Denny finished his drink and poured out another one. “I’m certainly not going to discuss a subject like that with you,” he said abruptly. “After all, you’re the third party, and as such you have no business at all to suggest such a thing.”
Gerda put her drink down and went to fetch eggs from the pantry. When she came back she said: “In a way, I suppose I’m unfortunate. I think along the same lines as a man. I noticed your eyes when Stella was showing off her body. It rather gave you away. Not that I blame you in the slightest. I’m sure I’d feel exactly the same in your place.”
Denny said acidly, “Don’t you?”
“You mean am I one of those?” She shook her head. “Oh no. I might have been if I let myself go, of course, but I saw what an awful mess it would get me in. Stella is very much in love with me, but I don’t do anything about it.”
Denny lit a cigarette. “You know, you’re rather an unpleasant person,” he said. “I’m damn sorry I ever had anything to do with you.”
Gerda smiled. “Suppose we stop fooling around like this. You want Stella. I know you do. You are wishing I wasn’t here so that you could be alone with her. You have a lot of money. I haven’t any. I want money. I don’t make any bones about it. I must have it. Tell me, Mr. Merlin, how much would you pay to have Stella alone for tonight?”
Denny took a step towards her. His face had gone suddenly white. “Shut your beastly mouth, you bitch!” he said, “I’ve taken all I’m going to from you. So shut up, do you understand?”
She stood very still, looking at him, then her mouth smiled. “Does that mean you’ll think it over?” she asked, putting two eggs and the ham on a plate and putting it into his hand. “But eat this. I’ll go and hurry Stella. I should like a bath too.”
She left him standing staring after her with an angry, puzzled expression on his face.
Stella was still in the bath when Gerda came in. She looked up and smiled. “Am I keeping you waiting, darling?” she asked, cupping her breasts in her hands and lying back on her elbows.
Gerda looked at her beautiful white figure and sat on the edge of the bath. “No,” she said, “take your time. I want to talk to you.”
Stella’s face clouded. “What do you want now?” She laid stress on the word now.
“What do you think I want?” Gerda said, her hard eyes suddenly brightening. “There’s five hundred thousand dollars outside wolfing ham and eggs. I want a little of him.”
Stella swirled the water with her legs. She didn’t say anything.
“Go out and start on him. He’s really soft on you so he’ll treat you right. Leave it to me to get the dough out of him.”
Stella shook her head. “No,” she said, biting her lip. “No—no—no!”
“You can do it. It would be easy. I’ll go to bed and then you go to him. Tell him you’re frightened by the wind. Play up to him. Give him the works. He’s only waiting for you to start. Then I’ll come in and you can go to bed. You don’t have to go far with him—just enough to get him going”.”
Stella said “No” again.
“Think what it will mean. I could knock him down for a grand. Think what that would mean. You and I could go to the best hotel in Miami. We could buy clothes and we could eat what we wanted.”
Stella put her hands to her face. “And when the money was finished you would find someone else to sell me to. Like you did in Daytona Beach, like you did in Brooklyn, in New Jersey. No—no—no!”
Gerda got slowly to her feet. “You are the only capital we have,” she said. “You wanted to come with me, didn’t you? I didn’t ask you to, did I? Do you think I should have any difficulty in getting along by myself? How do you think I’ve managed before? I’m not afraid of work. I’m strong, not like you. You wanted to be with me—how do you think we can live unless you help? Do you think I’d mind what I did to make you happy? If men wanted me and would pay for me, do you think I should care? Can’t you get outside your body and forget that it is you? Use it to get us somewhere, use it as a singer uses his voice.”
Stella climbed out of the bath and wrapped a towel round her. She shivered a little. “How long have I got to do this?” she asked. “Don’t you love me any more? Doesn’t it mean anything to you that I’m used like this?”
Gerda went to her, her eyes half closed, knowing that she had got her way, and therefore willing to be kind.
Denny had finished his meal when Stella came out in a light-blue wrap, which suited her. He was mixing some more cocktails, having drunk six in a row, and he felt a lot better tempered. In fact, he greeted Stella with a grin as she came in.
“How are you feeling now?” he asked. “You’re looking grand. Have a gin and du Bonnet. Can you cook yourself a meal? I wish I could, but I’ve never learnt how.”
Stella took a cocktail and began preparing supper. “Don’t you want a bath, Mr. Merlin?” she asked.
Denny shook his head. “No, I’m fine. I guess I’ve been having a few drinks instead.”
She turned on the grill and stood waiting for it to heat up. With her back turned to him, she loosened her wrap, then pulled it closely round her as if to avoid spotting the material from the hissing fat.
Denny could see the slim outline of her figure, the soft curve of her buttocks, and he suddenly wanted her very badly. He turned away and took another drink. “Where’s your unpleasant friend?” he asked abruptly.
Stella stiffened. “Gerda?” she said, looking over her shoulder at him. “What do you mean—unpleasant?”
Denny shrugged. “Forget it,” he said; “I was forgetting she was a friend of yours.”
“Gerda’s in the bath. She won’t be out for ages. She loves to soak. She told me that she’d get her own supper. Odd way we’re eating. We ought to have all sat down together.”
“How old are you?” Denny asked, leaning against the stove, so that he could watch her face. “Right now, you look like a lovely little girl.”
Stella blushed. “Oh, I’m nineteen,” she said. “I’ll be twenty at the end of the month.”
“Isn’t it a pity that you’re living this sort of life? I mean, haven’t you any parents to look after you?”
Stella broke an egg into the pan. “No,” she said, “I guess not. I get along, really, Mr. Merlin, only just now we’re in a jam. We had some bad luck and the landlady took our bags in payment—you know.” She broke off and gave a little sniff.
Denny came a little closer. “This girl, Gerda. I don’t think she’s a suitable companion for you. Tell me, don’t you get into trouble sometimes because of her?”
Stella looked at him, trying hard to force anger out of her eyes. “Gerda has been very wonderful to me,” she said.
Denny shrugged and turned away. He couldn’t make this business out. Stella didn’t look like a tramp, he kept telling himself. She wasn’t that type at all, he could swear to it, yet why did Gerda make that suggestion? Why was she so sure that Stella would agree? Could it be that Stella liked him? By now the cocktails had made him a little drunk and he was very sure of himself. It would be rather a joke if Stella went for him in a big way and Gerda was left holding the can.
He followed Stella into the dining-room and sat opposite her while she ate her supper. Outside, the wind and rain lashed the walls of the house, making it shudder and forcing them to shout a little when they talked. He insisted on taking her plate away when she had finished, and came back with the cocktail-shaker full again. Stella was sitting on a big settee near the fire. Her wrap had fallen open, showing her neat bare legs. As soon as he came in, she hastily adjusted the wrap, but he had seen all right.
He felt the blood mounting to his head and he came over and sat beside her.