The band played and the guests mingled and Audrey tried her best to concentrate as she greeted them all, extending to each a courteous remark or a flattering compliment on the dress or the hairstyle, so that no one left her company without commenting on her charm and goodness. ‘Rose, I really must commend you on your daughters. Utterly enchanting girls, especially Audrey,’ Phyllida Bates gushed with genuine admiration. Before Rose could thank her, Cynthia Klein, who had her back to the group, turned around swiftly in order to give them the benefit of her opinion.
‘I agree with Phyllida,’ she said vigorously. ‘It’s a joy to see such refinement and class. There are enough plain girls here to send the young men back to war. Really, their insipid little faces make my eyes water,’ she commented loudly. Rose blushed and glanced about anxiously to see if anyone had heard.
‘You’re so right, Cynthia, though I would never have said it with such candour,’ Phyllida agreed, her beetle face pinching with pleasure.
‘Beauty is only as deep as one’s skin,’ Rose objected tactfully, attempting to laugh off her unkindness, hoping someone might come and rescue her.
‘But, my dear, it’s the skin we all have to look at,’ said Cynthia with a snort. ‘What use is a sweet nature if it doesn’t show through one’s skin?’ she continued with the insensitivity of old people who feel it is their right to say exactly what they think. Then to Rose’s relief the tall, starched figure of Cecil Forrester stepped in to break up the conversation and save Rose from her embarrassment.
‘Good evening, Rose,’ he said, bowing slightly. Then he turned to the Crocodiles and greeted them both by name. ‘What a beautiful evening,’ he commented by way of complimenting the hostess on the magnificence of the room. Rose, who understood such reserve, thanked him gratefully.
‘Now, this is a decent young man,’ said Cynthia, who had by no means finished with Rose Garnet. ‘Cecil, there’s one young woman in this room worthy of you and I suggest you snap her up before somebody else does.’ Rose blushed again.
‘You’re putting me on a pedestal, Mrs Klein, I fear I do not deserve,’ he replied with delicacy.
‘Absolutely you do,’ Phyllida insisted.
‘I hope you have booked a dance with the birthday girl,’ said Cynthia, raising her eyebrows expectantly.
‘I have,’ he asserted then turned to Rose. ‘It will be a great honour.’
‘I’m so glad,’ she replied, a little flustered. ‘Don’t listen to Cynthia, she’s being far too kind.’
‘Come, come, Rose, you know me better than that. Phyllida, tell Cecil how I never say things I don’t mean.’
‘If you’re referring to Audrey, Mrs Bates, you don’t need to convince me of her qualities,’ said Cecil, raising his eyes above the crowd in search of her.
‘Come, Cecil, I know my husband would like to see you,’ said Rose, seizing a good moment to extricate themselves. ‘Please excuse us,’ she added to the Crocodiles, who, the moment she had gone, scanned the room for their next prey.
When Audrey saw Louis through the vibrant froth of silk and bow ties she was filled once again with the familiar sense of buoyancy that she had felt earlier, after their duet on the piano. Unable to control her features, a broad smile illuminated her face and her cheeks flushed with excitement. Then he saw her too and he smiled back, a smile disarming in its honesty and tenderness, as if he had come only for her. In that brief and fleeting moment, when the candour in their gaze revealed feelings they could no longer suppress, they both felt that they knew the other more intimately than they knew anyone else in the world. As the party bubbled about them Louis and Audrey declared their love, silently but undeniably, and neither wanted to be the first to pull away.
When the music played the first waltz, Audrey was obliged to dance with her father. But she didn’t mind, for as she glided about the floor she could feel Louis’ eyes watching her and carrying her through her steps, giving her more energy and grace so that her father had to focus on her face to reassure himself that he wasn’t dancing with his wife, eighteen years before. But Audrey didn’t feel Cecil’s eyes following her from the other side of the room. Greatly encouraged by his conversation with her mother he felt that in time, when they knew each other better, it would be appropriate to invite her out for dinner. Of course, he would ask her father first, out of respect, but his intentions were honourable; they were for life.
When the dinner began, Audrey was seated between Cecil and James Pearson, the twins’ elder brother. She still hadn’t spoken to Louis. She hadn’t had a moment as she was swung from the arms of her father into those of her Uncle Herbert, who had insisted on holding her in a lecherous clinch for two dances and then into the awkward embrace of Cecil who had patiently awaited his turn with the discipline of an army officer, shoulders square, back straight and chin high. Audrey hadn’t needed to look past him to check that Louis was still watching, for she knew; his gaze rested on her like the heat of the sun and she smiled because of it, a deep smile that affected the whole of her face. Cecil was certain she was smiling at him, for her eyes didn’t waver once from his, but stared into his soul as if she understood him completely.
Dutifully Cecil filled Audrey’s plate from the buffet and then talked to her with animation until dessert. Audrey was anxious to find Louis and scanned the room for him while Cecil did his best to entertain her. Alarmed that he was nowhere to be seen she excused herself and rushed off to the Ladies Powder Room where she bumped straight into Isla, giggling wickedly. ‘Audrey,’ she screeched, ‘I danced with Uncle Herbert and I swear to you he had a nut in his pocket.’
‘A nut in his pocket?’ Audrey asked in confusion, pacing with agitation up the floor.
‘Yes, you know, a nut!’ she repeated, her green eyes wide with mischief. She then collapsed into laughter again. Audrey suddenly understood and shook her head.
‘How disgusting,’ she exclaimed. ‘He’s your uncle.’
‘It was a pathetic little nut, no wonder Hilda’s bitter all the time.’ Isla smirked.
‘Isla!’
‘She is. Uncle Herbert’s little nut wouldn’t satisfy a mouse.’
‘I think you’ve had too much to drink again.’ Audrey sighed, suddenly forgetting her frustration and focusing her attention on the feverish face of her sister.
‘I’m not going to dance with him again, ever,’ Isla continued. ‘What good is a man with a small nut? I must go and tell Aunt Edna, she’ll love it!’ and she flounced out of the bathroom, leaving Audrey alone in front of the mirror, gazing into her pale face in anguish. The evening would be over soon and she still hadn’t danced with Louis.
Suddenly Louis’ cheerful face appeared around the door. Audrey sat up with a start. ‘Louis!’ she exclaimed in horror as if she had been caught thinking out loud. His eyes settled on her with tenderness and his mouth curled up at the corners as if he had heard her thoughts.
‘I know this is strictly off limits for men, but you’ve been in here for ages and Cecil says you’ve promised me a dance,’ he said, raising an eyebrow. Audrey couldn’t help but laugh. She stood up, her cheeks aflame and walked toward him. ‘I’ve been waiting all night,’ he added, taking her by the hand. They both felt an inner jolt as they touched for the first time, and Audrey was relieved her satin gloves came between them, as if the sensation of his skin against hers would debilitate her completely. But the heat of his hand melted through the satin and seemed to rise up her arm and into her chest as he gently led her across the room. She was sure her body glowed like a Chinese lantern. ‘You didn’t doubt me, did you?’ he asked seriously, stepping onto the dance floor and pulling her into his arms with confidence. Overwhelmed by the proximity of his body pressed against hers, she could only shake her head and smile, blinking up at him as the scent of his skin invaded her senses and set her mind alight with thoughts she knew she shouldn’t have.
They allowed the music to lead them, gazing mutely into each other’s eyes. As they moved smoothly aroun
d the room they were unaware of the ripple of admiration and surprise that vibrated through the party, for no one had expected the ‘eccentric’ Louis Forrester to dance with such grace. For a moment even the Crocodiles saw past the unpolished shoes and dusty tailcoat and were struck by his handsome face and the intense light in his eyes as his spirit soared on the waves of the music. ‘My dear fellow,’ muttered the Colonel to Cecil, shaking the ice in his empty glass with an unsteady hand. ‘He might not know one end of a gun from the other but he’s bloody good on his feet. Who’d have thought it, young Louis of all people!’ Cecil felt a stab of jealousy before remembering that it had been he who had suggested Audrey dance with his brother. Suddenly he wished he hadn’t.
Audrey felt nothing but the pressure of Louis’ hand on her back and the warmth of his chest against hers. She knew she had never danced so well. They glided as one complete being, as if they had danced together through many lifetimes and knew the other’s responses as well as they knew their own. When the dance ended Louis didn’t wait around for the next but without a word led Audrey out into the privacy of the gardens beyond where they could finally be alone.
The lawn was lit by a bright crescent moon which smiled down at them from a clear, starry sky. It was humid and the air was heavy with the dulcet scents of dew-soaked grass and gardenia. Louis didn’t let go of Audrey’s hand but held it tightly as they walked away from the party until the music was little more than a low murmur in the distance and they were engulfed in the mysterious silence of the night. He stopped at last and took both her hands in his. ‘I’m deeply in love with you,’ he said, squeezing her fingers to emphasize that he meant it. Then he shook his head and sighed heavily. ‘I feel elation and yet, at the same time, a deep sadness, like one does in the face of a beautiful sunset or a magical view. I feel melancholy.’ Audrey was touched by his honesty and vulnerability.
‘I feel it too,’ she replied, amazed by her boldness.
‘Melancholy?’ he asked, blinking down at her fondly.
‘No, love,’ she said and to her surprise she didn’t blush, or tremble or stammer. With an impulsiveness that made her laugh he threw his arms around her and drew her into a tight embrace. Then his lips touched the soft flesh of her neck and the sensation of his bristles against her skin rippled all the way down her body like a pebble thrown into a pond and she wound her arms around his shoulders to steady herself.
‘Why do I feel melancholy?’ he asked into her ear.
‘Because beautiful things always make us sad,’ she replied, closing her eyes and nestling her head against his.
‘Why?’
‘Because we can’t hold onto them forever.’
‘No, they’re transient, like a rainbow or a sunset. Nothing beautiful lasts. Or perhaps because they remind us of where we come from and our spirits long to return,’ he whispered.
‘Perhaps.’
‘Do you believe in God?’ he asked.
‘Yes, I do.’
‘So do I. Do you believe in Fate?’
‘Yes.’
‘I believe that God created us for each other. I believe that Fate brought me to the Argentine for you.’ Audrey laughed softly. ‘I knew it the moment I saw you. It was like lightning. Sudden and unexpected. I thought about you while you were away. I thought about you every moment of the day. My heart ached for you. I don’t know why, but I feel you’re the only person here who understands me. The only person I can be myself with. With everyone else I’m someone different. I had a lot of time to think, Audrey, while you were in Uruguay. I wondered whether you were looking up at the same sky and thinking of me. I tried to ignore my feelings, hoped they’d go away, but they only got worse. I had only met you once and yet, your face stayed with me. As if it was meant for me. I tried to ignore it, after all your father is my boss and I’m not the sort of man he would appreciate courting his daughter.’
‘I know,’ she sighed sadly. ‘You’re too impulsive for your own good.’
‘I couldn’t ignore my heart, Audrey. I tried to. But I couldn’t,’ he explained. ‘When we talked that evening in your garden, I knew you understood me. When we played the same music today, that confirmed it. You do understand me, don’t you, Audrey?’
‘I do understand you, Louis,’ she repeated quietly, knowing how much it meant to him to be understood.
‘You don’t realize how alike we are. You dream impossible dreams and your heart is too big for your body. Oh, Audrey, your heart is as big as the ocean and mine is as big as the sky, I thank God that I’ve found someone with a heart big enough to accommodate mine.’
Audrey swallowed as her emotions caught in her throat. ‘You say such beautiful things,’ she whispered.
‘Because with you I feel such beautiful things. With you the music in my head no longer torments me because I’m creating every tune for you.’
‘I was frightened at first. You scared me. The intense look in your eyes, your boldness, your impulsiveness and yet, now you don’t scare me at all. I want to wrap my arms around you and take care of you. You’re like a rare beast, a beautiful rare beast of the forest and I want to nurture you and love you and look after you.’
‘Now you’re saying the most beautiful things,’ he said and tears glistened in his eyes because no one had ever cared about him before. His parents had always been ashamed of him because he was different, but Audrey loved him for his differences. He felt like a little boat in a rough sea finally drifting into port. With Audrey the real world felt a safe place to inhabit.
As the music from the party reached them, dancing on the air with the scents of the pine trees and damp grass, Louis held her close and moved in time to it. ‘Oh, Audrey, how have I lived so many years without you?’ He took her face in his hands, paler and even more lovely in the silver light of the moon, and softly kissed her forehead, her eyes and then finally her lips. She knew it was wrong to kiss him so soon but she didn’t care. She shut her eyes and allowed him to kiss her the way lovers kissed in her novels, the way Emma Letton was kissed beneath the sycamore tree. She didn’t feel nervous, she just felt an exquisite sadness, the type of sadness that comes when one is faced with something of great beauty. She wrapped her arms around him and followed her senses like that afternoon on the piano and all the while she was holding him the tune he had composed for her replayed itself again and again, hypnotizing her with a strange magic that vibrated between the notes, casting an indelible score on her mind.
Chapter 5
It was five in the morning when Audrey and Isla crept across the shadows in the hallway. Dawn was singeing the horizon and illuminating the sky that only moments ago had been dark and impenetrable. Audrey had floated back, her body still swaying to the music that had been carried across the lawns from the party by a warm, sugar-scented breeze. Overcome by the beauty of the fragile morning light that cast the streets and houses in a pale amber glow and filled once again with that sweet melancholy, Audrey’s spirit brimmed with love. She wasn’t tired. She could have waltzed all night, out there among the clicking crickets and watchful plane trees, who like sturdy sentinels had hidden their forbidden dance behind the leafy screens of their branches. There he had kissed her. Now she felt different, as if that kiss had opened her eyes to a more beautiful world. Looking about her everything was more defined, more brilliant and she wanted to embrace the God that had given her Louis.
Isla wasn’t tired either. She had danced without pause, oblivious of her sister’s sudden disappearance as she had swung from partner to partner, aware that she was one of the most enchanting girls in the room and relishing the admiration she received. She followed her sister into her room and flung herself down on her bed. ‘Oh, Audrey, I have had the most heavenly night.’ She sighed melodramatically, flicking off her shoes. ‘I wish it hadn’t ended.’
‘Me too,’ Audrey replied truthfully, hiding her secret behind a knowing smile.
‘I saw you dancing with Cecil.’
‘Yes.’
&
nbsp; ‘And you sat next to him at dinner.’
‘Yes.’
‘You must be very happy. He’s got love written all over his alarmingly handsome face,’ she giggled.
‘It is handsome, isn’t it?’ Audrey agreed, unzipping her dress and slipping into her dressing gown. ‘But there’s something very sweet about him too. He has a vulnerability I hadn’t noticed before,’ she added, reflecting on the conversation they had shared that afternoon.
‘If you say so.’ Isla laughed. ‘He’s not my type.’
‘Who is then?’
‘No one,’ she answered nonchalantly. ‘I’m not interested in romance.’
‘But of course you are, Isla,’ her sister insisted. ‘You’re attractive and spirited, there must be someone you admire.’
Isla sighed and raised her eyes to the ceiling in thought. ‘No, I’ve tried, really I have, but no one has the power to move me,’ she stated with arrogance.
‘Yet,’ Audrey said, sitting down at her dressing table and brushing her long, brandy-coloured hair.
‘I’d rather a dog,’ she said. ‘I’d love a big, shaggy dog. You see, dogs don’t demand too much, they don’t get jealous and they don’t want to be kissed other than chaste kisses on their muzzles. Yes, I’d much prefer a dog.’
‘Isla, you are ridiculous sometimes.’ Audrey laughed.
‘Mummy’s really excited about Cecil. She thinks he’d make the perfect husband for you.’
‘Well, I think her excitement is a bit premature,’ said Audrey. ‘After all, we haven’t even held hands.’
The Forget-Me-Not Sonata Page 7