Sixty Days to Live (11 page)

Soon afterwards Oliver and Hemmingway returned to London but the following morning the centuries-old peace of Stapleton Court was shattered; and fate had decreed that it should never again be resumed.

A party of surveyors, sent by Hemmingway, arrived with instructions to prospect the lake-shore for the best site in which to lay down a slipway on which the spherical Ark could be built; and later in the day he telephoned to say that, although it had cost Sam a small fortune, he had secured plans of the Ark from the States.

Gangs of workmen then put in an appearance with lorryloads of rubble, sand, bags of cement and dredging apparatus. On the 5th a huge truck arrived bearing Oliver’s new telescope packed in sacking, and other lorries loaded with the tubular steel scaffolding which was to form its temporary support.

Soon the lawn running down to the lake was hardly recognisable. Wooden hutments, dumps of material and deep ruts cut in its grass by the wheels of the heavy lorries all disfigured it; while the roar of concrete-mixers, the din of hammering and the shouts of the workmen shattered the stillness of the tree-girt park. Even at night the pandemonium never ceased as the men laboured on under the glare of great arc-lamps, but the work progressed with amazing rapidity.

By June 7th a great concrete platform, the size of a tennis court, had been constructed at one end of the lake and Oliver’s telescope had been erected on the higher ground near the house, so that he could now observe the comet again, without interruption, at every favourable opportunity.

Derek, convinced now by the sight of these activities, more than by all the arguments he had heard, that the approaching danger was a real one, had abandoned his own affairs to play
the part of Oliver’s assistant in superintending the work; a rôle for which he was much better fitted than the older man owing to his early training as an engineer. His easy manner enabled him to collaborate with the professionals without giving offence and, while he interfered as little as possible, his presence was valuable in that he was able to fend off awkward questions about the true purpose of the constructions on which they were engaged. Margery suggested that she should clear out a bedroom for him and from the 8th he took up his permanent residence at Stapleton Court.

Gervaise continued to be responsible for Fink-Drummond and Roy assisted him as before. The prisoner appeared resigned to his captivity but was curious about the din which now drifted without cessation round to his side of the house. Gervaise refused to satisfy his curiosity but Roy, who on further acquaintance found the ex-Cabinet Minister an extremely interesting person, had formed the habit of sitting with him sometimes and, under pledge of secrecy, saw no harm in giving him particulars of the projected Ark.

Hemmingway now motored down from London every evening to see how the work progressed. He reported that the casting of the curved steel sheeting for the outside of the Ark, its floor and struts, had presented no difficulties, but he was having trouble with some of the smaller parts of its mechanism as similar objects had never before been manufactured in Britain.

Each night Hemmingway brought the latest news from London. The gradual decline in the markets was accelerating to a steady fall as the small investor, who still knew nothing of the comet, was now suspicious of this slow but definite depreciation in share values, when international relations were infinitely better than they had been for many years.

Yet, underneath the surface, the foreign Governments were by no means so fully agreed as they had been the previous week. Many of them felt that they were no longer justified in concealing the approaching danger from their people, and the heads of religious bodies, who were in the know, were urging them to disclose the facts.

Moreover, where knowledge of the comet had previously been confined to a few score astronomers, national leaders, their advisers and financiers, it had gradually leaked out, so that most
well-informed people all over the world now knew a comet was approaching and that there was some risk of its endangering the earth. It was clear, therefore, that the secret could not be kept from the general public much longer, as constantly spreading rumours would do more harm than a plain official statement.

By June 12th it had been decided to adopt half-measures and that the papers should carry the story of the comet without implying that there was any chance of its hitting the earth. Certain sections of the Press were in favour of telling the whole story and appealing to the public to face the danger bravely; but in the world-wide emergency that had arisen they loyally accepted the request of their Governments and the first official news of the comet appeared only as small paragraphs in the evening papers of that date.

The following day many special articles appeared, but mainly upon comets in general and accounts of historic comets which had caused great excitement in their time but swept harmlessly on their way into space.

When Hemmingway came down to Stapleton on the evening of the 14th he said that in London the news had been accepted by the public better than the Government had anticipated. Everyone was talking ‘comet’ now, but taximen and bus conductors were joking about it and the great majority of people considered it only as an interesting event which would provide them with a little mild excitement in nine or ten days’ time. Stocks had made a slight recovery, as now the man-in-the-street knew the reason for their recent decline he had found renewed faith and was buying again, confident that the markets must take a turn for the better before very long.

One piece of good news Hemmingway brought was that he had at last succeeded in getting the more delicate parts of the Ark manufactured satisfactorily and that the engineers could now go ahead with its construction.

Meanwhile, Sam and Lavina remained in blissful ignorance of the agitated cipher cables which were flashing round the world from Government to Government; of the increasing tension on the Bourses where the brokers were growing more worried with every fresh rumour they heard from important clients, in spite of the fact that they were making fortunes out of the terrific buying and selling that was in constant progress; and of the
gradual feeling of unrest and uncertainty that had been spreading during recent weeks among the peoples of the world.

The fact that a great comet was hurtling earthwards at many thousands of miles an hour was stale news to them and for weeks past they had known the worst possibilities that might have to be faced when it came flaming downwards from the heavens; yet they rarely spoke of it. Even on June 13th, when the world’s Press released the first official statements, they were so far off the beaten track that they did not see a paper or even hear the matter mentioned at the little inn where they were staying.

Their honeymoon had proved a great success, largely owing to their wise decision to break away from the type of luxury resort that they both knew well into an entirely new life which they had never sampled.

At first it had seemed a little strange to stay at small unpretentious places where there were no cocktail bars and members of the proprietor’s family were the only servants. But the rooms of the French inns were bright and clean, and although the cooking was plain it was almost always excellent.

For the first few days it had not been easy for either of them to adjust themselves to the idea of having nothing in the world to do and nowhere to go for either work or amusement; and stranger still to have to go to bed soon after sunset. But the utter rest did them an immense amount of good. The sunshine tanned their bodies to a golden brown, and the less they did the less they wanted to do except just laze about and talk to each other.

Sam had travelled in many parts of the world, whereas Lavina had never been outside England, except to Paris and for brief holidays to a few of the most famous Continental bathing beaches since she had become a film star. On the other hand, her education was very much better than Sam’s. Gervaise had seen to that and, without ever having consciously studied or been forced to sit for wearisome examinations, she had accumulated a great store of miscellaneous information on history, literature, religions and art. Sam knew the political game, the inside of all the major moves that had governed international relations in the last ten years, and he had met innumerable famous people. But he was a townsman, born and bred. Lavina knew nothing of such things and few people outside the film world, but she had lived nearly all her life in the country and was
at home with all the wild life they met when strolling across the wooded mountainsides; the habits of birds and beasts, the names of flowers and trees were nearly all familiar to her. In consequence, as both were good listeners, they had an immense amount to talk about.

It was not until the morning of June 14th that the proprietor of the little inn where they were staying brought a copy of the previous day’s paper over to Sam just as he and Lavina were sitting down to their
vermouth et syphon
before lunch.

With a stubby forefinger the Frenchman pointed to a fourcolumn article on comets and their peculiarities. He did not seem the least perturbed at the announcement that a large one would shortly become visible and in ten days’ time pass comparatively near the earth; but pointed out the article as a matter that might be of interest. It was one of the many little courtesies by which he sought to retain the goodwill of his wealthy English visitors.

Sam thanked him and, as he moved away, looked across at Lavina. ‘So it’s out at last. I’m rather surprised that Hemmingway didn’t say anything about it in his letter that came in this morning. He must have known they intended to break it to the masses when he was writing.’

Lavina puffed lazily on her cigarette. ‘He’s hardly said anything in any of his letters except that business has been going as well as could be expected and that they’ve been having good weather in England. I think it’s rather decent of him to have taken everything on his own shoulders and not worried you with a single thing while we’ve been on our honeymoon.’

‘Yes. That’s like him. He’s a good boy and not afraid to take responsibility.’

A faint smile twitched the corners of Lavina’s beautifully modelled little mouth. Hemmingway was seven years older than herself so it had never occurred to her to regard him as a boy, but Sam, of course, was some sixteen years older than his gifted secretary. She bent over her husband’s shoulder to read the heavy black print of the French article on the comet and, after a moment, she remarked:

‘They don’t tell the whole story. There’s no suggestion that the comet may hit us or anything of that kind.’

‘No, they’re breaking it gently, I suppose. Or maybe your Uncle Oliver wasn’t right, after all.

‘I doubt that. Anyhow, we shall know if he’s still of the same opinion in three days’ time.’ She tapped the date on the paper with an unvarnished finger-nail of moderate length. After a few days in the wilds she had taken a quarter of an inch off the long, pointed, decorative claws of which she had been rather proud, and had ceased to enamel them.

‘This is yesterday’s paper,’ he said.

‘Why, so it is! Then we’ll be leaving here to-morrow.’

It came as quite a shock to realise that their honeymoon was almost over. Days and dates had meant nothing to them in the last five weeks, but they had all their reservations booked for the homeward journey on which they were due to start next day.

When they arrived in Biarritz to catch the Paris express they found everyone talking of the comet. The papers were now full of it, but there was still no indication in any of them that there might be cause for alarm.

On the evening of June 16th they were back in London. Hemmingway was at the station to meet them and he dined with them in St. James’s Square that night. They already knew from a guarded statement in one of his first letters that Fink-Drummond’s disappearance had been accounted for satisfactorily, but he had plenty of other things to tell them about, including the construction of the Ark.

Sam at once approved everything he had done but, somewhat to Lavina’s disappointment, instead of going with her round the rooms which had been redecorated according to her wishes in her absence, the two men went into a huddle over business after dinner.

They discussed finance and the international situation exhaustively, yet it seemed that there was nothing further that could be done. Hemmingway had already taken every possible precaution to protect Sam’s interests. He had sold many blocks of shares at good prices before the decline set in and bought again at lower levels for delivery on June the 30th. If the world came to an end on June 24th, the prices of stocks would no longer matter to anyone, but, if it didn’t, Sam would reap enormous profits.

Nevertheless, many of the directors in Sam’s companies had been pressing Hemmingway to recall him for well over a fortnight and, although Hemmingway had steadfastly refused, it was
clear that Sam would have to meet them at the earliest possible moment.

For the next two days he was kept frantically busy with such appointments. The shares of his own companies were falling with the rest, and his co-directors wrangled with him interminably at hastily called board meetings as to whether they should support their own shares with their private means or let them slump to any level.

It was not until the evening of the 18th, the second after their return, that Sam could find time to go down to Stapleton Court, and Lavina, who had been impatiently waiting for him to do so, accompanied him filled with curiosity about the Ark.

When they reached Stapleton, just after seven, they were amazed to see the upheaval that had taken place along the lake-shore in front of the house. The lawn was cut to ribbons; cranes, sheds, stacks of concrete blocks, steel girders and other building materials littered the place for two hundred yards round the flat surface on the lake-edge where a huge steel ball, over thirty feet in height, now stood.

Gervaise and the rest came out to greet the visitors at the entrance of the house, and both parties were unaffectedly glad to see each other. Margery held out her hand to Sam but he gave her a rather boisterous brotherly kiss, as he wanted to show her that he had not allowed any memory of her strange outburst on his wedding-day to rankle.