HF - 05 - Sunset (13 page)

He dismounted; he rode a stallion and Candy did not always take kindly to males. Meg also dismounted.

'Meg.' He took her in his arms, held her close. 'Are you all right?'

'I'm all right, Papa.’

'But...
we found your boots and stockings, and your
...
well, we knew where you'd been. And Washington found other tracks as well, of two men.' He stepped back, looking at the blood which splattered her habit, still stained her hands. 'Meg, what did they do to you?' 'Nothing, Papa. Truly.'

'But
...'
He looked past her, at the mist-shrouded mountains. 'Where are they ?'

'Going about their business, I should think.'

'Meg.' He seized her arms. 'Where did you spend the night?'

'Up there.'

'With black men?'

'Well
...
yes, Papa. They were afraid for me, in the dark.'

'Afraid for you. My God. Meg, you'll lead us there.' He frowned. 'How many of them are there?'

'I have no idea, Papa. And I can't lead you there. I don't know the way.' The lie had been selected almost without consideration. But she could not face explanations at this moment. They could come later, when she and Papa were alone.

'Meg,' he said, squeezing her arm. 'There is nothing to be afraid of now. We are here. There are twelve of us, and we are all armed. No one is going to harm you now. And those men must be punished.'

'Punished? Whatever for?'

'For
...
well, no doubt we shall explain it to you later. Right now, we must get hold of them.' 'I don't know the way, Papa.'

He stared at her for some moments, then released her again. 'John,' he called, without turning his head.

Another man rode forward. Meg recognized him as Dr Phillips. Hilltop could no longer afford to employ its own doctor, but John Phillips came out every week to visit the dispensary. Now he dismounted. He only ever attended her for the occasional cold, and in fact she had not required a doctor for the past five years. But he had always been friendly enough, a big jolly man, whose face this morning was quite unnaturally serious. 'Are you all right, Meg?'

'I'm fine, doctor. Really.'

'Whose blood is that?'

'Blood from the animal they killed for supper.'

Phillips glanced at Anthony Hilton, and received a nod.

'May I ?' he asked, and took her wrist, at the same time producing a watch from his fob pocket. 'Hm. Just a shade high. I must say, Tony, she
looks
all right. I would have to give her a proper examination to be sure.'

'When we get home. She won't say anything. Do you think she can be suffering from shock, or something like that?'

'Of course I'm not suffering from shock, Papa. But I'm very hungry. Do you think we could go home and have something to eat?'

'We must catch those men,' he said.

'I don't know the way, Papa.'

His turn to glance at the doctor.

'I'll take her back, Tony,' Phillips decided. 'Presumably your man Washington can follow the tracks for some distance farther.'

'I'd imagine so.' Anthony Hilton looked at his daughter, but Meg was not concerned; there would be no tracks at all when they came to the stony valley. 'You are to return home with Dr Phillips, Meg. Do you understand?'

'Of course, Papa.' Meg kissed him on the cheek. 'I could do with a hot bath.' She remounted Candy, waited while the doctor also got up. He rode beside her as they passed the waiting group of white men, mostly Hilltop overseers. They stared at her, and she felt her cheeks burning. But what did they matter? She was Margaret Hilton. She must remember this, now and always. Only that mattered.

The two horses picked their way down the slope, towards the now visible river.

'Your father was very upset,' Dr Phillips remarked. 'Well, he would be, don't you think? These mountains are no place for a white woman, alone, at night'

'I'm sorry,' she said.

They rode in silence for a while longer, forded the stream and were on Hilltop.

'If the men who abducted you made any threats,' Dr Phillips said, 'you are free of them now, you know, Meg. And the best way to make sure you stay free of them would be to tell your father where they can be found, and have them sent to gaol.'

'Would they not send a
jum
bi
to see to me ?'

He shot her a glance. 'You don't believe in that nonsense, do you?'

'I don't really know what I believe in, Dr Phillips.'

They rode their horses down the slope and entered the canefields. Soon they came upon a gang of East Indians, busily weeding. They all stopped to stare at them. But surely they mattered even less than the overseers.

'You know, Meg,' Dr Phillips said conversationally, 'it is very possible that these men who abducted you may have done you some injury, of which you are quite unaware. Black people, well
...
white people too, of course
...
they sometimes, ah, carry illness, carry diseases, you know, which can ah, be communicated from one person to the other without either one being aware of what is happening. Now, it is terribly important that I should know if there is a possibility of this at the earliest possible moment.' He was flushing scarlet. 'So it really would be best if you were to tell me
...
in general terms, of course
...
exactly what happened, both when you were first abducted and afterwards.' He paused, and found
a
handkerchief to wipe his brow.

'But I was not abducted,' Meg explained.

'You
...
my dear Meg, I have just explained that there is no necessity for you any longer to be afraid of these people.'

'I was not abducted,' she insisted. 'They invited me to go with them, and I went.' He drew rein, to stare at her. 'But why?' 'I was curious.'

'Curious? My God.' He realized that the mare was walking away from him and hastily kicked his mount forward again. 'You said "they". Who were "they"?'

'Some men,' Meg said.

Dr Phillips caught up with her, drew alongside. 'They must have threatened you, or something like that.' 'No, they didn't.'

'Meg, your
...
ah
...
underclothes were lying on the groun
d.' 'Of course. I took them off’

'Took them off? My God.' Once again the handkerchief was busy. 'You mean, they made you undress.'

'No, no,' she said. 'I was already undressed. Oh, you may as well know, I was bathing in the river, and these men came along and asked me to go with them, and I went.'

'Undressed ?'

'I put my habit on.'

'Great Scott,' Dr Phillips remarked, apparently to himself, and fell silent.

And a few minutes later they came out of the canefields and were riding down the slope towards the village, with the sheep and the goats hastily getting out of their way. Meg's heart started to pound again. Would she ever be able to look at a goat without remembering the sacrificial kid?

'Meg.' Oriole came running down the front stairs of the bungalow. 'Oh, you poor child. Whatever did they do to you?'

Meg dismounted. Every front porch on every house on the street was full, of the white women and their maids and their children.

'Meg.' Oriole held her shoulders, rather as Tony Hilton had done. 'Are you all right? Can you speak?'

'Of course I can speak, Oriole,' Meg said. Today she was not even afraid of Oriole.

Oriole looked at Dr Phillips, who shrugged. 'She seems to have undergone a very odd experience.' He opened the gate for her. 'About which she does not seem prepared to talk.'

'Not talk of it?' Oriole demanded. 'Have they caught the scoundrels ?'

'No, they have not,' Phillips said. 'But they are still looking.'

Meg was halfway up the stairs. She paused to look down. 'They were not scoundrels. They looked after me for the night'

Oriole looked at her, then at Phillips.

Who shrugged again. 'It is what she keeps saying. Presumably it could just be true. Although I must say
...'

'True?' Oriole shouted. 'Of all the rubbish. True? How can it be true? She's clearly suffering from some sort of shock. Or perhaps she's been bewitched. Yes indeed, that wouldn't surprise me. These people are all heathens, however much they pretend to be Christians. The poor child is bewitched. Yes, indeed, that must be it.' She started up the stairs. 'She must be put to bed, and she must be examined, doctor. Not only for
...
well, you know what I mean. But she might have contracted some terrible disease.'

'Exactly what I was saying,' Phillips agreed.

Oriole caught up with Meg on the front porch. 'Now come along, Meg, we'll get these horrid rags off, and give you a bath, and put you to bed, and Dr Phillips can examine you, and then he will give you a sleeping potion, and when you wake up, why, you'll be able to tell us what happened, and your father will be able to arrest those dreadful men, if he hasn't already managed to do so.'

'They were not dreadful people,' Meg said. 'And they will not be arrested. I would love a hot bath and to lie down, but I do not need a sleeping potion and I do not need a physical examination. I am not going to have a physical examination.'

Oriole gazed at her for some seconds. 'Did you hear that, doctor?' she asked at last. 'She has never spoken to me like that before. Clearly her mind is under some outside influence.'

'Well
...'
Phillips also came up the steps. 'It may be just exhaustion. But I do think I should examine you, Meg.'

'Don't touch me,' Meg said. 'Just don't touch me.'

Phillips looked at Oriole.

'Of course she must be examined. I'll help you.'

'Don't touch me,' Meg said again, slowly backing into the doorway. The idea of being pawed by them, after Cleave, made her feel physically ill. She looked down the steps, to see if she could force her way through them and perhaps escape, but the yardboy had already led Candy away. And besides, she
was
very tired.

'She really is half out of her mind,' Oriole said sympathetically.

'Yes. Well
...'
But Dr Phillips was obviously thinking that Meg was a big, strong girl.

'We'll need help,' Oriole decided brightly. 'Helen,' she called. 'Mrs McAvoy. Will you give us a hand? Poor Margaret has lost her mind.'

'You wretch.' It occurred to Meg that she had always hated Oriole, for all the times she had hit her, in the main. She swung her hand, caught Oriole on the side of the face, and sent her crashing into the bannisters which lined the porch.

'Aaagh,' Oriole screamed. 'She's mad. Stop her, doctor. Stop her.'

'Now, Meg,' Dr Phillips said, advancing slowly.

'You keep away from me,' Meg shouted. Where, oh where, was Papa?

'Stop her,' Oriole screamed, regaining her feet, her face a blaze of angry red. 'Helen, come up here. Quickly.'

Helen McAvoy, hesitating at the foot of the steps, now began to hurry up. Meg realized she could not fight all of them; she could not even fight Dr Phillips, who was cautiously reaching for her arm. She jumped backwards, turned, and ran into the house.

'Stop her,' Oriole screeched.

Meg ran through the living room, checked as the maid appeared in the inner doorway.

'Get out of my way,' Meg bawled.

But this was not Prudence. This was a strange woman, who had obviously been engaged by Oriole herself. She remained standing in the doorway, and she was a large woman. Meg hestitated, and Dr Phillips seized her shoulder. She swung her hand, and he caught the wrist, half turning her. She faced Helen, reaching for her as well, and kicked, angrily. Helen gave a faint shriek and stumbled backwards. But the effort of the kick had thrown Meg off balance, and now Dr Phillips had the other arm as well.

She tried to turn, but Oriole was also in the room now. 'Get her legs,' she was shouting. 'You. Get her legs.'

The maid hesitated for a moment, then came forward. Meg kicked again, but the Negress evaded this easily enough, and stooped to seize her ankles, bring them together. As Dr Phillips still held her arms, Meg was lifted from the floor.

'There,' Oriole panted, looking down at her. 'Take her into the bedroom. We'll deal with her there.'

She wanted to scream. She wanted to shriek the place down. But she would not give them the pleasure of hearing her so humiliated. She wanted to fight them, but that would be equally humiliating. She wanted to hate them, and that was simple enough. All of them. She was too angry even to cry.

The bedroom door was open, and she was placed upon the bed.

'Don't let her go,' Oriole commanded. 'Alma. You'll take her arms. Helen, you and I will hold her feet.'

'I really wonder if we shouldn't wait,' Helen McAvoy said gently. 'At least until Tony comes home.'

'Wait?' Oriole demanded. 'The girl has been abducted, bewitched, raped
...
we must be sure. Doctor?'

Dr Phillips released Meg's arms, and she sat
up
to swing her
clenched first in Oriole's general direction.