Sixty Days to Live (29 page)

‘What is it?’ he asked. But he knew already. She was thinking of the way they had awakened in each other’s arms and of those mad moments between the time when the full glare of the comet had beaten down upon them and the final fading of its after-glow as they had drifted off to sleep. That had been a glorious hour. Their tiredness forgotten, they had been like drug addicts, hypersensitive to every touch and sound and perfume; translated for a little time to the status of a pagan god and goddess in the Elysian fields, the past had ceased to have a meaning and the future was without significance.

Now they were sober and sane again, back in the cold predawn world of inhibitions and commitments; conscious of shame and guilt; harrowed by remorse and horror of their weakness.

‘Oh, I hate you!’ cried Lavina suddenly.

‘Do you?’ Hemmingway’s voice was bitter. ‘I doubt if you hate me as much as I hate you.’

‘How
could
you do what you did!’ she went on quickly. ‘After all your talk about your devotion to Sam. You’re a fine friend, aren’t you! Pretending to take charge of his wife and then making love to her at the first opportunity.’

‘It wasn’t that way—and you know it!’ Hemmingway contradicted her angrily. ‘You’re a born man-snatcher. It’s in your blood. The very first time you set eyes on me you made up your mind to get me, didn’t you? Then, at your wedding—yes, even on your wedding day—you tried to make me kiss you. Last night was your big opportunity, and you took it.’

‘That’s a lie,’ Lavina flared. Her own misery had made her want to hurt him and the fact that she now realised that there was just a vague sub-stratum of truth in his accusations about their early meetings made her want to hurt him even more.

‘I was in your care, exhausted, utterly done in, terribly wrought up about poor Roy’s death and all this frightful business. In such a state any woman would be easy money. But a man’s different. Men don’t suffer from hysteria or become so overwrought that they don’t know what they’re doing. No decent man would take advantage of a woman on the verge of lunacy. He’d know she didn’t mean a thing she said or did and have the strength of mind to control himself. Instead of thinking for us both, you just let yourself go without the least hesitation. Oh God, how I loathe you!’

‘I loathe myself,’ Hemmingway murmured bitterly. ‘But that doesn’t let you out. It’s no good pretending you’re a precious little innocent—sweet seventeen, never been kissed and all that. We were both under the influence of the comet, of course, but the fact that you were tired out isn’t any excuse. I had a much more tiring night than you did before we started to walk out of London; and as a grown woman you were just as capable of resisting your feelings as I was.’

After a moment he went on more calmly. ‘As I see it, the effect of the comet is simply to release people’s inhibitions and destroy all their sense of values. If they’re murderers at heart, they go out and kill someone; if they’re quarrelsome, they quarrel; if they’ve a yen to make daisy-chains or skip, they just go to it; if they have a subconscious desire to make love to somebody, out it pops. Call it propinquity in our case, if you like. If you’d been here with Derek, for example, or I’d been with some other girl, the
same thing would probably have happened. Don’t flatter yourself that I’m in love with you, because I’m not; and I don’t imagine for one moment that you’re the least bit more interested in me than you would be in any other healthy young man who happened along. But last night we just felt that way about each other and the responsibility is entirely mutual. That’s all there is to it.’

‘How flattering!’ she sneered. ‘To be dismissed like any trollop you might have picked up for the evening. I never thought any man would do that to me.’

‘Then it’s extremely good for your vanity.’

‘You swine!’

‘I see. I’m a swine now, because I’m not begging for some more of your remarkably good brand of kisses, am I? You’d like to continue the affair, it seems.’

‘I’d like to beat your face in with a hunting crop. Above all, I’d like a bath to try and wash the very touch of you away from me. I feel like a leper at the moment.

‘Don’t worry! I wouldn’t touch you again if you paid me; but since, apparently, you’re not prepared to try and forget the whole thing, what’s the alternative? ‘D’you want to tell Sam about it when we reach Stapleton?’

‘Good God, no!’ Lavina’s voice suddenly changed to a note of anxiety. ‘You won’t, will you?’

‘Of course not. I’ve nothing but contempt for people who kiss and tell. What good does it ever do except make some other person miserable?’

‘Yes. I’ve always felt that, too.’

‘All right, then, let’s declare an armistice. What’s done’s done, and there’s no sense in continuing a slanging match. I’m prepared to take your word for it that you didn’t really mean to tempt me, if you’ll take mine that the comet absolutely overcame all the decent instincts I’ve ever had and the principles of a lifetime. Naturally, we’re hating each other at the moment, because we’re normal again and we’ve both got certain standards which the other caused temporarily to be thrown down the drain; but we’ve got to try our damnedest to get back to the natural friendly footing we were on yesterday round about midday.’

She nodded slowly. ‘Yes, you’re quite right. It won’t be easy, and how I’ll be able to look Sam in the face I can’t think. But
I’m sure now that you couldn’t help what happened. I’ve said awful things to you and I’m sorry.’

‘I don’t know how I’ll face Sam again either. But I’m equally sorry about all the nasty things I said to you. I’m sure you know I didn’t really mean them.’ For the first time that morning he smiled, and he held out his hand.

She took it and with a firm hand-clasp they made their peace.

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked after a moment.

‘Pretty mouldy. How about you?’

‘Hardly at the top of my form. Still, I think we ought to get a move on.’

She stretched her arms and yawned. ‘Wouldn’t it be better to get another hour or two’s sleep and set out in the dawn?’ ‘No. We’ll be safe while darkness lasts.’

‘Safe?’ she echoed.

‘Yes. But that’s just as long as we will be,’ he answered grimly. ‘This accursed comet’s so close to us now that even when the sky’s cloudy its rays come through. You saw that for yourself from about four o’clock yesterday afternoon, and to-day it’s certain to be much stronger. If we don’t reach Stapleton by the time the sun gets up we’ll be liable to go off the deep end again, just as we did last night.’

‘I see. Then we’d better start at once.’

He laughed.

‘I didn’t mean to be rude or anything,’ she added quickly, ‘but we mustn’t let that sort of thing happen again.’

‘Well, we’ve only got about five miles to cover so we ought to be able to make it,’ he said standing up.

They had nothing to pack so they set off at once, side by side, down the steep hill towards Pebble Combe.

When they reached the village, about half an hour later, Hemmingway happened to glance towards a villa standing quite close to the road. In the faint light he saw that there was a shed beside it and that the door of the shed was ajar. Touching Lavina’s arm, he said:

‘Wait here a moment,’ and turned in up the garden path.

His luck was in. As he had half-hoped that there might be there was a bicycle in the shed. Quite unperturbed by the thought that he was stealing, he wheeled it out and back to the roadway. If he had been called upon to justify his act he would have
defended it on the grounds that it was essential for Lavina and himself to get to Stapleton before sunrise and that, barring accidents, the bicycle would ensure their being able to do so.

Having adjusted the saddle he got on to it and Lavina mounted the step.

Everything went well until just after they had crossed the main Dorking-Reigate Road. When they were on the outskirts of Betchworth another earth-tremor ran across the night-shrouded land.

The bicycle wobbled violently. Although Hemmingway applied the brakes he could not control it as it swerved to the side of the road and they both fell off, landing in a ditch.

Having picked themselves up they sat there for a few moments, while fainter tremors continued to agitate the earth.

‘With this sort of thing going on here,’ Hemmingway said, ‘God knows what must be happening in the volcanic zones—places like the West Indies and Peru.’

‘Thank goodness we’re out in the open anyhow,’ Lavina sighed. ‘At least we won’t be killed by bricks falling on our heads, or be buried alive under a building.’

When the tremors had ceased they mounted the bicycle again; but they proceeded very cautiously as here and there they came upon cracks in the tarmac of the road’s surface, some of them as much as two or three inches wide, which made the going difficult.

In Betchworth a number of people were endeavouring to cope with the effects of the recent ‘quake. A water main had burst at one end of the street and was flooding the roadway, while a little farther on there was a strong smell of escaping gas and they knew that at any moment there might be a nasty explosion. Just outside the village they saw that a jerry-built cottage had subsided and some men were dragging the victims from its ruins; but there was a faint greyness now in the eastern sky so, knowing that dawn was close at hand, Hemmingway pressed on.

Another two miles and in the greyish light the gates of Stapleton Court at last came into sight before them. They ran along the moss-grown drive and past the lake up to the old Georgian mansion. As they dismounted before the front door Hemmingway glanced at his watch and saw that they had done the last stage of their journey in just an hour.

The house was in darkness; its inmates apparently sleeping or
else, perhaps, already on board the Ark. Lavina was just moving towards the front door when Hemmingway touched her arm.

‘One second. I hadn’t thought about it before but d’you mean to tell your uncle how Roy died?’

She hesitated. ‘Perhaps it would be kinder not to.’

‘Sure,’ Hemmingway nodded. ‘Let him think Roy got separated from you with Derek and that they may both turn up here at the last moment.’

‘Derek—’ she drew in her breath quickly. ‘For the moment I’d forgotten that you’d left him behind.’

‘On the contrary,’ Hemmingway’s voice was sharp. ‘It was he who stole my car and left us in the lurch. He may be here already, in which case he’s probably told your uncle about Roy. But if he hasn’t made it, and does so during the day, one of us can tip him off not to say anything.’

‘But you wouldn’t have known about me if Derek hadn’t escaped. And if Roy had still been alive the two of them would have been imprisoned and escaped together. How can we get over that?’

‘We’ll just say Derek said he lost Roy in the excitement and didn’t know what had happened to him after he’d escaped himself. It’s better for your uncle to imagine that Roy is still alive and has an equal chance with everybody else when the balloon goes up to-night, than to know that he’s dead already, don’t you think?’

‘Yes. I hate having to lie about anything, but poor Uncle Oliver would be terribly cut up if he knew the truth.’

They were looking at each other, not at the house door, so they did not see it open a crack as Hemmingway said:

‘Well, this is just one of those cases where we’ve got to do a bit of lying for the sake of sparing somebody else’s feelings.’

Out of the corner of her eye Lavina glimpsed a faint line of light coming from the slightly open doorway. Turning at once she ran to it and cried:

‘Hullo, there! It’s us. We’re here at last.’

The moment she moved, the door was swung wide open and Margery stood outlined in the dim light of a solitary candle which she had left on a table farther down the hall.

‘So it’s you!’ she exclaimed. ‘I heard voices so I came to see.’

‘Oh, Margery!’ With unaccustomed abandon Lavina flung
herself into her sister’s arms. ‘I
am
so glad to see you. We’ve had a simply frightful time.’

‘There, there!’ Margery patted her back and kissed her affectionately. In spite of her jealousy she was really very fond of Lavina. ‘We’ve been most terribly anxious about you—all of us—and we had to lock Sam up to prevent his going back to London to look for you yesterday.’

‘Then, he got here safely! Thank God for that!’ Lavina breathed, and, turning, she added: ‘You know Hemmingway, don’t you?’

Hemmingway stepped forward into the candlelight. ‘Margery entertained me quite a number of times down here while you were on your honeymoon.’

It was as though the word honeymoon had rung a bell in Margery’s brain. Hemmingway sensed a sudden hostility in the tensing of Margery’s figure and as her eyes switched for a second to Lavina’s face he felt sure that she had heard those last words of his outside the front door about lying for the sake of sparing people’s feelings, and was putting a wrong interpretation on them. He tried to persuade himself that it might only be his own guilty conscience that had suggested it, but he could have sworn that Margery had guessed there had been something between him and Lavina. In a second, however, she recovered herself, smiled at him and said:

‘Of course. Hemmingway was best man at your wedding. He’s an old friend of the family now; but where are Roy and Derek?’

‘We’re a bit worried about them,’ Hemmingway confessed. ‘It’s rather a long story so perhaps we’d better keep it until the others can hear it as well, but we’re hoping they’ll get down here some time to-day. By-the-by, where are the others?’

‘Getting up, I hope. I called them half an hour ago.’

‘Why this early rising, darling?’ Lavina asked. ‘It’s not half-past four yet.’

‘It’s on account of the comet,’ Margery explained. ‘You know that beastly red light it gives out that affects everybody so strangely? Oliver says that, even if it’s cloudy to-day, the light will come through quite strongly almost directly after sunrise and get worse as the day goes on. Sunrise is at 4.43, and the comet will be over the horizon twelve minutes later; so it was decided that we ought all to be in the Ark before five o’clock.’

‘Won’t it affect anyone in the Ark, then?’ Hemmingway inquired.