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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"I want to show Ian the blueprints for the new catamaran and I don't
imagine they would interest you."
After they had gone, Nona led Caroline back to the drawing-room.
"Hugo is mad about sailing. Most Bermudians are," she said in a flat
voice, looking suddenly drained of all energy. "Unfortunately I get
sea-sick, just looking at a boat, so it's an interest I can't share with
him."
"Oh, what a pity. Have you tried taking pills?" Caroline asked.
"I've tried everything. They tell me it's all a question of will-power. I
think I'm going to be ill and so I am."
"I don't know a great deal about it, but my uncle was in the navy and I
remember him telling us he had known veteran sailors who were
always sick in really bad weather. I'm sure it's not a thing one can help
... any more than a claustrophobic can help being affected by
confined spaces," Caroline said.
"Heaven knows I've tried to get over it," Nona said dully. "It makes
me feel such a drag. Sailing and water sports are the be-all and end-all
in Bermuda. You said at dinner that the islands were beautiful. I
suppose they are a perfect place for a holiday, or for someone like
yourself with a job to do. But it's another matter to five here."
"How do you mean?" Caroline asked.
The butler came in bearing a coffee service on an ornate silver tray.
Nona waited until he had set it on a table beside the sofa.
"Thank you, Josiah. You needn't wait."
When they were alone again, she said, "I should think Bermudian
society must be the most exclusive in the world. If you weren't born
here, if you haven't an ancestor who came over on the Plough in
1612, then you might as well belong to a different species."
"But surely if your husband -"
"Yes, that does make some difference," Nona conceded, with a wry
grimace. "If you're married to one of them, they do have to put on a
show of accepting you. But it's only a facade. It doesn't mean that
you're 'in'. In fact they never let you forget that you're not. Oh, it's
very subtle. No one is openly unpleasant. But there's always ... well,
an atmosphere of hostility."
"Perhaps you're too sensitive," Caroline suggested uncomfortably.
"It's always difficult adjusting to a new life among people who have
known each other for years. They may not mean to make you feel an
outsider."
"Oh, yes, they do," Nona retorted bitterly. "Didn't you notice that Jan
calls me 'Mrs. Meredith'? I've been married to Hugo for over a year,
and Ian is one of his closest friends. He dines here at least once a
week, and we spend a lot of time at his house. I call him Ian, but he
never calls me Nona. Why not? - if it isn't to keep me at a distance, to
let me know he disapproves of me. Why not? Tell me that."
"Oh, Nona, don't upset yourself," Caroline exclaimed worriedly.
Judging from the rising pitch of her voice, and now by the way her
mouth was working, Nona was on the verge of hysteria.
"Now, listen" - Caroline jumped up from her chair, and went to sit
beside her on the sofa - "I'm here now, so you aren't completely
outnumbered by diehard Bermudians. Of course I'm working most of
the time, but I'm sure we can manage to see something of each other.
I know ... why don't you come and have supper with us at the cabins?
I'm sure you'd like Eve and Marie-Laure. I expect you still miss
London, don't you, and the girlfriends you had there? There's nothing
like a good old feminine natter when one is feeling a bit low."
"Yes, I do miss London terribly," Nona said tremulously. "That was
why I was so pleased to find you at the salon this afternoon. Oh,
Caroline, could I really spend an evening with you and the other
girls? That would be lovely." She bit her lip, and her eyes filled with
tears again. "I know most people would envy me living here, and
having servants and everything. But sometimes I feel as if I'm
stifling. Even the staff don't really approve of me."
It was then, trying to find some way of comforting her, that Caroline
made matters worse.
"Does it matter what they think?" she said bracingly. "If I were you, I
shouldn't give a pin for their opinion. After all, if Hugo asked you to
marry him, he obviously doesn't mind that you're not descended from
the colonists. And as long as he -"
But before she could finish, Nona suddenly burst into tears and
sprang up from the couch and ran sobbing out of the room.
Caroline's first reaction was to go after her. But halfway to the door
she checked. Perhaps a good howl was precisely what Nona needed
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