Quest for Alexis Read Online Free PDF Page B

wasn’t prepared to wait on the off chance of receiving a letter from Alexis. A letter was so one -sided. It couldn’t be argued with, reasoned with. I was determined to see my uncle in the flesh, to talk to him face to face and demand an explanation.
     
    * * * *
    Rudi heard me returning to the west wing and came out of the Oak Room to meet me.
    “What did Sir Ralph have to say, Gail?”
    “He believes it. And he blames Alexis—just as you do.”
    “Be fair. I didn’t say I blamed him, but it’s no use shutting our eyes to what has happened.”
    “You don’t know what’s happened. I’d have thought that you of all people, Rudi, would stand up for Alexis, considering what he’s done for you.” My feeling of hurt bewilderment made me speak bitterly, unfairly. “Now I’m going up to see Madeleine.”
    My aunt’s bedroom was a large apartment with a view over the terrace and tangled grounds to the ridge of heathland that in the mist was no more than a vague purplish haze. The lake was very calm, lying like a sheet of pale gray silk, fringed with the tall feathery spires of the fir trees.
    Madeleine was seated by the window, an easel propped up before her, using the last of the fading light to catch the scene in one of her delicate watercolor paintings. I was relieved to see she was using water-color today. When she painted in oils, her mood was very different. Angry and turbulent, the expression of a tortured mind. The results were often grotesque.
    She heard the door click as I closed it and looked up. Rising swiftly to her feet, she held out her arms to me.
    “Gail, darling. I didn’t know you had arrived. Come and give me a kiss.”
    I went to her quickly and hugged her, putting my arms around her small, thin shoulders. For the moment I felt too choked with emotion to speak.
    “It was a lovely surprise,” she said happily, “when they told me you were coming home for a little holiday. Alexis has had to go away, did you know? But now, Gail, I shall have you for company.”
    I said huskily, “I’m afraid I have to go off again my self tomorrow, just for a little while. It shouldn’t be for very long.”
    She made a little moue of disappointment with her lips. “Did Rudi tell you I have a new nurse? Just tem porarily, you know. But I don’t like her very much. She’s not nearly as nice as Belle.”
    “I’m sorry about that, darling,” I murmured.
    She sighed. “Oh, well, it can’t be helped. I expect they’ll both be home soon—Alexis and Belle.”
    It shook me for a moment, hearing her link their names together. Had she some glimmering of what had happened, in spite of all that had been done to keep it from her? But looking searchingly into Madeleine’s face, I felt sure that she knew nothing of the truth.
    The truth. I was thinking just like the others, who were all so quick to condemn Alexis. In swift penance, I kissed my aunt’s cheek a second time. “It’s wonder ful to see you, darling. You’re looking so much better than when I went away.”
    My mother had often spoken of her younger sister as being very beautiful, and a pale ghost of this loveli ness still lingered behind the marks of her ill-treatment at the hands of Novotny’s secret police. The large golden eyes were sunk deep, and above her cheek bones the ivory skin was stretched like translucent parchment. Strangers tended to look away quickly, disturbed by the evidence of so much suffering. It was only those who knew her well and loved her who could be entirely natural in her presence. To me, Madeleine’s face had a special quality. Despite all she had endured, there was still something that reminded me of my mother.
    And now poor Madeleine was about to face even more suffering, worse than anything she had so far had to bear. How could I bring myself to break the news of Alexis’s disappearance? How could I tell her that the husband she adored had apparently deserted her for another woman? Such a cruel, casually ruthless