I didn’t have time to answer. Caroline spoke, and her voice was soft and silky and what I can only describe as dangerous. She said:
“Are you thinking of buying this place, Elsa?”
Elsa said: “It won’t be necessary for me to buy it.”
Caroline said: “What do you mean?” And there was no softness in her voice now. It was hard and metallic. Elsa laughed. She said: “Must we pretend? Come now, Caroline, you know very well what I mean!”
Caroline said: “I’ve no idea.”
Elsa said to that: “Don’t be such an ostrich. It’s no good pretending you don’t see and know all about it. Amyas and I care for each other. This isn’t your home. It’s his. And after we’re married I shall live here with him!”
Caroline said: “I think you’re crazy.”
Elsa said: “Oh no, I’m not, my dear, and you know it. It would be much simpler if we were honest with each other. Amyas and I love each other—you’ve seen that clearly enough. There’s only one decent thing for you to do. You’ve got to give him his freedom.”
Caroline said: “I don’t believe a word of what you are saying.”
But her voice was unconvincing. Elsa had got under her guard all right.
And at that minute Amyas Crale came into the room and Elsa said with a laugh:
“If you don’t believe me, ask him.”
And Caroline said: “I will.”
She didn’t pause at all. She said:
“Amyas, Elsa says you want to marry her. Is this true?”
Poor Amyas. I felt sorry for him. It makes a man feel a fool to have a scene of that kind forced upon him. He went crimson and started blustering. He turned on Elsa and asked her why the devil she couldn’t have held her tongue?
Caroline said: “Then it is true?”
He didn’t say anything, just stood there passing his finger round inside the neck of his shirt. He used to do that as a kid when he got into a jam of any kind. He said—and he tried to make the words sound dignified and authoritative—and of course couldn’t manage it, poor devil:
“I don’t want to discuss it.”
Caroline said: “But we’re going to discuss it!”
Elsa chipped in and said:
“I think it’s only fair to Caroline that she should be told.”
Caroline said, very quietly:
“Is it true, Amyas?”
He looked a bit ashamed of himself. Men do when women pin them down in a corner.
She said:
“Answer me, please. I’ve got to know.”
He flung up his head then—rather the way a bull does in the bullring. He snapped out:
“It’s true enough—but I don’t want to discuss it now.”
And he turned and strode out of the room. I went after him. I didn’t want to be left with the women. I caught up with him on the terrace. He was swearing. I never knew a man swear more heartily. Then he raved: