The Secret Woman (34 page)

And suddenly I was conscious that there was some tribal significance to this and that I had strayed into a secret place.

I was overcome with dismay and I turned and ran from the place. I then began to wonder whether the copse itself was some private place and I had the horrible fear that I was trespassing. I tried to find my way out but I seemed to be farther and farther in the forest. I knew it was not large because I had seen it from the cliff top; but it seemed like a kind of maze from which I could not find my way. There were several paths which were considerably worn by use. I decided to keep to one of these and as I went on turning a bend I saw a house. It was a typical native house of mud and wood built on props with the roof of straw and branches. There was only one story of course but this was a long house and large by native standards.

I was becoming very hot, largely because I was so uneasy. I had the distinct feeling that I was trespassing in no ordinary way and that my presence here would be most unwelcome. The forbidding figure in the ring of stones and shells had made me feel that.

I turned and hurried back in the direction I had come. Every crackle in the undergrowth alarmed me. I had been warned of snakes and deadly insects but it was not them I feared. I was beginning to feel a mild panic.

I found my way back to the walled enclosure and tried to work out what path I had taken to reach it, but there were so many paths and they all seemed to lead in different directions. I tried several. I visualized myself trapped in this maze of trees; then suddenly I saw a glimpse of the sea and I made for it. The trees were thinning. I was free. My relief was intense—far more, I told myself, than the occasion warranted. I was ashamed of my near-panic which had been inspired by that stone encircled figure and the certainty that I was prying into something which was not meant for me to see.

I fanned myself vigorously. I was very hot—far more so than if I had stayed in the open.

It was getting late. I glanced at the watch pinned to my cotton dress. It always looked incongruous there, I thought, but it was certainly useful. Five o'clock. I had been in the enclosure over twenty-five minutes. It had seemed much longer.

I climbed the slope and as I reached the top I saw a familiar figure seated there looking out to sea.

It was Suka. I was certain in that moment that she had followed me.

“Suka,” I said, I hoped sternly.

She turned her gaze on me.

“I see you, Miss Brett,” she said.

“How long have you been here?”

She lifted her shoulders. “I have not this…” She touched her dress to indicate the spot where I wore my watch.

“I thought I was lost,” I said.

“You have been where you should not.”

“I'm afraid I was guilty of trespassing, but unwittingly.”

She looked at me as though she did not understand, which she probably didn't. Chantel and I often had to simplify our language.

“You went into Ta'lui's land.”

“Is that what it's called?”

“The land of the Flame Men.”

“Oh, I've heard of them.”

“They are very wise men.”

I sat down beside her. I was exhausted with my panic, the heat and the climb.

“They dance through flame. Fire does not hurt them. They can do what none others can.”

“I saw a figure…perhaps some sort of idol…surrounded by stones.”

Her face was blank, as though she had not heard me.

“They dance. You will see them dance. Fire does not harm them. They came from the Fire Country…years and years ago when there were no white people on Coralle.”

“Where is the Fire Country?” I asked.

Again she ignored my remark. “Fire does not harm them as it does other men.”

I could see that this was some native superstition.

“I shall look forward to seeing this flame dance.”

“They are clever. They are wise.” I had the impression that she was placating them in some way. “I will tell you something. When there was a fire…a big terrible fire…twenty houses were burning and the earth was blazing and no one could stop it, but the Flame Men did.”

“That's interesting.”

“They fight fire with more fire. They turn people out of their houses and they blow them up. They understand fire and flame. Up went the houses and then there was nothing for the fire to burn. It could not reach the gap between the houses when the fire had taken those in between away.”

“I see,” I said.

“So Ta'lui made a big explosion and the fire stopped. Fire will do as the Flame Men wish. They are very wise.”

I sat beside her, thinking how close she was to the primitive and how so often there was a logical explanation to the miracles of wise men.

I gazed at the rock in the sea and Suka smiled and said: “You like it.”

“I can't help looking at it. I haven't seen it before.”

“Ka'kalota has been here since the world began.”

“I daresay,” I said. “Ka'kalota. That's a strange name.”

That was a fatuous remark because all the Island names seemed strange to me.

“It means Woman of Secrets.”

“Oh,” I said sharply.

“There was a ship once,” she said. “It was
The
Secret
Woman
. It disappeared one night. It blew up…”

“As the Flame Men blew up the houses?” I said.

“
Two
secret women in the bay might have been unlucky.”

I was excited. Was this the answer? Had these strange Flame Men who evidently knew how to handle gunpowder gone out and blown up
The
Secret
Woman
? I wanted to know more.

I said: “Tell me about that night…”

“What night?”

“When the ship…disappeared.”

“I do not know of it. It was there, and it was gone.”

“But you said that she…” I nodded toward the figure, “would not have another secret woman in the bay. How could she have made the ship disappear?”

“I do not know. I am not wise.”

“Perhaps the Flame Men have the answer,” I said.

She was silent. Then she said: “She sees all…”

“What?”

She nodded her head toward the figure. “She watches us now.”

“Really,” I said comfortably.

“She watches me…you. She knows we sit here and talk of her.”

“But that is a piece of rock.”

Suka put her hand to her lips and shook her head vigorously.

“The spirit entered her fifteen years ago.”

“Only fifteen. I thought she had been there for centuries.”

“That spirit for fifteen years only. There were others before. She is impatient. She wants to depart. It is the spirit of Caro'ka.”

“Oh?”

“She coveted another woman's husband and she went out gathering the herb that grows in the woods. She knew how to make it into the brew she wanted and she put it into the cup of her mistress. She murdered and then she was murdered too. We hanged her high on that tree down there facing Ka'kalota. And there we left her and in the morning when we cut her down her spirit was trapped in the rock and there it will stay until another takes its place.”

“That's a strange legend!”

“It is the secret woman…the woman who loves and covets in secret and plans in secret and goes and gathers the deadly herb and makes a brew in secret. There have always been such women…they live all over the world. They covet another's husband and they kill, and when they kill they are discovered and hanged on the tree there…near the statue and their souls are entrapped in stone until another takes their place.”

I felt as though a cold wind had swept over me, but the sun was as hot as ever.

Had she followed me here to tell me this?

I stared ahead at the stone figure and as I looked it seemed to take on the distinct shape of a woman. It was always as though it stretched out arms to me…to
me
! I coveted another woman's husband. It was foolish. I had panicked in the copse and it was so hot and the air so still and this woman beside me was an evil creature who hated me.

Was she trying to hypnotize me?

I should certainly not allow that.

I yawned. “How tired the heat makes me. I am not used to it. I think I will make my way back leisurely.”

She nodded.

I rose and walked off. I felt an impulse to look round and see if she were following me, to take another look at that stone rock jutting out of the sea.

But the farther the distance I put between Suka and her woman of secrets the more I seemed in possession of my common sense.

Island legends! Was I going to be influenced by them?

I couldn't resist telling Chantel.

“The old ghoul was trying to frighten you.”

“But I must say I felt very uneasy. It was straying into that place and then coming upon her sitting on the cliff like that. She looked like an avenging stone figure herself.”

“That's what she intended. Would you like a nice little pill to calm you?”

“No thank you. I'm perfectly calm.”

“As ever!” She smiled. “Or…almost ever. Anna, you're not yourself since we came here. You're allowing yourself to be bothered.”

“It's this place. It's so strange.”

“You were born in India. You ought to be able to adjust yourself. You can't expect the place to be run like an English town, can you?”

“Everything seems so strange here. There's a hidden barbarity.”

“Without the conventions imposed by our dear Queen.” She spoke ironically. “Don't fret, we shan't be here much longer.”

“What of Monique when you are gone?”

She shrugged. “I was engaged to bring her out here. I gave no guarantee that I would stay. She could die tomorrow, but on the other hand, she may live for years. I do not want to waste my golden youth in this place, I do assure you. So don't fret. You and I will be leaving here on the good ship
Serene
Lady
, depend upon it.”

“I believe you have some secret plan.”

She hesitated. Then she said, “I feel it in my bones. Did I ever tell you, Anna, that I have a very reliable set of bones?”

Talking with Chantel after Suka was like coming back to civilization and sanity.

She went on: “You do want to leave here, Anna?”

“I should feel quite desperate if I were left here. It would be like being shut away, imprisoned. Chantel, what will your patient be like when her husband goes away for a long time?”

“Murderous,” said Chantel lightly.

“I might try to find a job in Sydney.”

“Why? But I don't need to ask. You
are
deeply involved with your Captain, aren't you? And being you, Anna, you have come to the conclusion that the only decent thing to do is to get out of his life…quickly.”

I did not answer and she murmured: “Poor Anna! But you'll get over it. I promise you, you will.”

“I could put an advertisement in the papers.”

“You're panicking, Anna.”

“I think I am. It's that woman Suka and what she said about the stone figure. Suppose something happened. Suppose Monique died and…”

I could not go on and Chantel said: “I wouldn't let it happen. Not the way you think it might. I wouldn't let it.”

“You talk as though you are all powerful. That woman is threatening me in some way. And Monique hates me. What if she killed herself and made it appear that I…”

“Anna! What a notion.”

“It seems to me the sort of sick revenge she might take.”

“I repeat I wouldn't let her.”

“Don't forget I was suspected of committing murder once.”

“And I got you out of that, didn't I?”

“Your evidence saved me. Chantel, sometimes I wondered.”

“What?” she asked softly.

“Whether it was true.”

“I told you it could have been true.”

“But you said you had seen her on one occasion get out and look at the cabinet.”

“It was the only way, Anna.”

“So you didn't see her.”

“I said so. It was possible that she might. I believe she did.”

“But you said you were sure.”

“I had to do it, Anna…for you. We're friends, aren't we?”

“But…you said what wasn't true.”

“I'm sure it
was
true.”

“I don't believe she killed herself.”

“If she didn't, who did? Ellen perhaps. She desperately wanted her legacy and Mr. Orfey was wavering.”

“I can't believe Ellen would ever kill anybody.”

“There was Mrs. Morton. She was a mystery woman. What was that about having a daughter?”

“Do you think…?”

“It's no use worrying about something you'll never know, Anna. That's over. Don't let it worry you now.”

“It's something one never forgets. I almost felt guilty. And it comes back to me now. I thought I'd forgotten it. I should have known I never should. But I thought I had. And now this place and Suka and her hints…”

“You were an heiress then, little knowing that it was debts you were inheriting. And now you are in love with another woman's husband. Anna, what dramatic situations you get yourself into.”

I was silent. Then I burst out: “I shouldn't have come. I'll have to get away. It's the only thing to do. I'm afraid of what will happen if I stay. I sometimes feel that there is a great threat growing bigger and bigger every day. It's getting nearer and nearer. And when you talk of her threatening to take her life…”

She took me by the shoulders and shook me.

“Anna. Stop it, or I shall have to slap your face. The treatment for hysteria. I never thought I should have to give it to you. That foolish old Suka has got on your nerves. She's a silly old woman. Take no notice of her. Listen to me. When
Serene
Lady
comes in we are leaving on her, you and I. You've nothing to fear. I'll see that Monique behaves well till then. It's less than five more weeks. Half our stay has gone. We are going to Sydney, the pair of us. You will be with me. I will take care of you. I will make you my companion and I'll find a rich husband for you and you'll forget all about your Captain.”

“You…Chantel. And how?”

“Fairy Godmother. I shall turn the pumpkin into a coach and hey presto Prince Charming will appear.”

“It's nonsense!” I said.

“Listen Anna, get the Captain out of your mind. But for him you'd be enjoying this adventure now. You'd have nothing to worry about. It's only because of this absurd passion. What is it? He came to the Queen's House. You were lonely. Aunt Charlotte was maddening and he seemed romantic. You endowed him with qualities he doesn't possess. You're living in a dream. He's not the Captain of Romance you imagine him to be.”

“What do you know of him?”

“I know that he came to you in the beginning and he did not tell you that he had a wife. He led you to expect…”

“He led me to expect nothing.”

“You defend him. He's weak and selfish and wants a good time. He is tired of his wife and fancies a romance with you. Don't you see that even if he were free and you married him he would soon be tired of you?”

I was shattered. I had never heard her talk like that before.

She said: “He's not good enough for you, Anna. I know. Listen, in time you'll forget. It's because you have seen little of the world. I know it is true. In time I'm going to make you see this.”

“I don't know what you're talking about. It's the most utter nonsense in any case. How are you going to defend me? By chance we are together now, but we both have to earn our livings, don't we? If we left here it's hardly likely that we would find positions together again.”

She laughed.

I cried angrily because I almost hated her for the manner in which she had spoken of Redvers. “You talk as though you're some Oracle…some all-powerful goddess.”

Again she laughed and she turned on me, her eyes blazing. “I'll tell you something, Anna, something that will startle you. I am not the poor little nurse you think me. I am rich because I have a rich husband. I didn't mean to tell you yet but you've goaded me into it. I married Rex before we left England.”

“You…married…Rex.”

“I married him.”

“Secretly!”

“Certainly secretly. We have to placate my obstinate old mother-in-law. We have to make her see what an excellent match her son has made.”

“But you never said so.”

“It had to be a secret, for obvious reasons. We married on the spur of the moment when we knew Rex was going to Australia. That was why I came out, and I couldn't leave you behind, could I? Everything worked out to suit us, and that's the way it is going to be in future. Oh Anna, my
dearest
Anna, you are to me as a sister. I always wanted a sister.”

“You had sisters.”

She grimaced. “We weren't in tune. You are the sister I want. You have nothing to be afraid of. When
Serene
Lady
comes here I shall go to Sydney and you with me. Rex is there. From Sydney we shall write to tell Lady Crediton that we are married and in time shell see reason.”

“And Helena Derringham?”

“She hadn't a chance once he'd seen me.”

She began to laugh. “There, you're a witch, Anna. You've got the secret out of me. I didn't intend to tell you yet. You're so confoundedly analytical. You'll want to know details of this and that. But I had to comfort you, didn't I? It seems to be my mission in life. Comforting you!”

I was completely and utterly bewildered.

***

I imagined that no sooner had Chantel told me her secret than she regretted it. I must not whisper a word to anyone, she told me. It was our secret and she knew she could trust me.

Of course she could trust me, I retorted.

“We trust each other, Anna,” she said.

“Do we?” I asked.

“You're thinking that I kept this from you. Only because I had to.”

“In your journal you gave no indication.”

“How could I, when it had to be an absolute secret.”

“But I thought we were to be absolutely truthful to each other.”

“So we were, but this was something I dared not tell. I had sworn to Rex. You understand, Anna?”

I said I did but I was disturbed. There was something else. It was the first time she had admitted that she had fabricated the story of Aunt Charlotte's being able to walk when impelled by some great desire. It was the very pivot on which the evidence against me had been quashed.

It seemed that I owed her even more than I had believed. And although I knew that she had done it for my sake I was uneasy because she had done it.

I tried to comfort myself. I was getting on with my inventory, and I was watching the calendar as closely as Edward was. I was wondering what was really going to happen when
Serene
Lady
arrived. Chantel was going to join Rex in Sydney; they were going to openly announce their marriage; they were going to write to Lady Crediton. And Chantel would be the future mistress of Castle Crediton.

I thought of her and Rex and why I had not seen his complete absorption in her. They were married; it was for this reason that he could leave her knowing that he would not lose her by doing so. I wondered what Helena Derringham was thinking and if he had confessed to her as Chantel had to me.

I tried to be with her as much as possible. I never went near Monique's rooms if I could help it. I was always afraid that she would be reminded of her grievance against me and start a scene.

So I asked Chantel to come to my room, which she did often. She would lie on my bed while I sat in the armchair and she would laugh at me and what she called my simplicity which, she hastened to explain, was what she liked.

“How could you bear to be parted all this time from your husband?” I asked.

“Only because there is a fortune at stake. My stern old mother-in-law needs to be wooed. Don't forget she had chosen Helena Derringham as her daughter-in-law and she hates to be thwarted.”

“And how are you going to pacify her?”

“Rex will do well in Sydney. He will show her that we don't need the Derringhams. We can do very well without them.”

“He must hate being separated from you. I wonder he agreed to it.”

“He didn't. He wanted to tell her right away and take the consequences. But I said no. We must not be foolish.”

“And he…obeyed you?”

“Of course.”

“Isn't that rather…weak?”

“Of course,” she repeated.

“I should have thought you would have loved a strong man.”

“That is where you think along conventional lines, my dear Anna. I could only love a weak man, because I am strong enough for one family.”

I laughed at her. “You always amuse me,” I said. “But I can't help thinking of your journal. You didn't tell the truth.”

She lifted a hand. “I swear I told the truth and nothing but the truth. You note the omission. The whole truth. Truth is not a straight line. It's an enormous globe with hundreds of facets. One of these contained my marriage to Rex. You didn't see it because it was turned the other way.”

“I can't believe it, Chantel.”

“My marriage? Why not?”

“You'll be the mistress of Castle Crediton.”

“I always wanted to be.”

“Was that why…?”

“Now you are becoming too inquisitive. I'm very satisfied with my husband. When I return to Sydney I shall go to him and we shall write to his Mamma and tell her what has happened. She will be shocked, horrified, and then she will realize that she must be resigned and in a very short time she will be admitting to herself if to no one else that Rex has made the perfect match after all. Imagine me, Anna, seated at the head of the table in black velvet—or perhaps green velvet would be more becoming—sparkling with diamonds. Lady Crediton, for of course he will have his title in due course.”

“So you have decided on that too?”

“I have. And he'll be a baron. None of your knights. I want my son to be the second baron. I shall learn about the business too, just as my dear Mamma-in-law did. And Anna, my dear Anna, there will always be a home for you at the Castle if you need it.”

“Thank you.”

“And my first duty will be to get you married. I shall give balls for you. You shall be known as my sister. Don't be afraid that I shall make a poor relation of you. I shall want to make up to you for everything…”