The Dark Stranger (2 page)

“
She wasn
’
t phoney. She knew my past. She knew about Father dying and not having much money and she even told me my
Christian
name began with C. She couldn
’
t have known that by guessing. Everyone calls me Tina.
”

Belle puffed a cloud of tobacco smoke into the air and regarded her stepdaughter with impatient amusement.

“
Really,
Tina! The initial you embroidered so badly on your cardigan is plain enough for anyone to see; and your clothes hardly look expensive.
”

“
Oh!
”
The young face was crestfallen for a moment then Tina
’
s wide mouth curved up in a smile.
“
Well, anyway, I
’
m going a long journey and a dark stranger is going to enter my life violently. What do you think that could mean?
”

“
I haven
’
t the slightest idea,
”
said Belle, stifling a yawn,
“
but at the risk of encouraging your superstition I can tell you here and now that the long journey at any rate is decided on.
”

“
Are we moving again?
”
asked Tina with a sigh.

“
Very far afield this time and with more permanency, I hope. We
’
re going to Cornwall.
”

Tina looked startled.

“
Cornwall! That will be a terribly expensive journey, Belle.
”

“
Undoubtedly,
”
said her stepmother dryly.
“
But as we shall have no board to pay when we get there I think the exchequer will have to stand it.
”

Tina
’
s eyes seemed to grow enormous.

“
Do you mean the rich Pentreaths?
”
she asked disbelievingly.

Belle smiled a little cynically.

“
The rich Pentreaths—at least one of them. My cousin, Craig, has written to suggest I go down to Tremawvan and keep house for him for a time. In return we both get a home. Does the idea appeal to you?
”

“
I don
’
t know.
”
Tina sat hugging her knees and frowning and a little breeze blew the soft, straight brown hair across her face.

Belle
’
s Cornish cousins had sounded so remote and unreal that she had scarcely believed in them. She tried to remember the stories. There was old Zion Pentreath who had made a small fortune from one of the few mines left working in Cornwall, and shrewdly added a cannery to supplement the original venture, his sons whose lives had been dedicated to the mine even before they were out of school, and the other branch of the family who were neighbors but enemies because long ago someone had made a marriage which was not approved of. Belle had
always spoken of the Pentreaths with a mixture of bitterness and contempt, bitterness because they had never helped her and old Pentreath had not
seen fit to remember her in his will, and contempt because the making of money had been of far more importance in his eyes than educating his sons to be gentlemen
.

“
Craig Pentreath,
”
Tina said slowly.
“
Which one is he?
”

“
The only one of any consequence left now,
”
Belle replied.
“
The brother was killed a few years ago. Of course there
’
s Brownie, but she hardly counts—just an elderly connection who
’
s always lived with them, too rheumaticky now to be of much use I gather.
”

“
What
’
s he like?
”

“
I haven
’
t seen him for years. He used to be rather overbearing and impossible like his father, but age may have improved him. At least he seems prepared to admit that I have some sort of claim to Pentreath consideration.
”

Tina frowned again. She did not believe that people improved with age. Belle
’
s elderly-sounding Cousin Craig might very well have grown more like his horrid old father.

“
What made Mr. Pentreath suggest that we went to live with him
?
”
she asked.

Belle lighted another cigarette.

“
Well, to tell you the truth, Tina, I wrote myself and suggested that the rich Pentreaths might think fit to help a little. I might have known that Craig, like his father, would be loth to part with money, but free board and lodging for a time will at least help us to catch up and I must own I
’
m sick to death of these cheap hotels.
”

“
Then I needn
’
t have left school,
”
said Tina and all
at
once knew a surprising regret for her
unfinished
education.

Belle glanced at her sharply, and, for not the first time the unconscious criticism in the clear, hazel eyes
irrita
ted
her.

“
The fees were ridiculous for a man in Clement
’
s position,
”
she said quickly.
“
Had I known, of course, that Tremawvan would be open to us things might have been different.
”

“
I don
’
t think I want to go there,
”
said Tina slowly.

“
Why on earth not? At least you
’
ll be well fed and housed.
”

“
I have no claim on your cousin. I should feel embarrassed—besides, he mightn
’
t like me.
”

Belle smiled.

“
My dear child, he won
’
t even notice you. He
’
s away at the cannery all day and doesn
’
t entertain. Tremawvan is a big house and you can easily keep out of his way.
”

“
Oh ... do you think you are going to like it, Belle?
”

Her stepmother shrugged.

“
Beggars can
’
t be choosers,
”
she replied indifferently.
“
But if I
’
m to have the running of the place I shall change what I don
’
t like in due course.
”

Tina looked doubtful.

“
Mr. Pentreath doesn
’
t sound as if he would take kindly to change,
”
she observed.

Belle threw away her cigarette and stretched.

“
When you
’
re a little older, Tina, you
’
ll learn that a clever woman can influence most men—no, perhaps you won
’
t. You haven
’
t enough personal ambition to alter what you don
’
t like. Your father over again.
”

Tina was silent, regarding under her lashes the hard, handsome face and the
dark eyes which sometimes watched her with such impatience. She was aware
that in Belle
’
s view the Lindens, both father and daughter, somehow fell short
of satisfaction, and her stepdaughter could still hurt her with a careless phrase.
After a long pause, she said shyly:

“
Father used to say that if you put up with what you didn
’
t like sometimes you—sort of changed your ideas.
”
Belle made a face.

“
Your father coming of generations of Lindens who were taught good taste in their cradles, didn
’
t have to put up with very much. Well, apply it to yourself, my dear, and forget your embarrassment at accepting mere hospitality from my magnanimous cousin.
”

“
Oh, I di
d
n
’
t mean to suggest
—
“
stammered Tina.

“
I
’
m sure you didn
’
t. Now, I really think I can afford that new frock and various other little things as well. I shall go up to London tomorrow and arrange for fittings. You can have the regular lunch here for once.
”

“
Won
’
t I need any clothes? My dresses are awfully short.
”

“
You won
’
t need
cl
othes that matter, buried in the country, and at your age it
’
s a little early to be thinking of your looks.
”

“
It isn
’
t my looks,
”
said Tina earnestly.
“
But my legs are so long.
”

“
Well, perhaps we can let down some hems. Now, what would you like to do this afternoon?
”

It was so unusual for Belle to offer her a choice of occupation that for a moment Tina looked surprised, then her whole face lit up.

“
Oh, Belle,
could
we go to one of those little cafes and have a really slap-up tea?
”
she asked breathlessly, aware again of the void in her stomach.

Belle sighed sharply. Really, the young were very unimaginative.

“
Oh, all right,
”
she said indifferently.
“
But for heaven
’
s sake don
’
t go without a handkerchief as usual and expect to wipe your sticky fingers on mine.
”

III

They did not leave until the middle of June. It seemed to Tina that her stepmother required a great many new clothes for an isolated country house where no one entertained. She did not understand that freed at last from the weekly hotel bills, Belle
’
s natural extravagance was having its head.

Tina enjoyed watching her stepmother try on her new clothes when they were sent back to the hotel. She would sit curled on Belle
’
s bed, whole-heartedly admiring and once when Belle tossed her one of her old dresses which had shrunk at the cleaner
’
s, she so forgot herself as to fling her arms round her stepmother and nuzzle a flushed face into her shoulder.

“
Oh, Belle,
thank
you!
”
she cried.
“
Now my legs will be decently covered for special occasions because, of course,
I shall only wear it on
very
special occasions. How kind you are to me.
”

“
For goodness
’
sake control yourself,
”
said Belle
i
mpatiently.
“
You
’
re crushing my new dress. Really, Tina! I hope you won
’
t consider such demonstrations necessary every time my cousin offers you a treat—if he ever does.
”
In the privacy of her own little back bedroom she tried on Belle
’
s frock and viewed her reflection with distaste. Even clothes could do little for her, she thought with resignation. She was too slender for such an elaborate style and her throat looked too long. Even her hair was perverse, she decided, wishing she had Belle
’
s crisp dark waves instead of this soft, nebulous curtain of hair which clung to her neck like silk. Sixteen was the awkward age, so everyone said, neither one thing nor the other, but she did not feel like a schoolgirl any more after six months of hotel life and Belle would not treat her as a woman.

Now that it was so near the time for departure she observed her ugly bedroom with loving eyes. It had been home for longer than most and had the familiarity of all such rooms. What place was there for her at Tremawvan living on Pentreath charity so grudgingly offered because Brownie
’
s rheumatism had made her past running Cousin Craig
’
s house with the expected efficiency? It was terrible, thought Tina tragically, to be still unfledged and dependent on strangers.

Belle did not look forward to the journey. She disliked travelling without a man to smooth away the small annoyances and difficulties, and Tina was a tiresome liability. She chattered at the wrong moments or lost her belongings and she had her father
’
s inefficiency with porters.

“
For heaven
’
s sake,
”
Belle told her when they took their seats in the Cornish Riviera Express,
“
don
’
t keep opening the window as you did coming up to London and getting yourself covered with smuts. If you feel sick go and stand in the corridor.
”

“
I won
’
t feel sick once we
’
ve had lunch,
”
Tina replied anxiously.
“
I didn
’
t eat enough breakfast. When do we arrive at Tremawvan?
”