only possible suspect, although I know he took the money. But nobody in this town figures a North would rob himself.”
Judith stared at him in dismay. “What are you going to do?”
“I’ve been given two choices.”
From his tone she inferred they must offer no solution, but she asked, “What are they?”
“Charles North is willing to plead my case with his father because I have been so competent and such a good friend to him. He feels sure he can persuade the old man to let me go free if I’ll leave town at once.” Miles gave her a meaningful glance. “You can see through that, can’t you? Charles wants me openly to acknowledge guilt. That way he’s in the clear. Maybe he even figures his father knows he took the money. But he’ll be safe.”
“But it’s no good,” she objected. “You should try to prove it wasn’t you!”
“There just isn’t any way to do that,” Miles said unhappily. “That brings me to the alternate choice. I can face a court and take whatever sentence they hand out for what I’m supposed to have done.”
“But surely you can prove your innocence in court.”
“Not in a town where North owns everything and everyone. I won’t get any kind of a fair hearing.”
Vintage Love Page 200