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She pushed open the door, and said: La Señorita Winter, señora,” and ushered Sarah into the room.
As the door closed behind her, Sarah found herself in a spacious lounge, overlooking the terrace at the front of the house, and beyond to the fruit trees visible in the gardens. The ceiling was high and arched, and the plain cream walls were a background for the scarlet leather armchairs and ebony furniture. The french doors stood open admitting a cool breeze, and Sarah for a moment was so absorbed in her surroundings that she did not take a great deal of notice of the woman on the low couch.
And then, transfixed, her eyes met those of Serena de Cordova, and she hardly suppressed the gasp of pure astonishment that almost escaped her. Serena de Cordova was of mixed blood, a very beautiful woman, but the complete antithesis of any of Sarah's speculations. It seemed to Sarah that for a brief instant time stood still as she stared at the mother of the three children she had met earlier, and then gathering her composure, she said:
“You must forgive me. But nobody prepared me for this!”
Serena rose to her feet. She was almost as tall as Sarah and was dressed in a green satin pyjama suit, a long cigarette holder with a cigarette smouldering at its tip between her fingers.
She studied Sarah for a moment in silence, and then she said:
“Well, at least you're honest. Didn't Jason explain?”
“He – well –” Sarah ran a tongue over her dry lips. “To be honest, I mistook him for somebody else. We didn't speak of you or the children on the trip up from the harbour.”
Serena indicated an armchair and said: “Sit down, please.” She drew on her cigarette. “You found Jason quite unconventional, I gather.”
Her English was almost faultless and Sarah wondered how she had come to have such a good education if she had been born here on the island.
“Yes, I suppose I did.”
Serena smiled. “Don't concern yourself. Jason can be as correct as any Englishman if the situation demands it. Now, tell me about yourself. Have you had much experience with young children? I should warn you, my children are quite uncontrollable by anyone except Jason, and he doesn't have the time to spend with them.”
“I've already encountered the children,” said Sarah, relaxing under the other woman's casual manner. “They seemed to resent my coming here. Have they had previous governesses?”
“No. You're the first. Eloise, as you'll have been informed, is eight now, and can't read or write. She's quite sharp at picking things up orally, but the written word means nothing to her,”
“Have you tried to teach the children yourself?”
“Me?” Serena sounded flabbergasted. “Good lord, no! I'm no schoolmistresss!”
Sarah wanted to ask her what she did with herself all day, but it would have sounded impertinent. And yet, coming from a household where every member was supplied with tasks to be performed every day, Serena's life sounded quite empty and pointless. “I see,” she said.
Serena lounged back on to the couch and picked herself a handful of grapes from a nearby fruit bowl.
“Jason has been spending a little time with them,” she said, munching the grapes speculatively. “But they're getting too old to be left to run free all day long. Not that there's much else for them to do here.”
“Were you born on the island, señora?” asked Sarah tentatively.
“Here? Me?” Serena laughed. “No, I come from Trinidad. My parents own an hotel there. That's how I met Antonio – he stayed at the hotel. He left the island, too, you know. Sold out to Jason years ago and went to Port of Spain to make his fortune. Needless to say he didn't succeed, and when we got married we came back here so that Antonio could work for Jason.”
Sarah swallowed hard. In two minutes Serena had told her quite a lot about herself and explained her different attitudes.
“I would have liked to go back to Trinidad,” went on Serena, sighing a little, “but my parents haven't room for me and three kids as well, and besides, how would I support them?”
Sarah nodded. Serena's dilemma was quite understandable. Besides, if Jason was fond of the children, it seemed unlikely that he would allow this girl to take them to another island where he would not be able to supervise their upbringing. They were his brother's children, and from what she had gathered from the solicitors in London, he was their guardian as well.
Looking at the other woman, she realised that she must be at least twenty-five, but she looked little more than a teenager. She was very slim and boyish in appearance, and her curly hair had been allowed to grow and was a mass of ebony confusion about her small face. She was elegant but unsophisticated; a mother yet a child still.
“And what do you suggest the arrangements should be?” asked Sarah, reverting to less personal matters. “When will I have charge of the children? Where will we take our meals?”
Serena drew on her cigarette and watched a smoke ring disappear in the air above her head. “Now, let me see,” she said slowly. “The children and yourself, of course, will eat lunch with me here, in the adjoining dining room. They always eat lunch with me, so I see no reason to change that state of affairs, do you?”
“No, señora,” Sarah agreed.
“Good. As to the other, I think you'd better wait and let Jason give you your instructions. You're his employee, not mine. Although,” her eyes grew a little taunting, “I have the say-so as to whether you stay or go.”
Sarah flushed, and at once Serena leaned forward and touched her hand, like a child asking for forgiveness when it knows it has done something wrong. “Of course you'll stay,” she said, leaning back against the red upholstery. “I like you. You're my own age. It will be nice to have someone other than that bitch Irena in the house. Have you met dear Irena?”
Sarah's colour deepened. “That is Señor de Cordova's wife?”
“Yes.”
“I … er … we met as I arrived.”
Serena grimaced. “Old cow!” she muttered, stubbing out her cigarette and leaning forward to take another from the ebony box on the table.
Sarah clasped her fingers together. She did not want to become involved in a discussion about her employer's wife. Their personal affairs were nothing to do with her. Her only concern was the children.
She was relieved when a shadow appeared in the French doorway, and they looked up to see a small, attractive Spanish girl standing there. She was dressed in a flame-coloured swirling skirt and a peasant-type off-the-shoulder blouse of white chiffon. Her dark hair was short and straight and shaped her head like a cap of black velvet.
“Serena,” she said, smiling vividly, “darling how are you?”
She came forward and smoothly kissed the other girl's cheek before turning to Sarah and giving her the benefit of her gleaming smile, which Sarah privately thought was rather too effusive.
“You must be the Señorita Winter!” she exclaimed. “But you are so young! Whatever has Jason been thinking of, Serena?”
Sarah hated to be treated as though she were a child, and that was exactly the impression which this girl was creating, so she rose stiffly to her feet and said: “The señor seemed quite prepared to give me a trial.”
The girl's laugh trilled merrily. “My dear, don't be so quick to take offence.”
“This is Señorita Dolores Diaz,” said Serena, intervening. “Her father and Jason are partners in the distillery. Dolores is a good friend of mine.”
Sarah shook hands with the other girl, but felt strangely intuitive that this Spanish girl's assumed friendship with Serena was merely a ruse to gain access to this house. But why? Shrugging these thoughts away, Sarah allowed herself to be wafted into a seat again, while Serena rang a bell and summoned the African housemaid who appeared to bring them pre-lunch aperitifs.
Sarah, who did not smoke, watched the other two girls light cigarettes, and seated together begin to discuss the coming fiesta which was to take place on the island.
“There is even to be a bullfight this year,” said Dolores proudly. “Have you ever seen a bullfight, Miss Winter?”
Sarah shook her head. “I'm afraid not. Have you?”
Dolores clasped her hands excitedly. “But of course. I have visited Spain, you understand, and in the great bullring in Madrid I saw El Cordobes.”
Recognising the name of the famous young bullfighter, Sarah nodded her understanding. “I don't think I would like to see a bullfight,” she said quietly. “I'm afraid I'm very English. I don't like blood sports.”
“And yet you hunt the fox until it is caught and torn to pieces by the hounds,” exclaimed Dolores, at once.
“Not me,” said Sarah, with a half-smile. “And we do have societies that try to prevent that sort of thing.”
“Pah!” Dolores said something in Spanish which Sarah felt sure was not very pleasant, and Serena, seeing the flashing eyes of her Spanish friend, said soothingly: “What does it matter, anyway? The subject bores me. Tell me, Dolores, are your family having guests for the fiesta?”
After a while, during which Sarah had been sitting quietly sipping her aperitif, Dolores again turned her attention to her. It seemed that the Spanish girl resented her for some reason, and Sarah hoped she was not going to have to do battle with Dolores Diaz every day.
“You are very young to have undertaken a post so far away from your home,” she said sharply. “Do not your parents object?”
“I have no parents. I was brought up in a convent, by the nuns.”
“I see.” Dolores studied her insolently. “But even so, were these sisters of the faith not concerned that you should journey so far to live with people of whom you know nothing?”
“I had contact with the solicitors in London, and Reverend Mother herself corresponded with Señor de Cordova. Also, Father Sanchez of the church here was a sponsor. What more could I ask?”
Dolores shrugged her slim shoulders delicately. “I am glad I do not have to work. I should not care to be tied to some job all day.”
“To become a teacher one must attend a college,” said Sarah carefully. “I don't suppose the señorita has done this.”
After saying these words, she felt penitent. Had all the nuns’ work been in vain? Why was she behaving like this? It could only be that this haughty Spaniard had got under her skin, and she could not help but retort. Linking her fingers behind her back, she said placatingly: “But of course your education will have been at a good public school, will it not?”
Dolores, who had been looking extremely annoyed, now looked slightly mollified, but her tones were acid, as she replied: “I had a governess from a very early age, and afterwards, as you said, I did attend a public school. But I think that travel is the greatest teacher. Why, to have history and geography unfolding before your eyes instead of in some story book is wonderful! I doubt whether you can claim, as I can, that you have travelled all over the world. You may have read a lot, señorita, and have had a college education, but second-hand knowledge can never be anything else than second-hand!”
Sarah swallowed hard. She would not be baited. She merely smiled, albeit a little tightly, and said: “The señorita is right, of course.”
Dolores was obviously astounded at Sarah's acquiescence, and also a little disappointed, and as it showed in her face, Sarah again felt she had scored a victory. But again she felt rather ashamed of her feelings, and was glad when the maid returned to say that lunch was served.
“You're staying to lunch, of course,” said Serena to Dolores.
“Thank you. I would be delighted,” Dolores smiled prettily, and Sarah compressed her lips and followed the other two through the double doors which led into the dining room.
The dining room, although smaller than the huge lounge, was a long room with a polished mahogany dining table set with place mats and shining silver cutlery. Cut glass wine glasses were set at every place, and the sun glinted on the bone china plates and dishes. As they entered the room, the three children appeared from the direction of the garden, through open terrace doors where was glimpsed the sweep of lawn and pool. Their red shirts and shorts were stained with earth and sea water, and their once-tidy hair now looked rough and uncombed. Their faces were smudged and sticky, and they looked defiantly in Sarah's direction as though expecting some horrified reaction from her.
But in this they were disappointed, for it was not Sarah who gasped in disgust, but Dolores. “Serena! Surely these children do not expect to take lunch in that condition!”
Serena gave them a cursory glance, and turning to a tall manservant who was attending to the food on a serving table, she said: “Max, take these horrors to Constancia. She'll deal with them.”
“Oh, but no!” exclaimed Eloise, and lapsing into Spanish she launched into a tirade of anger. “Tengo hambre!”
Serena shrugged indifferently. “You should have thought of that before you got yourselves in this state,” she replied easily.
Sarah bit her lip. No wonder the children were rebellious if they were left in the charge of servants all the time. Did not Serena have any interest in them at all? It did not sound as though she was greatly concerned.
“I'll take them,” she offered. “If you'll tell me where to go.”
Serena looked at her askance, and then shrugged. “All right. Max will show you then. Go along, Max. Anna can see to that.”
Sarah followed Max and the three children out of the room. They did not welcome her intervention, that much was obvious from the glances which were cast in her direction, and she wondered why they resented her so much. After all, they did not even know her!
Max led the way down the corridor, to where, at a bend, a flight of stairs led upwards. “The bathroom is to your right at the top of the stairs,” he said, smiling cheerfully. “The children will show you their rooms themselves.”
“Thank you.” Sarah viewed the three youngsters with some trepidation, and then urged them forward.
The bathroom had obviously been re-designed for their needs, for it contained three baths and three washbasins and three sets of towels. The floor was of the same mosaic as in Sarah's bathroom, but here there were no shower fitments. Two of the porcelain baths were pink and the third was blue, and Sarah thought it all quite beautiful. She shut the bathroom door and studied the three mutinous faces before her solemnly.
“Now,” she said, in a firm voice, “we're going to get something straight. I didn't ask to come here, I was employed by your uncle to teach you not only simple lessons, but some social manners as well, and having met you I can see that I'm going to have quite a job.” She looked at them all to make sure they were listening and went on: “If you considered the exhibition you've just made of yourselves down in the dining room would shock me, I should tell you that I've been used to teaching five-year-olds recently, and although Maria comes into that category, you certainly do not.” She was addressing Eloise and Ricardo now.
Eloise shrugged. “If you think I acted like a five-year-old, I will have to think of something worse to do.”
Sarah sighed. “Then tell me why. You don't know me. Why this stupidity?”
Ricardo turned his back on her and walking over to the washbasins he began taking off his clothes. Sarah watched him for a moment, wondering whether he was going to prove he was different from the other two, when something warned her he was hardly likely to have been converted so easily. Her suspicions were proved when he stripped off the last of his clothes and stood naked before her. The two girls turned away, giggling helplessly, and Sarah felt a rising sense of frustration.
“Ricardo,” she said, shaking her head, “what do you intend to do now?”
“Nada!” he replied clearly, and walked to the bathroom door as though intending to walk outside.
“Now wait a minute,” exclaimed Sarah hotly. “Put on your clothes, Ricardo. You're not very amusing.”
Ricardo shrugged and leaned insolently against the bathroom door.
Sarah looked round to find that the girls were watching her with interested eyes and wondered what her best tactics would be. She was half afraid that the girls would follow his example if she did not think of something soon. To attempt to dress him would be admitting defeat when she knew full well he was quite capable of doing so himself.
“Are you going to get dressed?” she asked brightly.
Ricardo shook his head, and Sarah managed a smile. “Very well. As you seem determined to stay that way, I shan't prevent you. However, nude males, no matter how small, do not take lunch in the dining room.”
She filled one of the basins with water from the tap as she was speaking, and seeing them exchange startled glances she squeezed out a soapy face-cloth and carried it across to him. Taking him firmly by the arm, she turned his back to her and applied the face-cloth to his grimy countenance. He resisted vigorously, but Sarah was young and strong, and quite capable of handling him. After he was clean and dry, she threw the face-cloth back into the bowl.
Then, taking him by the arm, she led him out of the bathroom and into the corridor. She did not bother to ask him which was his room. She was sure he would not tell her anyway, and it was easy enough. The heap of boys’ toys in one room confirmed her belief, and she pushed him inside firmly. Keeping a tight hold on him she closed the door.
She drew down the coverlet on his bed, and lifting his struggling body she put him between the sheets and drew them up to his chin. Tears were vying with his anger now, as his dark eyes met hers over the bedclothes. But she would not allow him to see that she felt any regret whatsoever, and merely said: “If you decide you're hungry at teatime, I'm sure if you put on some clothes, you might be fed!”
Ricardo grimaced, and said: “I hate you!”
Sarah raised her eyebrows. “I'm not too keen on you either,” she retorted, and went out swiftly, closing the door.
Then she opened it again, only a few inches, and put her head round. “Oh, and if you do decide to get up and leave this room before teatime, I've got quite a firm hand with a slipper!”
She closed the door firmly, and leant back against it for a moment. What a beginning! She had hardly been here three hours and already one of the children hated her! Stiffening her shoulders, she walked back to the bathroom. Now for the other two!
Eloise and Maria were standing where she had left them, their faces revealing their mixture of anger and fear as she entered. Sarah sighed. This was not what she wanted. She wanted the children to like her, not fear her. But just now, with Ricardo, force had been the only solution. Was that how Jason de Cordova kept order? By brute force? She doubted it. The children seemed to adore him!
“Well,” she said now, “shall we get washed and go down for our lunch? If you're not hungry, I certainly am!”
When they appeared downstairs again, minus one, Serena looked surprised. “But where is Ricardo?” she asked. “Did he not want any dinner?”
“She put him to bed,” said Eloise, glaring at Sarah. “He's not going to be allowed to have any dinner.”
Dolores Diaz looked triumphantly amused, Sarah thought. “Oh, but surely, Miss Winter, you cannot starve the children!”
“In this instance, it was necessary,” replied Sarah calmly. “Please carry on with your lunch. Eloise, Maria and I can catch you up.”
