The Mask of the Enchantress (18 page)

I was shivering with fear. There was one thought which kept hammering in my head. Jessamy must not know.

I kept going over that scene in the woods. I could not forget his gleaming eyes and his full sensual lips. I could read his thoughts so clearly and I knew that he believed he had at last got me into his power.

My door opened slowly. I jumped up startled, for it was Jessamy.

id I startle you?she asked.

-no,I answered.

s anything wrong?

o, why?

ou look different.

have a slight headache,I told her.

h dear, Anabel, it is so rare to see you not well.

quite all right really.

ou must get Joel to give you a tonic. Why don you lie down? I really came to talk to you about Susannah.

hat wrong with Susannah?

he can be very willful, you know, Anabel. She wants her own way all the time and seems to get it.

he a Mateland,I said.

shouldn bother you about this now. It nothing really. I just wanted a talk, I suppose. I was a bit worried about her and when I worried it to you I come. Do you remember, it about seven years since you came to the castle?

was seventeen then,I said, just to say something.

hat makes you twenty-four now. You ought to have a husband, Anabel.

I closed my eyes; this was becoming unbearable. She went on talking as though musing to herself. e ought to do something about you. Give parties balls. I going to speak to Joel when I see him. What the matter? Are you really all right? I chattering away when youe got a headache. You must rest, Anabel!

She made me lie down. She covered me with a quilt. I wanted to shriek at her: You should hate me. That what I deserve.

She left me lying there, trying to think what I should do.

I could think of no way out. Jessamy would have to know, and I could not bear her to know. I must tell Joel. Yet I was afraid to tell him. I was afraid of what he would do. I knew that he would be filled with rage against his brother and yet I must tell him.

I came out of my room, still wearing my riding habit. As I entered the hall David called to me. I ran to the door but he was there before me.

here is a time limit, you know,he said. hall we say four hours to make up your mind? I think it would be a nice gesture if you came to my room. It is in the front drum tower. It a very pleasant room. I will have the fire lighted early. I shall be waiting there for you. I dare say my dedicated brother will be at his surgery. He does not seem eager to be with his wife. We understand why, of course. Other fish to fry. Very well, Anabel, my dear, tonight.

I ran past him. I went out to the stables. I mounted my horse and rode. But I did not go to the town. I dared not tell Joel. But I would have to, of course.

I rode recklessly, galloping over the fields, and all the time asking myself what I was going to do.

It was late afternoon. I must see Joel, I must tell him. One of the things we had said to each other was that we would always share everything.

He had finished with his patients and I saw his pleasure at the sight of me. I threw myself into his arms. I was half sobbing with relief.

I told him everything, and as he listened he grew pale. He said at length: e expecting you tonight. He will find me instead.

oel,I cried, hat are you going to do?

going to kill him,he said.

o, Joel. We must think about this. You must not be rash. It would be murder your own brother.

t would be no more than killing a wasp. I hate him.

oel please try to be calm.

ou must leave this to me, Anabel.

can bear Jessamy to know. She would never believe in anyone again. She has always trusted me. We have always been so close the greatest friends. I can bear her to know that I have done this, Joel.

I could see that he was consumed by his anger and could think of nothing else. I knew that anger could be fierce, obsessive. I remembered when a child in the town had been ill-treated by its parents, how his anger towards them had been uncontrolled. He had had them sent to prison and the child cared for elsewhere. It was righteous anger, of course, but he had not considered that the parents were under strain and that they were not of normal intelligence. I had argued with him about it but he had remained adamant. Now he thought of nothing but revenge on Davidot for spying on us, not for going to find you, but because of what he had suggested to me. His blackmail, he called it, as it was most certainly. And, he said, there was only one thing to do with blackmailers and that was eliminate them.

I was afraid of the passions I aroused in these two men. I knew their stormy naturesoel no less than Davidnd I was afraid.

We returned to the castle together. I went to my room pleading a headache and did not go down to dinner. Jessamy came in after dinner to see how I was. She told me that everything seemed so strange. Joel had scarcely spoken and David seemed in an odd mood. e was making jokes all the time obscure ones,said Jessamy. couldn understand them and I was glad when the meal was over. Poor Anabel. It is so unusual for you not to be well. David was saying he didn remember your ever being unwell before except that time six or seven years ago when you went to stay with your father people. He went on about your not looking quite as usual for some time before you went away then but when you came back you had obviously quite recovered. It was a horrible meal, Anabel. I was go glad when it was over. But youe tired.She bent over and kissed me. etter in the morning,that what old Nanny Perkins used to say. Remember?

hank you, Jessamy,I said. do love you. Remember that.

She laughed. ou must be feeling poorly to be so sentimental. Good night, Anabel.

I wanted to reach out to her, to try to explain and ask forgiveness.

I lay there for some time.

Joel had said he would come for me and we would go to David room together. He did not come though, and as I waited, my eyes on the door, I heard the sound of a muffled shot somewhere outside the castle.

I stood alert, listening. There was no sound from below. I was afraid that shot had something to do with David and Joel. I went to the room which Jessamy shared with Joel and stood at the door listening. I was sure Jessamy was there alone.

Then I could not help it. I made my way to David room in the drum tower. I stood outside listening. There was no sound from within so I opened the door quietly and looked in. The fire was flickering in the grate. The room shone in the light of several candles. A chair was by the fire and a silk robe lay on the velvet-covered bed.

There was no one there.

My fears were increasing every second.

I ran down the stairs and out to the courtyard. I had to know what had happened and I was terrified of discovering. I heard running footsteps. I held my breath listening.

It was Joel who was running towards me and I knew some terrible tragedy had taken place.

I threw myself into his arms. I could scarcely breathe. There was a great lump in my throat which I suppose was a form of terror.

I stammered: heard a shot.

e dead,he said. killed him.

h, God help us,I murmured.

went to his room,he said. told him I knew and that I was going to kill him. He said we would settle it in a civilized way. He suggested pistols. ee both good shots,he said. So we took the pistols from the gun room. He always thought he was the better shot that was why he suggested them but he wasn this time.

oue killed him, Joel,I whispered. an you be sure?

es. Right through the heart. That what I aimed for. It was either him or me and it had to be him for you and myself and for Suewellyn.

oel!I cried. hat are you going to do?

always thought I kill him one day or he kill me. Wee come near to it once or twice. Now it over. I going away. Il have to tonight.

oel no!

oue coming with me. Wel have to get out of the country.

ow …

ow tonight. Wee got to think carefully. It is not impossible. I can arrange with my bank when we are well away.

We can take valuables with us everything we can lay our hands on and conveniently take. Go to your room. Get what you can together. Don let anyone know what you are doing. Wel be well away by morning. Wel ride out a few miles and then get the train to Southampton. Wel get a ship and go out to Australia most likely and on from there.

oel,I breathed. The child.

es,he said. e thought of the child. Youl have to go and get her. The three of us will go together.

So I went to my room and within an hour after I had heard that pistol shot I was riding through the night with Joel.

We parted at the railway station. He went to Southampton where I was to join him with you. I had to wait for trains and did not get to you until the following day. You know the rest.

That my story, Suewellyn. You have come to love us, your father and me, and now that you have heard how it happened you will understand.

The Island

In spite of everything that has happened since that day when my mother came to take me away from Crabtree Cottage, I still remember those years on the island as the happiest of my life. It is still an enchanted place to me, a lost paradise.

Looking back, it is not easy to remember always with clarity. Events become blurred by the years. It seems now that the days were full of sunshinehich I suppose they were except during the rainy season. And how I loved that rain! I used to stand in it and let it fall all over me, drenching me to the skin, soft balmy rain; and then the sun would come out, and the steam would rise from the earth, and I would be dry in a few moments. Each day seemed brimming over with happiness, but of course it was not quite like that. There were times when I sensed a certain fear in my parents. Every time a ship came in during those first years my mother would make a great effort to hide her anxiety from me and my father would sit at the topmost window which overlooked the bay and there would be a gun across his knees.

Then all would be well and when the ship sailed away, having brought us all sorts of exciting packages, we would drink a special wine and we would laugh and be merry. I soon realized that my parents were afraid the ship would bring someone they did not want to see.

When we arrived on the island we were received by Luke Carter, whose house my father had bought. Luke Carter had owned the coconut plantation which had brought a certain prosperity to the island. He told my father that he had been there for twenty years. But he was getting old and wanted to retire. Moreover the industry had faltered during the last years. Markets had dropped off; the people didn want to work; they wanted to lie in the sun and pay homage to the old Grumbling Giant. He was going to stay, as he said, to show my father the ropes. When the ship left next time it would take him with it.

He was all alone now. He had had a partner who had succumbed to one of the fevers which were prevalent on the island and grew worse during the wet season.

oue a doctor,he said. oul know how to deal with it, I dare say.

My father said that one of the reasons why he had wanted to come to this particular island was because these fevers were endemic here. He believed he could discover ways of treating them.

oul be up against old Wandalo,Luke Carter told him. e runs the place. He decides who is and who is not going to die. He the witch doctor johnny and great chief. He sits under his banyan tree and contemplates the earth.

During the days which followed Luke Carter took my father round the island.

My mother never let me go out without her. When we did go she held tightly to my hand and I was rather disconcerted to find that the sight of us filled the islanders with mirth, particularly the children, who would have to be slapped on the back to prevent their choking. Sometimes we found them peering in at the windows at us and, if we looked up, they would shoot away as if in fear of their lives.

In the evenings Luke Carter used to talk about the island and the islanders.

heye intelligent,he told us. rafty though, and light-fingered. Theye not respecters of property. You want to watch them. They love color and sparkle but they wouldn know the difference between a diamond and a bit of paste. Treat them well and theyl respond. Theyl never forget an insult and theyl never forget a good turn. Theye faithful enough if you can get their trust. Ie lived with them for twenty years without being clubbed to death or thrown down the crater as a sacrifice to the old Grumbling Giant, so Ie done rather well.

dare say Il manage equally well,said my father.

Theyl accept you in time. Strangers put them on their guard. That why I thought it best to stay awhile. By the time I leave they will have come to regard you as part of the island life. Theye like children. They don question much. The only thing you have to remember is to be respectful to the Giant.

o tell us about this Giant,said my mother. know it is the mountain, of course.

ell, this island is one of a volcanic group, as you know. It must have come into being millions of years ago when the earth crust was being formed and it was all internal eruptions. Thus the old Giant was thrown up. He the god of the island. You can understand it. They think he has power over life and death and he has to be placated. They pay homage to him. Shells, flowers and feathers adorn the mountainside, and when he starts to grumble they get seriously worried. He an old devil, that mountain. Once it really did erupt. It must have been three hundred years ago and it all but destroyed the island. Now he grumbles from time to time and sends out a few pieces of stone and lava to warn them.

e should have chosen another island, I think,said my mother. don like the sound of this Grumbling Giant.

e safe enough. Remember he hasn been what you could call really active for three hundred years. The little grumblings are a safety valve really. He done his erupting. In another hundred years hel have settled down entirely.

He introduced us to Cougaba, who had served him well and was willing to do the same for us. He hoped he could persuade us to keep her, for she would find it hard to go from the big house and settle in one of the native huts now. She had been with him for almost the whole of the twenty years he had spent on the island. She had a daughter, Cougabel, who should be allowed to stay with her mother in the house.