The Youngest Bridesmaid (24 page)

III

She apologized to Melissa the next morning, but meeting her cousin
’
s contemptuous expression, was reminded of Piers
’
advice.
Never apologize to anyone
who shakes your self-confidence,
he had said
...
the world takes one at face value
...
And Piers
’
world was,
of course, Melissa
’
s. Only last night when he had looked into her room to wish her the customary courtesy of pleasant dreams, he had added impatiently:

“
Why do you have to upset Melissa?
”

So taken aback had Lou been that she had stammered some incoherent reply that only made him frown.

“
Why is it two women can never get on together
?
”
he had exclaimed, and Lou
’
s temper, not improved by an evening listening to her cousin charming her husband and being tolerant to herself as though nothing had happened, flared up again in ill-considered speech
.

“
That
’
s a very masculine and idiotic statement,
”
she retorted.
“
There
’
s no particular sex distinction in not getting on with somebody else. What
’
s Melissa been telling you?
”

“
Nothing that you
’
d be very, pleased to hear, I imagine.
”

“
Very likely! She suggested a few things to me, as well, that I didn
’
t much care to hear.
”

“
Such as?
”

“
That you took what you wanted where you could get it. The implication was obvious.
”

His face froze so suddenly into a mask of icy distaste that she shrank back against her pillows, and when he next spoke it was with the voice of a complete stranger.

“
If
you
’
re expecting a denial of that sort of statement, Lou, you
’
ll be disappointed,
”
he said with deceptive mildness.
“
You clearly have so little opinion of my morals that we
’
d best leave it at that.
”

“
I,
”
faltered Lou, suddenly drained of argument,
“
haven
’
t asked for a denial. I—I have to accept the fact that you just made use of me—that Melissa
’
s unlucky intervention put paid to what chances I may have had.
”

She had
surely, she thought much later, given him some indication that her own desires had importance, that even then she would have
h
umbled her pride had he spoken one kind word, but his expression did
not change, and when he did reply she heard such anger and bitterness in his voice that she had no words left.

“
You talk like an ill-used servant, and underpaid at that,
”
he told her with cutting sarcasm.
“
If you can believe that I
’
m the kind of man who will make love to another woman with my wife sharing the same roof, then you
’
re certainly entitled to that freedom you spoke of the other evening, for you and I clearly have nothing on which to build a relationship. Goodnight!
”

He had, thought Lou when he had gone, finally slammed the door in her face. She should have known him better, she supposed, than to allow the day
’
s mischief to come between them, yet what knowledge had she of this reputedly raffish stranger she had married than the little he chose to let her
.

So in the morning she apologized to Melissa partly as an act of penance,
partly because her own good manners regretted the slap, and she said as much.

“
I told you you
’
d be sorry, didn
’
t I?
”
her cousin said.
“
And I didn
’
t just mean the shamefaced amends of a child.
”

“
I
’
m not shamefaced
’
except for my temper
,”
Lou said gravely.
“
And I think you
’
ll agree I had provocation, but let
’
s forget it.
”

“
You may forget it, darling,
I
won
’
t. You look washed out. Had words with Piers again? He took himself off early this morning to potter round his blasted island.
”

“
He lends the fisherman a hand. The storm
’
s doing plenty of damage.
”

“
I suppose so. Too rough for a boat, still, would I you say? I
’
m right out of cigarettes now, and the radio battery
’
s quite dead.
”

“
You can get cigarettes from the store.
”

“
But not Turkish, and I
’
m sure the store doesn
’
t sell the right sort of batteries. Sam would go to the mainland for me.
”

Melissa
’
s petulant voice became soft and coaxing on the last sentence, and Lou gave an exclamation of exasperation.

“
Really, Melissa, you
’
re being utterly unreasonable!
”
she said.
“
Do you imagine Piers would allow one of his men to risk his life in this storm just to satisfy a selfish whim?
”

“
Piers needn
’
t know,
”
Melissa said, with a pout.
“
Besides, the storm seems to be abating, and Tibby says the launch has crossed to the mainland in rougher water than this.
”

Lou
’
s patience snapped.

“
If it
’
s possible for the launch to go out then it
’
s possible for you to go with it,
”
she replied sharply, and saw the faint look of surprise her cousin gave her.

“
I couldn
’
t weather this, darling, I should be sea sick,
”
she said reproachfully.
“
Oh, well
,
I
’
ll have to do without my small necessities, I suppose, though how I
’
m going to fill the time without my radio, I can
’
t conceive.
”

“Y
ou can read an improving book, or go for a walk,
”
Lou retorted, and Melissa stretched slowly, admiring with satisfaction the sleek, supple lines of her own body.

“
I might at that—go for a walk,
”
she replied unexpectedly.
“
Do you feel like showing me that Druid
’
s Cave?
”

“
No,
”
said Lou shortly.
“
I haven
’
t been there again.
”

“
Scared of hearing the spook voice?
”

“
There
’
s no voice, it
’
s an echo.
”

“
Well, perhaps you
’
re just scared of the legend coming true. You
’
ve stolen another man
’
s mate, to quote Tibby, haven
’
t you, darling?
”

Lou sighed. It was becoming very hard, she found, to ignore Melissa
’
s pricks and goads by trying to remember, that she was still the hostess.

“
I
’
m not a child, Melissa, to be frightened into a state of guilt by threats of bogies,
”
she said, and Melissa laughed.

“
I didn
’
t suppose you were. As to a sense of guilt—well, I was just being bitchy. I
’
d probably have done the same myself if I
’
d been in your place.
”
Melissa spoke with such an unexpected change of heart that Lou looked at her suspiciously.

“
You
’
ve been doing your best to break things up since you
’
ve been here,
”
she said slowly, and her cousin made a wry little face.

“
So I have,
”
she agreed with charming frankness.
“
I couldn
’
t resist giving you a few uncomfortable moments because I felt sore. It looks as if I shall have to settle for that mink, after all, doesn
’
t it?
”

Lou had forgotten the mink and her own feeble attempt at blackmail. This, she thought with relief, was perhaps Melissa
’
s way of calling a truce, of admitting herself beaten. It would not be easy, perhaps possible, to wipe out the mischief so deliberately sown, but it was not in Lou
’
s nature to be ungenerous.

“
You shall have the mink, of course,
’
and anything else you want of what was, after all, your own trousseau,
”
she said.
“
In return, just tell me one thing. You were lying, weren
’
t you, when you implied you and Piers—?
”

“
Just fabricating, darling, which is different, knowing you
’
d run off to accuse him. You did, didn
’
t you?
”

“
Yes, I did, and I
’
ve hurt him mortally.
”

“
What a grandi
o
se phrase! Didn
’
t he deny it?
”

“
Not in so many words, but Piers wouldn
’
t, would he?
”

Melissa shrugged and gave a tiny yawn. She was, Lou knew, with a brief return of the affectionate indulgence she had once felt for her cousin, beginning to find too prolonged a lapse into unfamiliar confidences a strain.

“
I wouldn
’
t know,
”
she said indifferently.
“
All I
’
ve ever learnt from life is not t
o
ask gentlemen awkward questions. Be warned, Cinderella, or the glass coach may turn back into a pumpkin.
”

It was so much the kind of remark that Piers
himself was went to make if he wanted to evade an issue that for a moment Lou was startled.

“
Do you really want
m
e to show you the cave?
”
she asked awkwardly, with the naive artlessness of a child of
f
ering to share a secret as a sop, and Melissa frowned impatiently.

“
Of course not. I don
’
t believe Tibby
’
s half
-
baked yarns, and you shouldn
’
t, either. Why don
’
t you make one last visit yourself to cock snooks at the spooks? Spit in the sacred pool, or something, to lay the curse. Go
on—I dare you!
”
Her impatience had given way to an air of charming devilry. So, in other days, had she exhorted her more timid young cousin to stick up for her rights.

“
No,
”
said Lou.
“
I don
’
t like the place. It
’
s evil.
”

“
Be your age,
Lou! How can a damp old cave be Anything more than cold and slimy? I
’
ll tell you
what—go this afternoon and I
’
ll buttonhole Piers and try to put him right on a few vexed
questions. I owe you that much, anyway. All right?
”

Lou was tempted. Who, she thought, but Melissa herself could undo the harm that had been done?

“
Well
...”
she began doubtfully.
“
No. Piers said keep away.
”

“
Only because he
’
s jealous of his find, like a small boy. He discovered the cave, didn
’
t he? He doesn
’
t like sharing his island or anything on it, but you
’
d soon cure him of that if you
’
re clever. Look—when I
’
ve confessed my sins to him I
’
ll tell him where you are so that he can go quickly off for the grand reconciliation scene. He
’
ll fall for that one—Blanche always said he was a romantic at heart.
”

Melissa had been speaking with such eager pleasure in her own scheme, roaming round the room with her usual restlessness, that Lou had to smile.

“
You don
’
t do things by halves, Melissa, do you?
”
she said.
“
One minute you
’
re trying your best to
wreck my happiness, and the next—I
’
ll never understand you.
”

“
Don
’
t try, darling, I
’
m just an empty void.
You will go, won
’
t you?
”

“
No,
”
Lou said again, but with less firmness, and
Melissa blew her a kiss and changed the subject.