Читать книгу Elements of Chance - Barbara Wilkins - Страница 16

11

“I think the first thing to do is meet with Mr. Carrington,” said Lady Anne, sipping the sherry she had asked Janet to bring her. “It was Mr. Carrington who handled the details of your scholarship with the Penn International people. He’s certainly in contact with people on the proper level there.”

“What can they do?” Valerie asked, her tone hopeless.

“Penn International is a huge international banking organization,” Lady Anne pointed out. “Surely they’ll realize your dilemma, and do whatever they can to help. After all, if it weren’t for them, you wouldn’t be here.”

Valerie didn’t think Penn International would be able to help. She didn’t think anybody could help after all of Max’s efforts had led nowhere. Where could Vicki and Al be? she asked herself over and over again, too stunned even to cry.

“Surely, Mr. Carrington, you can do something.” Lady Anne said the next morning. “It seems to me Valerie’s welfare is as much the responsibility of the conservatory as it is mine.” Valerie tried to make herself as inconspicuous as possible in her high-backed chair.

“What would you suggest, Your Ladyship?” he asked.

“I should think the very least you can do is try to reach someone at Penn International and explain the problem,” she said firmly.

“Yes, of course,” he murmured. “I believe the music scholarship is handled by a Mr. George Bothwell in the public relations department there.”

“Well, try him,” Lady Anne commanded.

Bothwell was sympathetic, Mr. Carrington reported as he hung up the telephone. He would make some calls and get back to Carrington as soon as he could.

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Carrington,” said Lady Anne, pulling on her full-length mink coat as she rose and held out her hand to him. “I suppose that’s all we can do for now.”

“I’m sorry about all of this, Lady Anne,” Valerie said as they left Carrington’s office.

“Oh, don’t be,” Lady Anne said, smiling sympathetically. “If there’s one person who isn’t to blame in all of this, it’s you.”

As Valerie watched Lady Anne’s limousine slide away into the heavy traffic, she wondered what she had meant. How could Valerie be the one person who wasn’t to blame in all of this? After all, her parents were the ones who had disappeared. If anything, she was the only person who could be blamed.

Walking up the stairs to her music theory class, Valerie felt a small shock of pleasure as she saw Julian.

“That was your aunt, wasn’t it?” he asked, falling into step beside her. “She’s attractive, don’t you think? Better than her pictures in the papers.”

“She’s very nice, too,” Valerie said as she hurried up the narrow stairs.

“How come she’s here?” Julian asked. “Is there something the matter?” He took two steps at a time, trying to keep up with her.

“Everything’s fine, Julian,” she said. “But I’ve already missed one class, and I’m late for the next one.”

“You haven’t seemed yourself the last few days,” he said, ignoring what she had said. “You’ve been all white and strained. You’re going to work yourself into a nervous breakdown if you don’t watch it.”

“The work’s fine,” she assured him.

“What class do you have now?”

“Music theory.”

“Oh, don’t go, Valerie,” said Julian. “As long as it’s not old Stern who’s waiting for you, let’s go get a cup of tea somewhere.”

“I can’t, Julian,” she said, trying to get by him as he blocked her way on the landing.

“Yes, you can,” he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. “I’m your friend. All I have to do is look at you to see something’s upsetting you.”

He really was concerned, Valerie saw when she looked into his dark eyes. She almost burst into tears right there on the stairs.

“Come on then,” he said, taking her hand as he led her back downstairs. “A nice cup of tea will do you the world of good.”

A few minutes later they sat in a coffee bar near the conservatory.

“I’ve never cut a class before,” she said, shrugging out of her coat.

“Then it’s time you did,” he said, reaching across the table to take her hand. “Now, tell me what’s going on.”

Ten minutes later Valerie was brushing away the tears with the back of her hand after she had told Julian the whole strange sequence of events, starting with the letter to Vicki and Al that had been returned to her several weeks earlier.

“There’s one thing you can do,” Julian said. “You can go to the American embassy. You’re an American citizen.”

The American embassy, Valerie thought. Of course. How silly she and Lady Anne had been not to think of it.

“That’s a great idea.”

“I’ll go with you if you want.”

“Oh, I don’t know how I could work that out,” Valerie said. “There’s always somebody around. Lady Anne. Bernard.”

“What we could do is this,” Julian said. “I’ll wait for you tomorrow just inside the front door of the conservatory. When the chauffeur drops you off, you come inside. We’ll wait until he’s gone, and then we’ll just nip over to the embassy. It’s just over in Mayfair, in Grosvenor Square.” He looked at her anxiously, a frown on his face. “How does that sound to you?”

Valerie looked across the table at him, at his dark eyes, the pale skin. She felt safe with Julian. He would take care of her.

“Okay,” she said.

The next day, Julian was waiting inside the front door. Together they looked outside and saw the long black limousine pulling away from the curb. Then they raced down the stairs to the bus stop on the corner. Valerie felt almost giddy with freedom as they crowded aboard the big red double-decker bus. Just sitting next to Julian on the second deck was like breaking out of prison, she decided.

Inside the light, airy reception room of the American embassy, Valerie felt almost as if she were back in California. It was so cheerful, so open, so American somehow.

“This is a first,” said the middle-level embassy employee who was sitting across the desk from them. “What we always get are calls from parents in America trying to find their missing children.”

“But you can do something, can’t you?” Julian asked. “She is an American.”

“We can advance you the money for a ticket home,” he said, turning to Valerie.

“That’s all?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“I’ll contact the State Department and make a few other calls. Anyway, I’ve got your address and phone number, Miss Hemion. I’ll call you with anything I find out.” Reaching into one of the drawers of his desk, the man handed Valerie one of his business cards. “Are you all right for money?” he asked.

“She’s fine,” Julian answered for her. “She lives with her aunt, Lady Anne Hallowell.”

The man quirked an eyebrow as he shook hands with her and Julian, then showed them out.

“Which one of your parents is related to Her Ladyship?” Julian asked as they hurried along to the bus stop.

“My mother,” Valerie mumbled, remembering what Lady Anne had told her to say if anybody ever asked.

“So, your mother is Lady Anne’s sister,” Julian continued. “Was your father rich when they got married?”

“No, he wasn’t rich,” said Valerie, thinking about what the expression on Julian’s face would be if he ever met Vicki and Al.

“The family must have been terribly upset,” he said.

Valerie was trying to find a way to change the subject when Julian said, “Oh, look. There’s our bus. We can make it if we run for it.”

They were both panting as they climbed the spiral staircase and found a couple of seats together in the rear of the second deck.

Valerie was sure Julian was going to start asking her about her mother again, but what he said was, why didn’t the two of them go to a movie some night.

“Oh, Lady Anne would never let me,” Valerie said.

“Well, doesn’t your aunt go out?” asked Julian.

“Oh, sure. All the time.”

“Well, if you waited until after she left, and you were back home before she was, how would she ever know you’d been gone?”

“I could never do that,” said Valerie, realizing that she was really shocked at Julian’s suggestion. “I can’t leave the house at night without Lady Anne’s permission.” But then, she’d cut classes this morning to go to the American embassy without telling her. When she thought about it, one was as bad as the other.

“Would you at least ask her?” Julian pleaded.

“Okay,” Valerie said. “I’ll ask her.”