Power of the Sword - Smith Wilbur - Страница 88

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Did you ever find that young boy you were looking for? he asked lazily. Abe Abrahams came to me for help, you know. He was unaware how the question had affected her, for she controlled the reflex stiffening of her body and simply shook her head. No. He disappeared. He was Lothar De La Rey's son. I deduced that. Yes, she agreed. I was worried about him. He must have been deserted and alone after his father's sentence. I'll keep looking for him, Blaine promised. And let you know if anything comes up. He stroked her hair. You are a kind person, he murmured. There was no reason why you should concern yourself with the boy. They were silent again, but reference to the outside world had broken the spell and started a trail of thought that was unpleasant but had to be followed to the end.

How is Isabella? she asked, and felt the muscles of his chest tighten and swell beneath her cheek, but he inhaled a puff from the cheroot before he answered.

Her condition is deteriorating. Atrophy of the nerves of her lower body. Ulceration. She has been in Groote Schuur hospital since Monday. The ulcers at the base of her spine will not heal. I'm sorry, Blaine. That is how I have managed to get away these few days.

The girls are with their grandmother. That makes me feel awful. I would feel worse if I couldn't see you, he replied.

Blaine, we must keep to our resolution. We must never hurt her or the girls. He was silent again, then abruptly he flicked the stub of the cheroot across the room into the fire. It looks as though she will have to go to England. There is a surgeon at Guy's Hospital who has performed miracles. When? Her heart felt like a cannonball in her chest, suffocating her with its weight.

Before Christmas. It depends on the tests they are doing now. 'You will have to go with her, of course. That would mean resigning as administrator and damaging my chances, he broke off; he had never discussed his ambitions with her.

Your chances of a place in a future cabinet and possibly one day the premiership, she finished for him.

He stirred, taking her face between his hands and turning it gently so he could look into her eyes. You knew? he asked, and Centaine nodded.

Do you think that cruel of me? he asked. That I could let Isabella go on her own, for my selfish ambitions? No, she said seriously. I know about ambition. I offered, he said, while unquiet shadows clouded the green of his eyes. Isabella would not accept it. She insisted that I stay here. He laid her head back against his chest and stroked the hair back from her temple. She is an extraordinary person, such courage. The pain is almost unceasing now. She cannot sleep without laudanum, and always more pain and more laudanum.. It makes me feel so guilty, Blaine, but no matter what, I am glad for the opportunity to be with you. I am taking nothing from her. But that was not true, and she knew it. She lay awake long after he was asleep.

She lay with her ear pressed to his chest and listened to his heart and the slow filling and emptying of his lungs.

When she woke he was dressed in the old pair of khaki shorts and taking down a bamboo fishing rod with an old Scarborough reel from the rack on the wall above the hearth.

Breakfast in twenty minutes, he promised, leaving her cuddled down in the bunk, but he was back before then carrying a gleaming gunmetal and silver fish almost as long as his arm. He arranged it on a grid over the embers and then came to her and pulled the blanket off.

Swim! he grinned sadistically, and she screamed.

You are crazy. It's freezing! I'll die of pneumonia. She protested as wildly all the way down to the deep rock-lined pool in which be dunked her.

The water was clear as air and so cold that when they clambered out their bodies glowed bright pink all over and her nipples were standing out as hard and dark as ripe olives.

But the icy water had honed their appetites and they sprinkled lemon juice on the hot succulent white flesh of the Galjoen and wolfed ic down with chunks of brown bread and salty yellow farm butter.

Satiated at last they sat back and Blaine looked at her. She wore only one of his navy blue roll-necked fisherman's jerseys but the hem reached almost to her knees. She had piled her damp unruly tangle of hair on top of her head and tied it there with a yellow ribbon.

We could go for a walk, he suggested. Or, She thought about that for a few seconds and then decided.

I rather think I'll settle for the or. Your wish, madam, is my command, he replied courteously, and stood over her to lift the heavy jersey off over her head.

In the middle of the morning he lay flat on his back on the bunk while Centaine was propped on an elbow above him, tickling his lips and closed eyelids with a feather that she had plucked from the seam of one of the pillows.

Blaine, she said softly. I am selling Weltevreden. He opened his eyes, caught her wrist and sat up quickly.

Selling? he demanded. Why? I have to, she answered simply. 'The estate, the house and everything in it. But why, my darling? I know how much it means to you.

Why sell it? Yes, Weltevreden means a great deal to me, she agreed But the H'ani Mine means more. If I sell the estate, there is just a chance, a very small chance, that I will be able to save the mine. I didn't know, he said gently. I had no idea things were that bad., How could you know, my love? She caressed his face.

Nobody else does. But I don't understand. The Hlani Mine, surely it is making profits sufficient- No, Blaine. Nobody is buying diamonds nowadays.

Nobody is buying anything any more. This depression, this terrible depression! Our quota has been slashed. The prices we are being paid for our stones are less than half of what they were five years ago. The H'ani Mine is not quite breaking even. It is losing a small amount every month. But if I can hold on until the economy of the world turns around, she broke off. The only chance I have of doing that is by selling Weltevreden. That is all I have left to sell.

That way I might be able to hold on until the middle of next year, and surely this terrible depression must be over by then! Yes, of course it will! he agreed readily, and then after a pause, I have some money, Centaine She laid her fingers on his lips, smiled sadly and shook her head.

He lifted her hand away from his mouth and insisted, If you love me then you must let me help you., Our bargain, Blaine, she reminded him. Nobody else must be hurt. That money belongs to Isabella and the girls. It belongs to me, he said. And if I choose, I Blaine! Blaine! she stopped him. A million pounds might save me now, a million pounds! Do you have that much?

Any lesser amount would be wasted, simply disappear into the bottomless pit of my debts. He shook his head slowly. So much? Then he admitted regretfully, No. I don't have a third part of that, Centaine. Then we will not speak of it again, she told him firmly.

Now show me how to catch crayfish for dinner. I don't want to talk of anything unpleasant for the rest of our time together. There will be plenty of time for ugliness when I get home. on their last afternoon they climbed the slope behind the shack, wading hand in hand through the bright banks of wild blooms. The pollen painted their legs the colour of saffron and the bees rose in noisy swarms as they disturbed them, then resettled as they passed on.

Look, Blaine, see how every flower turns its head to follow the sun as it moves across the sky. I am like one of them, and you are my sun, my love. They wandered along the slope, and Blaine plucked the choicest blooms and plaited them into a crown. He placed it on her head. I crown you Queen of my heart, he intoned, and though he smiled when he said it, his eyes were serious.

They made love lying on the mattress of wild flowers, crushing the stems and leaves beneath them, enveloped in the herby aroma of their juices and the perfume of their blooms, and afterwards Centaine asked him as she lay in his arms, Do you know what I'm going to do? Tell me, he invited, his voice drowsy from their loving.

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