Wealth of the Islands (20 page)

“
You startled me,
”
she said.

“
So I did!
”
he agreed.
“
You must have been a long way off not to hear me coming! It wasn
’
t exactly a silent approach.
”

“
No, but I was thinking,
”
she said.

He watched her handling the wheel in silence for a long moment, then he said:
“
I came up to find out why you weren
’
t using the sails.
”

“
There isn
’
t any air to carry us,
”
she told him.

He looked about him, a slightly startled expression on his face.
“
I wasn
’
t paying attention,
”
he admitted.
“
It looks nasty. It
’
s going to make a fine mess of our chances, isn
’
t it?
”

She was concerned that he should look so worried.
“
Taine-Mal says nothing will happen today or tomorrow,
”
she
said
.

“
It will mean my going down with you,
”
he said slowly.

Helen looked as appalled as
she
felt.
“
You can
’
t!
”
she said flatly.

“
I can try,
”
he retorted.

He made as if to go back below, dragging his stiff and still painful leg behind him.

“
Where are you going?
”
she demanded.

“
I don
’
t see it as any of your business, but I
’
m going to get ready,
”
he told her.

She stood at the wheel, her eyes blinded with tears, wondering what she could do to prevent him. It was no use pleading,
she
thought
.
One might as well plead with a stone! She turned to face him, licking her
li
ps to give her courage.
The
Sweet Promise
faltered in her course, but Helen didn
’
t care. Gregory put a strong hand on the wheel and brought her ba
ck
sharply.

“
Why don
’
t you look where you
’
re going?
”
he asked her gruffly.

Helen abandoned the wheel altogether.
“
Isn
’
t one death enough?
”
she said through stiff lips.
“
Is the gold really worth so much?
”

His face looked stony and unyielding.
“
It wasn
’
t gold that brought about your husband
’
s death, Mrs. Hastings,
”
he said at last.
“
It was crass carelessness.
”

Helen drew herself up stiffly.
“
Oh yes,
”
she said,
“
I
’
ve be
e
n meaning to ask you about that—
”

“
The subject is
close
d
!”
he retorted sharply.

“
Why?
”
she
insisted
sharp
ly.
“
Because you wrote a letter to his mother explaining how it happened? A letter that I didn
’
t even see?
”

“
I wrote it to Michael
’
s wife. Why didn
’
t you see it?
”

“
My mother-in-law is Mrs. Hastings,
”
she sighed.
“
Naturally the letter came to her hand. Michael belonged to her, after all, so why should I have interested?
”
she concluded bitterly.

“
So that
’
s why you came?
”
he said more to
himself
than to her.

“
More or less,
”
she muttered.

He looked at her, and she wished more
than
ever
that
s
he could tell what he was thinking, but there was no clue to be found in his expression.

“
Did you love him so much?
”
he asked at last.

She
s
hrugged her shoulders. She was beginning to think that she had never loved him at all
!
“
I don
’
t know,
”
she said.
“
I don
’
t know what I felt about him!
”

She was surprised to notice that Gregory was grinning.
“
Interesting!
”
he grunted.

“
Oh, very!
”
she retorted, angry because on top of everything else she thought
s
he was going to cry.
“
Well, do you mean to tell me
?”

“
Tell you what?
”
he asked innocently.

Helen stamped her foot with sheer rage.
“
What happened to him?
”
she said.

“
If you really want to know. He went down when I had told him to wait for me. The frigate was more firmly on the
she
lf then, but rolling badly in the currents. Michael had cut some kind of an opening on the other side from where we are working now. He managed to pull himself inside. The frigate got caught up in the backlash of some storm, which was why I had told him not to go down alone. She rolled over, cutting off the exit. When we finally got to him it was too late. As it was, we had to rock the frigate dangerously on her perch. She very nearly fell off the shelf altogether. Another storm and she probably will! Satisfied?
”

Helen felt devastated. She would not allow herself to dwell on how Michael must have felt as they were trying to get him out. It had been his own fault that he had died, but he had probably never admitted that, even to himself. She wished she could mourn him properly, as a true wife should, but she had no tears left. She had a fleeting vision of his laughing face, and shuddered inwardly at the weakness that his charm had hidden from her for so long. Then his face was gone from her again and, try as she would, she could not
recall his features with any clarity at all. He had, gone from her for ever.

“
He thought he was a better diver than people gave him credit for,
”
She said faintly.

“
I
’
d say he thought he was a better man than he proved to be,
”
Gregory added.
“
Optimism is a poor stand-in for character.
”

“
That
’
s a cruel thing to say!
”
she objected quietly.

“
It
’
s the truth,
”
he said firmly.

She nodded, turning her back on him as
she
grasped the wheel again and made a pretence of looking down at the navigational aids to see where they were going.

“
The truth can hurt,
”
she said finally.

“
Would you rather live with a lie?
”
he retorted sharply.

“
But he
’
s dead. I was his wife. If you knew his mother—
”
The words jumbled up in her mind. If only he wouldn
’
t look at her like that, almost as if he were waiting for an apology from her.
“
I must have loved him
!”
she ended bleakly.

He was silent. He leaned against the rails of the deck, watching her. She would never know
w
hat he was really thinking
!

“
I suppose you think a man should make his own way, no matter what his mother is!
”
she snapped at
him.

“
Anita seems able to,
”
he pointed out quietly.

“
Perhaps,
”
Helen said without commitment.
“
Perhaps she hasn
’
t been tested yet.
”

“
Perhaps not, but she has enough love in her to meet most challenges. She has a strength that her brother lacked.
”

Had Michael lacked love
?
Helen didn
’
t know. She would never know now, she thought. They had been married for such a short time, and in some ways she had never known him at all.

“
I tried to love him,
”
she said.

Gregory looked at her for a long moment.
“
He was luckier than he knew,
”
he said so gently that she was
surprised.
“
And very much luckier than he deserved!
”
he added thoughtfully.

Helen hugged the compliment to her.
“
Oh, do you think so?
”
she gasped, blushing faintly at the rush of feeling within her.

He reached forward and brushed a lock of hair that had escaped from her eyes.
“
I
’
d better get back down below,
”
he told her.
“
Anita will be wondering what
’
s happened to me. Can you manage up here
?”

She
grasped the
w
heel firmly with both hands, wondering at her disappointment at his going.
“
I
’
ve
managed before!
”
she said dryly.

He grinned.
“
Good,
”
he said.
“
I knew I could rely on you!
”

She felt lonely when he had gone, but then she had to get used to that. It was the lot of widows to feel lonely, she told herself harshly, and
w
ho
was she
to
quarrel with that?

CHAPTER NINE

BY midday Gregory was sniffing the weather as often as the two Polynesian sailors.
“
It
’
s coming,
”
he remarked.
“
But not today!
”

Anita laughed. She was rather looking forward to a full-scale storm. She had read about typhoons, but she had experienced nothing more serious than the downpour after a thunderstorm. A typhoon didn
’
t seem quite real; it sounded more romantic and exotic than dangerous.

“
How about tomorrow?
”
Helen asked. She was checking their equipment after she had made her first dive and she was depressed by the thought of the little compressed air they had going spare.

“
Tomorrow okay!
”
Na-Tinn told her.

Helen glanced at Gregory through her eyelashes. Did he believe that too?

“
Who cares about tomorrow?
”
Anita said comfortably.
“
Miss Corrigan
’
s party will be over by then. It would be a shame if it were to spoil that
!”

But at that moment Helen was more concerned with her own problems.
“
I hope we have enough compressed air to last out,
”
she said, still worried.
“
What about tomorrow?
”

Na-Tinn smelt the air, opening his nostrils wide, his eyes half-closed in concentration.
“
No typhoon tomorrow morning,
”
he promised her.
“
Afternoon?
”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“
Wouldn
’
t like to say,
”
he said.