The Poellenberg Inheritance (25 page)

‘I've been trying to get you all day. Where the hell have you been?'

Paula was undressing when the telephone rang. She had got in, hot and exhausted after the hairdresser's, and then taking a walk through the warm streets, enjoying the atmosphere of the city in the early evening, when the cafés were filling up and the tourists paraded up and down, window shopping and staring round them. She should have gone back to the hotel, but there was something bleak and uninviting about the empty room. Paula avoided it, and in the meantime her telephone shrilled unanswered, until Fisher's call came through again and she was there.

‘I went shopping with Joe Dunston,' she explained.

‘Not till this hour, for Christ's sake,' he said. He sounded angry. ‘What were you doing?'

‘We had lunch and then I went to have my hair done and I've been wandering around. Why do you sound so upset, darling? I'm sorry I wasn't here, but I didn't know what time you'd be telephoning.' She lay back on the bed, one arm above her head, listening to Fisher's sharp, accusing voice. The room was hot and still, the light just beginning to fade. She felt tears come to her eyes. This was not what she had planned; this wasn't the mending of the breach. It was opening still wider, and she couldn't stop it.

‘I suppose he made a pass at you? He always does.'

‘Please don't be silly. He was very nice and we bought something for his wife. I don't know what's the matter with you. Tell me, did you see my mother?'

‘Yes, I saw her. What are you doing now?'

‘Lying on the bed talking to you. What did she say?'

‘Nothing much,' Fisher lied. ‘She wouldn't co-operate at all. I wish I was with you. I'd make up for last night. I'm crazy about you, you know that, don't you? I'm even jealous of that bloody fool Dunston.'

‘You needn't be,' Paula said gently. ‘I wish you were here too. When are you coming back?'

‘Tomorrow. I'm not sure what time. Do you still love me?'

‘Yes,' she said. ‘Yes, of course I do.'

‘All right then,' Fisher said. ‘Take care of yourself. I'll see you tomorrow.'

‘Goodbye,' she said. She put the telephone down and lay still. She should have told him about Philip Von Hessel but she hadn't. And if he were jealous of someone as harmless as Joe Dunston … They had parted on a better note; he sounded mollified. And her mother had told him nothing. Paula closed her eyes. She wouldn't help. It had been a wasted journey; the phone was ringing again. She glanced at her watch and sat up. She wanted to have a bath before she changed to meet Philip. But it was Philip on the line.

‘Mrs. Stanley? I wonder if I could come round earlier. Have you spoken to Mr. Fisher?'

‘Yes, just a few minutes ago.'

‘Then you must be excited. My mother told me; she is coming down late tonight.'

Paula sat up. ‘What do you mean, excited. What's happened?'

‘Didn't he tell you? He knows where the Salt is. We are going to get it tomorrow.'

‘No,' she said. ‘No, he didn't tell me. What time do you want to come?'

‘It's seven o'clock now. I would like to meet my mother's plane, it arrives at eleven. If I could come to your hotel in about twenty minutes we could have dinner a little early. Would you mind …?'

‘No, of course not. I'll be ready by half past seven. Goodbye.' She got up slowly. Fisher had lied to her. Whatever he had wanted from her mother, he had got it. He knew where the Salt was, and he had denied it. She went into the bathroom. The window was open but it was stifling hot. She went to the bath and dropped in the plug, turning on both taps. They were going to find the Salt. Tomorrow, Prince Philip had said. Fisher had alerted the Von Hessels and said nothing to her. Suddenly she felt sick; sick with the sense of his deceit. She had trusted him, loved him. In his way he had been no more true to her than James. Philip had told her; Fisher hadn't counted upon that twist of circumstance when he said he loved her and lied to her at the same time. The Prince would soon be calling for her. There wasn't time to have a bath. Paula shut off the taps and jerked out the plug. She washed at the basin and changed into a dark silk dress. She wore a long string of pearls which James had given her; her hair was burnished and chic, she made up lightly and used Fisher's expensive scent. A glance at her watch showed the time to be seven-thirty. She went out and down in the lift to wait for Philip Von Hessel.

A great number of women had tried to capture Philip. From the time he was in his teens, girls had ogled and simpered in his direction, and their activities became more serious as he grew older and more eligible. There had been flirtations and love affairs; he had a mistress of three years' standing who was already married and had long since abandoned any hope that he might marry her. But he had never fallen in love to the extent of asking any girl to be his wife. Like royalty, the Von Hessels either married cousins or into other families of similar eminence. It was unthinkable that Philip should look outside his own circle or have serious intentions towards a woman of lesser background. As a result he remained an obdurate bachelor, waiting for the improbable to happen, and the appearance of someone suitable with whom he could be in love. Because without love, he rejected all his mother's arguments that he should marry. She had called him a sentimentalist, in some surprise and not with approbation, but once again he had shown a strength of will in parity with her own. He never baulked her except on an issue which he connected with his conscience, and this again baffled and irritated his mother. For her there was no moral code but that dictated by the expedience of the moment. In meeting Paula he had no intention of doing more than enlisting her help in getting Fisher to drop the search for the Salt. The invitation to come to dinner was spontaneous and afterwards he was a little surprised by his action. He was not a man who acted upon impulse, and this had been impulsive to a degree. She was not the most attractive nor the most beautiful woman he had met. His mistress was a magnificent blonde, acclaimed in her wealthy circle as a dazzling example of German womanhood. Paula could not compare in respect of elegance, presence or importance with the women who frequented his circle; they were exotic, pampered, creatures divorced from the reality of ordinary life. He had felt when he talked to her that he was with a living woman, vulnerable, uncertain, dignified and shy. When he arrived in the foyer of the hotel and she got up to meet him, he felt elated, as if something unusual were about to happen.

‘It's very kind of you to make our dinner earlier,' he said. He had taken her hand and kissed it. He looked down at her and smiled; he thought she looked pale and aloof, but after a brief moment she smiled back at him, and suddenly the atmosphere relaxed. In those first moments of a second meeting, much of the future was decided. The success of that evening was assured from the moment Philip took her arm and led her outside to the car. Again, he seldom indulged in physical contact. He had been brought up to abhor the casual pawing which was generally accepted as a social
more
– the kissing of comparative strangers, the instant use of Christian names, all the debased practices which had once dignified a relationship between two people. He never took a woman's arm and held it on a pretext. He settled into the back of the limousine and offered her a cigarette.

‘Thank you,' Paula said. ‘Tell me about the Salt. Where is it?'

‘I don't know,' Philip answered. ‘My mother only had time to tell me she was coming here and the search would be over tomorrow. She was hurrying to catch a plane. I can't understand why Mr. Fisher didn't tell you; I thought that's why you were here.'

‘I think I understand it.' Paula looked at him. ‘The trouble is, I trusted him. Where are we going?'

‘To the Grand Vefour,' Philip answered. ‘It is quiet, but I think you will like it. I hope so.'

‘I'm sure I shall,' she said. ‘Let's wait till we get there and then we can talk about it.'

‘We don't have to talk about it, if it distresses you,' he answered. ‘And I feel it does. You look upset. I want this to be a pleasant evening for us both. After all, you won't accept another invitation if you don't enjoy yourself.'

‘I don't suppose you get that many refusals,' Paula said. ‘You're not married, are you?'

‘No. I am a bachelor and the despair of my mother. She wants grandchildren and I want to be happy. So it is stalemate. Here we are.'

It was an elegant restaurant, with the subdued atmosphere of the very exclusive and expensive, a haven for the rich gourmet who wished to concentrate upon the food and the company without distractions. There was no music, only a three-star menu and unobtrusive service that anticipated everything. Paula took her place at the table, and he noticed that several men were watching her.

‘May I pay you a compliment?'

‘Please do.'

‘You are the most attractive woman in the room.'

‘Thank you. Why do you laugh …'

‘Because you have a simplicity that I find delightful, Mrs. Stanley. I say something flattering, and you don't simper at me or try to deny it, you just say thank you. Where do you get your blue eyes? I've never seen such a colour.'

‘I get them from my father,' Paula answered. ‘Are you going to pay me a compliment about that?'

‘No,' Philip said. ‘I am not concerned with him. But I know that you are. You are no nearer finding him?'

‘No,' Paula said. ‘And if I depend upon Mr. Fisher, I shall never do so. He doesn't want me to find the General. That's why he didn't tell me he had solved the clue about the Salt. He wanted me to go back to England and forget about it all.'

‘Why should he do that? Why is he involved in your life?'

‘He's in love with me,' she answered. He had ordered a fine dry sherry and she sipped it. For some reason which she couldn't explain to herself, she wanted to tell this man the truth. He had a habit of looking very intently at her when she was speaking; it focused all his attention upon her. She found it intimate rather than disconcerting. He had fine eyes, with a serious expression in them that invited confidence.

‘And you,' he asked her. ‘I can understand him, but surely you are not …?'

‘I've been living with him,' Paula said slowly. ‘He wants to marry me.'

‘He has very good taste,' Philip remarked quietly. ‘I am surprised that he appealed to you.'

‘I was surprised too,' she said. ‘But then he's very much a man, and this was something new to me. Very decisive; I felt so safe with him.'

‘And do you love him?'

‘I don't know.' She shook her head. He thought how narrow and white her neck was. ‘I'm so angry with him and so disappointed. He's tried to cheat me. He knows that finding my father is the one thing in the world I have to do, and still he's cheated me and lied. I can't get over it. He's coming back tomorrow and I don't know how I'm going to face him. I wish I could move out of that hotel and not be there when he gets back.'

‘Why don't you?' Philip said. ‘Why don't you leave tonight?'

‘I'd never get another room. Paris is full of tourists this time of year.'

‘We have the suite my brother occupied,' he said suddenly. ‘Why don't you move in there? That's an excellent idea! It's empty and no one will use it, my mother has her own suite and so do I. It's completely wasted.'

‘I couldn't do that,' Paula said.

‘Why not? For a day or two, until we have recovered the Salt – then you will be going back to England. It would save you the embarrassment of seeing Fisher in the same hotel.'

‘It might be easier,' she said. ‘I want to break with him. I've made up my mind.'

‘Then you don't love him,' the Prince said. ‘And I would suggest that you never did. You were alone, and perhaps unhappy, and he seemed to be the answer. But he wasn't and no doubt you see that now.'

‘I don't see anything except that I can't go on, and I don't want a hideous emotional scene,' Paula said. ‘I'm so angry with him and so sorry for him.'

‘You have a kind heart,' Philip said. ‘I've never enjoyed hurting people either.'

‘Especially,' Paula remarked, ‘when one has been hurt oneself. My husband was an expert at crushing other people's sensibilities. By the time he and I were divorced, I didn't have an illusion left about myself. Eric gave me a lot of confidence. But he's lost his own, that's what has happened. He's afraid I shall find my father and choose him, and that's why he's broken his word to me and gone behind my back. He never thought I'd know.'

‘And would you choose your father?'

‘If he needed me,' she said. ‘I don't know. Nobody could answer that. When you find the Salt, I want to be there.'

‘You should be,' he said seriously. ‘It may prove to be your property.'

‘That's not the reason.' Paula turned to him. ‘There may be some message from my father, something to lead me to him – I told you, I don't want the Salt!'

‘I know you did,' he answered. ‘And I promise you, as soon as I know what is going to happen I will tell you. I promise you. And you will find that unlike Mr. Fisher, I don't break my word.'

‘You haven't the same motive,' Paula said. ‘I've destroyed him. He'll be better off without me anyway.'

‘I don't think he'd agree with that,' Philip said. ‘I feel sorry for him. If you will excuse me for a moment, I can telephone to the Ritz and tell them you'll be using the suite. It will be very much easier for you.'

‘I know it will,' she answered. ‘I'll take advantage of your offer; I can move in tonight.'

A few moments later he was back; he looked down at her and smiled.