by Susan Barrie
But to Peter it seemed clear enough that she was fairly certain of what was going to happen to her one day. She was going to become the second wife of Dr. Julio Fernandez, or be exceedingly surprised herself. Already, in her attitude towards him, there was the easy comradeship of a woman who was upon the very verge of becoming a wife. She teased him, gently rallied him, with the same sort of gentleness, upon all sorts of subjects. But behind the gentleness, there was an inflexible firmness, a suave determination to carry the point whenever it was really necessary; and if this determination was wrapped up in the Spanish woman’s desire, at all costs, to please her man, and recognize his right to exert authority in his own home, nevertheless it was there beneath the wrappings, and to Peter it was a little sinister.
He felt that he would have hated to be married to such a woman himself, for in time her will could become allpowerful. And although she was extremely attractive, dressed beautifully, looked the part of a successful doctor’s wife — or would do when she became one! — and was born to be a perfect hostess, he still felt that someone less endowed with many attributes would suit him better. And might even suit a very successful doctor better!
Not that Dr. Fernandez conveyed the impression that his quiet brilliance would be easily overlaid, or his authority flouted if he really chose to exert it. On the contrary, there were moments when a note of incisiveness in his voice had the effect of causing Dona Beatriz to look temporarily at a loss, and when a certain cool flash in his eyes actually reduced her to silence. There were even times when he looked a little bored — when, for instance, the subject of his daughter was dragged into the conversation rather more than he obviously approved, and Dona Beatriz became impassioned about the advisability of sending only children to school, preferably a really sound boarding-school, as soon as they were old enough, in order to avoid the evils of introspectiveness and slight spoiling.
‘But then Julio knows my views on this subject, as I have expressed them very often, ’ she remarked, shaking her head with doubtful indulgence as she surveyed the doctor, and Peter could have sworn that impatience suddenly seethed in him, and that it was rather more than boredom that caused him to observe with an empty expression:
‘I am sure Mr. Hamilton-Tracey is not interested in the upbringing of only children as a subject for dinner-table conversation, however absorbing the topic may be to us! ’
And then he rose and led the way out into the veranda, where coffee was always served.
Dona Beatriz was too skilled at masking her reactions to most things to reveal what she felt on this occasion, and within a few moments the host was being carefully attentive to her, and the little irruption on the placid pool of their relationship had passed. But mostly it was a placid relationship, and this fact in itself struck Peter Hamilton-Tracey as strange. Warm-blooded people like the Spanish didn’t normally indulge in placid relationships, and there was a kind of slumbrous fire in Dona Beatriz’s fine dark eyes at times — especially when she sat looking for any length of time at Julio Fernandez — and for all the control he exercised over his own features they were not always mask-like. The mouth was too human, the eyes too full of depths for that. And Lisa had discovered that he could laugh quite gaily on occasion, and his reactions were sometimes surprising.
There could be plenty of warm blood flowing through his veins if he hadn’t perhaps discovered that warm blood was safer when it was carefully damned and regulated.
Lisa was very quiet during dinner while Peter was there, and he himself received the impression that she had formed the habit of listening to the voices of the other two. Although Dona Beatriz was charming to him, she never deliberately included Lisa in the conversation. And apart from making certain that she was never neglected her employer addressed little of his actual conversation to her. He seemed content to send quiet, reflective glances in her direction occasionally, and then to look a little curiously at Peter, as if he was trying to decide something in his mind.
After dinner the two younger people wandered out into the garden — Peter thinking up an excuse that was not too transparent, although it involved catching a glimpse of the sea from the higher part of the grounds, and witnessing the effect of moonlight on the white beach that lay below. Dona Beatriz smiled somewhat oddly when they had disappeared, and looked round and up at Julio, who was standing staring out into the patio.
‘These English are rather obvious, don’t you agree?’ she said, the smile changing to the corners of her scarlet mouth. ‘We do not need to be told why those two have gone out there together into the night, and if Miss Waring had been brought up as our Spanish girls are brought up she would at least have displayed a certain diffidence before accepting such an invitation as that!’
‘What sort of an invitation?’ Julio inquired, staring rather frowningly at the tip of his shoe instead of the moonlit patio.
‘Oh, my dear Julio!’ She reached out and patted his arm and laughed. ‘ Young lovers are young lovers the world over, only in England it does not follow that they have to marry because they make a little light love! Miss Waring likes to pretend she doesn’t know Peter Hamilton-Tracey very well, but it is obvious they are greatly attracted to one another, otherwise he would not have come here tonight, and she would not seize upon the first opportunity to be alone with him! ’
‘I didn’t notice any excessive enthusiasm on her part to be alone with him,’ the man remarked.
Again the soft, amused laughter reached him out of the dimness.
‘But that is because you are not particularly interested in her, and therefore not very observant where she is concerned! ’
‘Perhaps not,’ he agreed, and his voice sounded short as he turned away. ‘Beatriz, I would like you to understand that Gia will go to school when I decide that the time is ripe! ’
‘Of course. ’ Her voice was soothing as the murmur of the sea as it slapped gently on the beach below them. ‘ And in the meantime you will permit me to go ahead with inquiries and preparations? There is a dental appointment that simply must be kept in a week or so’s time, and that will necessitate a return to Madrid for Gia. I hardly think it necessary for Miss Waring to accompany her, and while the child is with us I can see about fittings for new clothes and so forth. That will probably take some time, but she can stay with me at my flat if you do not wish to have her with you. ’
All at once he turned and looked at her. His eyes were more enigmatic than she had ever known before, and it disturbed her.
‘Is there any good reason why I should object to having Gia with me?’
‘My dear Julio,’ she began again, ‘there is the excellent reason that yours is a bachelor flat, and if Miss Waring remains here there will be no one to look after her — no woman, that is. ’
‘Then why should not Miss Waring accompany her?’
This time she shook her head at him.
‘Have I not just said that yours is a bachelor flat? Miss Grimthorpe was a different proposition entirely from Miss Waring — although you may not realize it, since, as I remarked, you probably hardly notice her! — but you could hardly, without a housekeeper, or some other woman in the house, take her to live with you. ’
‘Then why should I not install the pair of them in an hotel?’
There was a curious stubborn note in his voice that surprised her, and she rose suddenly, and very gratefully, and went towards him.
‘Julio!...’ There was a soft rebuke in her voice as she laid hold of his sleeve. ‘Why may not I do all that I can to help you with Gia? Haven’t I always done my best to help you with her?’
His night-dark, unrevealing eyes stared hard at her.
‘You suggested that she should spend the summer here by the sea, as a preparation for the autumn, and now that she is here you want to take her away! ’
‘Only for a routine check on her teeth, and so forth. And also I am not sure that Miss Waring is the right type of person to be left alone with her. She is too young. This friend of hers, Peter Hamilton-
Tracey, is too close! ’
‘He will be going away soon. ’
She shrugged, her white shoulders gleaming in the moonbeams.
‘There will be others. She is that sort. A moth to the candle! . . . And do you forget what happened to Gia’s mother? Do you forget all that you had to live through at one time, and do you wish to have to repeat such a performance through your daughter?’
‘Don’t!’ he said, and his voice sounded almost violent.
But she clung tenaciously to his sleeve.
‘Julio, mi querido,’ she said softly, ‘I do not wish to wound you, but you must not forget that Gia’s upbringing is important — far more important than it would be, say, if she were your daughter and mine! ’ moving imperceptibly nearer to him. ‘If Gia were our daughter,’ still more softly, ‘there would be little or no danger, and a good deal of latitude would be permissible. But Gia is her mother’s daughter — apart from the fact, of course, that she will never have her mother’s looks! — and we must safeguard her, you and I. And you know that your interests, and the interests of Gia, are entirely my interests. ’
To her acute disappointment he moved away, and he did so without even seeming to notice that touch on his sleeve. His voice sounded moody when he reached the far end of the veranda.
‘Perhaps you are right, but I do not think you know Miss Waring sufficiently well to criticize her behavior with men friends. ’
‘No?’ All at once her eyes narrowed, and their expression was like something that had been abruptly alerted. ‘Well, perhaps you are right there, but I am also not sufficiently interested in Miss Waring to care one way or the other — save that anyone who arouses doubt is not an ideal person to have charge of a child like Gia! In any case, I told you in the beginning that she is the very last person I would have chosen for myself — an unknown young woman on a pathetic little holiday that failed to produce any of the things she had hoped for, and with probably not even the means to get back to her own country! That was why she seized on your offer of a position with Gia! You were very unwise not to take up the references she provided you with. ’
‘Whether I was unwise or not, I do not think that anything can be gained by discussing her in this manner at the moment,’ he said, and all at once his voice had that cool note of ice in it that always vaguely frightened her. He walked back along the length of the veranda until he came face to face with her again. ‘ You can have Gia to stay with you in Madrid if you wish, Beatriz, and Miss Waring can await her return here. There are a good many weeks yet before the summer is ended, and you were right at least about sea air for Gia. She has thrived quite noticeably here on the coast. ’
‘But only because the sea air is so good! You mustn’t get it into your head that it is because of some magic Miss Waring possesses. ’ She smiled at him as if she was willing to humor him quite a long way, but false notions about an English governess must be firmly eradicated. And then, because she had herself been put in her place — even politely warned about excessive interference
— she added comfortably: ‘But don’t worry about Miss Waring. If she behaves herself I will find her that other job I promised her, and your sense of responsibility where she is concerned will be satisfied. There will be no need for you to develop a conscience when the time comes for her to leave Gia.’
‘I am not in the least likely to develop a conscience about Miss Waring,’ he replied, and from the tone of his reply it was impossible to gather what exactly he meant by it. And then, as if his conscience where Beatriz was concerned suddenly troubled him, he looked down at her and smiled apologetically. ‘It is very good of you, Beatriz, to trouble yourself as much as you do about me and my affairs, and particularly about Gia. You do know I’m grateful, don’t you?’ ‘You don’t have to be grateful,’ she told him, taking his arm quite firmly and leading him out into the moonlit garden. ‘You and your affairs have long been one of my main preoccupations, and I don’t think you need me to assure you that is the way it always will be! ’
For one instant, as she put back her sleek red head and looked up at him, he read something like reproach in her eyes, and he felt, as he had felt often before, definitely uneasy. For was that the way he wanted it to be — always? And, if he did, ought not something warmer than gratitude to be offered her?
He was certain she was growing a little tired of gratitude, and nothing else!
In a far corner of the garden Peter Hamilton-Tracey was saying awkwardly to Lisa:
‘You know, I don’t want to make things uncomfortable for you, but it is an opportunity to see you if I’m invited here to the house! At the same time I’m pretty certain your boss doesn’t enjoy seeing me at his dinner table, and that Dona Beatriz is inexplicable. She seems very anxious to throw you and I together, but she doesn’t strike me as being particularly friendly towards you. Would you prefer it if I didn’t come here again?’
‘Of course not,’ Lisa answered. They were standing before a low wall smothered in sweet-smelling growth, and before them the sea was a pathway of magic, with the umbrella pines like black silhouettes overhanging the water, and she was so captivated by the beauty of it all that she wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying. ‘Why shouldn’t we meet? At least . . .’ And then she hesitated, recalling her employer’s bleak expression at dinner, and she thought she knew what Peter was driving at. ‘You think that Dona Beatriz takes rather a lot on herself, and that Dr. Fernandez doesn’t always approve? After all, I’m only a governess. I oughtn’t to be dining with them at all. ’
‘Nonsense.’ Peter took her cool bare arm, and led her away from the wall. ‘That wasn’t what I meant at all!’ He tried to explain. ‘ Fernandez is strange and reticent, and it would be impossible to decide quite definitely how he feels about many things — his daughter amongst them! Dona Beatriz has probably got him very well weighed up, and in spite of the fact that he was obviously not at all keen to have me invited to the house she went on pressing her invitations. She keeps making you the pretext. ... I don’t want to make things awkward for you. ’
‘You mean that she likes you, and — and Dr. Fernandez might be jealous?’
‘No, I don’t.’ He laughed. ‘I’m not as conceited as all that! But I don’t think she likes you, and you need that job for the rest of the summer, and if you’re to retain it we don’t want Fernandez upset in any way. But you’re entitled to a certain amount of free time, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t spend some of it together. ’
‘N-no, I suppose not,’ she agreed doubtfully.
He gave her smooth elbow a little shake.
‘Be your age, child! You need fun and games like anyone else, and the atmosphere of this place isn’t exactly bubbling over with merriment. Dona Beatriz doesn’t approve of merriment, only Dior dresses, and looking ravishing at a dinner table
— and marriage to Dr. Fernandez! And you can take it from me that that is one thing she intends to bring off one day! ’
Lisa said nothing to this.
‘However, all that’s beside the point, except that at the moment Dona Beatriz is suffering slightly from frustration, and feeling frustrated she’s inclined to be spiteful. She doesn’t want to make things too easy for you, and she could make things awkward. I’d rather get you away from the house sometimes; take you to the cinema in San Cecilio, take you out to dinner — things like that. No watching eyes, no comments. And there’s another thing. I’ve an aunt who’s coming to visit me soon, or to look me up, at least. She’s my aunt Grizel, short for Grizelda, and nobody knows how old she is, because she looks as if she might go on living forever! She has a flat in Madrid, and her great hobby is painting. She has painted her way right round the world, or so she boasts, and every now and again she has exhibitions of her pictures in places like London and Paris I suppose she’s really quite an artist. However, the main thing is she wants to come and see me in my cottage, and I’ll have to give her lunch. I’ll take her to an hotel, of course, and
I’d like you to join us. I think you’d enjoy meeting her, because she’s quite unlike the usual run of aunts, and fairly bright and breezy. Will you do so, Lisa?’
Lisa didn’t hesitate over this.
‘Oh, yes, I’d like to,’ she said. And, she thought, Spanish sensibilities couldn’t possibly be upset by her meeting with the aunt of an attractive young man like Peter Hamilton-Tracey, and joining the two of them for a meal. And although she was quite well aware that Dr. Fernandez didn’t approve of her association with Peter for the simple reason that it could prove unsettling to her daily life, and affect the quality of the service he demanded as an employer — there couldn’t possibly be any other reason why he should object! — she agreed with Peter that the atmosphere of the villa since the arrival of Dona Beatriz was not quite the light-hearted atmosphere it had been before she left Madrid.
Sometimes even the thought of Dona Beatriz weighed upon her, like a cloud she could do nothing to lift, because by comparison with herself she was all things elegant and sophisticated, and her relationship with Dr. Fernandez was so very different from the relationship of a girl who was filling a temporary post, and not yet entirely trusted.
And one day, of course, she would marry Dr. Fernandez.... When he had recognized how futile it was to continue dwelling upon the past, and the brief happiness that had once been his, and realized how much she had to offer him!
It was only a question of time. Peter was right about that.
When Peter said goodnight and went back to his cottage he carried with him her reiterated promise to meet his aunt, and he in his turn promised to let her know in good time when that aunt threatened to arrive. Then she could approach her employer for permission to absent herself for the first whole day that had been granted to her since he became her employer.
CHAPTER NINE
But before that day dawned an incident happened that caused her to see him in quite a different light from any that she had so far seen him in.
Senora Cortina was in the habit of receiving vegetables at the side entrance to the villa, and these were brought to her daily by the young man who drove a donkey-cart down a narrow lane that was an offshoot of the winding main road, and brought the cart to rest outside a creaking iron gate. The creaking of the gate usually announced his arrival, and Senora Cortina would emerge in her apron — frequently wiping her hands on it as if she had only just deserted the kitchen sink — and scold him in a loud voice for being late with cauliflowers, or the crisp hearts of lettuce that she was to arrange into a salad for lunch.