Beverly Byrne (4 page)

"I'll
help you, Aunt Lil," she said. "I know there will be a lot to do. And
can't we take cuttings in the garden, Uncle Warren? My mother used to do that
all the time. You can make new plants from all the old ones. "

He
nodded in her direction. "Yes, cuttings. It's the right time of year for
most things. Thank God for that. "

Later
Luke found Amy in the linen room where she was counting table cloths. "No
need for that," he said softly. "The place has been sold fully
furnished. I've just explained to Aunt Lit. We don't have to move anything but
our personal belongings."

She
put down the stack of lace and damask but she didn't look at him. "Luke,
is it what Tommy said? Are you poor?"

"Don't
be silly," Luke said brusquely. "This is just a good move for the
estate. I told everyone that. There are long term advantages in realizing some
capital at this moment."

"I'm
sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

"Of
course you're not prying. You're family as far as we're concerned. You know
that. It's what I came to talk to you about actually. What do you want to do
for the next few weeks until your school reopens?"

"I'm
not sure." She was, but she hadn't the nerve to say so outright.
"I've been thinking about it."

"Well,
you could go to that camp in Maine for a while, if you want to. Or you could
stay with Aunt Lil and Uncle Warren in New York. I've already talked to Aunt
Lil about it. They have a nice apartment over-looking Central Park. It's just a
few blocks from our house. New York's still beastly hot, of course."

"I'm
used to heat," Amy said.

"Yes,
that's right, you are. You'll come with us, then?"

"I'd
like to," she said shyly. She had never intended to do anything else.

4

A
HOLY  STATUE  IN THE FRONT HALL WAS APPARently de rigueur for the Westermans.
There'd been one at Balmoral and there was one in Lil and Warren's flat. It was
of white porcelain with gilt trim. A candle holder of dark red pimpled glass,
and more gilt trim, stood next to it.

Lil
reached up and flicked a switch as soon as they came in the door. "I always
light Our Lady's vigil light first thing we come home," she said. It
wasn't a candle, it was electrified. "Now, Amy, we only have one guest
room, so I can't offer you a choice. I hope you'll be comfortable."

She
led the girl to a room of polished mahogany furniture and blue and white
flocked wallpaper. The drapes and bedspread were of rose-colored silk.
"It's a lovely room, Aunt Lil, thank you."

"I'll
send Maureen to help you unpack. Dinner is at seven-thirty." She kissed
the girl lightly on the cheek. Lil always smelled of jasmine. Jessie Norman had
worn the same scent, and Amy inevitably felt a catch in her throat after one of
Lil's embraces. "Welcome, darling," Lil said. "We want you to be
completely at home."

Quite
soon Amy did feel at home. She had feared a return to city life, but she found
that she could adjust here as she had not been able to in Boston. They were on
the eleventh floor. The apartment was something of an aerie. It reminded her of
the nests built by birds in the high cliffs near jericho, and she liked it. Her
determination not to return to MissTaylor's school strengthened.

She'd
made up her mind about that the morning at Balmoral when the precipitous
departure was announced. Now she wanted Tommy to help her mount the campaign,
but he was unwilling.

"It's
crazy," he said when she told him about it. They'd been to the movies,
"the flicks," Tommy called them, to see the Keystone Kops. Now they
were sitting in Central Park. Tommy kicked at some fallen leaves while he
spoke. "You've got to finish your education. I'm going back to Georgetown
the end of this month. I'm a senior, another year to go. I'm not wild about
Washington either, but it has to be done."

"It's
different for you. I'm a girl. I don't need to know anything they can teach me
at Miss Taylor's. And it's horrid. The other girls are such idiots, Tommy. They
don't know anything."

He
shrugged. "I know it's different for girls. Still ..."

"Anyway,
I'm going to return to Jericho as soon as this war's over. It can't last much
longer. I just want to stay with your aunt and uncle till then. Besides, I can
ride here." She nodded her head in the direction of one of the park's
bridle paths. "Miss Taylor doesn't allow young ladies to ride."

"What
does Aunt Lil say?"

"I
haven't asked her yet. I hoped you'd do it with me. She thinks you're quite the
cleverest thing alive, she'll listen to you."

"Not
a chance." He shook his head emphatically. "It's nuts, Amy, and I'm
not going to help you."

She
was forced to try Luke. She telephoned and asked him to meet her at Schrafft's
the next day. ". . . so there's no reason I shouldn't stay in New
York," she finished. Then she looked at him closely. "You're not
surprised."

"No,
Tommy warned me."

"Warned
you not to help me, you mean."

"It's
not like that, Amy. Tommy just thinks you're being unwise. I think he's
right."

"Rubbish!"
She slammed a gloved hand on the marble-topped table, and the spoon in her ice
cream dish rattled. "Why is everybody against me?" Luke had never
seen her like this before. He stared in fascination.

"I'm
not some silly schoolgirl like those twits at Miss Taylor's. I was breaking
horses and riding in the bush when I was six. In Africa I visit every
shamba
for miles around by myself. Sometimes I'm gone for days. Miss Taylor doesn't think
girls should leave the grounds without a companion. She . . ."

"What's
a
shamba
?" he interrupted.

"A
farm. A homestead."

"Oh."

"Is
that all you can say, Luke Westerman? Oh? I thought you were my friend."

"Of
course I am."

"Then
why won't you help me? My father and yours grew up together. They helped each
other all their lives."

Luke
wondered how much Amy knew of the basis of that friendship. She'd never
mentioned any of it. Perhaps she'd never been told the sordid details. Suddenly
he felt more than ever sorry for her. She was so alone. "All right,"
he said at last. "I'll go with you and we'll talk to Aunt Lit. In the end
it will be up to Uncle Donald though. He's your guardian."

"I
know that. I just want it all settled with Lil before I tackle him."

Lil
proved quite amenable to the idea. "But I'd be delighted to have you stay,
darling! Such good company. We'd both be delighted, wouldn't we, Warren?"
As usual she didn't wait for her brother to reply to her rhetorical question.
"Tommy's going back to school of course." Lil bit her lip and looked
at Luke and Amy in perplexity. "I suppose that part can't be helped. Never
mind, it will be great fun."

When
Amy looked up she saw that Warren was staring at her. She waited, but he didn't
say anything.

Donald
Varley was even easier. "Very well, if that's what you'd prefer, my dear.
I don't see much sense in elaborate schooling for girls myself. By the way,
perhaps we can talk again soon. I'm beginning to sort out your estate and there
are somethings we must discuss."

Amy
threw her arms round Luke's neck when they were alone in the corridor outside
Donald's office. "Hooray! We've done it. I shall write to Miss Taylor
tonight. And what will that prig Tommy say now!"

Luke
disengaged himself. He was as red-faced as if she'd kissed him. "He'll be
hopping mad."

"But
why, for heaven's sake?"

"I
don't know. I guess just because he's got to go back to school and now you
don't."

"Luke"-she
changed the subject abruptly-"what are you going to do now that you're
through college? Are you taking over your father's business?"

He
studied a mural on the wall. It was an artist's conception of Lincoln reading
the Gettysburg Address. The scene was the middle of a battlefield and there was
lots of blood and gore. "Funny picture for a public place. Yes, I'm to
work in Dad's office. At least for a while."

"What
did he do exactly? I only know he was a businessman."

"He
was an investment broker, a financier. Frankly I don't know too much about it.
Tommy's the one with the business head. Dad had two partners though, and
they've offered to help me learn the ropes."

Only
later did she wonder why he'd said he'd be in his father's business "for a
while."

Toward
the end of September Tommy left for his last year at the Jesuit university of
Georgetown. Things had been strained between them since Amy's scheme succeeded.
Still, she went to Pennsylvania Station to see him off. He seemed pleased she'd
come. He'd insisted that none of the others bother, and the two of them were
alone.

"I'll
be home for Thanksgiving," he said. "You behave yourself until then.
Don't forget me just because I'm away and Luke's on the spot."

Amy's
eyes opened wide. Suddenly she understood many things, and she realized that
she possessed some power over Tommy. She had, however, been armed unawares; as
yet she had no idea how to use the gift. "Of course I won't forget you.
How could I? Besides" -she flushed prettily-"Luke doesn't make me
laugh the way you do."

Tommy
looked as if he'd just won the sweepstakes. "That's good," he said.
"That's great in fact!" Impulsively he leaned forward and kissed her
on the cheek. "You take care of yourself, Amy Norman. And you write to
me."

"I
will, I promise." Her last sight of him was hanging off the train waving
his gray fedora in her dircetion. As long as he wasn't walking, she realized,
no one would guess that Tommy was a cripple.

Donald
Varley came to see Amy a few days later. "I thought it best if I came
here, my dear. These are rather personal matters, and I'm sure you'd prefer we
be alone."

He
belonged to a generation that didn't expect a young lady to travel the city
unescorted. They were in Lil Westerman's small but charming drawing room.
Varley crossed to the door and closed it. "I realize you understand
nothing of these things. I'll try to explain. You are the only heir to your
father's estate. However, with things as they now are it's difficult to
determine the exact value of that estate. Letters to Africa take many weeks.
Sometimes they don't arrive at all."

"Yes,
I know about that." She had written to old friends in Dar es Salaam, and
to the workers on Jericho, and had no replies.

"Then
you'll understand that I can't give you exact figures. And of course we must
face the fact that after this war is over the value of things may be entirely
different. "

"Of
diamonds you mean?"

"No,
not that exactly. But foreign holdings, such as your father's. If the Germans
win, they may conscript everything. It may develop that you have no rights to
the Norman mines."

"But
Daddy bought the land from the Kaiser years ago."

"War
is a terrible thing, child. It turns everything topsy-turvey." He shook
his head and his mane of silver gray hair held Amy's gaze. He had a small, neat
moustache, and he stroked it while he spoke. "There's another sad fact.
Near as I can make out, the Jericho Diamond went down with the Lusitania. Your
poor dear mother had it with her apparently."

"But
that was only a copy!" Amy said at once. "Mummy and Daddy used to
laugh about it all the time. She never traveled with the real Jericho
Diamond."

"I
see. Well, that's fine if it turns out to be true. And if we can find the stone
after the war. Seventy carats, isn't it?"

"Seventy-two.
And it's perfect. It's in a bank vault in Dar es Salaam." She could see
that bank as she spoke. It was an enormous place with marble walls and huge
fans whirring overhead. It was impregnable. Of course the jewel was safe.

"Well,
then, that makes me hopeful that everything will work out for the best,"
Varleysaid heartily. "Mean-while there are your expenses to consider. Of
course Lil and Warren are happy to have you as their guest, but ..."

Amy
blushed. It was the first time the thought had occurred to her. She was taking charity
from the Westermans. She had never offered to pay her way. "I never
realized," she stammered. "It just didn't cross my mind. Of course, I
should pay some kind of rent or something."

"Nonsense,
child! We're happy to help you, for your father and mother's sake. All of us.
And I've arranged a long-term loan with a bank here. The interest is very fair,
and they're content to wait for repayment until your affairs are settled. It
makes it possible for me to give you a small allowance to meet your personal
needs." He smiled at her conspiratorially. "I'm just an old bachelor,
but I know a thing or two about ladies."

He'd
succeeded in making her feel dreadful. "I don't really need any money, Mr.
Varley," she said in a hoarse whisper. "I just need a place to stay
until I can go home."

"Now,
my dear, you mustn't take that attitude. And we can't say when you'll be able to
return to Africa. Not the way things are. I don't want you to worry. You're to
have twenty-five dollars a month. And I'm sure we'll be able to repay the bank
as soon as we settle your estate."

That
same afternoon Lil suggested that she should have some new clothes. "Oh,
no," Amy said quickly. "I don't need anything."