by Anne Hampson
‘The best?’
Had you sold me the farm, either when I saw you in England or later, when I made you the offer, you wouldn’t be here now, assisting me with my problem.’
‘You blackmailed me,’ she accused, at the same time wondering at this problem and wishing he would confide in her.
‘It was the only way,’ he said, offering no apology. ‘I wanted you to come here, for it was my intention that we should become engaged.’
‘Even at the time of Glee’s accident?’
He frowned and said a trifle shortly,
‘Glee’s accident helped my plan, but I don’t want you to misunderstand, or to misjudge me. Glee’s welfare, and your peace of mind, were of the first importance. The only sensible course was to have you both here, where Glee could have expert care, and where you would be relieved of the work and worry of the farm.’
‘It was good of you,’ she said again, and his frown deepened.
‘It was my duty. I did mention that we’re related.’
She shook her head.
‘You’d have helped me had we not been related.’
‘Perhaps, but we’ll let that pass.’ The humorous gleam entered his eyes again as he added, ‘Don’t give me too much credit, Joanne. I did want something in return, remember.’
He baffled her, for hadn’t he just said his first concern had been for the welfare of both Glee and herself?
‘I hope that what I’m doing will amply repay you.’ There was a persuasive element in her tone, inviting confidence. Noting it, Manoel said, rather gently,
‘Naturally you’re puzzled, Joanne, but I can’t confide in you. Just accept the position without question—consider your engagement to me as a task, a task which you are performing to help me, and to please me.’ He paused, raising a questioning eyebrow as the colour began to fluctuate in Joanne’s cheeks and her hands twitched nervously in her lap. What was not so evident was the sudden quickening of her heartbeats, and that strangely disturbing sensation which was becoming both familiar and uncomfortable. ‘When the engagement has served its purpose you’ll be free to return to England—having been paid for your farm, of course.’
She thought about his saying that the materialization of his hopes should coincide with the return of Filipa and Leonor to their mother. Everyone would be gone from the Solar de Alvares except Manoel and his cousin. The idea brought Joanne a feeling of dejection and she frowned in thought as she endeavoured to account for it. But no explanation presented itself and Joanne decided she was miserable simply because she would miss the two children. Glee, too, would miss them, for the three had become great friends. At home, Glee had naturally had her little companions, but here Leonor and Filipa were more like her sisters. Glee was going to experience a painful wrench on being parted from them. A deep sigh rose to Joanne’s lips and Manoel eyed her quizzically.
‘What was that for?’ he demanded. ‘Is it that you can’t curb your curiosity?’
‘Of course not. I’m quite resigned to being kept in the dark.’
‘But you don’t like it?’ He actually laughed then. ‘How typically feminine you are!’ Recovering from her dejection, Joanne searched for some suitable retort, but before she could find one Manoel spoke again, changing the subject. ‘I don’t know how deep your friendship for this young man is, Joanne, but I take it you’re not in love with him?’
Joanne flushed and shook her head.
‘No ... I don’t think so.’
He frowned. ‘You’re not sure?’
‘I am sure,’ she said after a small hesitation. ‘I’m not in love with Ricardo.’
‘Good, then it won’t be difficult to convince him that you’re in love with me.’
‘Oh, but—’ She had been racking her brains to think of some explanation to give Ricardo, and finally decided there was only one course open to her—to tell him the truth, but only after extracting a promise of secrecy from him.
‘But what, Joanne?’ His voice was crisp, inflexible. She knew Manoel would not countenance her confiding in Ricardo.
‘What can I say to him? You see, we’re very good friends, and—and he knows I’m not in love with you.’
‘How can he know that?’
Joanne spread her hands helplessly. ‘I haven’t ever said anything about—about liking you.’
‘Perhaps you’ve said something about disliking me,’ he challenged, sending her into renewed confusion. His eyes flickered perceptively and he went on to say she would simply have to disillusion Ricardo, and own to having fallen in love with Manoel himself.
‘It’ll be quite impossible.’
‘Nonsense! You’ve fallen in love with me suddenly. It often happens.’
‘No, I can’t—
‘You will, Joanne,’ he said, very softly. ‘As I’ve said, I’ll not be the object of ridicule. You’ll oblige me by convincing this friend of yours that our engagement is genuine.’ And without giving her time for further protest he glanced at the clock and rose from his chair, saying he had work to do. The next moment Joanne was alone, her mind in a turmoil as once again she tried to think what she would say to Ricardo.
A few minutes before Ricardo was due to arrive Manoel came up to Joanne in her sitting-room. She had just put Glee to bed and was setting out some refreshments on the table.
‘One thing I forgot to mention,’ he said coolly. ‘I don’t want Rosa to know this friend of yours has been here this evening. Please see that you don’t mention it to her.’
‘Rosa? But I don’t understand?’ Rosa was out, visiting a friend, and Joanne now saw why it was that Manoel had made her change the date of Ricardo’s visit. Last evening Rosa was at home.
‘Once again I’m unable to give you a reason. Have I your word?’
‘I won’t mention it to Rosa, no, not if you say I mustn’t. But—’
‘Thank you, Joanne.’ He turned at the door, his glance straying to the table. ‘Have a pleasant evening.’
She smiled swiftly in response, having, as on a previous occasion, a rather urgent desire to keep him with her.
‘If you’re not doing anything—later—perhaps you’d join us?’
But he shook his head.
‘I’ve some work to do; it’ll take me the whole evening.’
‘Oh ...’ Still the desire remained and she went on to ask if he were starting his work immediately.
‘Immediately,’' he replied, watching her with amused curiosity. Could he possibly know she was trying to keep him? wondered Joanne with some dismay. If he did, he had no intention of obliging, for after another glance at the table he turned and left the room.
Joanne stared at the closed door, her mind in a turmoil. Why had she wanted him to stay?—and why this strange emptiness now he had gone?
Ricardo came a few moments later and for a tensed second or two they stared at one another.
‘Sit d-down, Ricardo,’ she invited, her voice not quite steady. ‘Will you have a drink?’
‘Joanne—‘ He strode across the room and took her by the shoulders. ‘What the dickens is going on? This engagement—there’s something fishy about it, because you’re not in love with Dom Manoel.’
Joanne gave him a rather dazed look, and even as she realized his intention, and made to break away from his hold, Ricardo had kissed her hard on the mouth.
‘Ricardo!’ she gasped, twisting out of his arms. ‘You shouldn’t have done that!’
‘Why not?’ he demanded angrily. ‘Tell me about this phoney engagement. What’s the reason for it?’
Joanne turned from him, her whole body quivering. There’s usually only one reason for an engagement,’ she whispered in trembling tones.
‘When people get engaged they’re usually in love!’ was Ricardo’s grim response. ‘But nothing you can say will convince me you’re in love with Dom Manoel!’
Slowly she came round to face him, and he saw that the colour had left her cheeks.
‘I’m afraid you’ll have t
o be convinced, Ricardo,’ she said gently. ‘For it’s true—I do love Dom Manoel.’
CHAPTER SIX
IT had been so easy, at the time, for Joanne to promise to remain at the Solar de Alvares until she was no longer needed, but as the days went by she began to wonder if the time would come when she would find it impossible to keep that promise. It was not just that she was thrown more and more into Manoel’s company, owing to their engagement, but his manner towards her held all the tender affection of the lover. Not that he was over-demonstrative—Joanne felt he would never be that, even with the woman he would eventually marry—but he was gentle with her and anxious about her welfare. Sometimes his mother and stepfather were there, but for the most part Rosa was the only witness, and it was soon impressed into Joanne that his attentiveness was for her benefit only. What did it all mean? Was it revenge for something Rosa had done? Was his object to make her jealous? No explanation that Joanne could think up satisfied her and she eventually abandoned the effort of trying to unravel the mystery. But Manoel’s assumed tenderness disturbed her profoundly; if only he could mean it ... But that would never be, and she hastily dismissed the thought.
Every week Manoel went to see his sister in the hospital at Lisbon, and one day when he was out Rosa came up to the sitting-room which Joanne still retained. Her eyes were dark with jealousy and hate, yet there was a certain air of triumph about her that had the effect of setting Joanne’s nerves on edge. Several times during the last couple of days Joanne had caught Rosa glancing oddly at her, and now Rosa came straight to the point, inquiring curtly when the wedding was to be.
Joanne shrugged carelessly, but her flesh tingled. She felt she would never have the courage to face Manoel, should she make a slip.
‘We haven’t yet fixed the date.’
An ugly twist totally transformed Rosa’s face; she looked actually wicked, thought Joanne.
‘Is there to be a wedding?’ inquired Rosa in soft and purring tones.
‘What a thing to ask!’
Rosa threw her a flickering glance from under her lashes.
‘Are you contemplating bigamy, by any chance?’ Lazily she took possession of a chair and leant back comfortably in it.
‘Bigamy?’ Joanne gaped at her. ‘Did you say bigamy?’
How well you do it,’ sneered the Portuguese girl triumphantly. ‘You’re not a widow, are you, Joanne?’
Joanne went taut. How did Rosa know that?
‘You’re not being very explicit, Rosa.’
‘I’ve been speaking to your daughter,’ admitted Rosa without the least sign of shame. ‘Her daddy isn’t dead.’ Joanne’s eyes flickered contemptuously over her, but her mind worked furiously. There must be a way out of this, she thought, realizing that Rosa had deliberately waited until Manoel was absent from the house, so that there would be no risk of his walking in on them unexpectedly.
‘You’re despicable!’ Joanne still searched frantically for some means of escape. The other girl subjected her to a mildly indifferent stare as she said,
‘My action’s not nearly so despicable as yours in deceiving Manoel like this. Would you really go to the lengths of marrying him?’
‘I’m not willing to discuss our marriage with you,’ responded Joanne stiffly.
‘I’ll bet you’re not!’ Rosa stood up, and walked languidly to the door, for Joanne was standing, in an attitude of impatience. ‘Naturally I shall pass on my knowledge to Manoel, for I can’t sit back and see him made to appear such an utter fool.’
Joanne bit her lip, cursing herself for the stubbornness that had prevented her from putting Manoel in possession of the facts. Truly this was a ‘web of lies’ in which by her obstinacy she had become enmeshed. If Rosa were to carry out her threat then Manoel would have no alternative but to call the engagement off and whatever plan he had in mind must fail. That Rosa would carry out her threat there was nothing so sure ... unless Joanne could devise some means of preventing her.
‘Be careful you yourself aren’t made to appear a fool,’ she warned, taking the only way that might prove fruitful. ‘One must be very sure of one’s facts before making accusations that might not be true.’ Something in her tone brought Rosa round with a jerk, her face paling slightly.
‘How can I appear a fool?’
‘As I’ve just said—by repeating what might not be true.’
‘You mean—you are a widow?’
‘So you’re beginning to doubt the dependability of what you’ve heard from so young a child as Glee?’
A sneer curved Rosa’s mouth.
‘Do you think I’d fall for your bluff?’ she asked with a hint of contempt. ‘I’m not quite such a fool as that.’
Joanne’s hand fluttered in a little careless gesture. But it was a matter of wonderment to her that she could speak in so steady a voice.
‘Go ahead then, and give your information to Manoel.’
A frown crossed Rosa’s brow; she scrutinized Joanne intently.
‘Glee mentioned her father—’ Rosa shook her head. ‘I know you’re not a widow!’
‘Really,’ said Joanne with some impatience, ‘would any woman in her right mind contemplate marriage if she were not free to marry?’
‘You’re telling me you are in fact a widow?’
‘I don’t make a practice of discussing my private life,’ replied Joanne in quiet yet decisive tones.
‘There’s some mystery—’ Rosa stopped, her gaze travelling to the lovely ring on Joanne’s finger. Naturally she no longer wore her mother’s wedding ring, and as she watched Rosa’s changing expression Joanne’s heartbeats quickened even before the girl spoke, this time in a softly purring voice which in itself was an open threat. ‘Perhaps, then, Mrs. Barrie, my first suspicion was the correct one. I don’t believe you’re a widow, and you say yourself you are free to marry, so Glee is ... is ...’
‘Yes, Dona Rosa?’ prompted Joanne, her lovely eyes kindling dangerously. ‘Are you afraid to finish what you were about to say?’
A slight flush tinted Rosa’s cheeks, but she remained otherwise unruffled by Joanne’s question.
‘I don’t believe you’ve ever been married to Glee’s father,’ she emphatically declared, and Joanne could scarcely contain her laughter. If only she could tell this detestable girl the truth! How very gratifying it would be to witness her humiliating defeat.
‘In that case there’s no barrier to my marriage to Manoel,’ was all she said, and once again she had difficulty in suppressing her amusement, for a look of absolute horror had crossed the other girl’s dark face.
‘Manoel would never for one moment contemplate marriage to—to a woman who had had a child out of wedlock!’ she returned in a shocked yet faintly triumphant tone.
Joanne paused in thought. The situation was serious indeed, but for the moment she was carried away by the more humorous aspect of it and she said carelessly,
‘Why not? It happens all the time nowadays. Sensible people accept such things. I can’t see that Manoel will trouble himself overmuch about my past.’ And she added, allowing her glance to flicker over Rosa’s slim figure in a deliberately significant sort of way, ‘I daresay Manoel’s had his amours, but—’ she shrugged indifferently—‘his past is no concern of mine. I’d never be so presumptuous as to question him about it.’ If Manoel could hear all this! In spite of her amusement Joanne gave an involuntary shudder. She had never witnessed his anger, and she hoped she never would—for his impatience was quite disconcerting enough.
Rosa’s heightened colour gave evidence of her fury, too
‘You’re insolent! How dare you insinuate—? Oh, wait until I tell Manoel about this—and I shall tell him, for I’m quite sure he doesn’t know what he’s doing in contemplating marriage to a shameless woman like you!’
Her words brought Joanne back with a jerk to the seriousness of the situation and she dropped her bantering manner.
‘What are you going to say to Manoel?’ she inquired c
uriously.
‘I’m going to repeat what you’ve just admitted.’
‘And what have I admitted?’
Rosa came back into the room; the two girls stared at one another. Joanne’s gaze was unflinching and for one short moment she saw uncertainty in those dark eyes and she seized upon it. ‘You’ve only yourself to blame if I teased you,’ she said, adopting a tone of mild apology. ‘But if you’re honest you’ll admit you asked for it.’ Would it work? she wondered breathlessly.
‘You mean ... your daughter is legitimate?’ Rosa lost a little more of her colour—and her confidence.
‘Certainly Glee is legitimate!’ Thank heaven for the chance to speak without dissembling for once, thought Joanne with heartfelt relief. ‘Be very careful you don’t slander me, Rosa.’
‘Slander—?’ A long pause, and then Rosa’s lips snapped together. ‘You’re not a widow! Glee saw her father, recently.’
Joanne’s heartbeats quickened. How could she stop this girl from passing on her suspicions to Manoel? That the girl was muddled was evident, but whatever she chose to say to Manoel would result in his demanding an explanation. On the one hand, it would be an overwhelming relief to unburden herself of this weight of guilt—but on the other hand Joanne had an equally overwhelming aversion to finding herself the victim of her fiancé’s wrath. And that he would be furious she had not the slightest doubt, for her revelation would make him appear a complete fool before his mother and stepfather who would be sure to look askance at such a stupid and unnecessary deception. That stubborn streak in her nature would get her into trouble one day, her mother had repeatedly said ... and how right she had proved to be!
‘Did you put the words into Glee’s mouth in the same way as when you were talking about the accident?’ inquired Joanne, outwardly calm, but speaking in desperation for all that. ‘On that particular occasion you managed to get her to say what you wanted, so you’ve probably done the same again.’ She paused, then added deliberately, ‘If I were you, Rosa, I’d keep quiet, for Manoel might take it into his head to question Glee ... and other things could just come to light.’ It was a desperate move, and in normal circumstances it would have been an unfair one. But with an adversary like Rosa the most effective weapon had to be used. Rosa was staring at her, now plainly off balance, and Joanne added for good measure, ‘I’m really surprised at a woman of your intelligence taking a child so young as Glee seriously. If you had the least understanding of children you’d know that at her particular age they indulge in much fantasy. It’s part of their normal development and quite often they invent relations. Glee used to invent sisters—and actually talked to them and played with them—until we came here and she found companions in Filipa and Leonor.’ This last was perfectly true, and the sincerity with which Joanne was able to speak strengthened her argument. Rosa’s face turned a sickly yellow and Joanne felt a surge of relief sweep over her at the knowledge that she had defeated the Portuguese girl. Rosa would now think twice before running to Manoel with suspicions which she would have to admit were based entirely upon what Glee had told her.