The Island of Love (Camfield Series No. 15) (11 page)

“You will be lucky if he comes near you!” Sir Robert replied.

He was actually very perturbed by the way in which Heloise had behaved.

Although it was something which he and Lydia were used to and they seldom took seriously anything she said when she was in a tantrum he was sensible enough to be aware that to the Earl it must have been an unpleasant ‘eye-opener.’

Then because he always tried to avoid unpleasant facts, Sir Robert told himself he was quite certain that the Earl was deeply in love with Heloise and bemused by her beauty.

He would therefore forgive her, even though such a vulgar exhibition should never have taken place in front of the British Consul and his wife.

There was however no point in saying so, and taking the line of least resistance Sir Robert said;

“I am sure tonight you will be dancing with Royston at the Ball. But do not expect him to grovel because no man likes doing that!”

Heloise did not answer.

She merely swept into the house and told the servant that she was going to her room to rest and wanted her sister to come to her immediately.

She, however, received a message from Mrs. Wodehouse saying that Lydia was still asleep and a maid would prepare her bath in an hour’s time.

Heloise was therefore forced to explain to a strange maid how to undo her gown and to find in her innumerable trunks the one she intended to wear at the Palace.

* * *

Lydia awoke feeling she had slept for a very long time and finding she had now recovered from the strain and fatigue she had felt when she got into bed.

She had eaten what the maids had brought her but she was hardly aware of what she was doing.

Then she had drifted away into a delicious sleep in which she thought the Earl’s arms were around her, his lips were near to hers, and she could hear his deep voice saying that he loved her.

“I love you!” she found herself whispering as she opened her eyes.

As she did so she realised that the sun was sinking low over the sea and the sky was a vision of loveliness.

‘I have missed the whole day!’ she thought with a little pang. ‘How could I have done anything so stupid when I can sleep at home?’

However she felt immeasurably better, and because it was difficult to think of the Coronation or anything else except the Earl, she knew the only thing that mattered was that she should see him again.

Then she remembered vaguely hearing Heloise screaming at her. She had seen him drive away and thought he was going out of her life for ever.

She felt the pain of it stab through her and told herself severely she would have to be sensible.

What had happened on the island where they had been marooned was something which would never happen again.

It had been so perfect, so exquisite, such an ecstatic memory, that nothing must ever spoil it.

‘It is in my heart and in his,’ she thought, ‘and will be ours for all eternity.’

She got out of bed and started to dress herself, thinking all the time of the Earl and finding it extraordinary that while she had been with him on the island wearing nothing but a nightgown she had not felt shy.

She had not been embarrassed until the Hawaiian boat had arrived to rescue them.

She knew the explanation was that she had felt she belonged to him and therefore everything they did together was right and perfect.

“I love him! I love him!” she said to the sunset, and felt that the crimson and gold wonder of it brought her the light of hope.

Because she was not certain if she was to be allowed to go to the Ball tonight, although she knew her father had intended taking her to the Coronation, she merely put on one of her simple white evening dresses which was less elaborate than any gown she would have worn to attend the Ball.

She quickly arranged her hair at the back of her head and opened the door of her bedroom.

The maid-servant outside in the passage smiled at her and said;

“You wake, Lady. That good! Why you not call?”

“I managed by myself, thank you,” Lydia replied. “Will you show me the way to my sister’s bedroom?”

The maid led her across the landing and as she went in she saw that Heloise was dressing herself and looking exceedingly sulky.

“Can I help you?” Lydia asked.

“It is about time you did!” Heloise answered. “And you will have to hurry! Papa sent a message to say he will be leaving in half-an-hour.”

“In half-an-hour?” Lydia exclaimed. “Where is Papa? I want to ask him if I am to come with you.”

“Come with us?” Heloise questioned. “Do you think I would want you there after the way you behaved? You will do my hair and help me dress, then stay here and try to behave yourself until we get back!”

The way she spoke was so rude and so peremptory that Lydia was quite certain that if she asked her father he would say she was not to upset Heloise and must therefore stay behind.

She was disappointed.

At the same time, knowing it was what she might have expected would happen, she merely arranged Heloise’s hair in silence, helped her into her gown, and fastened round her neck the jewels that had belonged to her mother.

Then without saying ‘thank you,’ Heloise swept towards the door and down the stairs with Lydia following her.

Her father looking very smart and wearing his decorations on his evening-coat was waiting in the hall.

As Heloise appeared he pulled out his watch and said:

“Come along! Come along! We are late! I have already had to apologise to our host and hostess, because we are travelling with them in their carriage.” As he spoke Mr. and Mrs. Wodehouse came from the Drawing-Room.

They looked at Lydia as she descended the last steps of the staircase and Mrs. Wodehouse asked: “Are you feeling better, my dear?”

“Yes, thank you,” Lydia replied. “You have been so very kind, and I am exceedingly grateful for all you have done for me.”

“It has been a pleasure,” Mrs. Wodehouse said warmly, “and now I hope you will enjoy the Ball.”

“It is very kind of you,” Lydia said, “but if it will be no trouble, I think I had better ... stay here.”

She glanced nervously at her sister as she spoke and almost as if she had asked the question Heloise said:

“My sister is too tired and exhausted to attend any Ball!”

As she spoke she handed the wrap she was carrying on her arm to her father who put it round her shoulders.

“You had better go to bed, Lydia,” she added. “I will wake you when I come back so that you can undo my gown.”

Mrs. Wodehouse looked from one girl to the other, then said:

“I think it is very disappointing for Miss Lydia, having missed the Coronation today, now to miss the Ball. I suggest she comes with us, at least for a little time. After all, it is almost a Royal Command!”

As she spoke Lydia saw the anger in Heloise’s eyes and quickly put her hand on Mrs. Wodehouse’s arm.

“It is better if I stay behind,” she said in a low voice, “but I hope it will be no trouble to your household.”

Her fingers told Mrs. Wodehouse better than what she said that it would be a mistake to argue.

But she gave Heloise a hard look as she walked ahead of her towards the front door pausing to say to the servant who was seeing them out:

“Miss Westbury is staying behind, look after her and give her something to eat before you all join the festivities as you have been told you may do.”

“We do that, Mistress,” the servant said with a smile.

Then the Wodehouses, Sir Robert and Heloise all got into the closed carriage that was waiting for them and drove off.

Lydia watched them go, then she went into the Drawing-Room to stand looking out into the garden which lay on one side of the house, while there was a view of the sea on the other.

She watched the sunset, feeling that she was again on the island where the Earl had kissed her and told her he loved her.

“An Island of Love,” she whispered in her heart and knew she would never forget.

The servants came in to tell Lydia there was a meal waiting for her in the Dining-Room.

She sat alone at the large table where the British Consul and his wife entertained their guests.

She did not really envy Heloise at the Ball, except for thinking how delightful and interesting it would be if she could sit next to the Earl and hear him talking to her.

It would not be about themselves since they were in public, but about Hawaii and its long, complicated but exciting history.

When the simple meal was finished she went back into the Drawing-Room, not feeling tired enough to go to bed but reliving her own love-story, which perhaps would never have another chapter.

Now the sun had sunk in a blaze of glory and with the swiftness with which the night came in the tropics the stars were coming out overhead.

There was the same moon that had shone on them last night, but the sea beneath it was calm and there were no waves except ripples at the edge of the sand.

It seemed impossible that the scene had been so violent and dramatic only the night before.

Now as the moonlight turned the ocean to silver and the palm-trees were silhouetted against the stars, Lydia felt her whole spirit was uplifted by beauty and love.

It made her think of the that had been placed around her neck when she arrived as an offering of love, and she imagined that at this moment she was holding up a
Lei
towards the stars and prayed that she might know again the happiness that had been hers last night.

She was concentrating so intently on her thoughts that it was quite a shock when the door opened and a very old servant, who had obviously not gone with the rest, said:

“Gentleman see you, Lady!”

“A gentleman?” Lydia asked in surprise.

She rose to her feet realising that the room was in darkness except for the moonlight coming through the window.

Then as she went from the Drawing-Room into the hall where the lights had been lit, she saw outside the door there was a carriage and to her astonishment the Earl got out of it and came up the steps.

She ran towards him and as she reached him she saw how magnificent he was looking with the Order of the Garter across his white evening shirt and several decorations glittering with diamonds pinned to his evening-coat.

She looked up at him and he took her hand in his and said;

“I want you, darling, to come with me.”

Lydia thought he had an expression in his eyes that made her think of him as she had before, as a buccaneer or a pirate.

There was also something magnificent and vibrant about him, and she thought perhaps it was because he had been enjoying the Coronation besides the fact that he was seeing her again.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked.

“There is no time for explanations,” he replied. “Fetch your bonnet and something to put over your shoulders. You look very lovely, just as you are!”

She thought then he was taking her for a drive and that it was like him to be determined she should not miss everything of the festivities, and intended to show some of them to her himself.

Without saying any more she ran hastily up the stairs.

As she reached her room she wished she had worn the grand gown she had intended to wear if she had gone to the Ball.

Then she knew that in fact, the simple white one with its soft chiffon round the shoulders and the draped skirt made her look like a Grecian statue and was actually far more attractive.

‘Perhaps he will think as he did on the island that I look like a Saint,’ she thought.

She took her bonnet from the cupboard and realised now that the maids must have unpacked while she was asleep.

She also found a white silk shawl that she had owned for a long time, but which was very becoming.

As it was still warm outside, she felt she would not really need it.

She tied the ribbons of her bonnet under her chin and thought that in the moonlight she looked more a violet than the brilliant hibiscus flowers that were so symbolic of Hawaii.

“I am just a little English flower,” she told herself with a smile, and wondered how the Earl had escaped from Heloise.

She had taken it for granted that her sister would want to monopolise him at the Ball, so she thought that it was more exciting than anything she could imagine that he had remembered her and come to her rather than stay in the Palace where he belonged.

It was only a few minutes before she ran back down the stairs, and as she did so she saw coming along the passage to her room there were two men.

She thought it was rather strange, especially as she recognised one of them as her father’s valet when she was quite certain he should have been enjoying himself in the town.

However she did not stop, but merely hurried through the front door to find the Earl waiting for her inside the carriage.

She stepped in beside him and as a footman shut them in her hands went out towards him.

“My darling! My sweet!” he said. “I have missed you, I have missed you every moment that we have been away from each other!”

“I have missed you too, except when I slept for a very long time.”

“That is what I hoped you would do,” he said, “and you look rested and lovelier even than you did at dawn.”

“I want to believe you think that,” Lydia said, “but how were you able to get away from the Palace?”

The Earl smiled.

“Everybody was concentrating on the King, and I seized my opportunity to come to you.”

“It was wonderful of you! I am so happy, so very, very happy to be with you again!”

“That is what I wanted you to say,” the Earl replied, “and, darling, your head is not still hurting after what happened this morning?”

Because she felt so happy Lydia could not remember what it was. Then she recalled that the Earl had seen Heloise hit her.

Because it made her feel ashamed she said quickly: “I do not want to ... talk about it ... but I am quite ... all right. Tell me about yourself and what happened at the Coronation.”

“I kept thinking how disappointing it was that you should miss it,” the Earl said. “That is why I have arranged a special Coronation of our own, just you and me.”

“That sounds wonderful!” Lydia said a little breathlessly. “But what are we going to do?”

“We are going to be married!” the Earl said very quietly.