The covenant - James A. Michener [161]
'When we get there,' Boeksma coached his superiors, 'you must insist that we meet with Van Doorn alone. The women will protest, but you must order them away. So that you can see for yourselves how defective he is.'
And when the three men finally reached Trianon, Geertruyd awaited them on the stoep, gloriously pregnant, and smiling broadly as she brought Annatjie forward to greet them.
'I was right,' Boeksma whispered. 'They aren't going to let us see Sarel. I told you they kept him locked up.'
At that moment, from the lovely half-door that marked the entrance to the house, Sarel appeared, a tallish, good-looking, thin young man whose smile showed two rows of very white teeth. 'Distinguished gentlemen,' he said, emphasizing each syllable, 'we welcome you ... to Trianon.' With that he offered the two women his arms and held them back as the visitors entered the hallway.
There they received another surprise when Geertruyd detached herself, smiled at the men, and led them into the room designated for their meeting. It had been decorated with flowers and a small cage of goldfinches, and after arranging the four chairs she graciously excused herself: 'My husband feels it would be better if he met with you alone.' She bowed and left.
Once removed from the room, she ran into the one adjoining it, pressed her ear against a small hole in the wall, which had been covered at the other end by the flowers, and listened nervously as Sarel started the discussion. 'Please, God,' she whispered, 'forgive me for when I was insolent. Help Sarel to do what we planned.'
In the opening minutes Sarel's interrogators were quite insulting, treating him as if he were indeed defective, but when Boeksma completed his charges of mismanagement at Trianon, Sarel surprised them by answering slowly and intelligently, 'Gentlemen, aren't you referring to the days when we all suffered . . . from the loss of servants to the plague? We have none of those problems now.'
Boeksma started to refute this claim, and Geertruyd listened anxiously to hear how her husband would handle him, and she was relieved when Sarel said firmly, 'So I have asked our servants to bring before you a selection of our wines.'
He waited until Boeksma started to protest that these had to be wines that Paul de Pre had been responsible for, then added quietly, 'I know that you must suspect . . . that I am offering you wine laid down by De Pre.' He laughed. 'That would be a naughty trick. These are my wines, as you shall see . . . when we visit the cellars.'
Geertruyd, hearing this complicated statement, left her listening post and ran to where Annatjie waited. Taking her mother-in-law by both hands, she exulted: 'He's even better than we had hoped!'
The visitor from Java tasted the new wines and was impressed: 'This is very good, really.'
'And next year it will be great,' Sarel said. 'We intend to make great wines ... at Trianon.'
Geertruyd, back at her post, clasped her hands and held her breath. What Sarel was to say next represented an enormous gamble, but also a vindication, and as a fighting woman, she had deemed it a proper risk. 'Honorable Commissioner, we at Trianon have no desire to force our product on Java. That's unfair ... to Java. So what we did two years ago was make quiet inquiries of European . . .' He hesitated, trembling at the bold thing he must say next. Then he smiled and continued: 'What we did was seek buyers in Europe. And I am pleased to inform you that both France and England will buy our wine ... at an excellent price.'
'Wait!' the commissioner protested. 'If you can make wine this good, we would . . .'
'But where did you get the authority,' the governor asked, 'to make inquiries in Europe?'
'Not in Europe, your Excellency. My wife carried samples to captains when their ships docked at the Cape. I wanted to save you trouble, your Excellency.'
And there the discussion ended as Geertruyd appeared in the doorway. 'Oh,' the man from Java cried. 'Here's your wife now, coming with tea and rusks. You must be very proud, Mevrouw van Doorn,