Angel's Ransom (2 page)

‘Do you see what I see?’ she asked, curiously intent on his answer.

‘I don’t know what you see.’

‘Tell me what it is you see, then.’

‘Fixed green, occulting red.’

She sighed again, and dropped her arm.

‘The naked eye of truth,’ she said ruefully. ‘They’re never really Cyclopes winking in the dark, are they? The magic
goes out of them as soon as you take a second look. They’re
always good old reliable fixed green and occulting red, lighting the way for busloads of tourists with sun-burned noses,
and
Buvez
Coca Cola Bien
Froid
, and the latest movies
from home.’

‘I’m beginning to understand why you were worried about seeing France before old age set in,’ Blake said.
‘s
o that
’s
why you go wandering by yourself in dark streets at midnight.’

She nodded, unhappily. ‘And then when something different and exciting does happen to me after all, I get
scared and run. Isn’t it maddening?’

‘You were wise to run, in the circumstances. You’d be even wiser not to go about alone in the middle of the night.
Things like this wouldn’t happen to you.’

‘But I want things to happen to me!’ She stretched both hands in an odd yearning gesture toward the lights of the
little port. ‘That
’s
why I’m here, instead of back in the line
at Radio City.’

‘Freddy is going to be sorry he missed you. He
’s
been chasing those same will-o’-the-wisps all his life.’

The reintroduction of
Freddy
’s
name into the conversa
tion changed her mood, sharply and immediately. Without being aware of why it had happened, Blake was conscious of
the change. She said nothing more for several moments, and
he saw that she was about to leave. He went to help her out
of the deck-chair when she made the first move to get to her
feet.

‘I’d better go now,’ she said formally. ‘I don’t want you to get into trouble if your boss comes back and finds me here.’

Half irritated, half amused, he said, ‘You needn’t worry. He can’t fire me. We’re sailing in the morning, and he won’t
show up until it
’s
too late for him to find another captain.
Besides, even if he did find you here, he
’s
not an ogre. You
might even like him. A lot of people do.’

‘Do you?’

The blunt question invited a blunt reply that he did not want to give. He said, ‘Wait here while I get a flashlight,’
and left her trying her weight on the bandaged ankle.

She moved quickly and without a limp as soon as he had left the deck. Taking a few essentials from her handbag to
slip in her pocket, she dropped the bag into the shadow
behind the chair where she had been sitting. Blake returned with the flashlight to find her waiting at the head of the
gangplank. He was too preoccupied with the need to light
her footing to notice that she
left the yacht without the hand
bag he had carried aboard for her.

There was no possibility of finding a taxi or a
fiacre
in that
neighborhood
at that hour, and the nearest telephone, of
doubtful accessibility, was at the far end of the Quai du
Commerce. But she was quite certain she could walk to her
pension
with his help, and Blake, who had never explored the
seaward cliffs of Monaco-Ville, did not think to question her
judgment
until they had climbed the steps from the jetty
and followed the winding
Chemin
des
P
ê
cheurs
along its
rocky ledge for a good 500
meter
s to its dead end above the
sea. There, steeper and considerably more difficult steps led
up the
cliffside
through the d
ark gardens of the
Musée
Oceano
graphique
to the avenue at the top of the bluff.

It was a stiff test for an injured ankle, even with the flash-light beam to show the way and his supporting arm to take some of the weight. Climbing, he said, ‘How in the world
did you find this way to come, and why did you try it in the
dark? You could have broken a leg.’

‘I wanted to see where the stairs led.’

‘Why?’

‘They looked challenging.’

‘Do you always accept challenges?’

‘Certainly. Always. Don’t you?’

‘Never. I’m the man who will live to run another day.’

‘Where are you running tomorrow? When you sail, I
mean.’

‘I can’t tell you.’

She kept her hand on his arm, but he felt her withdrawal. It was strange, he thought, how aware he was of her. None
of Freddy
’s
sleekly handsome women affected him that way.
He said, ‘I don’t mean I won’t. I can’t. I don’t know.
Freddy hasn’t given me a destination. Only sailing orders.’

‘And when six million dollars gives you sailing orders, you
sail, whether you know where you’re going or not, naturally.’

‘I have a feeling that you dislike Freddy Farr because he
has too much money. You say you’ve read about the
Angel
in
the newspapers. You must know that a Belgian baroness has
claimed he gave it to her, and is suing to get it away from
him. She
’s
trying to attach it through the Monaco courts;
he
’s
taking it out of her reach before she can do it. It
’s
as
simple as that.’

‘You’re loyal to your boss, of course.’

‘s
houldn’t I be?’

‘What about the Belgian woman? Hasn’t she any rights?’

‘I’m not going to sound very chivalrous, but a shakedown
is a shakedown whether it
’s
tried by a baroness or a B-girl.
She hasn’t any chance of getting the yacht. She wants a
settlement out of court.’

His patience was irritating. In a flash of quick temper, she said, ‘Men always band together against the avaricious
female, don’t they?’

‘I’m not banding together with Freddy. I work for him.’

‘Why?’

‘Why what?’

‘Why do you work for him?’

‘Why does anybody work for anybody? To earn a living.’

‘I hope he pays you well.’

They did not talk again until they came at last up out of the
cliff
s
ide
garden to the brightly lighted avenue in front
of
the
Musé
e
. There had been no sign of her
buglike
molester
along the way, and an
agent de police
strolled along not far
ahead of them. The girl took her hand from Blake
’s
arm.

‘I can go on from here by myself,’ she said coolly. ‘My
pension
isn’t far. Thank you very much for all you’ve done,
and I’m sorry I’ve been such a bother.’

‘It was no bother. You broke the monotony of a dull anchor watch. Let me take you the rest of the way.’

‘Thank you, I’d rather not trouble you
anymore
. Good night.’

Even then he would still have made a further effort, but he had a feeling that she deliberately chose to make the parting a chilly one. Without meaning to do so, he had piqued her,
and she was closing the door on their brief acquaintance. He
smiled his regret that it was so, said good night, and left her.

Following the bright beam of the flashlight down the steep insecurity of the
cliffside
st
eps, he wondered again that any
one, even a girl who always accepted challenges, could
descend alone with so little hesitation into the darkness and
uncertainty of a way whose end she did not know.

‘Very amusing,’ the
buglike
man said, sneering. He was waiting on a shadowed bench only a few yards from where
Marian had parted from Blake. ‘Very amusing indeed. Did
you enjoy the way I scrambled for cover after you persuaded
your obliging compatriot to turn his searchlight on me?’

‘I didn’t persuade him. I didn’t even know he was going to do it.’

‘It doesn’t matter.’ His manner changed to mock humility. ‘I cannot complain. I should be grateful that you are willing
to soil your clean American hands with a deception. I congratulate you on your acting ability, dear talented Miss
Ellis. You limp as convincingly as a Greek beggar.’

‘That
’s
what you wanted, isn’t it?’

‘Of course. But I did not realize that I was engaging such superior talent.’ It was another sneer. ‘The captain was
clearly captivated by your feminine charms. Were you in
turn thrilled by the clasp of his manly arms, or was the coy
thrust of the bosom on the gangplank only another evidence
of your acting ability?’

Marian said coolly, ‘If all you’re going to do is sit there and jeer at me, I’m going to bed. Good night. We can talk in
the morning.’

‘No!’ He came up off the bench in a bound, his temper again changing instantaneously. Standing, he came barely
to her shoulder, but the driving force of his personality made
him seem taller than he was. ‘What did you learn? When do
they intend to leave?’

‘Tomorrow. Today, I mean. In the morning.’

‘It doesn’t leave me much time.’ He chewed at a thumbnail that was already bitten to nothing. ‘Curse them! Where are they off to?’

‘He wouldn’t say.’

‘When will Farr come aboard?’

‘s
ome time before they sail. He couldn’t be more definite.’

‘You’re useless! Useless! You accomplished nothing! Have
you even an excuse to go back aboard?’

‘I left my bag. But if I’m so useless to you, I won’t bother to go back after it. Good night!’

‘You must come!’ He seized her wrist as she turned angrily away. ‘I’ve explained how important it is that you
be there. I demand it!’

The strolling agent was near them now, watching. It was the only thing that kept her from snatching her wrist free and
walking off. A public scene that might invite police attention was not something either of them would welcome.

She said frostily, ‘You’re paying me to follow your instructions, not for the privilege of putting your hands on me.’

He released her, glaring in impotent rage as the agent walked on by. With an enormous effort, he said, ‘Forgive
me. I forgot myself. My instructions are that you will
accompany me to the yacht tomorrow morning.’

‘Very well. Do you want anything more of me now?’

‘No.’

‘Then if you don’t mind, I’m going to bed. Good night.’ He stood aside to let her pass, and she was conscious of the
impact of his silent hatred as she walked away. Little
Mr
Holtz had an ego far too large for his small body. She took
an unkind pleasure in frustrating him when he became too
imperative.

She could not decide whether he or Blake provoked her more. Two more dissimilar men could hardly be imagined;
jeering, spiteful, angry little
Mr
Holtz, with his fluent and
wholly unnatural copybook English, a figure she could only
think of as ‘foreign’ even while recognizing that she, the
American, was the foreigner in his European world; and
big, sun-tanned, good-natured Blake, easy of speech, easy of
manner, unreserved in his loyalties, uncomplicated in his
way of thought. The fact that he had accepted her in good
faith only sharpened her irritation. It was his own fault that
he was so easily deceived. Deception could be bought, and
Belgian baronesses were not the only adventuresses.

She did not realize until
sometime
afterward how much
of her feeling about Blake was pique. Men were ordinarily more malleable than he when she set out to make them
realize that she was desirable.

Cesar, the
Angel
’s
steward, found the handbag in the morning. Cesar was Monegasque, with a Monegasque
’s
native wisdom of the world, but he was mildly surprised
that the captain had entertained a feminine visitor while the
crew slept. Although feminine visitors were commonplace
enough aboard the yacht, its owner rather than its captain
usually entertained them, and the steward knew that
Freddy Farr had spent the night ashore. He explored the
contents of the bag for some hint of the owner
’s
personality,
made a shrewd guess at her
complexion and tastes, and dis
creetly left his find on the chart table in the yacht
’s
pilot-house. The captain would be certain to see it there without
having his attention called to it.