Hiding from Love (16 page)

“Desirée was – kindly looking after me – and I was worried when she disappeared,” she murmured, feeling that this explanation had the virtue of not being entirely untrue.

“I did disappear, but I thought that you were asleep,” began Desirée, when Robert put his finger to his lips and beckoned the two girls to follow him.

Leonora could hear the sound of someone testing the pistons of a nearby machine.

She hesitated, unwilling to be implicated further in this strange web of deception, but Desirée quickly grasped her hand and drew her along.

Robert closed the door quietly behind them.

“Perhaps a little tea to calm our nerves?” he asked.

Leonora barely heard, as she looked dazedly about her. She took in a tin kettle on a stove, a large trunk and four bunk beds covered with brown blankets.

Robert followed her gaze.

“I share this room with three other fellows.”

Desirée gave an appalled cry.

“Oh, Robert, it's so small!”

“I don't mind.  I am now used to it.  I'd put up with anything for you – you know that, Desirée.”

Leonora flinched instinctively as matters must have now gone far between them.

“I really don't feel I should remain here,” she said, glancing at the door.

“Oh, please stay,” pleaded Desirée.  “Robert only wanted us to come in here in case someone saw us.”

“That's right,” confirmed Robert. “My room-mates are all right.  They are in on the secret, but should the Chief Engineer get wind of what's going on – ”

He trailed off and looked away, suddenly uncertain.

Leonora waited a moment and then turned to Desirée,

“So what exactly
is
going on?” she asked, unable to disguise a hint of disapproval.

Desirée reddened as she caught Leonora's tone.

“It's not – what you may think, Leonora!  This isn't something unconsidered or flippant.  The truth is – Robert and I – we're engaged.  We've been engaged for some time, only Mama wouldn't countenance it and took me away.”

Leonora paled as she remembered Mrs. Griddle's revelation that she was going to Brazil in order to remove Desirée from an unsuitable suitor.

Robert with his tangled beard was that ‘suitor'!

And she had thought that Desirée was in love with Mr. Chandos!

‘What an utter fool I have been!  
An utter fool
!'

“Miss Leonora?”  Robert was now looking at her in alarm.  “Perhaps you should take a seat?”

Leonora sank gratefully down on a nearby stool.

Her thoughts were in turmoil as she watched Robert pour water into a teapot while Desirée looked for mugs and she could not but notice Robert's longing glances at her.

‘
I considered her so insignificant
,' she reproached herself, ‘
but look how he loves her
!'

There was silence as he filled the mugs with tea.

“So how did you manage to be on the same ship as Desirée?” Leonora asked Robert at last.

He thrust his fingers into his beard.

“Mr. Chandos – ” he replied, glancing at Desirée.

“Mr. Chandos?” repeated Leonora feeling that there was no end to the surprises in store for her.

Robert gave a nod.

“I'll tell you the whole story from the beginning.  When I learned that Desirée's parents were planning to take her abroad and away from me, I determined to follow.  I'm not at all a very brave fellow, but I wasn't going to let my one chance of happiness be stolen from me.

“So I contrived to discover the name of the ship she would be travelling on and the date it was sailing with the intention of finding employment on board.

“I disguised myself by growing this beard, although it was not really necessary.  Mrs. Griddle had only agreed to meet me the once to tell me that I was unsuitable – I am only a clerk in a publishing house, you see.

“I came down to Bristol in order to visit the Offices of the Steamship Company, saying I wanted to sign on for work.  They laughed at me at first, saying I did not look strong enough, but then Mr. Chandos came in and wanted to know what was going on.

“I then decided to tell him my whole predicament and once he'd heard me out he hired me on the spot.”

“
He
hired you?”  Leonora's eyes widened.  “What authority had he to do that?”

Robert gave a disbelieving chortle while Desirée's eyes turned with astonishment on Leonora.

“Bless you, Leonora,” he cried.  “Don't you know?  Mr. Chandos is the owner of this ship.”

Leonora swayed on her stool.

“H-he is?”

“Sole owner.  He had a partner once, but the partner died.  He owns a mine in Brazil and that's where the steel girders in the hold are going.  He's a very wealthy man.”

Leonora was now beyond absorbing any more.  Her mind was running in a fever back over the last few days.

She had indeed noticed the deference shown to Mr. Chandos by the Captain and the crew, but there had been no other sign of his importance.

He had never pulled rank and it was obvious that none of the other passengers realised his status.

Now she could understand that meeting on deck in the moonlight, when Desirée had rested her head on Mr. Chandos's shoulder and now she appreciated his chivalrous interest in Desirée.

He was the confidant and go-between.

When he had offered to lend her books, it was no doubt to facilitate the exchange of messages with Robert and when he had taken the note from Desirée in her cabin, it had been destined for Robert, not for himself.

“You can depend on me,” he had said and Leonora had interpreted those words as a lover's pledge.

‘Oh, fool, fool,' she cried desperately to herself.  ‘I have snubbed and ignored him out of jealousy when all the time he was acting at the urge of his generous heart.'

She could not prevent herself from groaning.

“Are you not well, Leonora?” asked Desirée.

“I am – fine.  I am just tired.  It must be very late.”

Robert threw a glance at Desirée.

“It is,” he admitted glumly.

Leonora understood the situation at once.  He was hoping for a little time alone with Desirée.

“Excuse me, I really must be going now.”

“Should I not accompany you?” ventured Desirée.

“Not at all.  I will find my way back.  I feel fine and I'm sure you two have – much to say to each other.”

As Robert opened the door and looked warily out, Desirée caught at Leonora's arm.

“You won't tell Mama?” she urged in a whisper.

“Oh, Desirée, do you really think I would?”

Desirée, relieved, shook her head.

“And I won't tell on you – ”

She blinked as she realised Desirée was promising not to inform Mr. Chandos that Leonora had felt obliged to intervene tonight on his unwitting behalf.

“Thank you,” Leonora murmured.

Desirée smiled wanly, as Robert, having ascertained that the coast was clear, ushered Leonora out.

*

Mr. Chandos was not at breakfast the next morning and nor was Desirée.

Mrs. Griddle threw Leonora a questioning look as she sat down, but was otherwise reasonably forthcoming.  She said that Desirée was feeling unwell.

Finny was serving at breakfast this morning and he fussed over Leonora, much to Mrs. Griddle's interest.

Leonora was not hungry, but under Finny's watchful eye, she forced herself to eat a boiled egg.

When he went off to serve another table, however, she threw down her napkin and quickly excused herself.

She did not want to return to her cabin just yet and went instead to the upper deck.

Who should be there, leaning on the rail and staring at the horizon, but Mr. Chandos!

Now that she knew his true character and the depth of his kindness to Desirée and Robert, she felt even shyer of him than ever.

Her heart fluttered as she approached him.

“Good morning, Mr. Chandos.”

“Good morning, Miss Cressy.”

She hovered, twisting the end of her shawl.

“You were – not at breakfast?”

“No.  I was not hungry.”

Leonora bit her lip and turned to stare at the sea.

“It is – very fine today,” she murmured at last.

Mr. Chandos nodded.

“Fine now, yes, but I really don't like the look of that dark horizon.”

There was indeed a black line of cloud lying low where the sea and sky met.

“Does it mean a storm?”

“I hope not.”

Silence fell again between them.

Leonora did not know how to broach the subject of last night's unhappy incident with Señor de Guarda and yet broach it she must, if only to thank Mr. Chandos for his timely intervention.

At last she cleared her throat.

“M-Mr. Chandos?”

To her considerable dismay, she felt she detected an impatient sigh as he turned to face her.

“What is it, Miss Cressy?”

His eyes were dark and their expression unfriendly.

“I-I wanted to thank you, Mr. Chandos, for carrying me to – my cabin last night.”

He waved her words away with a frown.

“Any gentleman would have done the same.  There is no need to thank me.”

“Oh, but there is!” she carried on bravely.  “I know that you interceded when Señor de Guarda – ”

She faltered as she saw the effect the Señor's name had on Mr. Chandos.  His eyes grew hard and a muscle in his jaw flexed.

“You had better say no more, Miss Cressy.  I should not wish you to compromise yourself still further.”

Leonora started.

Compromise herself
?

She knew that she had behaved foolishly with the Señor, but surely Mr. Chandos did not believe that she had encouraged his attentions to the degree of assaulting her?

“I know that you overheard all that passed between Señor de Guarda and me, Mr. Chandos.  In which case you must be aware that I did not – welcome his attentions?”

Mr. Chandos's expression was glacial.

“It did not
seem
you welcomed it, no, but who is to say what sort of conduct finds latent favour with a lady?”

“L-latent favour?”

“In retrospect, in the safety of your cabin, Señor de Guarda's appeal grew and what had frightened you at the time began to intrigue you – enough for you to rise from your sickbed to seek him out, no doubt to further test what his Latin arts of seduction might bring about.”

“I – don't know what you mean.”

Mr. Chandos gave her such a look of contempt that she felt she must wither before him.

“I brought the Captain to your cabin to see if you were recovered, Miss Cressy.  He has medical knowledge, but unfortunately we found your bed empty.”

Leonora gasped in dismay.

Mr. Chandos had obviously expected Desirée to be absent from the cabin, but not her, the patient he had carried unconscious in his arms.

He knew that Desirée had an urgent assignation, but he could only guess where she, Leonora, might be and with whom and that he believed she had returned to the bosom of the Señor was a blow to her self-esteem.

All she had to do now was tell him the truth and he would be mortified at his mistake.

But how could she reveal her secret?

How could she tell him that she had suspected his interest in Desirée to be amorous?

How could she possibly explain to him that she had followed Desirée out of jealousy?

She lifted her hand weakly.

“I assure you, you are – mistaken,” she whispered.

“Am I, Miss Cressy?” His tone cut her like a knife.  “Well, perhaps Señor de Guarda will throw some light on the matter, for here he comes.”

Leonora turned to see the Señor bearing down on them with an expression of penitence on his face.

His features underwent a transformation, however, as he detected the charged air about her and Mr. Chandos.  He became at once alert, his eyes moving swiftly from one to the other.

“Miss Cressy, Mr. Chandos,” he said with a bow.

Mr. Chandos looked at him with disdain.

“I am surprised, sir, that you feel so free to appear in public after your conduct last night!”

Señor de Guarda's eyebrows rose.

“You English – you take courtship so seriously.”

Mr. Chandos snorted.

“Courtship, you call it!”

“I was just a little rough in my approach, perhaps, but the ladies like it, you know.  If you had not considered it right to interrupt, who knows but that Miss Cressy might have been persuaded to humour me a little – ”

“As no doubt she did later!”

Leonora's hands flew to her face, whilst Señor de Guarda narrowed his eyes with interest.

Whether or not he knew just what Mr. Chandos's words meant, he was quick to jump on what they implied.

“Ah,” he sighed.  “Whenever has a young woman been consistent in her attitude?  Whomever she loathes one minute, she embraces with a full heart the next.”

He winked at Leonora.

“Isn't that so, my little bird?”

Mr. Chandos swung away with a muffled curse, as Leonora gave a strangled cry.

“I am not –
your little bird
!”

Señor de Guarda's eyes flashed such a warning that Leonora shrank back.

“Oh, but you are, my dear,” he insisted.  “You are my little
magpie
, are you not?”

Leonora understood in an instant.

Magpie.  The
thieving
magpie.  He was reminding her that he knew of her past.  He was reminding her that he knew she had taken Mr. Schilling's money.

It was clear that if she refuted his version of their relationship, he would not hesitate to expose her there and then to Mr. Chandos.

Her eyes filled up with tears of rage that even now, after such a long interval of time, the odious Mr. Schilling should still be casting such a shadow over her life.