The Burning Shore (72 page)

No Anna, I was sick. Centaine was trembling. Up to that minute she had truly closed her mind against the awful possibility that Anna now presented.

Anna placed her big callused hand on Centaine’s belly, and she cringed from the touch.

I never trusted him, with his cat’s eyes and yellow hair and that great bulge in his breeches, Anna muttered furiously. Now I understand why you would not speak to him when we left, why you treated him like an enemy, not a saviour. Anna, I have missed before. It could be- He raped you, my poor child! He violated you! You could not help it. That is how it happened? Centaine recognized the escape that Anna was offering her, and she yearned to take it.

He forced you, my baby, didn’t he? Tell Anna. No, Anna. He did not force me. You allowed him, you let him? Anna’s expression was formidable.

I was so lonely. Centaine sank down on to the stool and covered her face with her hands. I had not seen another white person for almost two years, and he was so kind and beautiful, and I owed him my life. Don’t you understand, Anna? Please say you understand! Anna enfolded her in those thick powerful arms, and Centaine pressed her face into her soft warm bosom. Both of them were silent, shaken and afraid.

You cannot have it, Anna said at last. We will have to get rid of it. The shock of her words racked Centaine, so she trembled afresh and tried to hide from the dreadful thought.

We cannot bring another bastard to Theuniskraal, they would not stand for it. The shame would be too much.

They have taken one, but Mijnheer and the general could not take another. For the sake of all of us, Michael’s family and Shasa, for yourself, for all those whom I love, there is no choice in the matter. You must get rid of it.”Anna, I can’t do that. Do you love this man who put it in your belly? Not now. Not any more. I hate him, she whispered. Oh God, how I hate him!

Then get rid of his brat before it destroys you and Shasa and all of us.

The dinner was a nightmare. Centaine sat at the bottom of the long table and smiled briefly, though her eyes burned with shame and the bastard in her belly felt like an adder, coiled and ready to strike.

The tall elderly man beside her droned on in a particularly rasping and irritating tone, directing his monologue almost exclusively at Centaine. His bald head had been turned by the sun to the colour of a plover’s egg, but his eyes were strangely lifeless, like those of a marble statue.

Centaine could not concentrate on what he was saying, and it became unintelligible as though he were speaking an unknown language. Her mind wandered off to pluck and worry at this new threat that had loomed up suddenly, a threat to her entire existence and that of her son.

She knew that Anna was right. Neither the general nor Garry Courtney could allow another bastard into Theuniskraal. Even if they were able to condone what she had done, and it was beyond reason or hope that they could, even then they could not allow her to bring disgrace and scandal not only upon Michael’s memory, but upon the entire family. It was not possible, Anna’s way was the only escape open to her.

She jumped in her seat and almost screamed aloud.

Below the level of the dinner-table, the man beside her had placed his hand upon her thigh.

Excuse me, Papa. She pushed back her chair hurriedly, and Garry looked down the length of the table with concern. I must go through for a moment, and she fled into the kitchen.

Anna saw her distress and ran to meet her, then led her into the pantry. She locked the door behind them.

Hold me, please Anna, I am so confused and afraid and that awful man - she shuddered.

Anna’s arms quieted her, and after a while she whispered, You are right, Anna. We must get rid of it We will talk about it tomorrow, Anna told her gently. Now bathe your eyes with cold water and go back to the dining-room before you make a scene. Centaine’s rebuff had served its purpose, and the tall, bald-headed mining magnate did not even glance at her when she came back to her seat beside him. He was addressing the woman on his other hand, but the rest of the company was listening to him with the attention due to one of the richest men in the world.

Those were the days, he was saying. The country was wide open, a fortune under every stone, by gad. Barnato started with a box of cigars to trade, bloody awful cigars too, and when Rhodes bought him out he gave him a cheque for $3,000,000, the largest cheque ever issued up to that time, though I can tell you I myself have written a few bigger since thenAnd how did you start, Sir Joseph? Five pounds in my pocket and a nose to sniff out a real diamond from a schlenter, that’s how I got my start.”And how do you do that, Sir Joseph? How do you tell a real diamond? The quickest way is to dip it into a glass of water, my dear. If it comes out wet, it’s a schlenter. If it comes out dry, it’s a diamond. The words passed Centaine without seeming to leave any impression, for she was so preoccupied, and Garry was signalling her from the head of the table that it was time to take the ladies through.

However, Robinson’s words must have made a mark deep in her subconscious, for the next afternoon as she sat in the gazebo staring unseeingly out across the sundrenched lawns, fiddling miserably with H’ani’s necklace, rubbing the stones between her fingers, almost without conscious t ught she suddenly leaned over the table and from the crystal carafe poured a tumbler full of spring water.

Then she lifted the necklace over the tumbler and slowly lowered it into the water. After a few seconds she lifted it out and studied it distractedly. The coloured stones glistened with water, and then suddenly her heart began to race. The white stone, the huge crystal in the centre of the necklace, was dry.

She dropped the necklace back into the water and pulled it out again. Her hand began to shake. Like the breast of a swan, shining white, the stone had shed even the tiniest droplets, although it glistened more luminously than the wet stones that surrounded it.

Guiltily she looked around her, but Shasa slept on his back with a thumb deep in his mouth and the lawns were deserted in the noonday heat. For the third time she lowered the necklace into the glass and when the white stone came out dry once again, she whispered softly, H’ani, my beloved old grandmother, will you save us again? It is possible that you are still watching over me?

Centaine could not consult the Courtney family doctor in Ladyburg, so she and Anna planned a journey to the capital town of the province of Natal, the sea port of Durban. The pretext for the journey was the perennial feminine favourite, shopping to be done.

They had hoped to get away from Theuniskraal on their own, but Garry would not hear of it.

Leave me behind, forsooth! You’ve been on at me, both of you, about a new suit. Well, it’s a fine excuse for me to visit my tailor, and while I’m about it I might even pick up a pair of bonnets or some other litt e gewgaws for two ladies of my acquaintance. So it was a full-scale family expedition, with Shasa and his two Zulu nannies, with both the Fiat and the Ford needed to convey them all down the winding dusty hundred and fifty miles of road to the coast. They descended on the Majestic Hotel on the beach front of the Indian Ocean, and Garry took the two front suites.

It needed all the ingenuity of both Anna and Centaine to evade him for a few hours, but they managed it. Anna had made discreet enquiries and had the name of a doctor with consulting-rooms in Point Road. They visited him under assumed names, and he confirmed what they had both known to be true.

My niece has been a widow for two years, Anna explained delicately. She cannot afford scandal. I’m sorry, madam.

There is nothing I can do to help you, the doctor replied primly, but when Centaine paid him his guinea, hu murmured, I will give you a receipt. And he scribbled on the slip of paper a name and an address.

In the street Anna took her arm. We have -an hour before Miinheer expects us back at the hotel. We will go to make the arrangements.

No, Anna, Centaine stopped. I have to think about this. I want to be alone for a while There is nothing to think about, said Anna gruffly.

Leave me, Anna, I will be back long before dinner.

We will go tomorrow. Anna knew that tone and that expression. She threw up her hands and climbed into the waiting rickshaw.

As the Zulu runner bore her off in the high two-wheeled carriage, she called, Think all you like, child, but tomorrow we do it my way. Centaine waved and smiled until the rickshaw turned into West Street, then she spun round and hurried back towards the harbour.

She had noticed a shop when they passed it earlier: m.

NA11300. JEWELLER.

The interior was small, but clean and neat, with inexpensive jewellery set out in glass-topped display cabinets.

The moment she entered, a plump, dark-skinned Hindu in a tropical suit came through the bead screen from the rear of the building.

Good afternoon, honoured madam, I am Mr Moonsarny Naidoo at madam’s service. He had a bland face and thick wavy hair dressed with coconut oil until it glowed like coal fresh from the face.

I would like to look at your wares. Centaine leaned over the glass-topped counter and studied the display of silver -filigree bracelets.

A gift for a loved one, of course, good madam, these are truly loo percent pure silver hand-manufactured by learned craftsmen of the highest calibre. Centaine did not reply. She knew the risks that she was about to take, and she was trying to form some estimate of the man. He was doing the same to her. He looked at her gloves and shoes, infallible gauges of a lady’s quality.

of course, these trinkets are mere bagatelle. If esteemed madam would care to see something more prince or more princessly?

Do you deal in, diamonds? Diamonds, most reverend madam? His bland plump face creased into a smile. I can show you a diamond fit for a king, or a queen. And I will do the same for you, Centaine said quietly, and placed the huge white crystal on the glass counter top between them.

The Hindu jeweller choked with shock, and apped his hands like a penguin. Sweet madam! he gasped. Cover it, I beseech you. Hide it from my gaze! Centaine dropped the crystal back into her purse and turned towards the door, but the jeweller was there before her.

An instant more of your time, devout madam. He drew down the blinds over the windows and the glass door, then turned the key in the lock, before he came back to her.

There are extreme penalties, his voice was unsteady, ten years of durance of the vilest sort, and I am not a well man. The goalers are most ugly and unkind, good madam, the risks are infinite-’I will trouble you no further. Unlock the door.”Please, dear madam, if you will follow me.”He backed towards the bead screen, bowing from the waist and making wide flourishing gestures of invitation.

His office was tiny, and the glass-topped desk filled it so there was barely room for both of them. There was one small high window. The air was stifling and redolent with the aroma of curry powder.

May I see the object again, good madam? Centaine place it on the centre of the desk, and the Hindu screwed a jeweller’s loupe into his eye before he picked up the stone and held it towards the light from the window.

Is it permitted to ask where this was obtained, kind madam? No. He turned it slowly under the magnifying lens, and then placed in on the small brass tray of the jeweller’s balance that stood on the side of the desk. As he weighed he murmured, IDB, madam, Illicit Diamond Buying oh, the police are most strict and severe. Satisfied with the weight, he opened the drawer of the desk and brought out a cheap glass-cutter, shaped like a pen, but with a sharp chip of boart, the black industrialgrade diamond, set in the tip.

What are you going to do? Centaine asked suspiciously.

The only real test, madam, the jeweller explained. A diamond will scratch any other substance on earth except another diamond. To illustrate the point he drew the stylus of boart across the glass top of the desk. it screeched so that Centaine’s skin prickled and her teeth were set on edge, but the point left a deep white scratch across the glass surface. He looked up at her for permission and then Centaine nodded, he braced the white stone firmly against the desk-top, and drew the point of the stylus across it.

It slipped smoothly over one plane of the crystal as though it had been lubricated, and it left no mark on the surface.

A droplet of sweat fell from the Hindu’s chin and splashed loudly on the glass. He ignored it, and made another stroke across the stone, putting more strength behind the stylus. There was no sound, no mark.

His hand began to tremble, and this time he leaned the full weight of his arm and shoulder as he attempted to make the cut. The wooden shaft of the stylus snapped in half, but the white crystal was unmarked. They both S stared at it, until Centaine said softly, How much? The risks are terrible, good madam, and I am an excessively honest man. How much?

One thousand pounds, he whispered.

Five, said Centaine.

Madam, dear sweet madam, I am a man of impeccably high reputation. If I were apprehended in the act of IDB

Tive, she repeated.

Two, he croaked, and Centaine reached for the stone.

Three, he said hurriedly, and Centaine held back.

Tour, she said firmly.

Three and a half dear madam, my very last and most earnest offer. Three’and a half thousand pounds. Done, she said.

Where is the money? I do not keep such vast sums of lucre on my person, good madam. I will return tomorrow at the same time, with the diamond. Have the money ready.

I don’t understand, Garry Courtney wrung his hands miserably. Surely all of us could accompany you No, Papa. It is something I have to do alone. One of us, then, Anna or myself? I just can’t let you go off again. Anna must stay and look after Shasa.”I will come with you, then. You need a man-’No, Papa. I beg your indulgence and understanding. I have to do this alone. Entirely on my own.

Centaine, you know how much I have come to love you. Surely I have some rights, the right to know where it is you are going, what you intend doing? Iam desolated, for much as I love you in return, I cannot tell you. To do so would destroy the whole point of my going. Think of it as a pilgrimage which I am obliged to make. That is all I can tell you Garry rose from his desk, crossed to the tall library windows and stood looking out into the sunlight with his hands clasped behind his back.