Buckingham Palace Gardens - Anne Perry [67]
Simnel and Lord Taunton were obviously discussing finance, the language of which was sufficiently esoteric, and therefore they had no need to be particularly discreet. Hamilton came in last, walking so close to Julius it was not difficult to guess that Julius was both steering him and preventing him from falling over.
Liliane saw them and started to rise, then sank back again, biting her lip. To have gone to him would have made the situation even more apparent. She sat silently, her face tense, avoiding everyone’s eyes.
“I feel we are a great step closer,” Cahoon said with a smile. He looked at Taunton. “We have certainly received both support and excellent advice. I look forward to being in Africa again. I can almost feel the sun on my skin, the heat, the dust, the smell of animals.” He looked at Lady Parr and then at Alexandra. “Africa is unlike any other place on earth, ma’am. It is almost as if one were carried back to the dawn of creation, when everything was new and barely finished. There is an energy to it that stirs the blood and fires the brain.” This last was to Lady Parr only. “You would love it!”
She smiled at him, the vision of it lighting her eyes. “I will.” It sounded more like a promise than a mere remark.
Elsa caught Alexandra’s eye, but neither of them spoke. Perhaps such understanding was better without words.
“It’s not all…glamour.” Hamilton spoke with a slight slur. “It’s also dirty and as hot as the stones of hell. Except, of course, when it’s wet. Then it’s more like being boiled alive.”
“I dare say we wouldn’t go into the jungle,” Olga filled the silence that followed. She turned to Liliane. “Isn’t Cape Town very pleasant?”
“The climate is most agreeable,” Liliane replied, looking from Olga to Hamilton and back again. “I should rather like to see Cairo. Wouldn’t you, Julius?”
“Julius doesn’t care about any of them,” Simnel put in before Julius could reply. “He’ll probably be riding around the capitals of Europe being charming, eating the best food, drinking the best wine, and in no danger of getting dirt on his boots, never mind fever or snakebite or charged by a bull elephant. But he won’t see a million stars across the sky, or hear lions roar in the night.” He said it with a smile, but there was anger behind the smoothness of his voice.
“Most of the banks are in London, Zurich, and Berlin,” Julius pointed out. “Your boots shouldn’t suffer too much there. Or your appetite. Perhaps there are some good banks in Rome, or Milan? Lombardy has always been good for money also. And Italian food is marvelous. Their boots are pretty good as well.”
“I’ll accept your advice; you always have only the best,” Simnel replied. There was something in his face that suggested his remark covered far more than the subject at hand.
Julius turned away.
Cahoon looked at Lady Parr. “Of course, Africa is dangerous. Some fearful things happen there. But then they happen in London also. Every place that man ventures has its darkness.”
Liliane was staring at him, her eyes unmoving. Elsa had stared at spiders in the washbasin with just that feeling inside her. What you fear may be hideous, but at least if you watch it, you will know when it jumps.
“I never imagined Africa being steeped in misery and exploitation, degraded, as parts of London are,” Lady Parr said to Cahoon. “Surely it is, as you say, more primal, less tired and corrupted?”
Cahoon looked across at Hamilton, who was slumped a little crookedly in his chair. “What do you think, Quase? You have spent more time in Africa than any of us.”
Hamilton opened his eyes wider, and with something of an effort he focused on him. “I think there are barbarians everywhere,” he answered, enunciating his words with exaggerated care. “It’s just that the veneer is thicker in some places than others.”
“Of course it’s different from Europe,” Liliane said quickly. “That doesn’t really mean anything.”
Lady Parr looked at her with surprise, waiting for an explanation. When she realized she was not going to receive one, her gaze