The Adventurers (34 page)

He took another cigarette and lit it without answering.

"Is Caroline any good?"

He stared at her. "Why don't you try her and find out?"

"You won't tell me?"

"Would you like me to talk about you?"

"Why not?" she retorted. "I talk about you."

He laughed. "You're crazy."

"French girls are supposed to be good."

He nodded. "As good as me?" "No one is as good as you."

She smiled. "I love it. That's all I could ever think about. Ever since I was a little girl. I couldn't wait. I used to get excited all the time just thinking about it."

"You haven't changed much."

She put her hand on him. "You're quite a man." A shadow came across her eyes. "I'm going to miss you."

He was surprised. "Miss me? Why?"

"Mother decided I should go to Switzerland to school. And Daddy says there will be a war soon. Mummy said I had to go right away so I'll be home before it starts."

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

"So soon?" he asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She looked at him. "Would it have made any difference?"

"No. But____"

She glanced at her watch then back at him. "There's just about time for one more." She dropped her cigarette into the ash tray near the bed.

Later she stood watching him in the mirror as she finished putting on her lipstick. She smiled.

"Will you miss me?"

"A little," he said. "There aren't many like you."

She came over to the side of the bed and kissed him. "It's been great, hasn't it?"

He nodded. "Where was it you said you were going? Switzerland?"

"Yes."

"A good friend of mine may still be there, Sergei Nikovitch. Look him up if you can. Count Nikovitch."

Sue Ann's eyes widened. "Is he a real count?"

Dax nodded. "A real count, a White Russian. The Communists drove his family out."

"I just might do that," she said quickly, then hesitated. "Is he good looking?"

"Very handsome. And much bigger than I. He's six foot three. His father was a Cossack officer."

After the door closed behind her, he leaned back in the bed, smiling. Sue Ann was not the type to be alone for long. If anyone was to get anything out of her it might as well be Sergei.

The telephone beside his bed began to ring. After a few moments he heard Fat Cat pick it up in the other room. He was just lighting another cigarette when Fat Cat opened the door. "Every time the blond one is here the French one telephones."

"Caroline?"

"Is there any other French one here? Are you all right? That other one must be screwing your brains out. I am glad she is going away."

"You were listening at the door."

"What else is there to do in this dull place?" Fat Cat retorted. "Will you talk to her?"

"O.K." Dax picked up the telephone. "Caroline?"

"I've called you three times in the last two hours," she said, her voice annoyed, "but that stupid man of yours said you were in bed."

"That's right, I am."

Her voice was shocked. "In the middle of the afternoon?"

"You know South Americans—we like long siestas. Besides, what else is there to do?"

"Robert has classes all day. He asked me to see if you still plan to go down to the Hadley’s with us this weekend?"

"Of course."

"We'll be by at nine tomorrow morning to pick you up."

Dax couldn't resist annoying her. "Is Sue Ann coming with us?"

"No," she answered sharply. Then her voice softened and for the first time he sensed a happy sound to it. "Haven't you heard? She's going away."

"Away?" He pretended surprise. "Where?"

"To Europe." Then Caroline added cattily, "Her parents decided it was about time she got some polish."

Dax was still smiling as he put down the telephone.

"Dax! Dax!" He heard the call and, turning, swam lazily back to shore. A speedboat filled with youngsters started out to sea just as he reached the small dock, its backwash causing him to miss his handhold. A hand reached out and pulled him the rest of the way to his feet. He looked up and saw it was James, Jr., the oldest Hadley brother.

"Thanks." He looked after the speedboat. "Your kid brother seems to be having the time of his life."

"He is," Jim said. "He's busy playing captain. This is the first year Dad has let him take the boat out on his own."

He glanced after the rapidly disappearing speedboat and his eyes softened. "He's only seventeen, you know. Come on up to the beach house. I'll get you a beer."

"Good idea."

They stood in the shade, drinking the beer right out of the bottle. Jim squinted at him in the harsh sun. "How do you like it here?"

"It's great. You were kind to ask me out."

"I don't mean Hyannis Port," Jim said. "I mean generally. The States. Boston. Harvard."

Dax looked at him. The American's face was serious. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "I haven't been here long enough to make up my mind. It's only been six weeks, you know."

"I know." Jim nodded. Then he grinned and there was something warm in the smile that took the sting out of his next words. "And you've been seeing Sue Ann Daley. That wouldn't leave you much time for anything else."

Dax was surprised. He hadn't realized it was common knowledge. "You know Sue Ann?"

Jim nodded. "I know her. I went with her when she first came up here last year. I lasted about a month. She was too much for me."

They both laughed, and the ice was broken. Then Jim's face turned serious again. "We've heard a great deal about you."

"I've also heard about you."

Jim shook his head. "You don't mean me, you mean my father."

Dax didn't answer.

"My father was curious about you. He thought you did a terrific job the way you filled in after your father died."

"I didn't do much. I just hung around until they could get someone else."

"My father says any time a man can hold a job like that for six months without doing anything wrong, he's a wizard."

"Thank your father for me, but it's easy to do no wrong when there's so little to do. And with only four ships between Corteguay and the rest of the world there isn't very much commercial activity."

Jim looked at him shrewdly. "You think my father made a mistake when he pulled the freight lines out?" he asked bluntly.

"You've been quoting your father," Dax answered quietly, "so let me quote mine. The boycott of Corteguay was not only an act of economic reprisal. It was also an act of cruelty. It condemned a small country to starvation."

Jim Hadley was silent for a moment. "You don't like my father much, do you?"

Dax met his eyes evenly. That was one thing he had already learned. The norteamericanos were all alike. They twisted everything around and made it personal. If you approved of their actions, they automatically assumed you liked them; if you didn't, the opposite assumption was equally automatic.

"The answer to that is the same as the answer to your first question. I don't know. I've never met your father."

"Holy cats!" Jim said. "You're brutally honest."

Dax smiled. "If I may quote my father again, never tell a lie when the truth will serve you as well."

Jim stared at him for a moment and then broke into a grin. "I'm beginning to wonder if it's safe to ask you to have another beer?"

"Try me and see."

CHAPTER 22

Robert was waiting for them as they came out of the classroom. He was carrying a newspaper, and his face was serious. "Have you seen the latest?" Jim shook his head.

Robert showed them the bold-face headline: Madrid under siege!

"Oh-oh," Jim said, "that didn't take long."

Robert read aloud: "General Mola, in command of the attacking forces, says the end of the war is not far off. In addition to the four attacking columns surrounding the city, he claims there is a fifth column within Madrid itself, helping with the liberation."

"A fifth column," Jim said. "That's a new word for spies and traitors."

"Hey, Jim!" They all turned as Jeremy Hadley came running up.

"What is it, younger brother?"

"Can I use your car tonight? I got a real heavy date."

Jim fished in his pockets for the keys. "Sure. Just don't crack it up. Dad made me work all year for it."

"Thanks."

"Come on up to my place for a beer."

Jeremy looked at Dax. "Me, too?"

Dax grinned. "You, too. We have no personal objections to freshmen."

Jeremy looked at his older brother questioningly. "It's O.K. You're eighteen now. Dad won't object."

They cut across the yard silently. A strange but closely knit family, Dax thought, observing the two brothers as they walked side by side. There was no doubt that their father ruled with an iron hand and yet it was clear that the boys worshipped him. Everything had been spelled out for them.

James, Jr., the eldest, was going into the law school after he graduated, and then into politics. Then came one daughter, followed by Jeremy. He was going the same road, only he would stay in the practice of law. Two more girls and a third brother, Thomas, who was only twelve but destined for the Harvard Business School. It was he the father had decided would carry on with the business interests of the family. One more girl and then the baby of the family, Kevin. Two years old and already they were calling him "Doc." Somehow the girls didn't seem to matter. Dax wondered whether all Irish families were like that.

"What a joint!" Jeremy said enthusiastically as he sank back into a chair with a bottle of beer clutched in his hand. "I go for a place like this." He looked at his brother Jim. "Why don't you talk to Dad? Now that we're both in school, why should we have to go home every night? You can sell him on it; you can wind him around your finger." "Not me." Jim laughed. "You do your own dirty work."

"I haven't got the nerve," Jeremy admitted. He turned to Dax. "I could never crack a book in a joint like this. How do you do it?"

"It's not easy," Robert said. "You should see some of the girls marching in and out of here. You'd think you were watching a parade."

"It's not as bad as all that," Dax protested.

Jeremy shook his head in wonder. "Now I know where you got your rep with the girls. You got a place to take them." He turned to his brother. "The back seat of your car isn't the greatest place in the world for romance."

"Dad will romance you if you don't get your marks up to where they should be!"

"O.K., O. K., I get the message." Jeremy turned to Robert. "What were you guys looking so grim about when I came up?"

Robert showed him the headline. The younger boy made a face. "Oh, that. So what?"

"It could mean war in Europe," Robert said. "Germany and Italy are openly helping the Falangists. How long do you think we can keep out of it?"

The boy's face turned serious. "That's true. I didn't think of that." He turned to his older brother. "What do you think will happen?"

"I don't know, but Dad thinks there won't be any war— yet."

"But I hear a lot of guys talking about joining up with some kind of international brigade they're forming. And the ROTC boys are yelling to join up now and get all the cushy jobs when the war comes. Personally, I think they can't wait."

"You haven't done anything foolish?" Jim asked sharply.

"No. Why should I?"

"Don't, that's all. Let them shoot off their mouths all they want but don't you do anything. Time enough to get killed in our own wars."

The telephone began to ring, and Dax picked it up. "Oh, hello, honey."

"He's at it again!"

"No, honey," Dax said, "there aren't any girls up here.

Just a couple of fellows." He covered the mouthpiece with his hand. "Will you guys shut up?" "There goes the weekend," Robert said.

"Can't be much. Probably just some Radcliffe girl."

"I don't care what kind of a girl it is," Jeremy said seriously. "I just wish it was me she was calling!"

"Make friends," el Presidente had written in one of his letters. "Meet all the people you can. Someday the gringos will want to come back to Corteguay and you will have made the contacts that will make it easier for them to do so. This is most important, my boy, more so even than your studies. It is in this way you will help our beloved Corteguay most."

Dax remembered that on his way down to the luncheon meeting with the elder Hadley. He had done as el Presidente asked, though it would have been difficult for him to do anything else. Ever since he arrived, the Americans had sought him out. He was for them a new kind of celebrity. His Continental manners and the fact that he had been born in a country of great violences where life was held cheaply seemed to lend a strange attraction to his charm.

Especially for American girls. After a while he almost always knew that each new invitation meant that some girl would be waiting anxiously to find out whether he was actually all that primitive in bed. There were times he wondered about this curious compulsion to sexual challenge. In many ways these encounters—and that was really the way he came to think of them—turned bed into battlefield, rather than a place of romance. The main thing seemed to be to prove the traditional male superiority. And then somehow when this happened there seemed always to be an undercurrent of resentment. Most of the time he never saw the girl again.

Meanwhile with each new conquest his reputation as a Casanova grew. At times he thought of it with a wryness that helped him absorb the jokes and joshing of his friends. He never thought of himself as they did, and he once remarked to Robert that if the Americans thought of him as a Casanova what would they think of Sergei, whose only purpose in life seemed to be to fuck every woman he met.

That this interfered with his studies went without saying. His grades were barely above passing, and had it not been that his being at Harvard had certain diplomatic undertones, he might have been dropped. It wasn't that he was a bad student; there was just never enough time for him to apply himself.

During the summer just past, his second in the States, he had played polo for the Meadowbrook team, and at the end of the season the great Tommy Hitchcock himself had complimented him. But then he had jokingly taken cognizance of Dax's reputation.