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she couldn't spoil me the way a lot of mothers do their sons. I had to do
things for her. Women do boys a disservice by waiting on them hand and
foot. A man who can't sew on a button and press his own shirt is as much at
a disadvantage as a woman who can't change a tyre or the washer on a
faucet.'
'Why was your mother in a wheelchair?'
'She had a wasting disease which eventually killed her. My father had a
drinking problem. When he was sober, he was a nice man, and I liked him
very much. He was knocked down in the street a couple of years before my
mother died. You know about Kiki Lawrence and my grandfather. My
parents were victims of the same situation, but in reverse.'
'No, I don't know about Kiki and your grandfather. Or only that she was in
love with a young man here whom her family considered unsuitable.'
Hawk split a Portuguese roll and spread it with butter and honey. 'How much
do you know of the history of this island?'
'Only that two centuries ago it was the greatest whaling port in what were the
Colonies, but that even before the great Fires of 1846 a depression had
begun. People couldn't afford to build new houses or update old ones, and
that's why the town is as it is a lovely relic of the past with hardly any ugly
Victorian intrusions.'
'That's right, and the depression lasted until the 1800s when Nantucket
began to be developed as a vacation resort. Have you been over to 'Sconset
yet?' 'No, I was planning to walk over there in a day or two. It's only about
seven or eight miles away, isn't it?'
'Yes, it's not far, if you like walking. But the road is more or less straight and
not very scenic. You'd do better to rent a bike. Maybe we should try a
tandem. More coffee?'
'Yes, please.'
As he refilled her cup, he went on, 'Originally 'Sconset was no more than a
group of huts used by fishermen during the seasons when the fish were
running. Then it became a summer place for people from Nantucket Town,
and later, in the 1890s, it began to be known as the actors' colony. Everyone
who was anyone in the New York theatre spent part of the summer there,
including Kiki's parents, who were both well- known stage people in their
day.'
At this point someone knocked at the front door.
Caroline's eyebrows contracted. 'Who can be calling at this hour? It's not
eight o'clock yet.'
Hawk put his napkin on the table. 'I'll find out.'
'No, no you're still having breakfast. I've finished eating. I'll go.'
The elderly man she found at the top of the steps said, 'Good morning, Miss
Murray. I'm John Batson. You've met my wife.'
'Oh, yes. How do you do, Mr Batson.' She shook hands. 'What can I do for
you?'
'My wife insisted I come over and check that you were all right.' From his
tone, and his choice of phrase, it sounded as if he had come under duress and
was embarrassed by his errand.
'I'm fine, thank you, Mr Batson. Is there any reason why I shouldn't be?'
'Well . . . this is kind of a big old place for a woman to stay on her own. It's
been standing empty a long while. Some young ladies would find it a mite
scary ... specially at night. But you're not the nervous type, I guess.'
Remembering her fear the night before, and how she had almost fainted
when the light had revealed a face so uncannily like the portrait in the
parlour, Caroline felt rather ashamed of claiming more courage than she
possessed.
But in the circumstances it was simpler to say, 'No, I'm not.'
'That's good ... that's good. If you had been nervous, I mean it might
have upset you to tell you what my wife thinks she saw this morning. To tell
you the truth, it upset her so bad that she had to take some of her pills and go
back to bed. Normally, I would have told her she must have imagined what
she claims to have seen, Miss Murray. But it so happens that, last night, I
saw something strange here myself.'
'What was that, Mr Batson?'
'I went to bed later than usual. When I looked out of my window I noticed
this house was in darkness. But then, just a few seconds later, while I was
still standing there, a light appeared in your hallway. A short time later it
reappeared on the second floor, and then again on the top floor.'
She could have told him a white lie that she had been carrying the light he
had seen. But, apart from the fact that even white lies did not come easily to
her, she felt it was prudent to find out what Mrs Batson had seen before
embarking on an explanation.
'What was it which upset your wife?' she asked.
'She was looking out of the window this morning, and she said to me, 'John
that's unusual. The blinds are down in the room which Miss Murray is using.
They've never been down at this time since she moved in. I hope she's not
sick.' I said I thought that was unlikely, and then Mary gave a kind of
choking sound and I saw her put her hands to her chest. I helped her to a
chair. When she could speak, she told me she had seen the blinds raised, not
by you but by someone who used to live over here a long time ago the
person she saw was a young man called Hawk Lowell. He was old Mr
Chase's grandson. He'd be around thirty-five now if he's still alive. You
told my wife that he was; but she feels that seeing him at the window must
be a sign he's passed on. Now I'm not a superstitious man, but it does seem
strange that we both have seen something peculiar.'
'There's a mundane explanation for both phenomena, Mr Batson. What you
saw was Captain Lowell, as he is now, going up to bed after his arrival late
last night. Far from dying long before his time, he's very much alive and in
excellent health. I'm sorry his appearance at my window gave your wife a
bad shock. The reason he was raising my blinds was because I'd overslept
and he had kindly brought me a cup of coffee. Now, if you'll excuse me, I
must go and do the washing up.'
When she returned to the kitchen, Hawk was buttering the last of the rolls.
'Could you hear that conversation?' she asked.
He nodded. 'You should have said you had to do the dishes. On this side of
the Atlantic, to wash up means to wash oneself.'
She drew in a sharp, angry breath; the ire felt last night rekindling.
'You are an exasperating man! You don't seem to care a hoot that you've
probably ruined my reputation in the eyes of the entire town!'
'As you'll only be here a short while, does it matter what they think?'
'On the contrary, I intend to be here a very long time. I'm planning to live
here,' she informed him.
The announcement surprised her more than it seemed to surprise him. Yet a
second later she knew the decision had been germinating at the back of her
mind from within a few hours of her arrival.
'And just as I couldn't stop you from moving in here, you can't make me
move out,' she added, lifting her chin.
He regarded her thoughtfully for a moment. 'The practicalities may defeat
you, Caroline. You haven't thought your plan through. It's a pipe-dream
which may not work when you try to put it into practice.'
'I don't see why not. I--'
He interrupted her. 'Last night you said you weren't short of money but that
you had none to waste. When we talked on the telephone, and I asked you if
you worked, you didn't answer. I assume you live on an allowance. It had
better be a large one if you're going to keep a house this size up. The Exterior
urgently needs painting. The old boiler needs replacing with an immersion
tank, which means having the house wired. There are taxes you will have to
pay. I don't believe you've considered any of those problems.'
'No, I haven't not yet,' she admitted. 'But in the same way you were
mistaken about my relationship with Robert, you're wrong if you imagine
I'm someone who has never done anything but enjoy herself. Girls like that
don't exist any more. I've worked for my living for six years, and it isn't
because I'm no good that I'm out of work at the moment. My boss was axed
too, and he was a senior executive. If I hadn't lost my job, perhaps I might
not have come to Nantucket. But I have come and I mean to stay whatever [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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