Secret Harbor by Barbara Cartland Page A

fat woman, but actually she herself ate very little.
    What she could do was to cook in a way which had made everybody on the island value the invitations they received to Secret Harbour.
    Grania could remember the Governor complaining that they could never find anybody to cook as well as Momma Mabel, and she knew her mother suspected that he tried to entice her away with higher wages than she was receiving at Secret Harbour.
    But Momma Mabel, like many of the other servants on the estate when her mother had been alive, thought of themselves as part of the family.
    As long as they had enough to eat, whether they received high or low wages or none at all, was immaterial.
    Grania talked to Momma Mabel in the kitchen for some time, then went to find Abe and as she expected he was cleaning the silver.
    She watched him for a moment, then said in a low voice:
    “If the Master returns you must warn Monsieur that he must not come.”
    Abe thought this over before he nodded and said:
    “’Morrow Bella come back.”
    “I thought she must have gone away.”
    “She not far.”
    Bella was the maid who had looked after Grania since she was small and when she grew older had made all her gowns.
    The Countess had taught her all the arts of being a lady’s-maid and Grania knew that when Bella returned she would be looked after and cosseted, and her clothes from London would last far longer than they would have done otherwise.
    Then she thought that she was being over-optimistic: and her father would make her go back to Maigrin House and marry its owner, and Bella would not go with her.
    Then she told herself that she must believe that when her father did arrive she would somehow convince him that she could not marry Roderick Maigrin, and that if they organised the plantation properly there would be enough money for them to live here quietly and be happy however much they might miss her mother.
    “Please ... God, make him ... listen to me,” she prayed. “Please ... Please ...”
    She felt her prayer wended its way towards the Heavens, and because she wanted to pray and also to look her best for her dinner-party she went upstairs to her bedroom.
    Her trunks had not been unpacked and she knew Abe was wise to leave them for Bella.
    Nevertheless, she searched until she found one of the prettiest gowns she owned.
    It was one her mother had made for her just before she grew ill, and although she was still ostensibly at School Grania was sometimes allowed to dine with her mother’s friends when there was a small party.
    She held the gown up, shaking the creases out of the full skirt and knowing that the soft bodice with its small puffed sleeves was very becoming.
    “I wonder if he will admire me,” she thought.
     
    She was not disappointed when she saw the expression in the Comte’s eyes when he entered the Salon where she was waiting for him.
    Although it was not yet dark she had lit some of the candles, and as he came in through the door she drew in her breath because he looked so magnificent.
    She thought if he was smart and very elegant in his day clothes, in black satin knee-breeches and silk stockings with a long-tailed evening-coat and a frilled cravat no man could look more attractive.
    If she found it difficult to find the words in which to greet him, it seemed as if the Comte felt the same.
    For a moment they just stood looking at each other. Then as he walked towards her she felt almost as if he was enveloped with a light that came from within him.
    It radiated out so that instinctively she wished to draw nearer and make herself a part of him.
    “ Bon soir, Grania.”
    “ Bon soir, Monsieur le Comte !”
    “And now let us say it in English,” he said. “Good evening, Grania! You look very beautiful!”
    “Good evening ...!” she answered.
    She wanted to call him by his Christian name but the word would not come to her lips.
    Instead, because she was shy she said quickly:
    “I hope the dinner will not disappoint