through a crystal glass of champagne.
He wondered now at his own naivety. That he should be so easily misled, and should have rushed so headlong into her web. After the wedding she had revealed herself, exposing the deeply calculating greed, the driving hunger for flattery and material possessions which was her mainspring, and her complete absorption with herself - Johnny had not been able to believe it. For months he fought off the growing certainty until it could be denied no longer, and he looked with chilled dismay on the shallow selfish little creature he had married.
He had withdrawn from her and flung all his energies into the Company.
This, then, was his life and he saw that it was an empty thing, hollowed out by the Old Man’s hand.
For the first time his mind skirted the idea that it was a carefully calculated and sadistic revenge for the innocent action of a half-grown boy.
As though it were an escape from thoughts too dreadful to be borne, he fell asleep in the chair and the glass fell from his hand.
Jacobus Isaac van der Byl sat in a leather chair before the X-ray viewer. Fear had blasted the granite of his features, leaving them cracked and sagging, recognizable but subtly alerted below the gleaming white mane.
Fear was in his eyes also, moving below the surface like slimy water creatures in the pale blue pools. With the fear chilling and numbing his limbs he watched the cloudy and swirling images on the screen.
The specialist was talking softly, impersonally, as though he were lecturing one of his classes, enveloping the thymus here and extending beyond the trachea.”
The point of his gold pencil followed the ghostly outline on the screen. The Old Man swallowed with an effort. It seemed to be swelling in his throat as he listened, and his voice was hoarse and blurred to his own ears.
“You will operate?” he asked, and the specialist paused in his explanation. He glanced at the surgeon across the desk.
The exchange was as guilty as that of conspirators.
The Old Man swivelled his chair and faced the surgeon.
“Well?“he demanded harshly.
“No.” The surgeon shook his head apologetically. “It’s too late.
If only you had-“
“How long?“The Old Man overrode his explanation.
“Six months, not more.”
“You are certain?”
“Yes.” The Old Man’s chin sank on to his chest and he closed his eyes. There was complete silence in the room, they watched him with Professional pity and interest as he reached his own personal acceptance of death.
At last the Old Man opened his eyes and stood up slowly. He tried to smile but his lips would not hold the shape.
“Thank you, gentlemen,” he croaked in this new rough voice. “Will you excuse me, please. There are many things to arrange now.” He went down to where the Rolls waited at the entrance.
He walked slowly, shuffling his feet and the chauffeur came to him quickly, but the Old Man shrugged away his helping hands and climbed into the back seat of the car.
Michael Shapiro was waiting for him in the study of the big house.
He saw the change in him immediately and jumped up from his chair.
The Old Man stood in the doorway, his body seemed to have shrunk.
“Six months,” he said. “They give me six months.” He said it as though he had expected to buy off death, and they had tricked him. He closed his eyes again, and when he opened them there was a glint of cunning in them, even his face had a pinched foxy look to it.
“Where is he? Is he back yet?”
“Yes, the Boeing got in at nine this morning. He’s at the office now.” Michael was shocked, it was the first time he had seen the Old Man without the mask.
“And the girl?” He had not called her daughter” since the divorce.
“Johnny has her in a private nursing home.” “Worthless slut,” said the Old Man softly, and Michael stilled the protest before it reached his lips. “Get your pad. I want you to take something down.” The Old
Man chuckled hoarsely. “We’ll see!” he said, making it sound like a threat.
“We’ll see!” Johnny’s doctor was waiting at Cape Town airport.
“Take her, Robin. Dry her out, and fatten her up.
She’s up to her gills with drugs and she probably hasn’t eaten for a month.” Tracey showed her first spark of spirit.
“Where do you think-“
“Into a nursing home.” Johnny anticipated her questions.
“For as long as is necessary.”
“I’m not-“
“Oh, yes, you bloody well are.” He took her arm, and Robin grabbed the other. They walked her, still protesting weakly to the car park.
“Thanks, Robin Old Soldier, give her the full workout.”
“I’ll send her back to you like new,” Robin promised and drove away. Johnny took a few moments to look at the massive square silhouette of the mountain - his own private home-coming ceremony. Then he fetched the Mercedes from the airport garage, and hesitated between home or the office, decided he was not up to an interrogation from Ruby and chose the office. He kept a clean shirt and shaving tackle in his private bathroom there.
They descended on him like a tribe of man-eating Amazons as he came in through the glass doors into the lusciously furnished and carpeted reception area of Van Der Byl Diamonds head office.
The two pretty little receptionists began yipping joyously in chorus.
“Oh, Mr. Lance, I have a whole sheaf of messages-“
“Oh, Mr. Lance, your wife,” Trying not to run he made it to within ten feet of his own door, when the Old Man’s secretary popped out of ambush from behind her frosted-glass panel.
“Mr. Lance, where on earth have you been? Mr. van der Byl has been asking-” Which alerted Lettie Pienaar, his own secretary.
“Mr. Lance, thank goodness you’re back.” Johnny stopped and held up his hands in an attitude of surrender.
“One at a time, ladies. There is enough h to go round don’t panic.”
Which broke the reception team into a quivering jelly of giggles, and sent the Old Man’s watchdog back behind her panel sniffing disgustedly.
“Which is the most important, Lettie?” he asked as he went to his desk and flipped through his mail, shrugged out of his coat and began stripping tie and shirt as he headed for his bathroom.
“They shouted at each other through the open door of the bathroom, as Johnny shaved quickly and showered, Lettie bringing him up to date on every aspect of Company and domestic business.
“Mrs. Lance has phoned regularly. She called me a liar when I told her you were at Cartridge Bay.” Lettie was silent a moment, then as
Johnny came out of the bathroom she asked, “By the way, where have you been?”
“Don’t you start that.” Johnny stood over the desk, and began flipping through the accumulated papers. “Get my wife on the phone, please - no, hold it. Tell her I’ll be home at seven.”
Lettie saw she had lost his attention, and she stood and went out.
Johnny settled down behind his desk.
Van Der Byl Diamonds was a sick company. Despite Johnny’s protests the Old Man had been drawing off its reserves and feeding them into his other ventures - the property-developing company, the clothing factory, Van Der Byl fisheries, the big irrigation scheme on the Orange
River - and now the cupboard was almost bare.
The beach concessions were reaching the end of a short but glorious life. They were starting to work break- even ground. The Old
Man had sold the Huib Hoch concession to the big Company for a quick profit - but the profit had been just as
