Free HF - 05 - Sunset by Christopher Nicole Page A

had grown very quiet.
    Meg bit her lip. Oh, Lord, she thought; I am going to cry.
    'Meg.' Oriole took her elbow. 'A very good riddance. Now it is time to cut your cake.'
    'But ... I was going to cut it with him,' Meg moaned.
    'Good heavens. Then indeed we have had a happy escape. There is no one here you should cut your cake with, Margaret. Saving your father. And he is waiting for you.'
    'I feel so wretched about it,' Meg confessed, plucking at the keys of the piano.
    'Whatever for? He will be far happier, far better off, attempting something that is within his grasp, than mooning after the unattainable,' Oriole said sharply. 'And if you are not going to concentrate on the piano, then you may as well stop altogether and listen.'
    Meg obediently closed the keyboard; she did not feel in the least like playing, in any event.
    Oriole got up, paced the room. It was her favourite occupation, perambulating about the withdrawing room, touching the ornaments, running her fingers over the baize of the billiard table. No dust now. Oriole had cleaned it with her own hands. 'I am really getting a little worried about you,' she remarked. 'I had hoped for a marked improvement in your ... well, your demeanour, over the past year. Young girls are often unable to see their true place in life. They make odd friends, and such friendships must be discouraged. But you are no longer a young girl, Margaret. You are sixteen, and if in some circles even that might be considered a trifle young, the fact is that physically you are quite mature enough to be married and bear children. I suppose it has something to do with the tropics. Are you listening to me?'
    Meg stifled a yawn. 'Of course I am.' But she had no idea what her cousin was leading up to.
    'Well, then, I would like, over the next few months, to see a distinct improvement. 1 have not told you before, because it is still unsettled, but I have almost persuaded your father to permit you to pay a visit to England.' 'England?' Meg cried.
    'England. It is certain that we will never find you a suitable husband here in Jamaica. You cannot marry a civil servant, and you cannot possibly marry the son of some estate manager.'
    'Marriage?' Meg said. 'Oh. But ...' She had no desire to get married, especially at this moment, and she suddenly realized that she had no desire to leave Jamaica, either.
    'But if we are going to marry the Hilton heiress well,' Oriole pronounced, 'the man she marries is going to expect to be getting the Hilton heiress. Not some half-wild Creole.'
    'I ... I thought I was doing quite well,' Meg said, pronouncing each word with great care, and getting up to prove just how much she had learned about deportment.
    'My dear girl, any slut of an actress can speak well, and walk well. It is what is inside that matters. You are Margaret Hilton. How many times do I have to tell you that? You are heiress to the greatest name in West Indian history. For heaven's sake attempt to act the part. How can I have Prudence address you with proper respect if you allow her to take such liberties with you?'
    'Liberties?'
    'Coming into your bedroom when you are changing, indeed. She almost did it to me the other day. A black person. Good Lord. I nearly fainted.'
    'But Prudence was my nurse. She used to bathe me. She knows what I look like.'
    'Not any more,' Oriole pointed out. "That is what I am trying to get through your head. You are no longer a child. You are a woman. You are a Hilton. You are the Mistress of Hilltop. Act the part.' Her tone softened. 'Promise me you will.'
    'Oh, of course I will,' Meg cried. 'I'll try.' 'See that you do,' Oriole said . 'And forget all about that detestable youth. Now, perhaps we can attempt some piano practise.'
    Act the Hilton. No, no. That was quite wrong. Be the Hilton. But it was so absurd, really. It was all an accident of birth. Who decided whether you were born white or whether you were born black? Why, she could just as easily have been one of the several