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her cousin had expected.
'She ran away.'
'Ran away....' Watching him as he repeated the two words, Juliet was
staggered to see the sudden throbbing of a muscle in his throat,
betraying an emotion that seemed altogether alien to the pagan traits
which she had encountered in his nature. Without any doubt at all he
was deeply touched by the plight of Emily Lowther. 'She went alone?'
'I expect she did --'
'But, earlier,' he interrupted harshly, 'you implied that she ran off with
a man. That was a lie, wasn't it?'
Tanya frowned; sparing a sidelong glance for Juliet, she met only a
stoical icy gaze. She licked her lips, hesitating uncertainly, and it was
not difficult to see that she was almost lost for words.
'I don't understand what all this is about,' she complained at last. 'You
were never concerned about Emily before.'
He eyed her with unutterable contempt.
'I didn't know everything. You mentioned in the hotel that you and
your parents gave her love, dressed her in pretty clothes. I saw no
pretty clothes, nor did I see any evidence of the love you mention.'
'I still don't understand.' Tanya spoke feebly now and Juliet wondered
just how long she would stay here, taking all this from the man who,
only a few minutes ago, was according to Tanya in love with her.
'If that book really was hers then she could be dead.'
'Dead?' Tanya looked at him. 'I don't see why you should say a thing
like that.'
'Books that come into second-hand shops usually arrive there because
their owner has died.' His mouth went tight, and that muscle throbbed
in his throat again. Juliet's thoughts went rioting again as something
stirred within her. For this man was so very far removed either from
the Dorian Coralis she had first known, and who had caused her such
misery, or from the arrogant and masterful husband who had without
mercy bent her to his will. This was Dorian in his softest mood, the
kind of mood she had witnessed when, at the beginning of their
marriage, he had been so patient and loving with her, the man who
had been so terribly hurt when she had told him that she had married
him for his money, and not because she had loved him.
Her thoughts scattered once more and she was left with one only: she
had once been in love with Dorian, deeply, madly in love. This one
thought grew in importance as she stood there until, at last, she was
admitting that she loved him still. Perhaps, she mused, she had
always loved him, that the root had not perished, but had lain there,
buried beneath the hatred that had been allowed to grow and flourish
through the years. Yes, she loved him ... but she had thrown away her
chance of happiness, for Dorian could never love her now; there had
been far too much deceit, too much inflicted pain on her part, for him
ever to forgive, let alone forget to the point where he could begin to
care for her again. With a little trembling sigh she would have left the
room, but Tanya's voice arrested her, as she commented on what
Dorian had said about the possibility of Emily Lowther being dead.
'I don't suppose she is dead.'
Then why have you never heard from her?' He glanced at Juliet as he
said this, and she wondered if he were recalling that she herself had
outspokenly told Tanya that some effort should have been made to
find her cousin. Not that she had wanted any effort to be made far
from it! But she spoke as she did with the intention of bringing it
home to Tanya that both she and her parents had shown an utter lack
of concern at the disappearance of so young a girl.
'She doesn't care what's happened to us,' was Tanya's petulant reply.
Dorian was still troubled, and this was plainly betrayed by his
expression. Juliet knew that his mind was occupied in looking more
deeply into what had happened, and into the life which Emily had
lived at the Grange. Older now than he was then, he could see more
clearly and he must be owning that the little orphan child was nothing
more than a slave to those who professed to have had her welfare at
heart at the time they accepted responsibility for her. And because she
was troubled by his self-condemnation Juliet smiled at him and said
reassuringly,
'I shouldn't worry too much, Dorian. She'll be quite all right.' The
softness of her tone, the anxiety in her eyes, the unconscious gesture
of her hand ... all these affected him and, looking curiously at her, he
asked,
'You sound concerned, Juliet.' She merely nodded and he went on, 'Is
your concern for me ... for my peace of mind?'
'Yes, it is,' she replied quietly, profoundly aware of her cousin's
glowering glance and the vicious tightness of her mouth. That she
was furious at the way things were going was easy to see and it
seemed to Juliet that she had decided to throw caution away, for she
looked angrily at Dorian and said in sharp contemptuous tones';
'I don't know why any of us should be interested in the wretched girl!
From the first she was a burden on us. And I expect she's now married
to some labourer, and occupying her time rearing a brood of
dull-witted children!'
Dorian stared at her, an exclamation rising to his lips, but it was Juliet
who spoke first, spoke without a moment's thought, so uncontrolled
was her fury on hearing these words of disparagement spoken by her
cousin.
'She is not married to a labourer! Nor is she busy rearing a brood of
dull-witted children!' Stepping closer to her cousin, she let her see the
blazing fury in her eyes. Tanya, startled, moved back, but Juliet took
another step towards her. 'How you hate and despise your
cousin how sure you are that she's made nothing of her life 1 The
little slave, the girl you described as ugly, the orphan who had no say
in the matter when her aunt and uncle decided to give her a
home home! A garret at the top of the house and the kitchen to work
in! Such a girl couldn't possibly make anything of her life, could she?'
Suddenly Juliet laughed in her ' cousin's face. 'But she did, Tanya.
She found people who were human, and she made her home with
them.'
She paused, vitally aware that her husband was staring at her so hard
that his eyes were boring into her, eyes that examined and searched;
bewildered, disbelieving eyes. Her first thought was that she had
nothing to lose by a full revelation, since her marriage was at an end.
Later, she would talk to Dorian, confessing that she had married him
for revenge, confessing also that she was not expecting a child and
never had been, that she had allowed him to believe she was, solely to
gain her freedom at the earliest possible moment. He would not try to
keep her no, he would be only too willing to let her go. Would he let
Tanya stay at the villa? Juliet doubted it... and the thought went some
small way to easing the pain that was in her heart.
'It's obvious to you both that I am Emily,' she continued at length, her
pensive eyes focused on the scene outside the window, the scene of
tranquillity and peace, with the mountains and the sea, the sweeping
lawns of the garden, the flowers and the shrubs, the little pool on
which lilies floated in the sun. Peace.... It flowed over her all at once
and her nerves were calmed. Dignity resulted; it enhanced the beauty
of her features; it gave added height to her lovely slender body. She
returned her attention to the two silent people in the room. 'After I left
the Grange,' she said, 'I had an accident --'
'An accident?' It was Tanya who spoke; it was as if she found it
impossible to remain quiet any longer. 'What sort of an accident?'
Juliet looked straight at her.
'I stepped under a bus."
'A bus....' from Dorian and, sending him a sidelong glance, Juliet saw
the depth of concern in his eyes.
'You see,. Dorian, I had no money to speak of, and because I was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]