The Island Where Time Stands Still (16 page)

Since it now seemed that they could learn no more at the apartment, Wu-ming proposed that they should all lunch with him at his hotel, and over the meal discuss the next steps to be taken. A-lu-te begged to be excused, on the plea that she wished to buy some American clothes before appearing in such a public place, and asked Gregory to act as her escort until it was time for them to return to the ship. The others endeavoured to persuade her to change her
mind, and Gregory told her that even in a creation by Dior or Balmain no Chinese woman looked so soigné and attractive as she did in her national costume; but she proved adamant. So at the entrance of the block of flats the party split up and, having secured a taxi, Gregory took her down to the city's smartest shopping centre.

From that hour onward A-lu-te gave little thought to the search for the Princess. A new world had opened to her and she threw herself into its delights with a reckless abandon engendered by her years of pent-up longing. Until they were actually launched among the luxury shops and great department stores, Gregory had never realised how utterly strange life in a big city would appear to her. From books, radio talks and magazines she knew a great deal about the United States in theory, but even the pictures of buildings, streets, homes, clothes and people had not prepared her for the bewildering crowds, the flashing-past of hundreds of cars and lorries, the ceaseless noise, and the desperate urgency that seemed to inspire every form of activity. Until that morning she had never driven in an automobile, been up in an elevator or heard a loudspeaker. To her the smell of the throngs hurrying along the pavements was both noticeable and surprisingly unpleasant, but her mind was largely distracted from it by amazement at the immense variety of goods displayed in the shop windows, and having frequently to ask Gregory the use of various articles that she had never previously seen.

She had come ashore with a wad of hundred dollar bills, and when Gregory saw the rate at which she was disposing of them he remonstrated with her; but she only laughed and assured him that if she spent as much every day for a month that would still not exhaust the sum that her father had placed at her disposal. Even so, it was only with the greatest difficulty that he dissuaded her from buying everything that took her fancy, on the plea that if only she would be a little patient she would almost certainly find things she liked better when they had had time to inspect the goods in other shops.

He was wearing a light suit of tussore that had been made up for him in the island and, knowing the scantiness of his wardrobe, as soon as she had satisfied her immediate craving for a collection of smart Western clothes she made him take her to the best men's shops, where she insisted on his acquiring a complete new outfit and being measured for several suits. Her generosity did not end there either, as she bought expensive presents for her maid and all her friends aboard the yacht. Then, much to his surprise in view of her normally intellectual recreations, a mechanical bear in a toy shop having caught her eye she went in and bought it, and after it a dozen other playthings of a similar nature, emitting little squeals of childish delight as the assistant made them display their clockwork antics for her.

Only the closing of the shops put a temporary end to her spending, and although they had not eaten since breakfast it was not until they got back with their mountain of parcels to the yacht that either of them realised that they were at all tired or hungry.

Gregory had derived the same type of fun from their expedition as one gets from taking a child to the pantomime for the first time, and so absorbed had he been that not once during the day had he thought of Erika. It was not until he was getting into bed that night that she came into his mind as a graceful presence, rather than a reproach, and he felt now that she would be glad that the sights and sounds of the city had not re-aroused his useless longing for her.

However, it occurred to him that he ought to let others know of the tragedy that had overtaken Sir Pellinore's party, and of his own survival; so after breakfast the following morning he wrote to his solicitor in London, giving a full account of the yacht's sinking. He still felt no desire to take up the broken threads of his old life, and doubted if he would ever wish to do so, but as a precaution against his estate being dispersed in his absence he added that even should he not write again for many years his death was not to be presumed except on the production of irrefutable evidence.

By the time he had finished his letter, A-lu-te was impatiently waiting for him to accompany her ashore. She was dressed in some of her new clothes and, although he secretly felt that her head looked as if it did not belong to her body, he good-humouredly complimented her on her turn-out. Half an hour later it transpired that she was perfectly well aware of the unsatisfactory contrast, and had already dedided to spend her morning in a beauty parlour. Having found one that was obviously patronised by wealthy women she asked him to call for her later and take her to lunch at one of the big hotels; so he bought a number of papers and periodicals and whiled away the next few hours sitting on a bench in the park, bringing himself up to date with the international situation.

When he collected her at one o'clock he was pleasantly surprised. They had made no endeavour to disguise the fact that she was Chinese, but by clever make-up had made her skin appear whiter and her cheeks a delicate pink. They had also thinned her thick eyebrows and done her hair in a different style, so that she appeared quite Westernised and very attractive. Gregory teased her about the admiring glances she received as they went in to lunch, and she pretended that they embarrassed her, but he could tell from the brightness of her long almond-shaped eyes that the interest she had aroused filled her with delight. After the meal he took her to her first movie. She sat through it enthralled, and when they returned to the yacht she was much more anxious to tell the others about her exciting day than to hear the result of their inquiries about the Princess.

Actually they had only negative results to report. The law school from which the student had written was attended by more than a score of young Chinese, and now, during the long vacation, they were scattered; some doing temporary jobs in holiday resorts to earn their fees, others on walking tours or visits to Eastern cities; so it would only be possible to find and interview a few of them. The professor who had been left in charge of the college had no more than a nodding acquaintance with the Chinese students and the only hope
he could render was to instruct the office to furnish a list of their home addresses.

The occupants of flats on the same landing as the Aoûts had been tactfully questioned, but could throw no fresh light on the two-month-old mystery, or give any information which might help in identifying Josephine's elderly suitor.

The police Captain of the district had already forgotten the case, but got out the file on it to refresh his memory. Madame Août had been knocked down by a black Ford sedan at twelve-twenty, when crossing the road to re-enter her block of flats after doing her morning's shopping. The car had not stopped and they had failed to trace it, so no prosecution had ensued. The lady had been taken to the St Ignatius hospital and died from her injuries shortly after admission. Her daughter had been reported as missing the following day, but there had been no suggestion of foul play in connection with the girl's disappearance, so no special effort had been made to find her. Her name and description had been passed to the Bureau of Missing Persons, but no information about her had been received.

The Captain had added that after this lapse of time it was now unlikely that any would come in. He then went on to say that thousands of people were reported missing each year, and by far the highest proportion of cases concerned young women. White-slaving accounted for only a very small proportion and most disappearances were carefully prepared beforehand. The commonest causes were secret love affairs with men who were already married, a desire to take up some career of which the parents disapproved, and revolt against restricted liberty, crowded conditions, or having to hand over the greater part of earnings to the head of the family. Since none of the latter circumstances fitted the case of Josephine Août, all the odds were that of her own free will she had gone to live with some man, probably in another city. Anyway, there was nothing further the police could do in the matter.

This series of culs-de-sac had been more or less anticipated and plans were already in hand for an attempt to break them
down. The following morning an advertisement was to appear in the leading Californian papers offering a thousand dollars' reward for information which would lead to Josephine being found. All Madame Août's acquaintances and all the Chinese students at the law school who were still in San Francisco or its vicinity were to be interviewed.

A-lu-te listened to all this with ill-concealed impatience, then boldly tackled her uncle on a matter that she had been meditating for a good part of the afternoon. Lunching with Gregory at the Fairmont had inspired in her the wish to dine and dance there, but she had no chaperon and was rather doubtful if she would be allowed to go ashore at night without one.

Easy-going as Kâo was by nature, his reaction proved far from favourable, but Wu-ming Loo at once took up the cudgels on her behalf. He argued that when away from the island none of them continued to observe its customs, and that since the Council had given permission for A-lu-te to come to San Francisco it was only reasonable that while there she should be allowed to behave like an American girl.

Gregory had already noticed that since A-lu-te's return from her beauty treatment the young Chinaman could hardly keep his widely-spaced eyes off her, and that he was not disinterested in championing her cause he showed a moment later by saying to Kâo:

‘Unfortunately I do not dance; but given your honourable permission I should be most happy to take the lady A-lu-te to dinner and a theatre tomorrow night, if she will allow me to do so.'

After brief consideration Kâo replied, ‘As I am responsible to her father I do not think I can agree to that, or that she should go ashore at night accompanied only by Mr. Sallust. But I would raise no objection to her going if she were escorted by both of you.'

A-lu-te accepted this solution with delight, and Wu-ming with the best grace he could muster, while Gregory was secretly amused by the thought that he might soon have to play gooseberry.

As matters developed during the following week, it became clear that he was not to be called on to do so. Wu-ming made no secret of the fact that he had fallen in love with A-lu-te, but although she always treated him kindly, she could not altogether conceal that she preferred Greg-gory. About that Gregory was sorry, as he felt that the new life on which she had entered would entirely unfit her for a return to the island, and that when she had to do so there would be less chance than ever of her finding a suitable husband or settling down happily there. On the other hand, if only she could fall for Wu-ming, what could have been more suitable? As the Council had given her permission to go abroad they would certainly not oppose her remaining there if she married Wu-ming. Her unusual intelligence and passion for Western civilisation would make her the perfect wife for the island's Export Manager. She would prove a great asset to him in his work, and he would be able to provide her with a life of elegance and culture in one after another of all the great cities she longed to see.

With this in mind Gregory did all he could to further Wu-ming's suit, but the Chinaman evidently believed the goodwill he displayed to be only feigned and, with little cause, soon began to show signs of the most bitter jealousy. Each evening they went to a cinema or play, then on to Marsalli's, the 365 Club, or one of the big hotels on Nob Hill to dine and dance. Gregory had always danced passably well and from their first evening out A-lu-te had taken to it like a duck to water. So keen on it had she become that she would rarely let a number pass, which meant that from ten o'clock till one in the morning, or later, Wu-ming spent the greater part of the time sitting morosely alone at their table.

Had Gregory in fact been his rival he would have been at a further disadvantage from A-lu-te's spending her days alone with the Englishman; and, believing him to be so, he began to make pretexts to neglect the business of searching for the Princess, so that he could accompany the two of them on their sightseeing expeditions and trips to the beaches.

Gregory would not have minded that if only the Chinaman
had not shown his jealousy so openly, and on two occasions he even suggested to A-lu-te that she should go shopping or bathing alone with her smitten compatriot. But unfortunately for Wu-ming his lack of success with her had made him nervous, gloomy and tongue-tied whenever they were together, so she had come to regard him as a bore, and would not hear of the idea.

The situation was aggravated by her refusal when he asked her to spend a day alone with him on a trip down to Monterey Bay, and from that point a further deterioration in their relations followed. He was so dominated by his passion that he could not bring himself to stop going about with them, although she now made it plain that his presence was no longer welcome. His cringing desire to please brought out the very worst in her, and Gregory's attempts to pour oil on the troubled waters earned him only angry looks from both parties. In consequence he was by no means sorry when circumstances enabled him to put an end to the three of them being throw together daily, at all events for a time.

They had been in San Francisco for over a fortnight when one morning after breakfast Tsai-Ping asked Gregory to step into his cabin. On the rare occasions when they were alone together they always spoke German, as that was the European tongue in which the Mandarin was most fluent. Having waved Gregory to a chair, he said in that language:

‘Mr. Sallust, I am much worried by the lack of progress we make in our search for the Princess.'