The Winding Stair (29 page)

She dropped her embroidery and scurried away to the far end of the loggia.

‘What set her off?' Prospero came out of the house on silent feet. ‘I thought she was better.'

‘She is mostly. She doesn't want to go to the Princess's party.'

‘Not go? Nonsense. Of course you must go. I only wish Miguel and I were invited, but my boys will be there to take care of you.'

‘Roberto too?'

‘I believe so.'

‘Oh well, in that case …' Juana had heard enough about Carlota Joaquina's parties to feel relieved that she and her stepsisters would each have a man to look after them.

So it was disconcerting to arrive at the party, just as the sun was setting, and be presented, at once, with a domino and mask. ‘The Princess's orders,' explained Carlota Joaquina's
Camereira Mor
, a wrinkled old woman in rusty black. ‘All her guests are to remain masked until supper time.'

‘Delicious!' Daisy was already wrapping herself in the all-concealing domino.

‘Don't look so anxious, Juana.' Teresa adjusted her mask at the glass. ‘They'll contrive to find us, masked or not.' She turned to the old woman. ‘
Os Ingleses
,' she began in halting Portuguese, and then, giving it up, in English: ‘Have they come yet? Milord Strangford?'

‘
Nao entendo
.' The woman looked puzzled.

‘
Os Ingleses
!' Teresa raised her voice. ‘Are they here yet? Oh, Juana, translate! You're the one who wants to know, after all.'

‘I don't!' But of course she did. She turned to the
Camereira Mor
and asked the question in Portuguese.

‘Milord Strangford?' the old woman shook her head. ‘We sent no invitation to him.'

‘What does she say?' Teresa was satisfied now with the set of her mask and eager to be out where the music was playing.

‘That Lord Strangford wasn't asked.'

‘Oh, poor Juana! But never mind; Pedro and Roberto will find you a cavalier!'

‘Aunt Elvira!' Juana turned impulsively to her aunt, hoping for support. Every instinct urged her to leave at once.

But Elvira had been stranger than usual all day. Now she broke, disconcertingly into Camoens' lament for his beloved: ‘ “
Minha alma gentilha
…”'

The
Camereira Mor
took her arm. ‘Don't trouble yourself about the old one,' she said to Juana. ‘I will see she is well cared for. Do you go down and amuse yourselves. I was told to tell you that the air in the courtyard is sweet.'

‘What does she say?' Daisy turned from the glass.

‘She advises us to go down to the courtyard. Apparently she was told to do so.'

‘Pedro, of course. No need to look so grave, Juana. Anyone would think you were our chaperone, instead of the youngest of us.'

In the courtyard, water splashed as background to the melancholy music of a group of guitarists. A singer was whispering the words of a
modinha
:

‘ “
Love is so sweet
Love is so bitter
…”'

The light was beginning to fail, but the moon was not up yet. Masked figures moved to and fro among the shadows of vine and colonnade, some of them already in pairs, others still on the hunt.

As the three girls hesitated at the top of the shallow steps, two masked figures advanced from the shadows to greet them. Watching each of them take a hand of one of her companions, Juana realised what an unmistakable tall figure she herself must cut.

‘Quickly!' Pedro's voice. ‘The fireworks are about to begin.'
He had Daisy's arm and offered his other one to Juana. ‘The bottom of the long walk is the best place to see them.'

Roberto and Teresa had moved off already, but Daisy hung back. ‘Should we not find a cavalier for Juana?'

‘No names! It's the Princess's order that we should all be incognito until we unmask at supper. Come, it's nearly dark.'

Making their way out of the courtyard and down one of the long jasmine-scented alleyways that were laid out between orange and lemon groves, they found themselves part of a crowd of masked figures all moving in the same direction. ‘What a squeeze,' said Daisy. ‘I had no idea it would be such a large party.'

‘Nor I.' If she had known, Juana thought, she would most certainly not have come. Passionately now, she wished she had followed instinct and gone home when she discovered Lord Strangford had not been invited. And to make matters worse, all Pedro's attention was centred on Daisy, and her own position as the spare third was awkward in the extreme. The alley was really only wide enough for two, but she dared not let go Pedro's arm, for fear of losing him in the crowd. So she scraped along, half beside, half behind the other two, and was grateful for her domino as a protection against spiky leaves and branches. Ahead of them she could see that the alley opened on to a wider space lit by coloured lanterns, and she was just congratulating herself that they must catch up with Roberto and Teresa there when they met a noisy group of masks and she was torn suddenly from Pedro's arm and swept back the way she had come.

‘A prize! A prize!' One of the masks seized her arm. ‘No cavalier is allowed two ladies tonight. A lawful prize!'

‘No! Let me go!' Struggling with him, she saw with horror that Pedro and Daisy had gone on down the alley to join the crowd at the end. They must have thought she had left them willingly. ‘Let me go, I say!'

‘A spirited filly!' Like her, he spoke in Portuguese.

At least he did not know her. Instinctively, she stooped a little to conceal her betraying height. ‘Please let me go. I want to rejoin my friends.'

‘I
am
your friend.' He tightened his grip on her arm. ‘Come with me, my pretty, and I will show you just how good a friend I can be.' He pulled her back into a dark side-alley.

Short of screaming and precipitating just the kind of scene she must avoid, there was no way she could stop him. ‘But I want
to see the fireworks!' If she could not save herself by force, she must do so by guile.

‘Fireworks! I'll show you something better than fireworks.' His slurring speech warned her that, unusually for a Portuguese, he was considerably the worse for drink. No use reasoning with him. She must wait and watch for her chance to escape.

He pulled her down on to a rustic seat in a vine-covered arbour. ‘Now, my pretty, it's time to unmask!' But his hand went, not to her mask, but to her muslin gown, where the domino had fallen open.

‘No!' As she struggled, the first rockets roared and hissed into the sky. It was her chance. His grip slackened, she pulled away and was off, in a flash down the nearest alley. He came after her swearing, but she found a turning among heavy-scented jasmines, took it, then plunged into the bushes to stand, face hidden by her domino, hardly breathing as he blundered by. Another shower of fireworks terrified her with the chance of being seen, but must merely have confused him. She heard him carry on down the path, but stayed there, statue-still, for a few more minutes, just in case …

More fireworks. They would have been beautiful in other circumstances. At least they lit up the garden enough to show her that this path led back toward the house. Nothing mattered now but to get back there and find the
Camereira Mor
and Elvira. She must just hope that Daisy and Teresa were safe with her cousins, while blaming herself bitterly for having come to such a party. Not only herself. How could her family have let her? They must have known.

Everyone was watching the fireworks, which roared and sparkled and flashed above her as she made her way unmolested back to the house. Pausing in the darkness of the archway that led into the courtyard, she saw one tall mask standing alone as if waiting for someone. Tall. Wild illogical hope boiled up in her, and as she entertained it, sceptically, he called, low and cautious: ‘Juana?'

‘Gair! Thank God.' She moved forward into the lamplit courtyard.

‘I'm sorry if I have kept you waiting.' Something very odd about his tone.

‘Kept me waiting? What in the world do you mean? But, oh Gair, I'm glad to see you.'

‘You surely expected me, since you asked me to come.' Again that disconcerting note.

‘Asked you to come? What do you mean? I thought you were coming, it's true. Pedro said all Lord Strangford's people would be here.'

‘Lord Strangford at a party like this! I was appalled when I got your note, but there was no time to stop you. How could you do such a crazy thing?' He took her arm. ‘We can't talk here. Come out into the garden and for God's sake keep your mask on.'

‘Gair! You're hurting me.'

‘I'm sorry.' They were out among the rose-beds of the formal garden. ‘I've been worried to death about you. I was in Lisbon when I got your note.' He led her to a seat in the centre of the garden where they could not be overheard. ‘I got here as fast as I could. But how could you be so stupid, Juana? This kind of party is well enough if you're escorted – the hostess's name gives a kind of sanction – but to come on your own …'

‘I did nothing of the kind. My sisters are here, and Aunt Elvira, and my cousins.'

‘I hope they are taking better care of your sisters than they have of you.'

‘It wasn't Pedro's fault. We were separated in the crowd.'

‘Exactly.' It gave him a kind of savage satisfaction. ‘And then?'

‘It's no concern of yours.' Anger rose in her to match his. ‘But why do you keep talking as if I had asked you to come?'

‘Because you did.'

‘Nonsense. Now you're the one who is crazy. We agreed, did we not, that I'd only write you in an emergency? Does this look like one?'

‘By what you say, it might well have been. Yes – it's true – I was surprised; but life must be dull for you at the Castle on the Rock—'

‘So you thought I was snatching at straws of entertainment?' The fact that this was partly true added fuel to her anger. ‘And would risk anything just to go to a party like this?'

‘That's what you said, after all.'

She stood up in one furious movement. ‘How many times do I have to tell you that I wrote you no note!'

‘A forgery!' Anger bred by his anxiety for her had made him
slow to take it in. ‘I should have guessed, I suppose. Forgive me, Juana. But, why? I don't like it: I don't understand it. But thank God it brought me here, and in time. I'm sorry I was so angry. You must understand: I was frightened sick for you.'

‘You were right to be.' A burst of laughter nearby as a group of masks crossed the garden in pursuit of a couple of squealing girls gave point to her words. Suddenly, remembering her conspicuous height, she sat down again beside him. ‘I'm sorry too. Of course I didn't write, but I'm certainly glad you came. I was frightened too. But what do you think it means?'

‘I wish I knew. Trouble, I'm sure. I think I had best take you home at once.'

‘Gair, we can't do that. I can't leave Daisy and Teresa here.'

‘But your cousins will be looking after them. And your aunt. No one will notice if you leave. You can plead headache, anything …'

‘And go home alone with you at his time of night? Here, in Portugal? It would be bad enough in England … You're not thinking, Gair.'

‘I wonder if that's it,' he said. ‘Who wants to compromise you, Juana?'

‘No one. Why should they?'

‘That's what I'd like to know.' He stood up. ‘We'd best find your sisters. Then you can all go home together.'

It was easier said than done. The fireworks were over now and they had to search the long alleys by the glimmering light of paper lanterns hung here and there more for decoration than use. But then, as Juana pointed out, they would most easily recognise her sisters by ear, since they would be talking in English. ‘It's very odd that we have not heard either of them.'

‘Yes. I don't like it, Juana.'

‘It's a pity.' They returned at last to the rose-garden. ‘It's such a beautiful evening. Shall we give up and just enjoy it?'

‘We may have to. Moonlight and roses. What do they remind you of?'

‘The night we met, of course. And the first lie you told me.'

‘Lie?'

‘Don't you remember? You told me the river was shallow. I'd look a fool, you said, stuck in a foot of mud. Oh dear … do you ever wish you were back in England?'

‘Often. And out of this whole business. I hope I may manage it, too, when this job is done.'

‘What do you mean?'

‘I've been wanting a chance to tell you. I saw Canning when I was in England, the new man at the Foreign Office.'

‘We thought so. What did you think of him? What did he say?'

‘That the Tories' coming to power would make no difference to my work here. That they had confidence in me and would reward me well if I can bring it to a successful conclusion. It may mean a start for me in England at last.'

‘Under the Tories?'

‘I don't see why not. The important thing, for the moment, is to defeat Napoleon, and, frankly, I'm beginning to think the Tories are the ones to do it. They mean business. And I liked what I saw of Canning. He's a man one can trust. But you can see why I am so anxious that nothing should go wrong here.'

‘I can indeed!' Angrily. ‘What in the world made me imagine you were anxious about me, I wonder?'

‘But of course I was. Juana, be fair …'

‘Why should I? What's that?' A flourish of trumpets had sounded from the house.

‘The signal for supper. And for unmasking.'

‘So what do we do?'

‘There's nothing we can do, but eat supper and unmask – and watch out, all the time, for traps.'

‘What kind of traps?'

‘I wish to God I knew.'

It was a curiously motley crowd that gathered in the big frescoed dining room and spread out on to a wide terrace and into the other public rooms. Members of the nobility had spent the evening assiduously courting tradesmen's daughters from Lisbon, picked, apparently, for their looks. Now, with the unmasking, the occasion became perceptibly stiffer. The few girls of good family who were present, and the Princess's
acafatas
, or ladies-in-waiting, looked sideways at their cavaliers from behind their fans; talk flowed with difficulty and food provided a welcome alternative.