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.But you have not forgotten that I have children to care for, and a court case coming up in the New Year.''And then?''When Richard is twenty-one, which is only four years off, I will sail away with you, to the ends of the earth.''And forget all about being Hilton.'She accepted a glass of port, sipped.'And forget all about being Hilton.I have already forgotten all about being Hilton.I have no doubt that thunder we occasionally hear, those earth tremors which bother us, are my ancestors turning in their graves.''And I'll be glad to sail away, with you.Those earth tremors may be your ancestors rolling in their graves, but has it occurred to you that they are becoming a great deal more frequent ? And when you remember, what happened in San Francisco last year.it makes you think.''Oh, really,' she protested.'San Francisco is five thousand miles away.Isn't it?''Give or take a few, I'm sure you're right.But Port Royal isn't a thousand miles away.''1692,' she said scoffingly.'And that was an act of God.It destroyed Morgan the pirate.They said you could hear the beating of Gabriel's wings that day.''Earthquakes are always acts of God,' he pointed out.'They say the earth trembled the day I was born, too,' she said, suddenly thoughtful.'Now there is the most encouraging thing I've heard in a long time.' He smiled at her.'You're not superstitious about it?'She hesitated.'No,' she lied.'I'm not superstitious about anything.But you can't leave now.There's Christmas, and then there's the trial.You must be here for the trial, sweetheart.'He leaned across the table to kiss her on the nose.'Am I being called as a witness?''No,' she said.'But ‘ would not be any good as a witness, if you were not there.I do not know if I shall be any good anyway.My husband, a Hilton.''You were going to forget about that,' Alan said.He took her hand.'Billy killed a man who loved you, you say, and who was in any event risking his life to see you to safety.Not to see that his murderer is punished would be an act of betrayal.'She gazed into his eyes, sucked her lip between her teeth.'Are you sure, Alan? Are you sureV'Dead sure, my darling.Anyway, I'll be there to hold your hand.I promise you.As for Christmas, if I get away now, I may be back.I'll certainly be back for New Year's.' He squeezed her fingers.'Won't that do ?''Just see that you're back, Alan,' she said.'Just see that you are back.''You awake, mistress?' Muriel stood by the bed, the tray resting imperiously on one hand.'Yes,' Meg said.'Yes, I'm awake.''That is the thing, mistress.I goin' run your bath for you.'Meg gazed at the white canopy of the mosquito netting above her head.The bathroom was another innovation, added by Oriole.Oh, my God, Oriole, she thought.Oriole would be in court.Oh, no doubt of that.She had hoped her cousin would leave Jamaica immediately, but she should have known better.Oriole was made of sterner stuff, and she was waiting for the outcome of the trial.Alan sighed, and turned on his side.'Well ?'Meg raised herself on her elbow, lifted the netting, found his cup of tea and passed it to him, then pushed herself into a sitting position to drink her own.'Well?''How do you feel ?'She sipped.'How do you think I should feel?’ 'Butterflies?''You could say that.I have never appeared in a court of law before.' She raised the netting higher, got out of bed, walked to the jalousie and threw that wide.She looked at the sheep browsing on the pasture, at the endless banana groves.Her land, Hilton land.It was almost two hundred years to the day since Kit Hilton had founded this plantation.So tell me, Kit, she thought, what would you have done?But she knew what Kit had done.In his determination to seek justice he had brought his own father-in-law to trial for murder.In the ensuing family quarrel he had lost his wife and his plantation, although, being Kit Hilton, he had got them back later.But he had done what he had supposed was right.And beyond the banana groves were the mountains.Had there been drums last night ? The wind had been from the south, and she had not been sure.But if ever there would be drums again, they would have been last night.Because today would see them avenged.Today would see her justified, in their eyes.If she could ever be justified in their eyes.'Meg.' Alan was uneasy.She kissed him on the forehead, and then went to her bath.She soaked in the tub, gazing at the ceiling; one of the skylights overhung the bathroom, and this had been pulled just a little open to allow air into the huge room; it had been a bedroom before Oriole had appropriated it.Muriel waited patiently.But what did she think? What did all of the black people think? Or did they prefer not to think at all, just to let their strange, violent, often senseless employers get on with ruining each other's lives, so long as their lives were left in comparative peace?She got out of the bath, allowed herself to be swathed in the huge white towel and gently massaged, and then to be powdered.She wrapped herself in the robe and returned to the bedroom; Alan had left the bed and gone to the master's dressing room
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