“She told me not ‘to rush my fences’,” Jarvis Lecker replied. “She said you’d lost someone of whom you were very fond.”
“She told you that, did she?” Mona spoke quietly.
“Yes. And I replied that hearts could be mended.” Jarvis Lecker sat down beside Mona and put a heavy hand on her knee. “What about letting me mend yours?”
Mona looked at him with distaste.
“No one could do that,” she said distinctly, “no one in the world.”
She jumped to her feet before he could say another word and moved across the gallery.
“Come and see the miniatures,” she said over her shoulder. “They are here in the tower.”
It was only when she had switched on the light in the small octagonal room that held only the glass-covered cases of valuable miniatures, that she realised she had made a mistake. Because as Jarvis Lecker entered the room behind her, he bore on his face the inscrutable smile of the conquering male. He shut the door.
“Listen, my dear,” he said softly as he came across to her. “You’ve been elusive long enough. I’m a downright sort of chap. I’m used to coming straight to the point when I want a thing in business, and I don’t see why I should use different methods because I am in love. I want you, you know that don’t you?”
He put out his hands and would have grasped her shoulders but Mona backed away from him.
“I’m sorry,” she answered quietly, “but you’re making a mistake about me. Whatever Char’s told you, whatever encouragement she’s given you, it is wrong.”
“I’m not relying on Char or anyone else,” Jarvis Lecker said roughly. “I don’t need a go-between to get me what I want. Now you listen to me, Mona my dear.”
She had backed up until she was against one of the cases and could go no further. He had followed her until his body was almost touching hers and Mona had a feeling of being overpowered, of being beaten down, relentlessly pursued. The man was dynamic, there was no denying that, and she felt small, weary and ineffectively armed to do battle with him.
“Please, Jarvis,” she pleaded, but she got no further, for at that moment, the door was opened and two people stood in the doorway.
There was no disguising the fact that Mona and Jarvis Lecker were in the middle of an intimate conversation and although Jarvis moved quickly, if resentfully, to one side, Mona had time to see the astonishment on Stella Fairlace’s face and know that Michael was not only surprised but angry. Nobody said anything until Mona, in an attempt to carry off the difficult situation, broke the silence nervously.
“I was just showing Mr. Lecker the miniatures.”
“I hope he was interested,” Michael replied, and his voice was icy.
Jarvis Lecker’s eyes narrowed. He looked across the tiny room at his host, and the atmosphere was tense with antagonistic vibrations that passed between the two men.
“You’ve got quite a nice little collection of antiques here, Merrill,” Jarvis Lecker said. “Any time you want to dispose of the better ones let me know.”
He could have said nothing more calculated to infuriate Michael, who looked him up and down with an arrogance that would have withered any man less self-possessed and sure of himself.
“The majority of my possessions are heirlooms – the rest are not for sale.”
“One never knows in these hard times,” Lecker replied. “Well Mona, what about a dance?”
“I think I ought to find Char,” Mona prevaricated. “After all, she doesn’t know many people here.”
“You will find her in the dining room,” Michael said.
He held open the door with a gesture that not even Jarvis Lecker could fail to interpret. Mona walked down the Long Gallery in silence but her cheeks were flaming. What must Michael think? she wondered and felt humiliated and ashamed that he should have come in at just that moment.
She minded that he should think she was allowing this unprepossessing and common man to make love to her. For that, she knew, was the only interpretation he was likely to put on the scene he had interrupted. In all fairness to Michael, Mona admitted that she would have suspected the same thing herself, had the circumstances being reversed. As it was, she wondered why Michael was taking Stella Fairlace to that particular room.
The tower was a joke. When they were young and there were parties at the Park, if a couple were missing someone was always sent to look for them in the tower. She had forgotten this when, to avoid Jarvis Lecker’s embarrassing conversation, she had taken him there from the Long Gallery. Never had she regretted an action more. She realised with a kind of horror that he was quite unperturbed by what had taken place, in fact, she sensed that he was rather pleased with himself.
He thought that Michael was jealous of him and it gave him a feeling of superiority. As he said, he always got what he wanted and he was quite prepared to fight for it – if need be to fight Michael.
Suddenly Mona felt she could bear no more. The net that was being wound round her was tightening and life was becoming too complicated. She might have known it would be like this – Char’s presence was always disruptive. Here, through her instigations, friends of a lifetime were being antagonised, misunderstandings were rising.
‘She must go,’ Mona thought, ‘she must!’
The party was still in full swing. Char, a whisky-and-soda in her hand, had joined Lynn’s party and was making some of the young officers laugh, but in rather a shamefaced way, as if what she said was slightly embarrassing. Mona guessed that she was either telling dirty stories or making unkind and cruel remarks about other people in the room. Char could be amusing, there was no doubt about that, but her kind of wit was not usually heard in Little Cobble and certainly would never be appreciated.
It was too early to go home, so Mona moved across the floor to where Mrs. Windlesham was sitting and sat down firmly beside her.
“Come and dance,” Jarvis Lecker begged, but she shook her head.
“You can get me a drink if you like,” she suggested, and when he had gone turned to Michael’s aunt. “I want to stay here.”
“Then you shall,” Mrs. Windlesham replied. “I’m enjoying myself. I like seeing young people have a good time. It’s a sign of old age when one can get one’s pleasure second-hand, but I find it quite consoling.”
Jarvis Lecker came back with Mona’s drink.
“Can I get you anything?” he asked Mrs. Windlesham.
She shook her head.
“Nothing, thank you,” she answered, “but now, Mr. Lecker, you must go and dance with some of these young girls. They’ll be pleased to have you for a partner. Mona and I are going to sit here like a couple of dowagers and criticise those who are dancing.”
“I’d rather stay and listen to your criticisms.”
