Island of Mermaids (18 page)

‘
Have you fixed the wedding?
’
she asked.

‘
I couldn
’
t do that without first asking my daughter
’
s permission,
’
he reminded her.

She laughed.
‘
I can see that our usual roles are reversed. I freely give my gracious consent to Emilia taking your hand in marriage.
’

‘
Then I hope the time may come when I
’
m giving you away to some fine upstanding young man
,’
was his reply.

A vision of Kent
’
s features, often sombre in repose when he was in her company, but gay with merriment when he was with Carla, rose in her mind, but she pushed the fleeting impression out of her mind. It was unlikely that the
‘
fine upstanding young man
’
to whom her father referred so lightly would be Kent Sanderby. She mused that both she and Carla were in the same boat if either of them believed she could win any kind of permanent devotion from him. He was already hinting that very soon he would have to leave Capri, and the inference to be drawn was that while happy enough to dally with one girl or another, he had other interests elsewhere which were just as important to him. Althea, Carla and perhaps a few other names were merely items of a string of memories—Souvenir of Capri, perhaps.

CHAPTER SIX

Althea
took the first opportunity of giving her best wishes to Signora Emilia.

‘
I
’
m very happy for my father
,’
she said when they were alone together.
‘
It was a lucky chance that we came to Capri.
’

Tears of happiness shone in Emilia
’
s dark eyes as she embraced her prospective stepdaughter.

‘
I will be very good to him and look after him well
,’
Emilia promised sincerely.
‘
His health—he is not very strong—and I will make him happy. You,
carissima
,
must always think of this as your home. I shall not take him away from you.
’

Althea smiled.
‘
No, I know that. I shan
’
t make any hasty plans yet for going elsewhere.
’

‘
When we are married, Lorenzo and I, you will be able to have your apartment all for yourself if you desire it
,’
said Emilia.
‘
But if you like it better, you could have another room in the villa.
’

‘
I love the
“
gingerbread house
”,’
Althea answered quickly.
‘
You understand? Like the one in Hansel and Gretel?
’
Emilia
’
s eyebrows lifted.
‘
But she was a witch who lived in that house! You are not a witch
!’

‘
I hope not, for everyone
’
s sake. But I like living there
,’
Althea declared.
‘
It
’
s like having a small house all to oneself.
’

‘
Oh yes. There you can entertain your own friends when you choose
,’
Emilia pointed out. After a slight pause, she said more diffiden
tl
y,
‘
I do not wish to cause you distress, but it is a long time since your mother died. Perhaps, now you are grown up, you can look to me as your mamma? Tell me your troubles and let me help?
’

‘
I might be very glad of your help at some rime
,’
Althea assured her warmly.

‘
Already Carla thinks of Lorenzo as a new father and is most willing to agree to his wishes
.’

After this mutually comforting interview, Althea noticed that Emilia made more effort to integrate the girl into the household. Until now, Althea had been careful not to infringe on her hostess
’
s territory in any way, but now Emilia consulted her on many small matters, particularly in the kitchen and on the problems of refurnishing.

Althea discovered that between Lawrence and Emilia there had been one difficult obstacle to overcome. Emilia was not keen for her new husband to turn shopkeeper.

‘
If I had an office, such as we had in London,
’
he told Althea,
‘
she would raise no objection, but the idea of my unrolling lengths of silk and standing behind a counter doesn
’
t appeal to her.
’

‘
That
’
s easily settled,
’
Althea suggested.
‘
You are the manager, the proprietor who sits in the little office, and I am the one who unrolls the silks and tweeds by the metre. Emilia is probably bearing in mind that she
’
s the niece of an admiral, as Carla told me.
’

Lawrence laughed.
‘
Yes, I
’
ve heard a good deal of the family history by now.
’
His tone was kind.
‘
I must expect quite a few visits from various relatives soon. They
’
ll want to inspect me to see if I
’
m a fit and proper person to become Emilia
’
s husband.
’

‘
Not just a budding shopkeeper,
’
said Althea, laughing.

‘
Yes. I think I
’
ve ironed out all Emilia
’
s objections, especially if I can convince her and her family that it
’
s just a hobby with me—something that will keep me out of mischief for part of the time.
’

During the next week or so, the Villa Stefano was the scene of much coming and going of various members of Emilia
’
s family. As Carla said to Althea,
‘
It is a good opportunity for you to become acquainted with all my uncles and aunts, cousins and so on, for you will meet them at the wedding and be able to know each one.
’

Althea doubted that, for she had already confused Aunt Catalina from Florence with Cousin Gabriela from Milan. Then there was Alfredo, whom she was uncertain as to whether he was Emilia
’
s brother or brother-in-law, but he had brought a lawyer with him ostensibly to look after Emilia
’
s interests.

Althea wondered if such settlements were really necessary and said as much to her father.

‘
Oh, I think that
’
s quite reasonable,
’
he assured her.
‘
To start with, I
’
m a foreigner and the legal side must be established for future contingencies, such as, in the event of my death and so on. Also, there
’
s another side to it. I have the opportunity to make certain provisions for your benefit.
’

As always, she realised that her father was far-seeing and ready to co-operate to everyone
’
s advantage.

One afternoon she strolled down towards Kent
’
s villa, hoping that he would not construe her visit as thrusting herself upon him.

He was mixing cement while Rinaldo, his assistant on rare occasions, indolently shovelled sand from one heap to another.

Kent looked up when she approached.
‘
Nobody is going to drag me away from my task today,
’
he greeted her.
‘
Not even a mermaid.
’

‘
Are you often pestered by those creatures?
’
she asked, sitting on a rough piece of marble.

‘
Too often,
’
he replied.
‘
They wander in and out of my house all the time.
’

‘
Flapping their tails behind them, I suppose
!’

He grinned at her, wiping his face with a piece of rag.

‘
I suppose I should have known better than try to write an opera about mermaids. Intrusive creatures
!’

‘
Are you progressing with your magnum opus?
’

He shook his head.
‘
Not really. I work on it sometimes in the evenings, because I want to do as much rebuilding here to the villa in the daytime. But by that time my brain has gone dull and tunes don
’
t come.
’

‘
Surely the mermaids would be at their most luring in the night-time?
’

He sighed.
‘
Let
’
s forget it for a bit. What news from Stefano?
’

She laughed mischievously.
‘
The truth is that the Villarianis and all the other tribal connections. Everywhere I went this afternoon I nearly fell over aunts or in-laws, even cousins by marriage and a couple of somebody
’
s stepbrothers.
’

‘
So you took refuge here?
’

‘
That
’
s right. But not to hinder you. Do go on with your cement-mixing, please.
’

‘
You
’
ve spoiled my mood for cement tactics,
’
he complained.
‘
Rinaldo
!’
he called to his gardener-workman. Then he gave instructions as to what he wanted done during the next couple of hours.
‘
Come along, Althea, I
’
ll make you some of my famous English tea.
’

She was aware of the interested smile on Rinaldo
’
s darkly
-
tanned face. She could almost guess at the thoughts running through the man
’
s head.
‘
Oh, yes, when a girl comes along, the Signore soon stops work.
’

While Kent made the tea, Althea inspected some of the work already completed. Part of another and larger bedroom was taking shape, the foundations for a room opening out from the large salon had been properly restored from the crumbling fragments already there for many years. The heap of bits of coloured marble was growing.

‘
I had a good find the other day,
’
he told her when he brought the tea-tray to the loggia.
‘
Look!
’
He picked out a lump of white marble and held it in front of her. She stretched out a hand to take it and he exclaimed roughly,
‘
Don
’
t drop it!
’

Startled by his angry shout, she almost succeeded in dropping the misshapen piece, but realised that she had forgotten how heavy marble was.

Now she was almost tempted to say,
‘
What is it? Just what you wanted!
’
but instead she turned it over once or twice, jagging the fine skin of her hands with the marble
’
s rough edges.

‘
Don
’
t you see what it is? Part of a bust.
’
Now he was plainly exasperated by her lack of intelligence.

Part of a nose, perhaps, the indentation of an eye, the rounded curve of a noble forehead. Then, holding it differently, she saw the piece in its own context.
‘
Oh yes,
’
she murmured.
‘
Is it possible to restore it?
’

‘
No, not without too much sham. I shall try to carve it down what would have been the middle and make it into a profile in relief and set it on a wall somewhere.
’

‘
I know. Like you fix half an urn or bowl flat against a wall.
’

He stared out across his precipitous garden towards the lavender sea.
‘
This business of your father remarrying, how is it going to affect you?
’
he asked, then added,
‘
Or isn
’
t it my business?
’

‘
I
’
m not going to be difficult, if that
’
s what you mean. I like Emilia.
’

‘
She can be a tartar when she chooses,
’
he reminded her.
‘
Maybe. I
’
ll try not to offend her.
’

‘
This wasn
’
t exactly what I meant,
’
he said slowly.
‘
You
’
ve spent some time caring for your father and I understand those circumstances, but will you want to idle about doing nothing in particular afterwards?
’

‘
You
’
ve forgotten that the shop is going to take up most of my time,
’
she reminded him.
‘
My father thinks it will take all the winter to get it fitted out and buy the stock. He wants to open in the spring of next year if the various authorities and workpeople don
’
t cause too many delays.
’