“He was very busy during the voyage.” Monique looked at Chantel and laughed. “Now he will be busy courting Miss Derringham.”

“A young lady he met on the ship?” asked Madame de Laudé.

“Oh no. She was in Australia. I think that was why he went out. They are very rich, the Derringhams. Are they as rich as the Creditons, Redvers?”

“As I am not a member of the Derringham company I don’t see their balance sheets,” said Red coolly.

“They have many ships, just like the Creditons. And Lady Crediton thinks it will be so good for them to link up … in marriage.”

“Lady Crediton is a very wise woman I know,” said Madame de Laudé. “And when these two marry and there is a … how do you say … ?”

“An amalgamation,” said Dick.

“Then they will be very rich indeed.”

Her eyes glistened. The thought of riches softened her. She talked of money as though she were speaking of a lover.

“It is very romantic,” she said. “And romance is always charming.”

“One could call it golden, in this case,” said Dick, his lips curling slightly.

“He knew how to amuse himself during the voyage.” Monique’s eyes had come to rest with seeming innocence on Chantel, who sat very still. Poor Chantel! I felt sad for her.

“He is a man who likes to amuse himself?” asked Madame.

“What man does not?” asked Monique laughing in Redvers’ direction.

“There is no sin in amusement, surely,” said Redvers. “In fact it’s more intelligent to be amused than bored, to be interested rather than indifferent. I can tell you, Madame, that my half brother is an extremely intelligent man. He has his wits about him, very necessary in his position.”

“You are fond of him I know,” said Madame de Laudé.

“My dear Madame, we were brought up together. We are brothers. We never bothered about the ‘half’. We were in the nursery together. He is now a man of affairs. There’s very little about the Lady Line that Rex doesn’t know.”

“Oh yes, he knows a great deal about the Lady Line,” said Monique laughing immoderately. Chantel watched her anxiously; she was always alert when Monique laughed too much. It could end in a struggle for her breath.

Chantel had risen. For a moment I thought she was going to betray her emotions which I was sure existed. I could not believe in her indifference to Rex.

She was looking at Dr. Gregory. “Should I give Mrs. Stretton ten drops of belladonna?”

“I should,” said Ivor.

“I’ll get it now.”

“What for?” demanded Monique.

“You are getting breathless,” said Chantel.

“Just a precaution,” added the doctor.

“You are going to your room?” asked Madame de Laudé. “You will need to be lighted up.” She picked up a figure from a small table and rang it. It was surprising what a noise it made.

Pero came running in, looking frightened. “Light Nurse to her room.”

When the doctor and Chantel had left, Monique said: “I am treated like a child.”

“My darling,” said Madame, “they are concerned for you.”

“You know it is better to ward off an attack than to deal with it when it comes,” said Redvers.

“I don’t believe I am going to have an attack. I don’t believe it. It was to stop me because I was talking about him. She never thought he’d go to Sydney and marry Miss Derringham. She thought she was irresistible.” She began to laugh.

Redvers said sternly, “Stop it. Don’t say another word about matters of which you know nothing.”

He had spoken in such an authoritative tone that we were all a little startled. It was as though a new man had stepped out from behind the mask of urbane charm. Monique sat back gripping the arms of her chair.

Dick Callum said: “I have already gathered that this has been a record year for coconuts, and we shall be taking a good cargo of copra back to Sydney.”

It was the cue to turn the conversation; to try to restore normality, to change the sultry atmosphere to one of pleasant conviviality.

“Sugar is not in such a fortunate position.” Madame shook her head mournfully. “But we are forgetting our duty. It is long since we entertained. You would like a brandy, a liqueur? I can promise you a very good cognac. My husband left a good wine cellar; and we don’t have much opportunity to make use of it. Fortunately its contents don’t deteriorate with age.”

Chantel and the doctor returned, Chantel carrying a glass which she proffered to Monique who pouted and turned away.

“Come along,” said Chantel, very much the efficient nurse, and Monique took the glass like a sulky child and drank the contents.

She sat back in her chair scowling. Her mother watched her anxiously. I saw Redvers looking at her, and on his face was an expression of hatred mingled with weary exasperation. It alarmed me.

After that the talk became desultory, with several conversations going on at the same time. Dick Callum, who was near me, said that we must see each other (by which he must have meant alone) before Serene Lady sailed. I replied that I thought there would be no opportunity for this.

“You must make one,” he said. “Please.”

Chantel was discussing Monique’s treatment with Ivor Gregory.

“I think the tincture of belladonna is a good substitute for nitrite of amyl,” she was saying.

“It’s effective, but as it’s taken internally you must be more watchful. Make sure that she doesn’t have more than the ten drops. During an attack the dose could be repeated … say every two or three hours. Have you a supply?”

“Yes, for two months.”

They talked earnestly of Monique’s state, very much the professional nurse and doctor.

It was nearly midnight when Dick and the doctor returned to the ship. Redvers was staying at the house.

Pero was summoned to show Chantel and me to our bedrooms. She went before us carrying an oil lamp. I suppose it had been worked out that this was cheaper than lighting a candle.

They both came into my room and Pero lighted candles on my dressing table. I said goodnight and the door shut on me.


* * *

Sleep was elusive. I had carried one of the candles to my bed and when I was in blew it out. There was a moon so I was not in utter darkness. I lay and my eyes growing accustomed to the gloom I could see the objects in my room quite clearly. Faint light filtered through the shutters. One must keep them closed because of strange insects which flew in. I thought of Chantel who might well be lying sleepless along the corridor. It was a comforting thought.

I heard the creak of a board and was reminded of the Queen’s House where boards had creaked in the quiet of the night without visible reason.

I went through all the events which had brought me here; and I realized that there had been a point in my life when it had been in my power to make a choice. I could have said: I will not come. I could have stayed in England. And then everything would have been different. I saw then that everything else which had happened to me — my life at the Queen’s House, my relationship with Aunt Charlotte — had been unavoidable. And then had come the moment of decision, and I had chosen this path. The thought excited me, and at the same time alarmed me. I could say to myself, Whatever happens it was your own choice.

The sound of voices! Raised angry voices! Monique’s and Red’s. Somewhere in this house they were quarrelling. I got out of bed and stood listening. I went to the door and stood there for a while. Then I opened it. The voices were more audible although I could not hear what was being said. Monique’s raised, passionate and angry; Red’s low, placating? Authoritative? I thought of his expression as I had seen it earlier. Threatening? I wondered.

I stepped into the corridor and opened the door of Edward’s room. The moonlight showed me his face for he had thrown back the sheet. He was asleep.

I shut the door and went and stood outside my own room.

The voices continued. And as I stood there a shiver ran through me; for at the end of the corridor something moved. Someone was standing there watching me.

I stared at the shape. I tried to speak but although I opened my mouth the words were not there.

The shape moved — large, bulky. It was Suka.

“You wanted something, Miss Brett?”

“N-no. I couldn’t sleep. I went to see if Edward was all right.”

“Edward will be all right.” She spoke as though I had been impertinent to suggest otherwise.

“Goodnight,” I said.

She nodded. I went back into my room and shut the door. I was still shaken from the shock of seeing her there and knowing that I had been watched when I had been unaware of it.

What was she doing there? Could it be that the door at which she was crouching had been that leading to the room which Monique and Redvers occupied? Had she been listening at their door, ready to run to the aid of her Missy Monique if she should be needed?

I went back to bed. How strange that I should be so cold in this humid heat. All the same I lay there for a long time shivering. It seemed like hours before I slept.


* * *

I was awakened the next morning by Pero who had brought breakfast to my room. It was mint tea, toast and butter with a very sweet preserve of which I did not know the origin, a piece of watermelon and two little sugar bananas.

“Very tired,” said Pero with a smile. “You did not sleep well?”

“It’s being in a strange bed.”

She smiled; she looked young and innocent. It was amazing how differently one could feel in daylight. The room looked shabby but no longer eerie with the sun filtering through the shutters. Edward came in while I was eating. He sat on the bed and said gloomily: “I don’t want to stay here, Miss Brett. I want to go sailing on with Serene Lady. Do you think the Captain would take me?”

I shook my head.

He sighed. “That’s a pity,” he said. “I don’t think I’m going to like it here. Are you?”

“Let’s wait and see,” I suggested.

“But the Captain is sailing tomorrow.”

“He’s coming back.”

That comforted him as it comforted me.

Redvers had gone back to the ship to attend to business. Chantel was already with Monique who was not so well. Suka remained in the bedroom, staring at her, Chantel told me afterward, like a basilisk or the Medusa. “What she thought I was doing to her precious Missy, I don’t know. I told her to go,” she added. “But Missy said she was to stay and was going to have hysterics if she didn’t so I had to put up with her.”

Edward was a far less exacting charge. If he could not be with the Captain he wanted to be with me.

I said we would go and explore and asked Pero where we should have our lessons.

She pointed upward, very eager to please. There was the old schoolroom, she told me, where Missy Monique used to have her lessons. She would show me.

I took up the books I had brought with me and we went to a large room at the top of the house. The windows were not shuttered and there was a good view of the bay. I could see the ship lying there but I didn’t point this out to Edward for I knew it would only upset him.

There was a big table with a wooden form beside it. Edward was amused by the form and sat astride on it, whipping an imaginary horse and shouting, “Gee up!” and “Whoa!” at intervals while I looked round. There was a bookcase in which there were one or two readers and textbooks. I opened the glass doors. I thought they might be of use to us.

While I was studying them Suka came in. Edward eyed her suspiciously. I guessed she had tried to play the nurse with him and he did not like it.

“So you are here already,” she said. “You’d not waste time, Miss Brett.”

“We haven’t begun lessons yet. We’re spying out the land.”

“Spying out the land,” sang out Edward. “Gee up!”

Suka smiled at him tenderly, but he did not see her. When she went to sit on the form beside him he got up and started running round the room. “I’m the Serene Lady,” he said. He gave piercing shrieks like a siren. “All present and correct, sir.”

I laughed at him. Suka smiled — not at me but him; when she turned to me her eyes glittered and she made me shiver again as I had when I had seen her on the landing last night.

There was a rocking chair near the bookcase like the one I had noticed on the porch. She sat on it and started to rock to and fro. I found the squeak of the rockers — they needed oiling — irritating and her presence embarrassing. I wondered whether she was going to follow me round. I was determined that she should not remain while we were having our lessons. At the moment though I could not tell her to go; and as she said nothing and I found her silence unbearable I said: “We have a real schoolroom, I see.”