فصل 05

Chapter five

Alexandra Farraday

Sandra Farraday had loved Stephen from the moment he first spoke to her at Kidderminster House, pretending not to know who she was. She had realized that he had known, soon after their marriage. One day, when he was describing a clever piece of political strategy, she had recognized the same tactics he had used to win her.

She had always accepted that he did not love her in the same fierce way that she loved him. She thought that he wasn’t actually capable of it. But she understood the job he wanted her to do. He needed her practical help, her brains and her connections. He didn’t want her heart. But she knew that he liked her and enjoyed her company. So she hid her passionate devotion from him, and looked forward to a future full of friendship and affection.

And then Stephen met Rosemary Barton in St. Moritz.

Sandra wondered how he could imagine that she didn’t know about them. She had known from the moment he first looked at the woman. She had known the very day the woman became his mistress. She knew the perfume the woman used…

Her pride had protected her. She would never show that she was hurt, never beg, never protest. And she had one small piece of comfort - Stephen didn’t want to leave her. She knew that it was only for the sake of his career, but he wouldn’t leave. And some day, the affair would end. Never for one minute did Sandra think of leaving him. Stephen was her life, her whole existence.

What did he see in the girl? She was very beautiful - but she was also brainless, silly and stupid. Sandra believed that Stephen would get tired of Rosemary in time. His main interest in life was his work. He had a fine political brain and was destined for great things. Surely once the attraction began to fade he would remember that fact?

When they went down to Fairhaven, Stephen had seemed more like himself, and hope rose in her heart. He still wanted her close to him, and asked for her advice. For the moment, he had escaped from that woman. If only he would end the affair…

Then they went back to London and it all began again. Stephen looked tired and ill. He couldn’t concentrate on his work. Sandra thought she knew why. He was deciding to destroy everything he cared about most. It was madness! But Stephen would not be the first man who had sacrificed his career for a beautiful woman and been sorry afterwards.

How beautiful Rosemary had looked that night at Luxembourg, as she stood before the mirror in the ladies’ cloak room, fixing her make-up. She looked thin and pale after her recent illness. ‘Oh, this horrid flu has exhausted me,’ she exclaimed. ‘I look awful. And I still feel weak and headachy. You haven’t got an aspirin, have you, Sandra?’

‘No, but I’ve got a sachet of headache powder.’ Sandra had taken the paper packet from her handbag and given it to Rosemary, just as Ruth Lessing came up to take her place at the mirror. Then they had gone out to join the men in the hall: Sandra, Rosemary, Ruth Lessing, and Rosemary’s sister, Iris. As they walked into the dining room, there had been no warning that one of them would never go through that doorway again, alive…