Wealth of the Islands Read Free Page B

stopped laughing and leaned his brown, surprisingly well-kept hands on the table in front of him. “ I ’ m sorry, ” he said sincerely. “ I didn ’ t mean to be beastly. I ’ ll tell you what I ’ ll do. I ’ ll give you a trial run some time and you can show me what you can do. But I ’ m not promising anything! Is that quite clear? ”
    It was clear enough, she thought . He would allow her to dive just to please her, and then he would tell her that she was not suitable for the work he was doing. Still, it was a beginning. She knew she was a highly competent diver and she had no doubts at all that she would be able to prove her worth to him. She sat back in her seat and smiled.
    “ All right, ” she said. “ That ’ s fair enough. ”
    She could tell that he was taken back by her confidence, but he shrugged the matter off and glanced down at his watch. “ We ’ ll be at the main island in about half an hour, ” he told her. “ Is anyone expecting you? ”
    “ They know I ’ m coming some time, but I didn ’ t know that I ’ d be here today. A friend of my father ’ s, a Miss Corrigan, has arranged a room for me and for my sister-in-law when she comes, at the hotel . ”
    Gregory de Vaux stared at her. “ Miss Corrigan? ” he exclaimed. “ Oh no! Don ’ t tell me you know her! The old gorgon has only got to take to you and s he ’ ll twist me round her little finger— ”
    “ Are you afraid of her, Mr. de Vaux? ” Helen asked gently.
    He glared at her. “ Certainly not! Only I want to make up my own mind about your worth as a diver! ”
    Helen chuckled. “ And so you shall, ” she assured him soothingly.
    “ You don ’ t know Miss Corrigan! ” he groaned.
    Helen laughed again. “ I am sure I shall like her very much indeed ,” she said.
    “ I can believe it! Well, since fate is conspiring against me, I ’ m glad it ’ s such a pretty fate! ” He disappeared up the compa ni onway, his bare feet slapping against the lino-covered stairs. It was strange how much she noticed his going. His presence was rather like lightning, devastating, but noticeably exciting. She would enjoy working for him, she thought. It would make a pleasant change from mourning her dead husband in the suffocating atmosphere of her mother-in- l aw ’ s house. She and Anita would have time to learn to l ive again and that, at the moment, was all she asked of life. Particularly for Anita, her tired, pale, and rather insignificant sister-in-law.

 
    CHAPTER TWO
    ANITA had been Helen ’ s main worry after Michael had died. She had not noticed at first what Mrs. Hastings ’ grief was doing to her daughter, for it had been bad enough living in the Hastings house when Michael had been alive, and Helen had moved out as soon as possible after the news had come that he was dead.
    At first they had all been surprised how well Michael ’ s mother was taking the news. She had derived a strange pleasure from the fact that the telegram announcing the death had been delivered to her instead of to Helen. Later, when the confirming letter had come, she had snatched that away too, and it had been days before she had allowed Helen to read it.
    “ It ’ s addressed to me !” she had said defiantly. “ I am Mrs. Hastings! ”
    “ So, unfortunately, am I, ” Helen had answered.
    “ So you ’ re regretting it, ” Mrs. Hastings had accused her with satisfaction. “ I knew that you never really cared for Michael. ”
    Helen wished that she had known it too. But she was too proud to show her sorrow to her in-laws. Any tears that she shed, she shed when she was alone, in the privacy of her own room. And then, when it had become too unbearable to go on living in the same house as Michael ’ s mother, she had left and had found a room for herself in London, fairly near school where she was still teaching.
    In fact, so busy had she been coping with her own grief that it had been some weeks before she had noticed the change in