O'hara's Choice - Leon Uris [91]
“I’ve been to Onde la Mer a couple of times,” Zach said. “Three nights back, there was a reading in the salon by Mark Twain, just the family and a few close friends. It bends a man’s mind.”
“Sorry I had to miss Twain,” Ben mused. “He’s not an imitation English writer, but the first pure American author.”
“It was some scene. The Barjac family sitting in a semicircle around Mark Twain and the kids listening like he was a holy man. George Barjac amazes me, how he controls that platoon of his.”
“Mark Twain and George Washington Barjac and Madame Fifi. You should see Barjac’s organizational chart. The empire is broken into interdependent regiments commanded by sons and sons-in-law. Max, the oldest, runs the eight-thousand-acre plantation. George has two magnificent clipper ships, the Bunker Hill and the Yorktown. No raiders get in their way. They carry heavy artillery and a crew of sharpshooters. The Bunker Hill takes the Maryland tobacco directly to Marseilles to their cigarette factory. The Yorktown cruises the Mediterranean markets in Morocco, Syria, and Turkey for blending tobacco.
“Barjac has taken over a plantation in the Vuelta Abajo Valley of Cuba. World’s prime cigar leaf. They’ve a slew of Chinese coolies, the best cigar hand wrappers anywhere. A son-in-law, the tall guy . . .”
“Laroque, Collette’s husband.”
“Yeah, Laroque, he’s important. So inside the family, we have the banker, the lawyer, the distribution, etcetera, etcetera. George runs a tight regiment. But, Zachary my man, let us not bullshit. You’re not really interested in them. You want to know about Lilly Villiard.”
“Did you not set me up, Ben?”
“Maybe I did. I thought you’d need some diversion after you heard from Amanda. I was worried about how it might affect your work.”
“Amanda Kerr is out of my life.”
Ben wasn’t so sure but didn’t press the matter. “What do you want to know about Lilly?”
“The usual.”
“The Barjac women would rather flirt than breathe, but I think they stay close to home.”
“Lilly is the one who comes to Newport alone,” Zach said.
“Lilly is the only one not involved in the Barjac family business. She and her husband run a big show in Paris part of the year, and that’s her life. Her social power is the flame. Otherwise her marriage is flat. Her father, George, has always had remorse about pushing his way into the Paris scene at her expense.
“For years,” Ben went on, “she brought her twins to Newport. Her daughter, Chantel, is married into a gruesome Swiss banking family and has a couple of kids of her own. The boy, Maurice, has taken up grave robbing with his father. So Lilly comes alone. I’ve known her since birth. She’s exquisite and very sad. George and Fifi give her a lot of slack. Anything else, Zach?”
“Did you ever fancy her?” Zach asked bluntly.
“It might have passed through my mind, but a Marine does not fuck the married daughter of his best buddy.”
“I’d better drop out of the Onde la Mer scene. I’ll end up screwing up your friendship with the Barjacs.”
“If the lady invites you to her villa, maybe you should go.”
• 27 •
DIXIE JANE
A Few Days Later—Tobermory
Glen’s former wife, Nini Constable, was able to hold a small fixed smile when she turned her daughter, Dixie Jane, over to Amanda for the balance of the summer. Nini’s emotions were always well contained, but she did pale at the sight of Amanda Kerr’s stunning beauty.
The ex and the possibly future Mrs. Constable greeted each other with civility as Amanda showed Nini where the daughter would be “camped out.”
Nini Porter Constable could be graded among her cast as “Elite Standard.” She was a well-trained lady who functioned smartly but by rote. Neither passionate rage nor uproarious high spirits could penetrate her bland wall.
Amanda and Nini exchanged an afternoon of dull pleasantries about Dixie Jane’s care. The girl managed to look pious and promised her mother to be a model houseguest.
And by the by, if you need to get in touch during the last few weeks of August, here is the address of