The covenant - James A. Michener [558]
'They've always lived here.'
Receiving no help from the postmaster, she went to the store itself, in search, she said, of Trotter's jellies. The assistant, a man suspiciously dark, said he had none, and she asked, 'Will you have some later, Mr. Albertyn?' and he replied, 'I'm not Mr. Albertyn. He works at the garage. I just help here.'
'Could I see Mr. Albertyn? Or Mrs.?' 'You can see them both. They're out back.'
When she met Petra's parents they seemed as white as any Afrikaner, but she noticed something she found most ominous: in spite of the sun, Mrs. Albertyn had no freckles.
Back home she told her husband, 'As clear as the lines in the palm of your hand, that woman's Coloured.'
'How can you be sure?'
'No freckles.'
The Van Valcks returned to the school to present their hard evidence to Dr. Sterk, who laughed nervously and said, 'Really, I can't act upon freckles.'
His use of this word angered the Van Valcks, who rose to leave. 'My husband knows what to do,' Mrs. Van Valck said. 'The life of our daughter is endangered.'
'Now wait,' the principal said, inserting himself between them and the door. 'A public charge could hurt this school. It might even rebound against your daughter.'
'It's our daughter we're thinking of,' Mrs. van Valck said.
'Will you grant me two days? Please?'
'We'll grant you two months,' Leopold van Valck said generously. 'But only if you take this seriously.'
'I do. I do. I'm thinking of the great damage that might be done to the Albertyn girl if your charges are made public . . .' He tried vainly to find some good way to end this sentence, but none surfaced. 'And are found insubstantial,' he added.
This angered both the Van Valcks, but it was the wife who replied, 'They are substantial. That girl's Coloured. Now get her out of here.'
'It had better be two days,' Mr. van Valck said sternly.
That afternoon Dr. Sterk held a meeting with three of his wisest teachers, two women and one man, good Afrikaners all, and their counsel was crisp and clear: 'The Van Valcks are troublemakers, especially the mother. She raised the merry devil last year when Minna received a caution on her deportment. If she's threatening to bring public charges, she'll do it. Better get the Albertyn girl out of here quietly and forget the matter.'
'But is the girl actually Coloured?'
'No sign we've ever seen,' the arithmetic teacher said, 'but she'd better go.'
'Mrs. du Plessis, you've always told me what a splendid child Petra is.'
'I did and I love her. But in a case like this, it may be best for the child's sake if she leaves.'
The three teachers were adamant. The welfare of this important school superseded all other considerations, and whereas to suspend Petra might be heartbreaking for the girl, even the rumor that she was Coloured might have disastrous consequences for the school if circulated by determined people like the Van Valcks.
But Dr. Sterk refused to accept such advice, and next afternoon drove out to the Aibertyn store, where he asked the owners to get into his car so that he might take them to some isolated spot on the veld where they could talk privately. As they drove in silence the Albertyns could only speculate on what painful thing might have happened at school: Petra had done something warranting punishment, and they were distressed, but they were also prepared to support Dr. Sterk and school discipline. Mrs. Albertyn placed her hand in her husband's and took deep breaths as the car stopped and the principal turned toward them. He looked ill-at-ease, distant, and finally he came out with it.
'Charges have been made that Petra is Coloured,' he said.
'Oh, Jesus!' Mr. Albertyn gasped.
'Most serious charges, by persons prepared to press them publicly.' 'Oh, my God!'
The anguish expressed by Mr. Albertyn was an indication of the gravity of this accusation. To make such a charge in South Africa was not like someone saying in Hungary, 'I think Lazlo's a Rumanian.' Or saying in the west of England, 'If you look into it, you'll find that Masterson