An eagle swooped Page 11

  'Lucinda,' he echoed with a surge of anger. 'She's escaped! Goes about laughing without a care in the world! Hanging on to that idiot's arm and gazing up into his eyes like some stupid schoolgirl while you take her punishment! It's all wrong, Tessa, and you couldn't be any worse off were you to tell Paul the truth.'

  'I'm not doing that,' she said with firm decision, and then, 'You're coming up to see Paul now?'

  'Of course. We'll go up together in the hired car, together.

  Tessa explained about the letters being left at the cafe and Joe agreed to run her there first. Then Tessa spoke urgently, warning him not to make a slip. 'Promise me you'll be very careful,' she added, her voice edged with fear.

  'You can rely on me, Tessa. Your secret's safe ... for all time.'

  The smile was in evidence again.

  'I expect Paul' will want to deceive you.'' she said thoughtfully after a while. 'So we'll be acting as if we're in love.. .'. Her voice broke and she wept. Soon, however, she regained control and looked at him apologetically after drying her eyes.

  He' examined her face and to her amazement said wonderingly,

  'You're lovely, Tessa. You possess a form of beauty Lucinda could never have it seems to shine from within—No, don't interrupt. Has love done this to you?' he murmured almost to himself. Her hand lay resting on the arm of her chair and, Reaching across, he covered it with his. 'You're invincible, Tessa. Hold on to your hope, because a love like yours must conquer in the end.'

  For a fleeting moment her eyes shone.

  'You think he might forgive me, Lucinda, I mean? Joe ... do you really believe the time will come, when he'll stop hating me, and and we'll be happy?

  'I'm sure the time will come when you'll be happy,' he replied gruffly, and Tessa did not notice that he had deliberately ignored her first two questions.

  Tessa's feelings were mixed as she took Joe into the house and called to her husband. Paul had cut himself off from everyone in England; he had not left an address, so obviously he had no wish even to correspond with his friends. How, then, would he receive Joe?

  On obtaining no response to her call she went in search of him; he was in his old room, lying down. The slatted shutters were closed, but the windows were open, allowing the air to enter.

  'Paul,' she whispered, 'are you asleep?'

  'No,' irritably. 'What do you want?'

  'We you've a visitor but, Paul, does your head ache?'

  'A little.' He sat up, then slid off the bed. 'A visitor?'

  'From England; it's Joe. He's come to Cyprus especially to find you.' By the light escaping from the shutters she saw his surprise but she also noticed .his drawn expression. 'The medicine you bought from the chemist,' she said anxiously, is it not any good for your head?'

  'It helps.' He reached for his stick which lay on the chair where he had placed it. 'Joe's just arrived? How did he find me?'

  Tessa explained, whereupon Paul asked if Joe had known of the marriage. She hesitated. If she said no, questions would follow, for as Lucinda and Joe had always belonged to the same social set, Paul would consider it most odd if Lucinda could have suddenly disappeared and no questions asked.

  'Yes,' She faltered. 'Father told him.' Her heart raced .. More deceit .. , Joe would have to be so very careful.

  'How did he get up here?' Paul wanted to know, changing the subject. 'Did he drive?'

  'Yes.' She had a desperate urge to throw open the shutters for the half light depressed her. 'He's hired a car. We will put him up?' she asked in faintly anxious tones. 'You are glad he's here, Paul?'

  'I yes, I expect I am glad.' He tapped the floor, moving his stick until he found the wardrobe, He knew then where the door was, 'Yes, it will be a change for us to have a visitor.' Tessa sighed with relief, at the same time noiselessly opening the door wide. 'I've no wish that our quarrel is made public,' he said as he passed her.' 'Understand?"

  'Yes, Paul, I understand.'

  He stopped and half turned.

  'It shouldn't be difficult for you to be the loving wife,' he said with a hint' of sardonic amusement.

  'Not difficult at all,' she responded in quiet gentle tones. 'I merely have to act naturally.'

  'How hard you try, he sneered. 'What room is Joe in?'

  'The small, sitting room. I've told Takis to bring some refreshments.'

  Paul left her and for a moment she remained by the door in his room, his words like a knife in an already open wound. But it was all meant for Lucinda, she told herself, and that knowledge gave her strength.

  CHAPTER VII

  AN amber sky, sprayed with rainbow tints and mottled with pale translucent gold. Sunset in all its glory. Tessa stood on the roof terrace and watched the swiftly moving disc drop below the sea. A hush layover everything, for even the breeze was silent as it came down from the mountains carrying the balmy fragrance of the pines to mingle with the exotic perfumes of the garden. A movement below caught Tessa's attention; Paul among the flowers, absorbing their beauty by touch and smell. And as she watched, with a brooding pensive gaze, she saw him pick a rose and put it to his face .. For a long while he stood there, oblivious of his wife's watchful eyes, with the rose held so that the perfume filled his nostrils. And then a tender smile transformed Tessa's face as Paul put the short stem in his mouth and continued his perambulation of the garden. A typical action of the Greek male to pick a flower and hold it in his mouth. They all loved everything with a perfume, and Tessa thought there was something enchantingly naive in the vision of a large masculine figure carrying a flower about with him in this way, With Paul it was so out of character, so incompatible with the cruel and ruthless streak that was essentially a part of his make up.

  'He's a strange man, that husband of yours.' The Whisper at her side brought Tessa's head round and she smiled. 'I intended joining him down there, but I sensed he'd consider it an intrusion.'

  'He often walks in the garden at this time,' she said in softly murmured tones. 'The flower scents seem stronger when the air is cool and fresh.'

  'He likes to be alone like this?' Joe's eyes were on the man below.

  She nodded,

  'I never intrude on his privacy, either. Like you, I feel he wouldn't welcome company.' Her voice held a pensive note and an involuntary sigh left her lips. ,

  'Don't be too hurt about that, Tessa,' he said in tones of comfort. 'There's this aloneness with many blind people, They want to get away, completely, from every other human, being.' Tessa merely nodded her agreement and Joe went on, 'I have the most curious sort of feeling about Paul, Tessa, and I don't know how to explain it to you.'

  'A curious feeling?' Her eyes were on her husband. He stood by the oleander bushes, taking in their sweet and heady perfume. Yes, she thought, he was sensitive to seclusion; it was imperative that he have these moments of absolute peace and isolation.

  'I have the conviction that he's fighting something, that great turmoil rages within him.'

  She turned her head, moving it to one side in a gesture of interrogation. 'What a strange thing to say, Joe. What sort of turmoil? And what can he be fighting?'

  A long hesitation, and then, 'Have you ever thought, Tessa, that he might be losing his hatred for Lucinda? Your loving care, your patience and the charming way you have with him it would be most surprising if all this didn't have some sort of effect on him.'

  'No, oh no, you're quite wrong,' she began, when Joe interrupted her.

  'Should that be the case, and he was falling in love with Lucinda all over again it would account for the impression I have that some inner conflict is taking place within Paul. He'd so despise himself that he'd naturally fight against it.'

  Tessa shook her head,

  'He still hates Lucinda.' she said flatly. 'There's no doubt at all about it, Joe, It will take Paul a long, long while to forgive what Lucinda did to him.'

  Joe shrugged, but frown lines darkened his brow, 'There are moments, Tessa, when he's so well, loving towards you.'

  'Merely this act we're putting on for your 'benefit,' she told him sadly. 'Sometimes when we're alone he's like that too, but it's only to let me have a taste of what I've missed, He said he'd do this, just to torture me.' '

  'It's fiendish.' Joe said, as if he could scarcely believe Paul capable of such calculated cruelty. 'I know Lucinda deserves it all, and I wouldn't blame him for this revenge but it's still difficult to believe Paul has this barbaric streak in him.'

  'Seeing him back home in England you wouldn't think it, I agree. I would never have believed him capable of such violent passions.' She mused again on what Joe had just said about the possibility of Paul's falling in love with Lucinda through the tender care and attention of Tessa. But she shook her head, reasserting that Paul's hatred for Lucinda remained as strong as ever.

  'You should know, of course,' he conceded. 'All the same, I sense this conflict most strongly. But perhaps it's something else I don't know.' He changed the subject. 'Only another week and then back to the weary grind. I wish I could stay longer, but perhaps I'll manage another visit at Christmas.'

  'I hope so.' The amber sky was merging into the blue mist of twilight which sprinkled the mountainsides and gradually cast them into shadow. Soon would come the silent world of moonlight and a sense of peace would enter Tessa's heart. Each evening she had this brief interlude of repose when all her pain was shed and a strange feeling of optimism entered into her. It was as if nature itself were on her side, equipping her with renewed strength, enabling' her to face another day of strain and hurt.

  'What a position Paul chose;' Joe turned a full circle to take in the views all around. 'It's wonderful'

  'Wonderful ... and he can't see it ... .' Sadly she looked down again and then her eyes dilated and her whole bod
y became rigid. 'Joe!' she gasped. 'A a snake—' The use returned instantly to her legs and she shot away, making for the steps with a speed born of fear. She stumbled and would have gone hurtling from the roof to the ground, but by some miracle she managed to grab the handrail just in time. Two at a time she took the steps ... two flights ... would they never end? She daren't call out to Paul, for he would not know what to do and he might be afraid, she thought.

  The scaly, deadly thing was so still, watching, and then it slithered along the ground, getting nearer and nearer to Paul, who was standing there, the rose between his teeth, tranquilly enjoying the tang of clear scented air in his nostrils.

  A terrible fear clutching at her heart, Tessa at last reamed the ground. Stealthily she picked up a large piece of stone from the rockery and, creeping close so as not to miss her aim, she hurled it with all her strength at the snake just as it was about to strike. '·What!' Paul swung round; his stick caught Tessa's ankle and an involuntary cry left her lips. 'What are you doing here creeping about!' Paul's harsh voice was lost on her, for the snake was coiling and writhing, having been hit only on its body. It stopped and to Tessa's terrified imagination it appeared to be looking up at Paul with a black venom.

  'It's all right, I'll deal with it.' Joe's voice. Tessa almost collapsed with relief as, picking up the piece of rock, Joe went for the snake's head. She didn't wait to see, but took her husband's arm and led him towards the house. He did not resist or protest, or even utter a word. Once in the sitting room he gave the rose to Tessa, telling her to put it in water. As she took it from him he felt the trembling of her hand, but still made no comment on what had occurred.

  'The couch is right behind you,' she faltered. 'Can I get you a drink?'

  The strange silence that had come over him was broken then.

  'Yes ... but get yourself one too. Have a brandy.'

  Tessa brought the tray and several bottles. Joe came in and nodded. The snake was dead.

  'Still writhing.' he whispered, 'but quite harmless now.'

  Thank God, But there were others; she would never again let Paul go into the garden alone.

  'Perhaps.' said Paul quietly from the couch, 'someone will tell me what's been happening?'

  Joe opened his mouth, but Tessa urgently shook her head.

  'It was nothing, darling. The shadows I thought saw a snake .. .' She tailed off. Joe's brow was raised as if to inform her of the futility of evasion. What would she invent as a substitute for the truth- he seemed to be saying. 'It was a snake, Paul,' she said with affected lightness. 'But only a tiny thing. I'm afraid I lost my head—' She gave a rather cracked little laugh. 'I don't know what came over me; I don't usually panic for nothing.'

  'For nothing ... .' Paul's face was a study as, taking the glass which Joe placed to his hand, he raised it to his lips. A vein in his temple throbbed and there was even a movement at the side of his mouth, as if a muscle were rapidly twitching there. 'I heard you say you'd deal with this snake, Joe. How big was it?'

  'Not very—'

  'About three feet long.' interrupted Joe. 'And a nasty looking brute it was too. Lucinda had already had a go at it before I managed to come down from the roof. I merely finished it off, so to speak.'

  Horrified, Tessa stared angrily at Joe. How could he let her down like this? What possible good could he do by telling Paul the truth? It would make him nervous of going out to the garden alone. And although Tessa vowed to be always somewhere at hand, she had meant her husband to believe he was alone. It was cruel to deny him the pleasure which this hour of solitude afforded him.

  'Three feet .. .' Paul murmured softly, and took another drink. 'And, Lucinda had already dealt with it, you say?'

  'No, Paul, I I just threw a stone at it just to' scare it away.'

  'How close' were you when you threw the stone?' he asked curiously.

  'She was very close, Paul. The snake was about to strike and Lucinda had to get close' so as not to miss her aim.' A fleeting pause and then, in soft but faintly accented tones, 'I reckon it was damned plucky of Lucinda, because the snake could have turned its attention to her instead.'

  She frowned and tried to catch Joe's eye. What was he trying to do?

  'It wouldn't have struck at all,' she argued lightly. 'Paul, darling; can I refill your glass?'

  'Yes, please.'

  No more was said about the snake and later they all went for a meal to one of the many seaside restaurants. They had a table outside, under a star sprinkled sky which reflected itself in the velvet sea below. One or two people were swimming and Tessa told Paul about this.

  'They're having a marvellous time, Paul. We've never swum in the dark ... ' She tailed off, biting her lip. How could she have spoken like that, without thinking? Paul smiled for Joe's benefit, she thought, wondering what harsh comment would have been forthcoming had they been alone.

  "We must do it, then, my dear. Perhaps we'll manage it before Joe leaves us?'

  'I'd thoroughly enjoy that,' returned Joe enthusiastically, watching the swimmers far down below. 'Imagine being able to swim in the sea at nine o'clock at night at the beginning of May!'

  "It's possible to swim all the year round in Cypus,' Paul informed him, although he added, his smile deepening, 'The tourists swim all the year round, but I'm told the Cypriots themselves wait until it's warmer.'

  'Yes, I suppose they'll feel that the water is cool at this time of the year,' put in Tessa musingly. As she had said, the swimmers were thoroughly enjoying themselves and she would have loved to be down there with them.

  Their meal was brought a whole huge fish, brown and crisp and freshly caught. Fried potatoes and vegetables were placed around it and the usual salads were brought in on other dishes. With the whole loaf, the butter and wine, the table was loaded. Bouzouki music, played by a band of four laughing musicians, echoed through the hillsides and out across the sea. There was a display of folk dancing and then some of the diners joined in, It was a scene of gaiety and abandon so typical of the East, conducted under a trellised roof of vines with the dark silhouette of pine clothed mountains on one side and the placid waters of the Mediterranean on the other. Tessa had on only a sleeveless dress. Paul was immaculate in a light grey linen suit. People stared at him, then commented to each other. This always happened and invariably tended to put a damper on Tessa's pleasure at coming out like this.

  'Why don't you and Joe dance?' Paul suggested when, the meal over, the table had been cleared of all but wine and nuts. 'Take her, Joe;'

  Something in his voice and his manner caused both Joe and Tessa to look swiftly at him. There seemed to have come over him some slight change which as yet was almost indefinable, but in addition there was some enigmatical quality about him that reminded Tessa of the rather odd sort of interest he had taken in the letter she had written to her father, his comments about which had caused her some trepidation for two days, before, realizing his interest had waned, Tessa could once more breathe freely.

  'A good idea.' Joe stood up. 'Come on, Lucinda, and show me what to do.'

  'I don't know myself,' she told him with some anxiety as she eyed the others dancing on the tiled floor space round which the tables were ranged. 'But I expect we can do something.'

  It was exhilarating, and Tessa enjoyed it, but she uttered a tiny sigh for all that, and her eyes invariably returned to Paul, sitting there alone, his face towards the sea.

  'How did you go on?' He twisted round in his chair as they sat down again at their table. 'Can you do the dance my dear?'

  Why the hesitation? she wondered, for it had been very obvious.

  'It was fun, Paul,' she answered breathlessly. 'Everyone's so gay and laughing. They just throw themselves into ·everything.'

  'Yes; I'm afraid that in the West you have so many inhibitions that you don't really get the best out of life.'

  'You could be right, Paul;' conceded Joe. 'But we have other compensations.'

  'Indeed yes, I couldn't agree more. It's difficult to assess these compensations, and to compare them.' 'The difference is that the people here are not concerned with money.'

  'Not ?' Paul lifted his brows in surprise. 'Where did you get that idea, Joe?'

  He shrugged.

  'They just go leisurely about their work, collecting a bit of firewood here and there, and taking their goats and sheep up into the hills. They're so satisfied.' He paused and studied Paul's expression. 'You don't agree with me?'