Escapade, p.14
Escapade, page 14
‘I don’t know, love. You won’t leave me?’ Again it was as much command as request.
‘Of course I won’t.’ Charlotte’s hand was warm on hers. ‘We’ll talk in the morning.’ They were both very much aware of the nearness of the other rooms on the terrace.
* * *
Sleep was all Beth’s healthy body needed, and she woke feeling herself again, aside from a stiff and swollen right foot. Charlotte was still deeply asleep, and she lay for a while deciding how to make the best use of what had happened. It had been disconcerting to realise just how set Lisa Falconi was on going on with the trip. When she heard the first sounds of stirring along the terrace, she called softly to wake Charlotte.
‘How do you feel?’ Charlotte was across the room in an instant, bending eagerly over the bed. ‘Oh, dear Beth, do say you feel better.’
‘A little, but, Charlotte, I have to say it: I cannot possibly go on. Even if I felt like it, which I do not, it would not be right to do so, granted my commitment to Signor Bartolucci and the theatre. As a performer, one’s duty to the stage must come first. I cannot risk making myself ill, or unable to walk. I’m sorry, love.’ She saw how hard it hit Charlotte. ‘Truly sorry.’
She hoped that that would be the end of the matter, but when she limped to breakfast on Charlotte’s arm, and made her position clear, it was to have Lisa Falconi shift her ground. Of course she respected dear Miss Prior for remembering her commitment to the theatre. If she did not feel up to the trip, she must most certainly stay at Monreale and look after herself. The rest of them would ride on to Alcamo, send the doctor back to her, and return to pick her up after visiting Segesta. ‘It is but to change our plans a little, my husband says, and it will work perfectly well. And the servants here will look after you admirably, Miss Prior. I promise you that. And of course I will watch over Charlotte as if she were my own sister.’
‘You are too good. And I am ashamed to be such a weak fool, and spoil things for the rest of you. But — this sleep-walking! It frightens me. Suppose I were to do it again, and dear Charlotte not here to watch over me. I might have been killed last night. I keep thinking about that. I might have been killed. I must go back to Palermo, where my bedroom is safe.’ How she hated behaving like a silly, frightened woman, but it must be done.
‘Oh, very well.’ Lisa Falconi was beginning to sound cross. ‘If you feel like that, Miss Prior, we can perfectly well send you back to Palermo today in the carriage. My servants can be trusted to look after you as well as they would me. Then you can coddle yourself to your heart’s content until it is time for you to figure at this festival of the Queen’s. But you will surely not deny your young friend her once-in-a-lifetime chance of seeing the ruins at Segesta.’
Beth was aware of eyes fixed on her. The whole party was suspended, waiting to hear what she would say. She drank coffee, thought for a minute, put a hand to her brow. ‘You will think me a fool of a nervous female,’ she said. ‘That fall last night shook me badly, but not so much as the idea does that I walk in my sleep. Charlotte, dear,’ she looked across the table at Charlotte, ‘is it asking too much to ask you to come back with me?’
What could Charlotte say? But Beth, glancing this way and that, was deeply interested in the various expressions of the rest of her audience. They were all there, all watching, all listening, all waiting.
‘Oh, Beth —’ Naturally, she knew as well as Beth that the plea of fear of sleep-walking was false. But she could hardly say so. She took a deep breath, made up her mind. ‘Of course I’ll come back with you, dear Beth, if you want me. I am so sorry, Countess,’ to Lisa, who was looking furious now.
Her point made, Beth relaxed to listen to the babble of discussion that broke out. She found it enormously interesting. Von Achen, she saw, was looking even angrier than Lisa, and saying nothing. Peabody was keeping quiet too, and this surprised her. He was usually such a very positive young man. She remembered again that he had been dressed last night. How long would it be before she managed a safe word alone with Charlotte?
Forde surprised her very much indeed, by suggesting that the party split up. ‘I know you for such an intrepid traveller, Miss Prior, that I am sure you will not mind going home with Miss Pennam and the servants. The Count and Countess have taken such kind trouble to arrange this trip, and I know the Countess longs to see Segesta quite as much as I do. We will all undertake to describe it to you, I promise. If you are absolutely sure you are not able for the trip? I am told that there is something remarkably soothing about the motion of the lettiga. A little like a ship at sea.’
‘And you remember what that does to me, Mr. Forde!’ Her tone was sharper than she had intended, and she caught a quick, quizzical glance from the silent Peabody.
‘I would be delighted to escort the ladies back to Palermo.’ John Thornton spoke up. ‘It has been on my conscience that I ought not to be away for so long. It would be a great pleasure to feel myself of use.’
‘Thank you, Mr. Thornton.’ Beth smiled at him, and could not help a side glance at Forde.
But Lisa Falconi broke in at this point to make it brutally clear that she had no intention of going on without the support of another woman. Which cast an interesting light, Beth thought, on her readiness to leave her alone, either here or at Alcamo. There was clearly one law for countesses and another for actors. But what was surprising about that?
Forde had crossed the room to bend over her. ‘I know you for such a trouper, Miss Prior. Look at the disappointed faces around you. Look at poor Miss Pennam! Are you absolutely sure?’ His look was a personal plea.
‘Yes, Mr. Forde, absolutely sure.’ And that, at last, seemed to settle the matter. Beth knew herself in disgrace with most of the party, and there was nothing to do but bear it. Charlotte looked miserable, von Achen looked like a thunder cloud, and Lisa’s tone towards her had changed entirely. There was, suddenly, a great gulf between them.
‘You must forgive my wife.’ Falconi made a point of helping Beth back to her room. ‘She has wanted to make this expedition for so long; and she is a child to disappointment, I am afraid. But she will get over it, Miss Prior, you are not to be minding.’
‘Thank you.’ She was relieved, and interested, to find Lisa friendly again when they all set out on the disappointed drive back to town.
Beth pleaded headache, and sat silent. By the time they reached Palermo she had decided to play the invalid for the few days the trip would have lasted; could not decide what to say to Charlotte. There must be a scolding for that secret assignation. With von Achen? With Peabody? If only she knew. But there must also be an explanation of her own behaviour. The excuse about sleep-walking would not do for Charlotte, but neither could she tell her about the Queen’s warning. Arriving at last, it seemed only common sense to tell their attendant cavaliers that she wanted no visitors for a while, but it got her a reproachful look from Charlotte.
She was anxious about Charlotte. She had noticed that she had eaten no breakfast, and had a horrid feeling that she had been quietly sick the minute they got home. But her own foot was stiff; her head did ache; she felt as if she had not slept for days; it was wonderful to be back in her own room. She would rest for a moment, then have it out with Charlotte, doors and windows safely closed. But sleep overpowered her.
She woke, with a start, to gathering dusk, and rang for her maid. Miss Pennam had gone riding, the girl told her, with a look at once complicit and disapproving.
* * *
Charlotte and von Achen had left their grooms far behind and reined in their horses to look at the sea. ‘It breaks my heart to have offended you,’ he told her. ‘You must blame my passion; your beauty; the moonlight… ’ He blamed himself, savagely, for having frightened her into betraying them. For a fatal moment, on that moonlit terrace, he had forgotten that she was not one of the easy Sicilian girls he was used to. ‘Forgive me?’ He put everything he had into the plea.
‘Of course.’ She surprised him. So it was going to be easy after all, the chance merely postponed. ‘You have to forgive me too, Herr von Achen,’ she went on. ‘I am ashamed… I did not understand — did not know what I was doing. Playing at love! I’m grateful to you really… You made me realise… I am so sorry. I don’t love you, you see. Don’t want to marry you. I’ve been a fool. I am so very sorry.’ She was frightened now by what she saw in his face.
But it passed in a moment. ‘You make me more ashamed than ever,’ he told her. ‘I have frightened you indeed, dear child. We will be master and pupil again for a while, shall we not? Dear friends and companions, until you can find it in your heart to forgive me.’ He had switched to German to underline his position as tutor. His brain was racing, searching for new plans, new expedients, anticipating the fury of his fellow conspirators. But they would salvage something out of this disaster, he was sure of it. It might mean waiting until the Rosalia Festival, but there was sure to be a chance then, if he could keep the wretched girl in hand. Only a week. The others would just have to wait a week.
Charlotte had been quiet for a moment, gazing at the sea. Now she turned to look at him very steadily, dark eyes opaque under the heavy brows. ‘No, I’m sorry,’ she said again. ‘One can’t ever go back, can one? It’s been all a dream, hasn’t it? A dream of love. A girl’s dream of love. Unreal. You don’t love me, Herr von Achen. You told me that, last night, more clearly than words could do. It’s all been a charade, so far as you are concerned, and now we have stopped playing.’ She held out her hand. ‘Goodbye, Herr von Achen. And, thank you. You have taught me a great deal.’
For a wild moment, he actually thought of seizing her, throwing her across his saddle, carrying her off. Not impossible. Her groom was in his pay, as well as his. Something must have changed in his face; he saw fright in hers, and turned at the sound of a cheerful voice.
‘There you are,’ said Nathan Peabody. ‘I have been looking all over for you two.’ And then, ‘What’s the matter, Miss Pennam?’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Charlotte. ‘I’m going to be sick.’
It was Nathan Peabody who helped her dismount, held her head, mopped her up, and finally said, ‘Well, do you think that is all?’ as if it were the most natural business in the world.
‘I think so. I do thank you, Mr. Peabody. I am so sorry —’ She looked about her.
‘He’s gone,’ said Peabody without emphasis. ‘I do not think illness is just his line. I hope you don’t mind?’
It was more than a formal question, and she gave it the answer it deserved. ‘Not in the least, Mr. Peabody. I am just so grateful to you. I’ve been all kinds of fool… I’m so glad you came.’
‘We’re all fools when we are young, Miss Pennam. It’s part of growing up; being a fool, and realising it.’
‘Oh, you do understand.’
‘I hope so. But are you well enough to start home? I am afraid Miss Prior may be quite anxious about you by now.’ ‘She sent you?’
‘She certainly did.’
* * *
Beth had hardly seen Peabody leave on what she horribly feared might be a vain search, when Forde appeared, ostensibly to ask how she was.
‘Oh, better, thank you.’ She dismissed her state of health as of no interest. ‘I am only sorry to have spoiled everyone’s pleasure. I am afraid you are not best pleased with me. There was more to that trip, was there not, than met the eye?’ No use worrying about Charlotte, but odd to feel such confidence in Peabody.
‘There did seem to be considerable overtones to it,’ Forde conceded. ‘But how did you come to know that?’
‘Oh, I can see through a pane of glass as well as the next man — or woman.’ She was not going to tell Forde about the Queen’s warning. More and more, she was aware of things he did not choose to tell her. Well: two could play at that game.
‘You’re right, as usual. This island is a perfect hotbed of conspiracy. We thought, Fagan and I, that we might learn something of the plotters and their plots, from what happened on that curious trip. And now all we know is that you have taken to sleep-walking, which is an odd come-out for you, my dear Beth.’
‘Not really your dear Beth, am I, just now?’ she challenged him. ‘I’m sorry if I have upset your and Mr. Fagan’s plans, but it seemed to me too good a chance to cancel that ill-fated trip. How was I to know that you had your own spy-catching hopes attached to it, since you did not choose to tell me. I thought we were to be partners in this enterprise, you and I.’
‘And so we are. And as your partner I have to tell you that that tale of sleep-walking is not going to hold water for an instant, here in gossipy Palermo. That’s why I came tonight, to warn you. I wouldn’t like to see you hissed off the stage, dear Beth.’
Would he not? She was horrified not to be quite sure of this. ‘But why should I be? It’s just as good a story as any one of the Sicilian ladies would use.’
‘Ah, but you are not a Sicilian lady.’
‘No, I am not, am I? I am an actress with not much reputation to lose.’ She was angry now, and it did her good. ‘Are you trying to tell me that I am becoming a liability to you?’
‘Nothing has gone as we intended, has it? I begin to think this island is bewitched. People do the strangest things. Look at Lord William, flouncing off like that; it has made things enormously difficult for poor Lady William. And I don’t quite know what I am going to do when these stories about you reach her ears, my poor Beth.’
‘Oh, that’s the trouble, is it? I do see. How very awkward for you, Gareth.’ She wondered if it might not be the last time she called him by his first name, and felt enormously sad. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps there was something strange and dangerous in the air of this island. ‘I suppose I am just going to have to hope that the Queen’s continued patronage, on which I believe I can count, will outweigh any disapproval of Lady William’s. The Queen is Queen, after all, though you would hardly have thought so from Lord William’s behaviour to her.’
‘You feel so sure of her support?’
‘I think I do. I certainly hope I do, because I can see no way of changing that sleep-walking story without doing infinitely more harm than good. I’m afraid I will just have to brush through it as best I may, and, one thing, I really do not expect to be hissed off the stage, here in Palermo. Not after the other night.’
‘I do hope you are right. Because of course anything that affects you will also affect your engaging young friend. I take it you are hoping she and that rich young American will make a match of it, and solve all her problems for her.’
‘Nothing of the kind!’ If she had been angry before, she was furious now. ‘I never heard such nonsense. My plans, such as I have, for Charlotte go no further than returning her to her family restored to health. She is much too young to be thinking of marriage.’
‘If that is what you think, perhaps you should be keeping her on a tighter rein. Where is she now, for instance? And what assignation of hers were you really covering by that tale of sleep-walking?’
‘Oh dear,’ she sighed. Was it so obvious?’
‘Well,’ tolerantly, ‘to me, of course. Because I really did not imagine you would be having secret meetings with anyone but me, dearest Beth. So, which was it? Peabody or von Achen?’ Smiling. ‘I know it was neither Thornton nor myself, because we were sharing a room.’
‘I’m relieved to hear it.’ Had she really loved this man, who was teasing her so unkindly? What had happened to them?
But here were Charlotte and Peabody, and that was the end of the anxiety that had been distractingly gnawing at her throughout her conversation with Forde. Welcoming them, she thought Charlotte looked wretched, and was grateful when Peabody left almost at once, and contrived to take Forde with him.
‘Oh, Beth,’ said Charlotte, when they were alone at last, ‘I’ve been such a fool. And I’m going to be sick again, too!’
Beth put her firmly to bed. Only then, when she was lying flushed but more tranquil against the pillows did she take her hand, and say, ‘Now, tell me all about it, love. We’re all fools once or twice; it doesn’t too greatly matter, if we just recognise it.
‘That’s what Nathan said. Oh, Beth, he was so kind. I do thank you for sending him after me. Do you know, for a moment, there, I thought I was in danger.’
‘Danger?’
‘We were out of sight of anyone but our grooms, von Achen and I. I’ve been such an idiot. You see, what he did last night, why I cried out, woke you… He was so rough, Beth. Horrid.’ The dark brows drew together. ‘It was the strangest thing. I found myself, suddenly, remembering John Thornton. So kind. Different. I just knew, all of a sudden, that it was all untrue, what Gustav had been telling me. He doesn’t love me; it was all lies, Beth, wicked lies.’
‘But, dear child, if you had seen that, why in the world did you ride with him today?’
‘Because I was a fool. That’s what I mean. I don’t altogether blame myself for letting him deceive me in the first place. He’s good at it. He’s had a lot of practice, I rather think.’ Colouring. ‘But, today, don’t you see, I thought I owed it to him to explain, to tell him why it had to be all over between us. After all, I had promised to marry him, Beth.’
‘I’m ashamed of myself,’ said Beth. ‘A fine guardian to you I have been!’
‘Well, you did send Nathan to rescue me,’ said Charlotte, colouring again. ‘He was splendid, Beth. I was so frightened. I’d told Gustav, you see… ’
‘Told him?’
‘That I knew he didn’t love me, that I couldn’t marry him. He looked absolutely furious, Beth, and then I saw him glance back at our grooms, and I knew what he was thinking — that they were both in his pay. I could see right through him somehow. He was actually thinking of carrying me off. Abducting me! Gothic! But, Beth, real. With three of them, what could I have done? I was so frightened, I knew I was going to be sick. And then, there was Nathan!’ She smiled, remembering. ‘I was sick, Beth, and he was wonderful. So calm; so friendly; so kind. And when it was all over, Gustav had just vanished, and Nathan said I wasn’t to be too hard on myself, and brought me home. Isn’t he wonderful, Beth?’
