drawn together as he took out his cheroots and lit one, taking in a deep lungful of the smoke and expelling it through taut nostrils.
‘Ramai should be back soon,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry if certain facts of life strike you as harsh, mevrouw, but you haven’t had a lot to do with men, have you? I’m not belittling you for that, but I actually think it praiseworthy that a woman should be serene and not a hell-cat who lives only to torment other people. There is a great deal of serenity in you, but you are probably unaware of the fact. There is modesty in you as well.’
‘I’m no saint myself, mynheer!’ Merlin flushed, half with pleasure at what he said, half with dismay. She had suspected that he was forming an image of her that his Dutch cousin could blast into fragments with a few well chosen words, and quickly she went over to him and dared to touch his forearm below the short sleeve of his shirt, lightly, tentatively, with pleading.
‘Mynheer, what if your cousin doesn’t like me? What will you do if he paints a different picture of me from the one you have in mind? I—I like my job here—I wouldn’t like to be sent away—‘
‘My dear woman,’ he was gazing downwards to where her hand rested on his skin, ‘do you imagine that Hendrik dictates to me? I have formed my conclusions about you and he can’t alter them. You are a good secretary and we get along, eh?’
‘Oh yes.’
‘Then why should Hendrik object to you? You do your work to my satisfaction, and keep me company in the evenings.’
‘Your cousin will wish to do that when he returns.’
‘Hardly.’ Paul gave a cynical smile and tipped ash from his cheroot with a long forefinger. ‘He has what is called an arrangement with a woman from the village—it often happens when men work away from their homeland, and loneliness can break the spirit of the hardest man, and Hendrik isn’t hard. He’s addicted to the tropics and cannot work elsewhere, and it is none of my business if he wishes to alleviate his loneliness and lighten his leisure with an attractive island girl, so long as her parents are satisfied that he treats her well. Are you shocked, mevrouw?’
‘No, I’m not narrow-minded, mynheer.’ Merlin, to put it mildly, was relieved to hear that Hendrik van Setan wasn’t the starchy sort whose back would be stiff as a board to match his principles. After all, she wasn’t deceiving Paul in a way that could hurt him and she might manage to persuade Hendrik to let the deception go on. She crossed her fingers and hoped so.
‘Are you wondering why I haven’t succumbed to the charms of a dusky island girl?’ Paul murmured, and that disconcerting blind gaze was full upon her face as if he could read her features and see her reaction to his question.
‘You strike me as a very strong-willed man,’ she replied. ‘I don’t think you’d ever give in to your own desires unless they had real meaning for you.’
‘Such as being motivated by love? Is that what you mean?’
‘Yes.’ She said it firmly, her conviction rooted in the marvellous surgeon he had been, a kind of decisive tenderness in the way he had used his skilful hands. ‘I don’t think you’ve ever had much time for empty experiences and much prefer those that enrich you.’
‘That might have been true when I had the satisfaction and enrichment of my work, mevrouw. Now, like a house without windows, I dominate an empty landscape and will gradually fall into ruin—then, believe me, I shall turn to the arms of consolation. Why not? I imagine the island girls are sweet-tempered and sweet to the touch. That’s all a man like me should want or need. A pliable affection from someone who will slip quietly away when the tiger feels like howling to the moon he can’t see.’
‘Do tigers howl?’ she asked, trying to speak lightly and finding it hard to manage.
‘If the thorn’s in deep enough,’ he rejoined, ‘and you’ve been long enough on the island to
‘Ramai should be back soon,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry if certain facts of life strike you as harsh, mevrouw, but you haven’t had a lot to do with men, have you? I’m not belittling you for that, but I actually think it praiseworthy that a woman should be serene and not a hell-cat who lives only to torment other people. There is a great deal of serenity in you, but you are probably unaware of the fact. There is modesty in you as well.’
‘I’m no saint myself, mynheer!’ Merlin flushed, half with pleasure at what he said, half with dismay. She had suspected that he was forming an image of her that his Dutch cousin could blast into fragments with a few well chosen words, and quickly she went over to him and dared to touch his forearm below the short sleeve of his shirt, lightly, tentatively, with pleading.
‘Mynheer, what if your cousin doesn’t like me? What will you do if he paints a different picture of me from the one you have in mind? I—I like my job here—I wouldn’t like to be sent away—‘
‘My dear woman,’ he was gazing downwards to where her hand rested on his skin, ‘do you imagine that Hendrik dictates to me? I have formed my conclusions about you and he can’t alter them. You are a good secretary and we get along, eh?’
‘Oh yes.’
‘Then why should Hendrik object to you? You do your work to my satisfaction, and keep me company in the evenings.’
‘Your cousin will wish to do that when he returns.’
‘Hardly.’ Paul gave a cynical smile and tipped ash from his cheroot with a long forefinger. ‘He has what is called an arrangement with a woman from the village—it often happens when men work away from their homeland, and loneliness can break the spirit of the hardest man, and Hendrik isn’t hard. He’s addicted to the tropics and cannot work elsewhere, and it is none of my business if he wishes to alleviate his loneliness and lighten his leisure with an attractive island girl, so long as her parents are satisfied that he treats her well. Are you shocked, mevrouw?’
‘No, I’m not narrow-minded, mynheer.’ Merlin, to put it mildly, was relieved to hear that Hendrik van Setan wasn’t the starchy sort whose back would be stiff as a board to match his principles. After all, she wasn’t deceiving Paul in a way that could hurt him and she might manage to persuade Hendrik to let the deception go on. She crossed her fingers and hoped so.
‘Are you wondering why I haven’t succumbed to the charms of a dusky island girl?’ Paul murmured, and that disconcerting blind gaze was full upon her face as if he could read her features and see her reaction to his question.
‘You strike me as a very strong-willed man,’ she replied. ‘I don’t think you’d ever give in to your own desires unless they had real meaning for you.’
‘Such as being motivated by love? Is that what you mean?’
‘Yes.’ She said it firmly, her conviction rooted in the marvellous surgeon he had been, a kind of decisive tenderness in the way he had used his skilful hands. ‘I don’t think you’ve ever had much time for empty experiences and much prefer those that enrich you.’
‘That might have been true when I had the satisfaction and enrichment of my work, mevrouw. Now, like a house without windows, I dominate an empty landscape and will gradually fall into ruin—then, believe me, I shall turn to the arms of consolation. Why not? I imagine the island girls are sweet-tempered and sweet to the touch. That’s all a man like me should want or need. A pliable affection from someone who will slip quietly away when the tiger feels like howling to the moon he can’t see.’
‘Do tigers howl?’ she asked, trying to speak lightly and finding it hard to manage.
‘If the thorn’s in deep enough,’ he rejoined, ‘and you’ve been long enough on the island to
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