Dennis Wheatley - The Rape Of Venice

The Cape was barely half-​way to Calcutta; so there were at least another two months to go before there could be any change in their relationship and, even then, the final result of any such change provoked speculations about which he did not care to think. He only knew that being within sight of her nearly all of every day, yet debarred from the friendly intimacy they had previously enjoyed, made him see her differently and had immensely increased his desire for her.

At dinner on the 10th September, Captain Finch told them that he estimated the Minerva now to be no more than forty-​eight hours out of Cape Town. That evening, about nine o'clock, the portly Mr. Winters came up to Roger in the saloon and asked him if he would favour him with a short conversation up on deck. Somewhat surprised, but by no means averse to a breath of fresh air, Roger agreed; so the two men collected their cloaks and met again at the top of the hatchway.

After they had covered a few paces side by side, Winters said: 'I understand that we shall reach Cape Town the day after tomorrow; and I owe you a sincere apology, Mr. Brook for not having addressed you before this on the subject of which I am now about to speak.'

Roger had not the faintest idea what the subject could be but he replied politely, 'No matter, Sir. Be kind enough to inform me of it.'

'It is,' Winters coughed, then went on suddenly, 'a formal request that you will permit me to pay my addresses to your niece.'

The idea seemed so preposterous that Roger did not take it seriously. Swiftly suppressing a desire to laugh, and wishing to let the elderly merchant down lightly, he said: 'Your proposal being an honourable one, I feel sure Miss Marsham will be flattered by it; but before replying to your request, I must speak to her on the matter,'

Winters coughed again, then said hurriedly, 'You must be aware, Sir, that during the voyage, I have spent many hours in. conversation with Miss Marsham. I had no intention of marrying again, but I have found her such a paragon of virtue, sensibility and charm that I can now think of no greater bliss than to make her Mrs. Winters. I should add that I am in a position to support her, even to the extent of providing her with every reasonable luxury.'

"Yes. yes.' Roger now spoke a shade testily. 'But you must forgive me for pointing out, Sir, that attentions of the kind you have in mind from a gentleman so much her senior might prove unwelcome to her.'

'It was with reference to that, Sir, that I made you an apology. As Miss Marsham and I conversed we became ever more fully aware of the similarity of our feelings upon a great variety of subjects. Almost with…'

'I pray you do not build false hopes on that,' Roger cut in.

Ignoring his remark, Winters continued, 'Almost unrealised by me, a point was reached at which, without awaiting your consent, I laid my heart and fortune at her feet.'

Roger halted in his tracks. Only the darkness hid his expression of swift apprehension. After a moment he regained sufficient control over himself to ask in a normal voice, 'What reply did she make to your proposal?'

'Why, Sir!' exclaimed the merchant rapturously, 'to my eternal joy she has accepted me.'

A dozen different emotions, none of them pleasant, simultaneously whirled and fought for first place in Roger's mind. It was obvious that Clarissa had determined to adopt the course she had implied she might on the first night of the voyage and that she had ensnared the poor fool who stood before him in order to achieve her object more quickly as, with him already engaged to her, she could be married within a week of their arrival in Calcutta. But Winters was far from being the sort of man Roger had had in mind when he had so thoughtlessly put the idea into her head. The merchant was neither old enough to be impotent, nor of a fitting station in life to make a suitable parti for her. Roger could only thank his stars that there were at least two months yet to go before the Minerva reached Calcutta. The time should be ample for him to dissuade her from the folly of taking such a husband, even for the purpose she had in mind. After a moment he said:

'It seems then that I have little option but to sanction this engagement, Sir; but I would ask you to keep it secret for a while, in case Miss Marsham should change her mind before we arrive in India.'

Winters gave a sudden laugh. 'There is no fear of that, Sir. I gather that revictualling at Cape Town will require the Minerva to lie in the port for some ten days; and it is Miss Marsham's own wish that we should be married there,'

Chapter 10

Clarissa makes her Bed

Roger's life had hung too often on his ability to absorb an. unpleasant shock without giving himself away for him to be stampeded into showing his surprise and fury on this occasion. Instead, he said in a not unfriendly voice:

'Then I must offer you my congratulations… Sir,'

Winters thanked him effusively and began to babble about his good fortune, but Roger cut him short by saying: 'I think, Sir, this conversation has fulfilled its purpose. We will speak further on the matter when I have discussed it with my niece.'

Taking quick alarm, Winters stammered, 'I… I trust, Mr. Brook, you.,. you do not intend to use your influence with your niece in an attempt to make her change her mind?'

I have so far to meet the woman who has a stronger mind than Miss Marsham,' declared Roger, with cynical truth, 'and without consulting me she has already made her intentions clear to you. Let us go below.'

Down in the saloon, Clarissa was playing a game of backgammon against Robert Mclvor, while three officers stood behind her chair, giving her good advice and endeavouring to make witty remarks that would discomfit her opponent Roger's bow to her included the whole group, and he said in the authoritative voice that he occasionally used to her in his guise of uncle:

'Gentlemen; perhaps one of you would take over my niece's hand. I regret to break up her game; but we shall shortly be in Cape Town and I wish to discuss with her how we can best employ our time there."

Demure as ever. Clarissa rose, made her apologies to Mclvor and laid a hand on the arm that Roger offered her. As soon as they were out of earshot of the group, she whispered:

So Sidney has told you?'

Sidney, forsooth!' he hissed back. 'Clarissa, how could you? But this is no place to discuss it. Get your cloak and meet me up on deck near the main mast.'

Five minutes later he saw the pale blur of her face above the outline of her long grey cloak as she came towards him in the semi-​darkness. Stepping forward, he took her by the arm and drew her into the still deeper shadow behind the bollards with their masses of rope and tackle.

Well, dear Uncle?' He could guess at her wicked smile from her tone as she asked. 'Was it really necessary to get me up here in order to congratulate me?'

Clarissa!' he said earnestly. 'This is no laughing matter… You are proposing to do a great wrong to a very decent man and also make a mess of your whole life.'

She shrugged. 'He's mad about me, but knows that I am not drawn to him by passion. How could I be? I do him no wrong, but on the contrary bring him great happiness. Think of the pride he will feel on producing me in Calcutta as his wife, and the joy he will get from seeing the amazement and envy of his friends.'

'Maybe; but their envy will turn to derision the moment it gets out that you have provided him with a pair of horns. Besides, he is utterly unsuited for the role that I most foolishly put into your head.'

'Why so?'

'To start with he is only in his late forties and has 'already been married once, so there is no reason whatever to suppose him impotent.'

'I have dealt with that.' Clarissa gave a low laugh. 'I told him that, as first pregnancies were often difficult, I considered it a great unkindness to get a new made bride with child, and that doing so had ruined many a marriage. I asked a year to enjoy myself before starting to provide him with a family; and it is part of our agreement that our marriage should not be consummated for twelve months.'