Nurse in India (12 page)

What his thoughts were Stella could only guess. But his kiss had awakened emotions in her that would not be denied. And as she rode along a resolution slowly formed in her mind—a resolution that she decided must be put into action at the first possible opportunity.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

She must see Allegra again and try to appeal to her better feelings. No human being was bad all through,
and surely
if she exercised kindness and patience, she might be able to convince the girl that in snatching her happiness at the cost of other people
’
s undeserved misery she would be laying up nothing but shame and remorse for herself.

How she was going to arrange a meeting with her she did not know. The simplest-course would have been to ask Roger if she might call at his bungalow for a moment to have a word with Allegra about—oh, any excuse would have served! But in the circumstances this was out of the question. To speak to him at all at the moment was more than she could face; she was still burning with the memory of that kiss and dared not send even a glance in his direction.

She thought of sending a note over to Allegra, asking her to call in at the rest house, but here, too, there were difficulties. In the first place Allegra was quite capable of refusing to come—or, indeed, of ignoring her note altogether. In the second, it would be difficult to talk privately, unless Jelly happened to be staying in her bedroom; for, from the sitting room every word uttered in Stella
’
s own room could be plainly heard.

She decided finally to watch and wait for a moment when both Roger and Jim were out; and the following afternoon, having seen the brothers driving past the rest house o
n
their way to the golf course, she seized her hat and went hurrying out, thanking her stars for such a heaven-sent opportunity.

The bungalow wore a deserted appearance, and the door stood invitingly open; but she had no intention of copying the other girl
’
s tactics and bursting in on her unawares. Ringing the electric bell, she waited for one of the servants to appear.

For some minutes there was no response to its shrill summons; indeed, it was not until she had rung three times and was on the point of turning back that she heard approaching footsteps.

It was not the patter of bare feet, but the flip-flop of mules; and a moment later Allegra, looking very ornamental in a wrapper of jade green satin, appeared in the doorway.

“Oh, it
’
s you, is it!” she observed brusquely. “Why on earth Roger doesn
’
t train these lazy servants of his to do a spot of work, instead of spending all their time eating and sleeping—”

“The
memsahib
needed me?
”
Appearing, it seemed, from nowhere, the bearded figure of Hussein was at her elbow.

Both girls were startled at the sudden apparition, but while Stella gave him a quiet, “Salaam, Hussein,” Allegra exclai
m
ed petulantly, “What the hell do you mean by these jack-in-the-box tricks, you old fool?”

“
Memsahib
, I do not understand English.” The man
’
s tone was expressionless, but the anger that smoldered in his deep-set brown eyes showed that he had a very good idea of the meaning of her words. And then he looked across at Stella and went on in rapid Hindustani, “I pray your pardon for not answering the bell more quickly. But I have a fever, and the sahib had given me quinine and sent me off to the servant
’
s quarters to sleep.”

“What on earth is he jabbering about now?” Allegra demanded impatiently.

“Merely explaining that he
’
s got a touch of malaria, and that Roger has ordered him to rest,” Stella returned curtly.

“Oh, he
’
d be sure to have some excuse. Anyway, for goodness
’
sake tell him to get out. He gives me the creeps—standing there and scowling at me like that.”

“Well, you should be more careful what you say in front of him,” Stella retorted sharply. “These Indian servants understand far more than you suppose.” And turning to Hussein she told him courteously that the
memsahib
wished him to return to his quarters and rest.

Salaaming to both girls, but giving Allegra a look of undisguised fury, Hussein disappeared as silently as he had tome. And Allegra, eyeing Stella in no cordial manner,
ask
ed her who it was she wished to see.

“You, if you please, Allegra. I saw Roger and Jim going
off to golf and slipped over to have a little talk with you.”

“Well, I
’
m afraid you
’
ll have to do most of the talking.” Ungraciously Allegra led her into the drawing room. “I
’
ve nothing to say to you—beyond asking you when you propose to leave Ghasirabad.
”

“We
’
ll come to that presently.” Refusing to be ruffled by the other girl
’
s rudeness, Stella sat down in one of the big armchairs. “The first thing I want to say, Allegra, is I that I haven
’
t come here to quarrel with you. I
’
ve come to make an appeal to you.”

“What do you want me to do?” Allegra
’
s voice was hard.

“Something that will need all your moral courage!” Stella looked at her steadily. “I want you to clear up this intolerable situation by telling Jim and Roger the truth.”

“Your version of the truth, you mean,” Allegra began.

But Stella stopped her with a quick, “You can drop all that nonsense with me, Allegra. You know just as well as I do that five years ago you committed a deliberate theft
—
and as deliberately tried to fasten the guilt onto me; that you
’
ve blackened me, in my stage name, to Roger and Jim, so that as soon as they hear that
I’
m Star Lefreyne, they
’
ll regard me as a thief and a particularly despicable one at that.”

“I thought you weren
’
t going to quarrel with me.” Allegra was assuming an ironical tone now.

“Reminding you of plain facts isn
’
t quarreling with you, Allegra. All I want is to get down to brass tacks and beg you, for your own sake as well as mine, to do the decent thing.”

“My own sake? Is that a threat?” Allegra
’
s slim, graceful figure stiffened.

“Good Lord, no! Can
’
t you see, Allegra—” Stella spoke with great earnestness “—that if you try to build you
r
life on a lie, and on the ruins of someone else
’
s happiness, you
’
re going to be one of the most miserable creatures on earth?”

“Schoolgirl nonsense!” Allegra
’
s Cupid
’
s-bow mouth took on a curve, of contempt. “I suppose you
’
ve gone all
sen
timental over Roger and are dying to marry him! Anyone could see from the way you do
l
ed yourself up the
ot
her night that you were out after his scalp. A bit thick, I
ca
ll it, after the way you assured me that you weren
’
t inter
est
ed in him.”

“So you
’
re still the same little cad!” Stella
’
s scorn far outmatched Allegra
’
s. “You
’
re not ashamed of wanting to marry Jim. Why should I be ashamed of loving Roger in
ju
st the same way?”

For a moment Allegra was silent. Then she said
st
ormily, “I was engaged to Jim months before you
e
ver heard of Roger. Do you suppose I
’
m going to give him up just because you
’
ve come butting into my life again?”

“I don
’
t believe you
’
d have to give him up.” The note of passionate sincerity had come back to Stella
’
s voice, displacing all the contempt and anger. “Jim worships the ground you walk on. I feel certain that if you told him the
tr
uth and threw yourself on his mercy, it would arouse all the chivalry in him. He
’
d stick to you through thick and thin.”

Allegra shook her head incredulously. “My dear Star, your knowledge of the world—and of men—is just nil. These Fendish men seem the kindliest, simplest fellows you could wish to meet. But they
’
ve a puritanical streak in them that
’
s sheer iron. If you think that either of them would marry a girl who was a self-confessed thief, you
’
re very wide of the mark.”

“Oh, Allegra, why on earth did you ever steal those wretched trinkets!” The exclamation burst from Stella against her will.

Allegra gave a short laugh and bending forward spoke very quietly. “For precisely the same reasons I got engaged to Jim. I wanted them for themselves, because they appealed to me. And—I was horribly in debt! In each case the second reason was the more urgent one.”

“Good Lord!” Stella gave a low whistle. “Then you
’
re in a mess now, financially?”

“The devil of a mess! I suppose you envy me because I
’
ve led a leisured life these last five years. But if you think that keeping up appearances on nothing a year is easy
—
well, you try it.”

“There was nothing to stop your working.” Stella
’
s
voice held no sympathy.

“Admittedly!” Allegra
’
s lips set in the obstinate line that Stella so well remembered. “But there was only one
career, outside the stage, that appealed to me in the least—and that was marriage.”

“I shouldn
’
t have thought you would have experienced much difficulty in finding a husband.” Stella
’
s glance was coolly appraising.

“Oh, there was no dearth of what I believe used to be called offers.” She made a little grimace of disgust. “But the men who made them were either rich and repulsive o
r
as deep in debt as I was myself. Until Jim came on t
he
scene, I hadn
’
t managed to attract one man I really liked with a decent income.”

Stella frowned. “But the Fendishes aren
’
t rich!”

“Oh, my ambitions aren
’
t as lofty as they were a year or two ago. All those Fendish boys have a thousand a year of their own, apart from what they earn, and that
’
s good enough for me.”

“Personally, I had no idea Roger and Jim had anything beyond their salaries,
”
Stella said bluntly.

“Maybe I
’
m a fool to have told you, but there—I know how silly you
’
ve always been about money. The fact that Roger is better off than you thought won
’
t make the slightest difference either way.”

“It certainly won
’
t. And that
’
s why I think I have a better right to Roger than you have to Jim. If Roger were as poor as a churchmouse, he
’
d still be the only man in the world for me, whereas if you were to wait a bit you could easily find someone you liked just as well as Jim.”

“My dear Star, I can
’
t afford to wait! It
’
s all very well for you to go all romantic over Roger, but if I were to break my engagement to Jim I
’
d have a horde of creditors after me. I only managed to stave them off by telling them that I was marrying a man in a comfortable position.”

“But what
’
s Jim going to say when the bills begin to roll in?”

“I won
’
t let him know anything about them. I shall pay them off by degrees out of the housekeeping money he gives me—and out of my clothes allowance.”

“I never heard of anything so idiotic,” Stella declared
ener
getically. “Why on earth don
’
t you get this aunt and
uncl
e of yours to help you? They must be comfortably
off to
be able to make a trip of this sort!”

Allegra threw back her head and laughed—a hard little l
au
gh that held no mirth at all.

“What a hope! They
’
re only out here because London
’
s become a bit unhealthy for them. When they
’
ve seen me
saf
ely married to Jim, which will be in a few weeks
’
ti
m
e,
they’ll
be moving on to the States.”

“Do you mean they
’
ve done something disgraceful?” Stella
’
s blue eyes were horrified.

“Nothing worse than run into debt. Only where it
’
s a case of hundreds with me, with them it
’
s thousands.” She look a cigarette from a nearby box and lighted it. “Of course it
’
s largely the fault of the people who give them credit. They like to boast of having Sir Cradwell and Lady Glydd among their clients and encourage them to run up bills. Then when they find there
’
s no money forthcoming, they cut up rough.”

For a full two minutes Stella did not speak. Then taking a deep breath she said steadily, “Every single thing you
’
ve told me this afternoon, Allegra, makes me feel that you oughtn
’
t to be marrying Jim Fendish. I shouldn
’
t think it right of course, to pass on to Roger anything you
’
ve told me this afternoon, but I see no reason why I shouldn
’
t give him my version of that old story.”

“He
’
d never believe you,” Allegra retorted quickly. “Do you suppose he hasn
’
t heard of that queer business at Bhindi—when the old rani
’
s emeralds were actually traced to your locked suitcase?”

“I could explain to him that it was a clumsy plot.”

“And I daresay he
’
d swallow it—until you pitched the yarn about that earlier frame-up.”

Stella shrugged her shoulders. “If he doesn
’
t believe me, I don
’
t see what I
’
ve got to lose.”

A change came over Allegra
’
s face then. She went very white and her features hardened so that for the moment she looked years older than her age. “If you do that,” she exclaimed tensely, “I
’
ll fight you tooth and nail—with the kind of weapons you wouldn
’
t even begin to understand!”

“And suppose my own weapons—absolute truth and sincerity—were to prove stronger than your lies and slanders and tearful, wide-eyed denials?”

“Oh, God—why can
’
t you go back to your nursing and leave me in peace?” Allegra was moving restlessly in her chair, like a trapped animal. And then her voice rose on a note of hysteria. “I
’
ve been trying for years and years to find some sort of security—some chance of leading a peaceful, stable life. And now that my chance has come you suddenly turn up and try to shove me down into the quicksands again. You won
’
t succeed, but if you do, I swear I
’
ll ruin you, as well.”

U
tterly disgusted now, Stella got up from her chair. “If you
’
re going on in this fantastic manner. I
’
m off,” she said curtly.

“You can
’
t go soon enough to please me!” Allegra, too, stood up. “But I
’
ve just one more thing to say to you. If you break up my marriage with Jim, I
’
ll kill myself and leave at letter that will brand you
to your dying day. I swear I will.”

Just
for a second Stella was tempted to make the hard reply, “Then there would be one rotter less in the world.” But her nursing training was too strong; Allegra was obviously working herself into a frenzy and must not be excited any further.

“If you don
’
t pull yourself together you
’
ll have Jim and Roger asking you some awkward questions,” she pointed out coolly. “I advise you to take a couple of aspirins and lie down until they come back from their golf.” And with an assumption of calm she was very far from feeling, she walked out of the bungalow and back to the rest house.