Tubby moved forward. He was like a man in a dream, compelled to go to the window as though drawn there by some magnetic influence. Saeton was standing quite still, looking down at Diana, his hard, leathery face unsoftened, a muscle twitching at the corner of his mouth. Standing there in the darkness facing that lighted window it was like watching a puppet show. ‘All right. If you want it that way.’ Saeton’s voice was harsh. It came to us muffled, but clear. He knocked back his drink, set down the glass and seized hold of her by the arms. She lay back in his grip, her hair hanging loose, her face turned up to him in complete abandon.
Saeton hesitated. There was a bitter set about his mouth. Then he drew her to him. Her arms closed around his neck. Her passion was to me something frightening. I was so conscious all the time of Tubby standing there beside me. It was like watching a scene from a play, feeling it through the senses of a character who had yet to come on. Saeton was fumbling at her dress, his face flushed with drink and quite violent. Then suddenly he stiffened. His hands came away from her. ‘That’s enough, Diana,’ he said. ‘Get me another drink.’
‘No, Bill. It’s me you want, not drink. You know you do. Why don’t you-’
But he took hold of her hands and tore them from his neck. ‘I said get me another drink.’
‘Oh God! Don’t you understand, darling?’ Her hand touched his face, stroking it, smoothing out the deep-etched lines on either side of the mouth. ‘You want me. You know you do.’
Tubby didn’t move. And I stood there, transfixed by his immobility.
Saeton’s hands slowly reached out for Diana, closed on her and then gripped hold of her and hurled her from him. She hit the edge of the table and clutched at it. He took two steps forward, standing over her, his head thrust slightly forward. ‘You little fool!’ he said. ‘Can’t you understand you mean nothing to me. Nothing, do you hear? You’re trying to come between me and something that is bigger than both of us. Well, I’m not going to have everything wrecked.’
‘Go on,’ she cried. ‘I know I don’t rate as high as that bloody engine of yours. But you can’t go to bed with an engine. And you can with me. Why don’t you forget it for the moment? You know you want me. You know your whole body’s crying out for-’
‘Shut up!’
But she couldn’t shut up. She was laughing at him, goading him. ‘You never were cut out for a monk. You lie awake at nights thinking about me. Don’t you? And I lie awake thinking about you. Oh, Bill, why don’t you-’
‘Shut up!’ His voice shook with violence and the veins were standing out on his forehead, hard and knotted.
Her voice dropped to a low murmur of invitation. I could no longer hear the words. But the sense was there in her face, in the way she looked at him. His hands came slowly out, searching for her. Then suddenly he straightened up. His hand opened out and he slapped her across the face — twice, once on each cheek. ‘I said — shut up! Now get out of here.’
She had staggered back, her hand to her mouth, her face white. She looked as though she were going to cry. Saeton reached out for the bottle. ‘If you’d had any sense you’d have given me that drink.’ His voice was no longer hard. ‘Next time, pick somebody your own size.’ He tucked the bottle under his arm and turned to go. But he hesitated at the door, looking back at her. I think he was going to say something conciliatory. But when he saw the blazing fury in her eyes, his face suddenly hardened again. ‘If you start any trouble between me and Tubby,’ he said slowly, ‘I’ll break your neck. Do you understand?’ He wrenched open the door and disappeared.
A moment later the outer door of the quarters opened and we were spotlighted in the sudden shaft of light. Saeton stopped. ‘How long have you two been-’ He slammed the door. ‘I hope you enjoyed your rubbernecking. I’m going over to the hangar.’ His footsteps rang on the iron-hard earth as his figure merged into the darkness of the woods.
Neither of us moved for a moment. Utter stillness surrounded us, broken only by the muffled sound of Diana’s sobs where she lay across the table, her head buried in her hands amongst the litter of glasses. I felt the chill glass of the bottles as Tubby thrust them into my hands. ‘Take these over to the hangar,’ he said in a strangled voice.
I watched him as he opened the door of the quarters and went inside, walking slowly, almost unwillingly. I didn’t move for a moment. I seemed rooted to the spot. Then the door of the dining-room opened and I saw him enter. I’d no desire to stand in as audience on another painful scene. I turned quickly and hurried through the woods after Saeton.
When I entered the hangar, Saeton was sitting on the work bench staring at the new engine and drinking out of the bottle. ‘Come in, Neil.’ He waved the bottle at me. ‘Have a drink.’ His voice was slurred, almost unrecognisable. God knows how much he’d drunk in the short time it had taken me to get to the hangar.
I took the bottle from him. It was brandy and more than.-half-empty. The liquid ran like fire down my throat and I gasped.
‘You saw the whole thing, I suppose?’ he asked.
I nodded.
He laughed, a wild, unnatural sound. “What will Tubby do?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said.
He got off the bench and began pacing up and down. ‘Why did he ever let her come here? It was no place for her. She likes plenty going on — lots of people, excitement, plenty of noise and movement. Why don’t men learn to understand their wives? Let’s forget about it.’ He waved his arm angrily. ‘What have you got there — Scotch?’ He came over and picked up one of the bottles from the bench where I’d placed it. ‘Thank God we’ve got some liquor, anyway.’ He glanced at the bottle of brandy which I still held. ‘Queer, a woman hiding away a bottle like that.’ He unscrewed the top of a whisky bottle.
‘Haven’t you had enough?’ I suggested.
He gave me a glassy stare. ‘It’s Christmas Eve, isn’t it? And the engine is finished. I could drink a bloody vat.’ He raised the bottle to his lips and drank, rocking slightly back on to his heels and then forward on to his toes. ‘Funny, isn’t it?’ he muttered hoarsely, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. ‘You start out with the idea of celebrating and before you know where you are you’re trying to drown your sorrows. Neil, old man.’ His free hand reached out and fastened around my shoulders. Tell me something. Be honest with me now. I want an honest reply. Do you like me?’
I hesitated. If I’d been as drunk as he was it wouldn’t have mattered. But I was comparatively sober and he knew it.
His arm slipped away from my shoulders and he staggered away from me towards the engine. He stood in front of it and addressed it. ‘You bastard!’ he said. Then he lurched round towards me. ‘I haven’t a friend in the world,’ he said and there was a frightful bitterness in his voice which caught on a sob of self-pity. ‘Not a friend in the whole wide world,’ he repeated. ‘Diana was right. An engine is something you create, not a living being. God damn it! I don’t care. Do you hear me? — I don’t care. I don’t give a damn for the whole human race. If they don’t like me, why should I care? I don’t need anything from them. I’m building something of my own. And that’s all I care about, do you hear? I don’t give a damn-’ He turned suddenly at the sound of the hangar door opening.
It was Tubby. He came slowly down the hangar. ‘Give me a drink,’ he said.
Saeton handed him the bottle. Tubby raised it to his lips and gulped, Saeton watching him, his body tense. ‘Well?’ he asked. And then as Tubby didn’t answer he added, ‘For God’s sake say something, can’t you? What happened?’