Wealth of the Islands Read Free Page A

space and see out through the oval portholes.
    “ You have a beautiful boat! ” Helen told him with appreciation. “ How long have you had her? ”
    “ Some years, ” he replied cautiously. He plonked some instant coffee into the bottom of two mugs and poured boiling water on the top. “ Milk? ” he asked. She nodded and accepted the steaming mug he held out to her. The coffee was very strong and bitter, but it was good and very refreshing.
    “ I needed that! ” she said with appreciation, and smiled up at him.
    “ Where are you from? ” he asked her.
    “ Today? ”
    “ Yes, today, if you like. ”
    “ I was flown out with the freight for the Islands from New Zealand. ” She yawned apologetically. “ It was a very early start! ” she confessed.
    He grinned. “ You look none the worse for it, ” he complimented her.
    She blushed faintly, aware suddenly of how closely he had been looking at her. “ Thank you, ” she said quietly. “ My name is Hastings, Mrs. Helen Hastings. ”
    His face hardened dramatically. “ Indeed? ” he said coldly. “ Then why have you come here, Mrs. Hastings? You should have known that there would be nothing here for you. ”
    Helen twisted her fingers together to give herself courage. “ I thought I could carry on where Michael left off, ” .she explained awkwardly.
    He stood up. “ Wouldn ’ t it have been wiser to have written first? ” he suggested with icy politeness.
    “ I don ’ t see that it ’ s any of your business! ” Helen retorted. “ It ’ s between me and Gregory de Vaux. There ’ s no reason why he shouldn ’ t employ me—I ’ m a much better diver than Michael ever was! ”
    “ You ’ d need to be! ” he snorted. “ And I can assure you that Gregory de Vaux has never been known to employ a woman! ”
    “ There can always be a first time! ” she shot back at him.
    “ But not with you! ” he snapped.
    “ Why not? ” she insisted.
    “ Because, ” he said, and he sounded as if he enjoyed saying it, “ I am Gregory de Vaux! ”
    There was a moment ’ s silence. Helen looked at him with wide eyes. Of course, she thought, that was what he was doing with the boat. But he didn ’ t look like a man entrusted with such a mission. She glanced down at his bare feet and the to rn bottom of his trousers. Why, he could even do with a shave! And goodness knew when he had last had his hair cut! And yet she had to admit that the boat was spotless and the equipment well looked after. It was a puzzle to her to know what to make of him.
    “ But you don ’ t understand, ” she said. “ I have Anita, my sister-in-law, to consider. I made her come with me . I had to. You don ’ t know what it ’ s like living with Michael ’ s mother. ”
    “ I can imagine, ” he admitted with a fleeting smile. “ But I don ’ t quite see what it has got to do with me. I can ’ t run my whole business round Michael ’ s relatives, you know. ”
    She held her head up high and looked him squarely in the eyes. “ I ’ m not suggesting that you should! ” she said carefully. “ I ’ m only suggesting that you are short of divers—you were before Michael—before Michael died—and therefore you need me, just as much as I need a job! ”
    He looked at her with a certain sympathy. “ But I don ’ t employ women, ” he told hen “ T h e men get upset and the whole expedition falls apart. I ’ ve had it happen to me before! ”
    Helen bit her lip. “ I don ’ t think you understand, ” she said desperately. “ I have to dive for you! And as for my being a woman, Michael isn ’ t so long dead that I shall be looking for any romantic adventures. I can assure you of that! ”
    He laughed at that! With his head thrown back and with his hands on his hips, he looked more like a pirate than ever.
    “ You underrate yourself !” he told her frankly.
    Helen drank her coffee uncomfortably. “ Well, you needn ’ t be so beastly about it! ” she commented.
    He