The Black Benedicts (18 page)

But Mallory was so shocked by this utterly unexpected declaration that for a few moments she actually looked quite horrified, and then she made a determined attempt to rise from the couch, and, snatching free her arm, moved several paces away from him. He stood up, looking rather pale, and, moving near to her again, stretched forth his hands pleadingly.

“
Then you don
’
t—you
’
re not even a little bit interested...
?
”

“
I
’
m afraid—not...
”
But Mallory blamed herself. She blamed herself because not unnaturally he had misunderstood her willingness to spend whole evenings with him alone in this room, and although on previous occasions he had behaved perfectly, giving her no clue to what he was planning, to-night he had obviously been feeling
so
sure of her and her answer that he had not even waited until they had had a little ordinary conversation before he astounded her by uttering his proposal. And now that she was looking almost horrified by it there was something so bitterly disappointed and almost agonized in his face that a great wave of sympathy for
hi
m flowed over, and she regretted perhaps more than
she
had ever regretted anything in her life that she had got to add one more disappointment to his marred disappointed life.

“
I
’
m so sorry,
”
she told him, her soft voice shaking a little because she meant it,
“
so terribly sorry—but not even for Serena
’
s sake could I—could I marry you
...”

“
Not if I
’
m patient and give you time to get used to the idea? To think it over?
”

“
I
’
m afraid not.
”

She sounded so definite that his face grew even more stricken.

“
You couldn
’
t bring yourself to fall in love with me?
”

She shook her head.

“
It
’
s not that, I—I don
’
t love you
...
”

And it was t
rue
, she thought, that she could never love him—handsome though he was—actually far more handsome than his brother, because his features were well-nigh perfect, and there was something about him which appealed to her—something wistful and pathetic. But to be compared with his brother there was nothing—nothing about him that could ever cause her pulses to beat a little faster, to feel breathless when he spoke to her, secretly agonized when he ignored
her, unhappy because life had never meant them anything other than employer and employee
...

She turned towards the door, and she said in rather a flat voice:

“
I think it would be better if I returned to my own room
...”

But he got between her and the door, and he began to plead again.

“
But I
’
ve been waiting for you to come up here!—I
’
ve been listening for your footsteps, and you can
’
t leave me so soon. We
’
ve had no time together at all, and I couldn
’
t bear it if you went away without even letting me play to you. I won
’
t let you
...”

She said sorrowfully:
“
You can
’
t stop me.
”

“
That
’
s true,
”
he agreed, looked at her appealingly, and then bit his lip.
“
All the same, I
...
”

“
Yes?
”

But as she looked up at him, and her clear grey eyes met his, without any suspicion of what his next move was going to be, a dark flush rose under his clear olive skin, and in a single movement he was right beside her, and had caught her by her slender shoulders. An alarmed look flashed into her eyes, but before
s
he could utter even a protest his arms had closed violently about her, and she was crushed up against him, the strength of his deceptively slender body filling her with one brief moment of amazement before his lips clamped down on hers and she was powerless to do anything at all.

As soon as he lifted his head, however, she started to struggle violently. She beat at him with her small, clenched fists, and her frantic resistance seemed to act like the flames of a fire on his already uncontrollable passion, and he
kissed every available inch of her face in a despairing manner which secretly terrified her, although she did her utmost to prevent it. And then just as he bent to cover her slim white throat with the same hungry, hopeless kisses a knock came on the door, sharp and peremptory, and for a moment Adrian once again lifted his head.

The knock was not repeated, but the door opened, and as Raife Benedict stood looking with arched brows into the room Mallory made her escape from the arms that had held her imprisoned, and, darting a little towards him, she exclaimed with a sob of relief in her voice:

“
Oh, I
’
m so glad you
’
ve come! I—I
...”
And then as she saw he was looking at her with a cold and almost contemptuous look on his hawk
-l
ike face a flood of brilliant crimson rolled up over her face and neck, and she put both hands in a bewildered fashion up to her eyes and stood there for a moment in front of him as if she was quite despairing.

Then she lifted her head from her hands, and without meeting his eyes she breathed in a husky voice quite unlike her own:

“
Do you mind if I—if I go back to my own ro
o
m...
?
”

“
Not at all,
”
he answered, the note of ice in his voice causing her to wince inwardly.

He stood aside from the doorway, and she passed him and fled along the corridor, feeling more abjectly humiliated and more bitterly, unhappy than she had ever felt in her life before.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

T
he next
day Mallory waited for the summons to the library which she felt certain would be the result of the night before, and although the morning passed without the expected tap on the schoolroom door followed by the appearance of Rose requesting her to go at once to the private and particular sanctum of the master of the house, it was not until late afternoon that the summons actually came.

Then it was Mrs. Carpenter, and not Rose, who put her head round the school-room door and looked at Mallory a little oddly as she said:

“
Mr. Raife would like to see you in the library, Miss Gower, if you
’
ll go down.
”
She looked more severely at Serena, who, taking this as a signal that lessons were over for the day, was sweeping her school books together preparatory to tossing them into the cupboard where they lived when they were not in active use, and added with a much primmer note in her voice:
“
And you, Miss Serena, have been invited to have tea in the drawing-room by Miss Martingale!
”

“
Oo, lovely!
”
Serena exclaimed, and barely waited for Mallory to give her permission before she scampered off to wash her hands and get Darcy to brush her hair.

Mrs. Carpenter remained in the school-room for a few minutes longer, looking once again at Mallory, who she thought looked a little pale and unlike herself to-day.

“
I don
’
t suppose it
’
s anything very dreadful,
”
she said, with sudden sympathy, to the girl
w
hose oddly frozen expression troubled her.
“
Mr. Raife can bite very hard when he feels like it, but I
’
m quite sure you haven
’
t done anything to cause him to be more than a little peevish.
”
It was her private opinion that
‘
Mr. Raife,
’
as
she
called him, was looking extremely peevish to-day, but she did not pass this information on to Mallory.
“
It
’
s all this upset in the house that
’
s getting on his nerves, and it
’
ll be a good thing in my opinion When it
’
s all over, and Miss Martingale gone back to Town.
”

But in the minds of both women, as they looked at one another, was the thought that Miss Martingale
’
s return to Town might very easily be the prelude to more lengthy visits to Morven—perhaps even a permanent visit!

This was a thought which shook Mrs. Carpenter, for in that event it was fairly certain that her own days at Morven would be numbered, since the ballerina made no secret of the fact that she disliked the housekeeper—almost certainly because she was aware that the housekeeper disliked her, and, what was more, disapproved of her. But Mallory was in the state of mind when nothing greatly mattered to her, and whether or not Sonia Martingale became mistress of Morven, she knew that the day when she herself said good-bye to it could not be far distant.

As she rose and mechanically tidied herself before making her appearance in the library, she was quite prepared to receive her dismissal on the spot.

In answer to her nervous tap on the heavy oak door her employer called to her to enter. He was seated in his favourite position before his roll-topped desk, engaged apparently in sorting the evening
’
s mail, and he did not look up as he ordered her rather curtly to sit down.

It was the kind of reception she had anticipated, and it merely made her go a little colder inside. She had made up her mind beforehand that there was little point in putting any blame upon Adrian
—
she did not blame him in her own heart, for, according to his lights, he had received encouragement from her, and it was she who was to blame for taking her employer
’
s request that she should be a litt
l
e friendly to his brother rather too literally. She imagined he was furiously indignant, and she clasped her hands together tightly in her lap and waited for him to condemn her.

But when he spoke at last, although his voice was forbiddingly cold, his words surprised her.

“
I
’
m sorry about last night,
”
he said.
“
I
’
m sure Adrian
’
s sorry, too—although his intentions were strictly honourable! He is very anxious to marry you.
”

“
I—
I
know,
”
Mallory answered, and her voice was so dry that it was like la whisper of withered leaves in her throat.

He glanced at her for an instant sideways
.
“
But you are not anxious to marry him?
”

“
No.
”

This time the leaves all but impeded utterance. He picked up a handsome gold fountain-pen and toyed with it while he spoke again.

“I’
m sorry for Adrian, because you appear to have a tremendous appeal for him, and his life has not been happy up to date. But if you do not return his interest and his attentions were thrust on you, as apparently they were, then I feel that as the head of the family I owe you an apology for what took place last night
”
He stood up and pushed back his chair and started to pace restlessly up and down the room, never once really looking deliberately at her, although he passed very close to her chair, and as
she
watched him with dull eyes once again the thought leapt to her mind that there was something pantherishly graceful in his agile stride.
“
It was my fault,
”
he concluded,
“
for asking you not to go out of your way to snub him if by chance he displayed a desire to talk to you when you were not otherwise occupied.
”

Mallory said nothing, only moistened her lips a little, and suddenly he turned and looked directly at her.

“
You
’
re quite sure you don
’
t wish to marry my brother? He
’
s not a poor man, you know—at least, he wouldn
’
t be if he desired to set up an establishment of his own. I would see to that. And at least you appear to have a great love of music, which is something you apparently have in common,
”
a curiously cynical twist distorting his lips.

Mallory
’
s eyes betrayed a spark of indignation. If he thought that by offering to provide for her future and the future of his brother he would supply her with an inducement to consider marriage to the younger Benedict he was more or less offering her a direct insult. And the insult stung, and made her quiver inwardly.

“
I
’
m
quite
sure I don
’
t wish to marry your brother—quite, quite sure,
”
she answered, hoping the dismayed tremble was not noticeable in her voice.

“
In that case,
”
and she saw his eyebrows lift as he stopped again in front of her,
“
why did you
c
hoose to spend the evening with him last night instead of accepting an invitation which was sent to you to have dinner in the dining-room with the rest of us?
”
His tone was clipped, and cold, and condemning.
“
You allowed Serena to join us in the dining-room, but although it was actually your duty as her governess to attend her, you preferred to more or less ignore t
h
e invitation and slip up to Adrian
’
s room with the intention of spending several hours with
him.
He told me that you agreed to spend a musical evening together, and yet you expect me to blame him and him alone for what occurred last night, and exonerate you altogether. Well, I
’
m not at all sure that I feel like exonerating you!
”

His face was dark and almost frightening with anger, and
she
leapt to her feet and confronted him.