now to a long ornate table in front of her, which in fact looked like an altar." There's the desk, miss. Anything else I can do for you?" She gave a little laugh of pure amazement. "No," she said. "You have been simply super. Very okay!"
He gave her a sweet indulgent look, the look all these men gave her. And then he gestured for her to step up to the" desk. '
Elliott went right to it as Pitfield sat down across from him. He was aware that he was talking too fast, and likely to say strange things, but he could not break his momentum. Get Alex out of here. Get Julie out if at all possible. Those were the only thoughts in his mind, and worry about Randolph later.
"None of us has the slightest connection to any of it," he said." They must all be allowed to go home. I can stay here, if it's absolutely necessary, but my son must be allowed to leave."
Gerald, ten years his senior, white-haired and heavy about the middle, listened keenly. He was a man not given to strong drink, who tended to work round the clock so that his family might enjoy every pleasurable aspect of colonial existence.
"Of course not," he said now, with complete sympathy." But wait, there's Winthrop in the doors. He has two men with him."
"I can't talk to him!" Elliott said." Not now, for the love of heaven."
"You leave it to me completely."
How astonished they were when she paid them in advance with piles and piles of the strange money they called" pound notes," though they weighed nothing. The young servants would take her many bundles to her suite, they said. And indeed, there were kitchens working now to produce whatever food she desired; there lay the dining room to the right; and she could banquet in her room if that was her wish. As for the hairdresser which she clearly required to tie up her hair, that lady would not be available until tomorrow. Very well. Thank you!
She dropped the key into her satin bag. She would find suite number 201 later. She hurried to the door of the dark room into which Lord Rutherford had gone, and spied him drinking there alone. He did not see her.
Out on the broad front terrace, she could see his son, Alex, leaning against the white pillar - such a comely youth - in fast conversation with a dark-skinned Egyptian. The Egyptian came back into the hotel. The young one seemed at a loss.
She went to him immediately. She crept up and stood beside him and studied his delicate face - yes, a beauty. Of course Lord Rutherford was a man of considerable charm; but this one was so young that his skin was still petal soft, and yet he was tall and his shoulders were strong and straight, and he had a clear, confident look in his brown eyes when he turned to her.
"The young Viscount Summerfield," she said." Son of Lord Rutherford, I am told?"
A great flash of a smile. "I'm Alex Savarell, yes. Forgive me, I don't believe I've had the pleasure."
"I'm hungry, Viscount Summerfield. Won't you show me to the banquet room of the hotel? I should like to eat something."
"I'd be delighted! What an unexpected pleasure."
He hooked his arm for her to take it. Oh, she liked him very much; there was no reticence in him at all. He escorted her back into the crowded main room, past the dark tavern where his father drank, and on towards a great open place under a high gilded ceiling.
Tables draped in linen filled the sides of the immense room. In the centre men and women danced, the women's skirts like great softly ruffled flowers. And the music, oh, so lovely, though it almost hurt her ears. It was far more shrill than that of the music box. And it was sweetly sad!
At once he asked an imperious old man to show them to a "table." What an ugly person was this imperious man who appeared as finely dressed as anyone present. But he said," Yes, Lord Summerfield" with great respect. And the table was fine indeed, set with gorgeous plate, and sweet-scented flowers.