The covenant - James A. Michener [417]
It was remarkable that at the nadir of her career she should have devised a plan so bold, with risks so tremendous, but one day as she was sitting in her mean Paris lodgings this splendid thought had come to her: Why not marry Cecil Rhodes? Unfree to marry because of her dragging divorce, without funds, with fewer good dresses than ever before in her life, she had nevertheless launched her assault. Now, at Groote Schurr, Rhodes' fine Cape Dutch mansion that would become the equivalent of South Africa's White House, she behaved like a first lady and made it clear that she intended assisting Mr. Rhodes in governing the nation.
'I need help,' the great man moaned one afternoon. 'Beg Frank Salt-wood to come back.'
In the hectic days when Princess Radziwill was intent on capturing Groote Schurr, Frank was having the tenderest experience of his life. Upon disembarking from Scot and bidding Cecil Rhodes farewell for what he assumed was the last time, since he had been dismissed, he caught a cab and hurried to the Mount Nelson Hotel, where Maud Turner had come to greet him. Ascertaining from the desk clerk where her room was located, he hurried through the stately lobby, bounded up a flight of oaken stairs, and thumped loudly at her door. Quickly it was opened and quickly he was down on his knees for anyone in the hallway to see: 'Maud, can you forgive me?'
'Get up, you stupid boy.'
'Then you'll have me?'
'Not if you act like this.' And with a swift reach of her hand she grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the room, then kicked the door shut with her heel. 'I am so glad we found each other again,' she said, and she maneuvered Frank to the bed, telling him, when the impassioned interlude was over, 'Now, damnit, you've got to marry me.'
They took the train up through the Karroo, then south to a small siding convenient to De Kraal. It consisted of an iron shed and stock ramp marked by a deeply carved sign erected by Frank's father: Hilary. On the long journey Maud had discussed seriously the manner in which they should lead their lives: 'Forget Mr. Rhodes completely. We'll have no more to do with him. What kind of work can you do, Frank?'
'I know the business world. Bankers, diamonds, Parliament.'
'Could you be a manager of sorts?'
'I think so. But where shall we establish our headquarters?'
She had been thinking about this for over two years, and every selfish desire urged her to say Cape Town, for she considered this the fairest city she had ever seen, a place incomparably lovely, with its ocean, its mountain, its deep indented bays, its gorgeous wealth of flowers. This was a city she could love, but her business sense warned her that South African industry was bound to center in the north, near the diamonds and the gold, and it was there that a young man could make his way: 'I think we should work in Johannesburg.'
'What a grubby place. Have you ever seen it?'
'Grubby now, but we must think of the future. It's got to be Johannesburg.'
'But couldn't we . . .' He hesitated, rubbed his nose, and asked tentatively, 'Couldn't we . . . maybe . . . maintain an office also in Cape Town?'
As if the idea had never occurred to her, she pondered it, tickled him under the chin with her fingernail, and said, 'Frank, I think that's a capital idea.'
In the Cape cart sent from De Kraal to meet them at the Hilary siding they devised a rough pattern for their future: a secure farm investment in the countryside; a business office in Johannesburg to watch over banking, insurance, trading and stocks, which Boers ignored because they had little interest in intricate financial