Chapter 2 Chapter two

At a quarter to one in the morning Ned Atwood turned off Casino Boulevard into Angel Road. From afar, the beams of the Great Lighthouse swept across the sky.The sweltering heat of the day is fading, but the residual heat still seems to rise from the hot tarmac.La Bondret could hardly hear footsteps.The few tourists who stayed until the end of the season were in the casino, playing until dawn. Therefore, no one saw this young-looking man in a dark plush suit and fedora hat. He hesitated at the intersection of Angel Road, and then walked in without looking back.He gritted his teeth, his eyes were cloudy as if he had been drinking.But, tonight at least, Ned hadn't been drinking, only a little emotionally.

Eva never ceased to love him: he convinced himself of it. He could admit now that it had been unwise to boast about getting her back that afternoon in the bar of the Dongyong Hotel.That was a mistake.He should have slipped back to La Bondelet as quietly as he was now walking along the Rue des Angels, with the key to Villa Eva in his hand. Villa Miramar where Eva lives is in the middle of the left side of the road.As he approached the villa, Ned glanced instinctively at the house across the street.Like Eva's villa, the Louth family's villa is also a big square house with white stone walls and red tile roof.Like Eva's house, it was set back a few feet from the street, with a high front wall and a small iron gate.

Ned saw what he expected to see.The pitch-black ground floor.The upper floors were also dark, save for the lights in the two windows of Sir Maurice Lawes' study.Iron shutters were drawn behind these two windows; the curtains were not drawn to keep out the night heat. "Very good!" Ned exclaimed, taking a deep breath of the fragrant air. Although he had no fear at all that the old man would hear, and in any case had no reason to curse, he walked softly.He opened the door in the wall of Villa Eva and hurried up the path to the front door of the house.He put the front door key in the lock, which he had reserved for happier, or at least wilder, days; he took another deep breath, said a mental prayer to the pagan god, and sidled inside as planned.

Is Eva awake or asleep?At Villa Miramar, no lights mean nothing.Eva had always had the habit, what he called a morbid respectable habit, of drawing the curtains of every window after nightfall. But the downstairs hall was dark.There are smells of furniture wax and coffee, which seem to linger in the French house: bringing back all the details of the past.He groped his way across the hall to the stairs and went up on tiptoe. The stairs are narrow and beautiful, with handrails made of fine blue copper wire coiled into exquisite patterns, and the stairs lean against the wall like the curve of a shell.But it was tall and steep, with thick carpet held in place by old-fashioned brass stair rails.How often had he come up those stairs in the dark!How many times had he heard the clock ticking and felt his heart churning with malice; because he loved her, but (he thought) she might not be faithful to him.One clamp, he remembered—near the top of the stairs, not far from Eva's bedroom door—had come loose.He's tripped over it many times, and once he swore it would kill him.

Ned walked up the stairs, holding on to the banister with one hand.Eva is still awake.He could see a glimmer of light peeking through the crack of her bedroom door.He was so preoccupied with the light that he completely forgot about the loose clamp he'd cursed and vowed to avoid; "Damn it!" he said loudly. Eva Nair heard the shout from her bedroom. She knows who it is. Eva sat in front of the dressing table mirror, combing her hair slowly and steadily with a hairbrush.The chandelier above the mirror, the only source of light in the room, reflected her pleasant beauty: thick light chestnut hair falling on her shoulders, gray eyes sparkling.When her head was thrown back with the combing action, her round neck on her unruly shoulders was exposed.She was wearing white silk pajamas and white satin slippers.

Eva didn't look back.She continued to comb her hair.But before the door behind her opened, she felt a brief moment of inexplicable panic, and then she saw Ned Atwood's face reflected in the mirror. Ned, though sober, was almost crying. "Listen," he said before the door was fully open, "you can't do that!" Eva heard herself talking.Her panic did not decrease, but intensified.But she continued to comb her hair, perhaps to hide the trembling of her arms. "I guess it's you," she said quietly. "You haven't lost your mind completely, have you?"

"without me--" "Hush-shh, for God's sake!" "I love you," Ned said, opening his arms. "You swore to me that you lost that key. So you lied to me again?" "There's no time for little things," said Ned, knowing full well that this was not a little thing at all. "Are you really going to marry this guy named Rolls?" He spat out the name angrily. "yes." Instinctively, both glanced at the two drawn windows with the street below them.Obviously, the two wanted to go together. "May I ask you to observe a minimum of civility?" Eva asked.

"Not as long as I still love you." Make no mistake: he nearly cried.Are you acting?Eva is suspicious.For a moment at least, something shattered Ned's listless sarcasm and the airy confidence with which he had faced the world.But that passes quickly, and Ned is back to his old self.He strode across the room, threw his hat on the bed, and sat down in an easy chair. Eva struggled to keep herself from screaming. "Across the street..." she began. "I know I know!" "What do you know?" Eva asked.She put down her hairbrush and turned on the dresser stool to face him.

"The old man. Sir Maurice Lawes..." "Oh? How did you happen to know him?" "He stays up late every day," Ned answered, "in a room across the street. Over his collection, or whatever. You can look straight into this room from those windows." The bedroom was hot and smelled of bath salts and cigarettes.Ned sat easily in his chair, one leg curled over the arm, and surveyed the room.His face hardened with sarcasm.It's not just a pretty stern face: the forehead, the eyes, and the lines of the mouth suggest an imaginative, even intelligent face. He looked around at the familiar walls, upholstered in dark red satin.He looked at the many mirrors, at the bed, his hat on the coverlet.He looked at the phone next to the bed, at the lonely lamp above the dresser. "They're very holy, aren't they?" he quipped.

"Who?" "Rouses. If the old man knew you were graciously entertaining a visitor at one o'clock in the morning--" Eva stood up, but sat down again. "Don't worry," Ned added sharply. "I'm not the villain you think I am." "Then can I ask you to leave here?" His tone became desperate. "All I want to know," he insisted, "is why? Why did you marry this guy?" "Because I happened to be in love with him." "Nonsense," said Ned, with deadpan arrogance, ignoring her statement. "How long," said Eva, "before you finish what you have to say?"

"It can't be about the money," he mused. "You've got more money than you can possibly need. No, my little sugar witch: it's not about the money. Quite the contrary." "What do you mean: on the contrary?" Ned was frighteningly direct. "Why do you think that old goat over the other side is so eager to marry his pretentious son to you? It's because of your money, my dear. So, help, that's the way it is." Eva picked up a hairbrush and threw it at him.He was destroying everything she had tried to build, as he always did.He's sitting at ease, tie down on his rough dark suit jacket, a man who genuinely wants to fix a problem, but is stirring up an air of uneasiness.Eva's chest hurts and she wants to cry. "Then I suppose," she asked, furiously, "that you know the Laws well?" He took the question very seriously. "I don't know them, don't. But I've collected all the information I can about them. The key to the whole thing is..." "Now that we're on the subject," Eva said, "maybe you can give me your keys back." "key?" "The key to the house. The one you're twisting your fingers right now, in the key ring. I want to make sure this is the last time you put me in such an awkward position." "Eva, for God's sake!" "Please speak softly." "You'll come back to me," said Ned, sitting up straight.Then when he saw the look on her face, his voice became angry. "What's wrong with you? You've changed." "yes?" "Why the sudden enthusiasm for the holy? You were a man before. God knows how you are now. You've been arrogant. You've been ashamed of your virtues since you met the Rouses." "Really?" In a dangerous, suffocating silence, Ned sprang to his feet. "Don't sit there and say, 'really,' and act haughty. Don't you tell me you're in love with this Toby Laws. I'm sorry you wouldn't!" "What makes you object to Toby Lawes, dear Ned?" "Nothing. Except the big guys say he's an idiot, a smug guy. He might be good, he might be the ultimate piece of shit. But he's not your type. I am, for better or worse." Eva shivered. "So," Ned called to a mirror, "what the hell is to be done with a woman like that?" Then he paused. "I think," he said again, with an expression she used to know all too well, "there's only one thing I should do." Eva jumped up too. "You're sexy," Ned said, "especially in those pajamas. It would put a hermit out of his mind, and I'm not a hermit at all." "Don't you dare to approach me again!" "It seems to me," said Ned, feeling suddenly depressed, "that I'm like a villain in a melodrama. The heroine stands before her in trepidation, not daring to cry out lest..." He nodded toward the window.Then, his expression changed. "Very well," he said slyly. "Why not be a villain? Why not be a rogue who sneaks in? You'll like it." "I'll scratch you! I warn you!" "Good job. That's more like it." "Ned, I'm not joking!" "I'm not kidding either. You'll catch me, but only at the beginning. I don't mind that." "You always say you don't care about dignity at all. But you used to pride yourself on the spirit of fair play. If—" "You don't think the old goat across the road can hear anything, do you?" "Ned, what are you doing? Get back out the window!" Although it was a little later, Eva remembered the lamp on the dressing table.She fumbled with her hand over her head to turn off the light, and the room was plunged into darkness.The windows were covered with thick satin curtains; inside were lace curtains, covering the open windows.Ned fumbled in the folds of the satin curtain and lifted a corner, letting in a gust of cool air.He had no intention of actually embarrassing Eva unless absolutely necessary; and what he saw reassured him. "Maurice Lawes isn't asleep yet? Is he?" "Yes, he's still up. But he's not paying attention here at all. He's got a magnifying glass, and he's looking at what looks like a snuffbox. Wait!" "What's wrong?" "Someone is with him; but I cannot see who." "Toby, maybe." Eva felt breathless, and her originally soft voice became sharp. "Ned Atwood, can you come back through the window?" It was at that moment that they both realized that the light on the dresser had gone out. The faint light from Angel's Road filtered in a little, illuminating one side of Ned's face as he turned.He found the room dark, and the silly expression on his mouth showed his innocence and childlike wonder.He lowered the lace screens and drew the curtains, blocking the only light. It seemed unbearably hot in the bedroom.Eva reached over her head again for the switch for the chandelier, but couldn't find it.Instead of continuing her search, she left the dresser stool and stumbled across the bedroom, trying to get away from him. "Eva, listen..." "This is getting ridiculous. Could you please turn on the light?" "How do I turn it on? You are closer to the light than me!" "No, I'm not near you. I..." "Oh," said Ned curiously. She heard the tone and was even more frightened.This is the sign of victory. Ned wouldn't understand, or, what his simple-minded vanity couldn't understand, was that Eva found him annoying.Now the situation isn't just embarrassing: it's become a nightmare.And, of all the solutions, there was one that she would never think of, and that was to call for help—call the servants, say—and end the situation. Eva Nair knew that no one would believe her interpretation of events like this, she was completely used to it.No one believed it before, and never will.This is her life experience.In truth, she was almost as afraid of the servants knowing it as she was of the Louths knowing it.Servants gossip.From one mouth to another non-stop, every time it is said, it will add branches and leaves.For example, the new maid Yvette... "Give me a good reason," said Ned coldly, "why you're marrying this fellow Rouse." Her voice came piercingly out of the darkness, though not loudly. "For God's sake, let's go. You don't believe I'm in love with him, but that's the truth. Anyway, I don't have to explain my affairs to you. Never. Do you think you have a right to ask me ?” "yes." "What rights?" "I'll come over and show you." Despite the darkness, Ned could see exactly what she was doing, as if he had seen it with his own eyes.By the rustle of clothes, the creak of springs, he knew she had grabbed the lace pajamas at the foot of the bed and was putting them on.She was struggling to dress, and when he was one sleeve short, he caught her. There is another fear.Eva never forgot.No woman - ever forgets the first man in her life - even if her worldly acquaintances keep trying to convince her.She might have thought she had forgotten, but she hadn't.Eva was human; she had been alone for months; and Ned Atwood, after all, had his benefits.if……? When Ned grabbed her, she punched him, hard but not on point. "Let go! You hurt me!" "Then are you going to be obedient?" "No! Ned, the servants..." "Nonsense. Only old Moopsey." "Mopsey's gone, there's a new maid. I don't trust her. I think she's snooping around. Anyway, could you please be a little polite and don't..." "Then are you going to be obedient?" "No!" Eva was very tall, only two inches short of him.But her body was slender and lithe, with little strength.But this time, even if Ned was out of his wits, it was obvious that something was wrong: it wasn't a refusal, but an actual rebellion.The feeling was in the air, and Ned Atwood was no fool.However, with Eva in his arms, he couldn't hold himself anymore. But at this moment, the phone rang, breaking the silence of the night.

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