The Whispering Grove Page 5

  ‘I see,’ she said, a little moved by his telling of the two old ladies whom she could visualize quite clearly. ‘They sound rather sweet.’

  ‘They are.’ He pursed his mouth, then set down his glass rather abruptly. ‘I mustn’t bore you with my worries. How do you like Salamander?’

  ‘I think it’s beautiful,’ she said simply. ‘I’m looking forward to exploring it properly.’

  He was silent a moment, looking past her towards the brilliant rich reds of the Dali. Then his gaze shifted and fell to the box Juliet had placed in pride of position on a small Chinese table exquisitely inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The box looked faintly incongruous against its setting, and Justin stretched out his hand and picked it up, holding it on his palm for a moment before he wound it with careful deliberation and raised the lid.

  The little ballerina began to pivot and the soft tender strains tinkled into the quiet room. Justin Valmont sat motionless, studying the small oval face that was suddenly pale above the bright coral dress. Without closing it he set the musical box back on the table.

  He said, ‘This was your own, wasn’t it?’

  She nodded, unable to speak.

  ‘I thought so. And it means a great deal to you. Are you sure you want Juliet to have it?’

  ‘Yes. I wouldn’t have given it to her otherwise.’ She stood up. ‘But it no longer means anything to me.’

  ‘I see.’

  There was an infinitesimal hesitation, then he was standing, the intent look gone, leaving his expression once again cool, courteous and impersonal. ‘Nevertheless, it was extremely kind of you.’ He moved forward. ‘Now, I’ll drive you home,’ and his tone was one that subtly forbade polite demurring.

  Slowly she went towards him, and he opened the door and stood back until she had preceded him. He reached back to draw the door to a close and her last glimpse through the narrowing chink was of a tiny figure performing its blind, mechanical pirouettes to an empty room ...

  CHAPTER FOUR

  A minor domestic crisis next morning disrupted a routine which was never, at the best of times, one of smooth efficiency. Obadeah, the villa’s factotum, chose that morning not to turn up. Marise was stricken with one of her migraines and leaving her breakfast untouched she returned white-faced and armed with her pills to nurse her head in the peace of a darkened room, and Norene announced that it was one of her courier days.

  ‘I forgot you didn’t know,’ she explained. ‘There’s a cruise ship due in today. We’re on the itinerary of a big American cruise line and the Sandannas look after the shore excursions here. Next year we’ll be having package holiday clients. My job is to meet the party coming ashore and make sure that the dollars they spend go into Sandanna pockets,’ she added cynically.

  The Sandanna family seemed to have a finger in every pie on the island, Toni reflected. They owned the club which Kit Manton managed, the main European store was theirs, and also the only decent hotel the island boasted. Besides these they owned a sizeable chunk of Indano which they leased to the sugar corporation.

  She said, ‘It sounds an interesting little job.’

  ‘It’s a hell of a bore at times.’ Norene took a final glance at herself in the mirror. ‘But I can’t get out of it, not until things are settled between Ray Sandanna and me. Then it’ll be different. No more worrying about money and where it’s coming from, thank God.’

  ‘Will you marry Ray?’ Toni asked, surprised at a note of bitterness in Norene’s voice.

  ‘The moment he asks me.’

  There was a short silence. “Do you love him?’ Toni asked slowly, thinking of the suave, Latin-featured young man who seemed to be Norene’s constant companion.

  ‘Depends what you mean by love.’ Norene’s tone had recovered its coolness. ‘Shall we say that he happens to have what I want, and I happen to have what he wants, so it ought to work out satisfactorily all round.’ She smiled and picked up her bag. ‘Sorry to leave you to cope, sweetie. ’Bye.’

  When she had gone Toni remained still, looking across the untidy garden. Norene’s calculating attitude towards marriage had shocked her, even though it had not come as a surprise. But to marry for purely altruistic motives ... She shook her head. Although Norene at eighteen was almost a year her junior she seemed immeasurably older in years and maturity.

  She decided to make a cup of tea for Marise and perched on the edge of the table while she waited for the kettle to boil. In the short time since her arrival she had begun to suspect that matters at the villa were not as satisfactory as they might be. Behind the careless surface untidiness there were traces of shabbiness that almost suggested poverty. Curtains at the back of the villa worn beyond repair, no boy to tend the garden, the loose rail at the end of the veranda, the glimpse of unguarded strain on Marise’s face over a bill ... And yet it shouldn’t be.

  The kettle belched steam and Toni dropped teabags into two cups. Her father had left considerable holdings in the plantation and there had never been any indication of suddenly straitened circumstances in the last letters before his death.

  She sighed and set some biscuits on the tray. It was difficult to judge what difference his death had made. She had been so far away, and having supported herself for the past three years after completing her ballet training she had given little thought to the matter. She had satisfied herself that her father sounded perfectly happy with the young widow he had married nearly six years before and that had been that ... And yet Marise and Norene showed no material lack as far as clothes and cosmetics were concerned. Some time soon she would have to have a serious discussion with Marise. For the moment her savings would suffice, but they wouldn’t last for ever. Obviously she would have to seek some kind of employment on the island. But what? Meanwhile she would take Marise her tea and then she would phone to see how Juliet was.

  Apparently Juliet had completed her recovery. A polite Ellie answered the phone and offered the information that Juliet and her father were having lunch with the District Commissioner, who had two young children.

  So Juliet had found playmates nearer her own age. Oddly disappointed, Toni returned to the kitchen and looked at its untidy state. There was plenty here for idle hands; the whole place needed reorganizing ...

  ‘Heavens! Do you actually like housework?’ Marise demanded the following day, viewing Toni’s activity with amazement. ‘Leave it till Obedeah gets back. It’s far too hot for work.’

  ‘Obedeah won’t be back until her husband gets rid of the debbils in his stomach,’ Norene grinned.

  ‘Yes, but .’ Marise retreated, shaking her head ineffectually. ‘It makes me tired to watch you. All that energy.’

  It was true. Toni was possessed of boundless energy, and the warm climate had done little to assuage it. More and more she was becoming conscious of time hanging heavy and the purposelessness of her stepmother’s life. The novelty of lazy sun-soaked days was one which soon wore off as far as Toni was concerned.

  Order restored within, she wandered outside and surveyed the garden. Despite Marise’s protests that she would be wasting her time because of the rapid tropical growth she was determined to restore it to some semblance of tidiness. But even Toni’s determination faltered as she looked over it; it would take weeks to put right ...

  ‘Toni!’ Norene appeared on the veranda. ‘Phone for you. Your little friend over the way.’

  Juliet! Suddenly pleased, she hurried indoors, forgetting her previous disappointment. But the smile faded from her mouth as the urgent little voice came over the wire before she had time to utter her own name.

  ‘Oh, Toni, I’m so glad you’re there! I’m stuck and I can’t get back. Can you—’

  Stuck! Toni frowned. ‘What’s the matter, Juliet? Are you all right?’

  ‘Yes, but I’m stranded and I can’t get home, and Daddy—’

  ‘Where are you? What happened?’

  ‘I’m here and I forgot about the bus, and Daddy’ll be furious if I’m not home when
he—’

  ‘Juliet!’ Sharply Toni checked the frightened confusion from the child. ‘Where are you?’

  ‘Indano.’

  ‘Indano! But it’s miles away. However—?’

  ‘You see I forgot about the bus coming back the wrong way for me and I don’t think I can walk all the way back.’

  Aghast, Toni comprehended at last what was worrying Juliet. For some reason, goodness knew what, the child had taken herself to Indano, nearly fifteen miles distant across the island, and forgotten the vagaries of the island bus, a ramshackle vehicle which ran four times a day right round the island, starting from Port Cerello and alternating the direction of its circle for each journey. The tea-time bus from Indano returned along the far coast of the island, and the next one to come Juliet’s way wasn’t until eight o’clock. Justin Valmont would be out of his mind with worry long before then.

  ‘Toni, how am I going to get home before Daddy? He’ll be furious with me,’ whispered the small voice which was now dangerously near to tears.

  ‘I don’t know ... hold on, pet, while I ...’ Toni thought desperately. A taxi ... ? She looked up to meet the mildly curious gaze of Norene who had come to the lounge door and whose raised brows plainly asked: What’s up, for heaven’s sake?

  ‘Juliet’s stranded at Indano.’

  ‘What?’ The brows came down. ‘Can’t Papa pick her up? He has a big enough car.’

  ‘She’s playing truant and scared stiff. Norene, is there a taxi in Indano I could phone to collect her?’

  ‘You’re hopeful,’ Norene grinned derisively. ‘What do you want a taxi for?’ Something gleamed in the air and chinked on the telephone table. Toni’s hand closed over the car keys and she breathed, ‘Oh, bless you,’ before she spoke quickly to Juliet.

  ‘We’re coming over for you. Where will you be?’

  ‘By the bridge,’ said Juliet promptly. ‘No—! It’s too near where the plantation starts. If Daddy happens to be round there he might see me. I - I’ll be—’ a pause while Juliet thought, ‘I’ll go along beside the beach, just past the boats. Oh, Toni, hurry up, please!’

  ‘We will. And don’t go anywhere else.’ She rang off and turned to the amused Norene. ‘We’d better hurry. She’s only eight and she’s really frightened.’

  ‘We?’ Norene made no move. ‘You’ll have to do the rescuing, sweetie. I haven’t time. Ray is calling for me at eight - we’re going to a barbecue. I mightn’t be back in time. You can drive, can’t you?’

  ‘Yes, a bit. B ut . ’ Dismay filled Toni’s voice. She had learned to drive Lisa’s Mini the previous year, but the big old sedan belonging to her stepmother looked a different proposition and so far she had

  made no request to be allowed to use it.

  ‘If you can drive one car you can drive any,’ said Norene. She laughed. ‘Don’t worry. We’ve no parking meters or traffic wardens here. Just try not to kill anybody.’

  More perturbed than she would admit, Toni got into the car and immediately felt swamped in the roominess of the driving seat. It was all very well for Norene to laugh ...

  Norene bent to the window. ‘The second gear sticks sometimes changing down. You’ll get used to it, but if it won’t ram in just stop and start again.’

  She waved ironically, and Toni cautiously started the engine. By a miracle she got safely past the gate posts and out on the road. Luckily she met no traffic for the first couple of miles and by then she had got the feel of a strange clutch and gears and a steering that was stiff and heavy after the Mini she remembered.

  Maintaining caution, she negotiated the sharp bends down towards the bridge over the ravine and gave a thankful sigh when she reached the top at the other side and the smooth, gently undulating expanse stretched ahead.

  She was into the sugar land now, the miles of satiny, apple green rippling into the distance. Now taller than a man, the purplestemmed cane grew right to the edge of the road, shadowing it and overtopping the car, so that Toni had the impression of entering suddenly into a deep swathe cut clean through a forest of giant, purple grasses feathered with green.

  At last the long swathe ended and she saw the huddle of buildings that was Indano, sleepy now in the early evening sun. She drove slowly through, along the waterfront, past the wharf where the cut sugar would eventually be loaded and shipped to the refineries in Mauritius. Anxiety began to mount; the place seemed deserted, and there was the beach Juliet had mentioned, but where was she?

  She stopped the car and got out, looking across the stretch of weedy tangle that separated the road from the beach, and even in her anxiety she could not help wondering what had attracted Juliet to explore Indano. No wonder Marise had said there was nothing there. It was simply one of those blots man throws down for commercial convenience. A jumble of shanties and loading bays and ...

  ‘Toni!’

  She started and spun round, and saw Juliet tearing along the road. She flung herself on Toni and cried breathlessly: ‘I thought you were never coming. What time is it? My watch has stopped.’

  ‘It’s—’ Toni glanced down automatically, only to remember that in her haste she had forgotten to put on her watch. ‘About half past six, I think.’

  Juliet looked stricken. ‘Daddy will be back first, I know he will. And Ellie will—’

  ‘Come on.’ Toni bundled her in and started the awkward business of reversing to turn the big car on the narrow road. Juliet chattered on, and Toni said firmly: ‘It was very naughty to go so far away from home, particularly when your father forbade you to go exploring by yourself.’

  ‘I know.’ The child looked shamefaced. ‘But I didn’t know what to do today. Daddy won’t let me go swimming by myself and I was sick of playing on my own, so I thought I’d go for a bus ride to see where it went.’

  Toni experienced a sudden wave of sympathy. The child was lonely and her father was unavoidably absent for the greater part of the day. It was understandable that she would become restless and bored.

  ‘Daddy says he’ll be glad when I get back to school, but that’s not for another two weeks. Wonder what it’ll be like.’

  Toni made no response; she was concentrating on getting the small miscreant back as soon as possible and hoping that the truth of her absence would not be discovered. In her heart she knew she should not aid and abet Juliet’s wilfulness, but she could not bring herself to play the heavy-handed adult. She wondered what Valmont’s idea of disciplinary action might be and reflected that though he undoubtedly adored his daughter he would not hesitate to administer a spanking to that young person if he decided she deserved it. Poor Juliet; she had gone to quite desperate lengths to succeed in coming home to him and already she was finding that everything wasn’t to be as perfect as she had dreamed.

  She slowed for a bend and changed down for the descent, exclaiming under her breath as the gear stuck. Moving again, the car suddenly lurched and the wheel almost spun out of her hands. She caught her breath; now what? A stone ...? Then the bump, bump, bump told her the worst and she trod on the brake. It was a puncture.

  Thank heaven for that gear; she hadn’t been belting. If they’d shot off the road ... Then dismay ousted the thankfulness of disaster escaped. They were stuck, unless she could change the wheel. With the silent, worried Juliet beside her she opened the boot and dragged out the spare, then looked helplessly at the bundle of tools which she hadn’t a notion how to use.

  ‘I think you take this off first.’ Juliet pointed helpfully at the hub-cap. ‘The nuts are underneath. I’ve seen Daddy do ours.’

  ‘Yes.’ Toni sighed for her lack of mechanical knowhow. She bent to the hub-cap, but like most hub-caps it seemed to have been wedged on with the intention of never being removed again. And there was the jack to fix ...

  Ten minutes later she had succeeded in removing the hub-cap and getting the jack in place. A further ten minutes later she was struggling to remove the last nut on the wheel. When Juliet wondered aloud for the fifth time what tim
e it was she cried impatiently:

  ‘I’m hurrying as fast as I can, Juliet. For goodness’ sake ...’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Juliet contritely. ‘Toni, you’re getting awfully dirty and you’ve got a hole in your stocking— Oh!’

  At the sudden squeal Toni looked up and saw Juliet staring wide-eyed at the car on the bridge below. The white Mercedes roared up the bends, past them, and slammed to a halt a little way farther up the road. Justin Valmont got out and strode back over the short distance between the two cars.

  ‘Hello, Daddy,’ said Juliet with remarkable sang-froid. ‘We’ve broken down.’

  ‘So I see.’ Justin regarded the bits and pieces of car kit strewn over the verge and then Toni’s hot dust-streaked person. He plucked the spanner from her hand and motioned her aside.

  Over his silk-clad shoulders she met Juliet’s gaze and saw the gleam of impishness on the small face. Juliet mouthed silently but quite plainly: ‘He’s mad!’ and put her hand to her mouth as he said sharply: ‘Out of the way, Juliet,’ and rolled the heavy wheel clear.

  In a few efficient minutes he fixed the spare, removed the jack and checked the pressure of the tyre.

  ‘I’ve had a lovely drive with Toni,’ Juliet said cheerfully, preparing to climb back into the sedan in preference to her father’s car.

  He made no comment, merely closing the door on her and turning away, and Toni got in, dismayed a little by Juliet’s ambiguous remark and aware of a decided impression of being bracketed in naughtiness with her. The old sense of hopelessness returned and she pressed the starter angrily. Why should she care? What did it matter that Valmont so obviously disliked her? What did anything matter?

  The car stalled with a jolt and she tried again impatiently. This time it shot forward and gathered speed down the decline. Through the rear mirror she saw the Mercedes execute a neat U-turn and come into line behind, to tail her at a measured distance until the first of the villas came into sight. Then a warning toot told her he was pulling out to overtake and she slowed uncertainly near the turning, suddenly wishing that her small passenger hadn’t opted to complete the journey with her.