Kirkland Revels

Chapter 7

I did not sleep well that night and it must have been nearly morning when I was awakened by Mary-Jane. It was dark and she was carrying a lighted candle.

“Mary-Jane!” I said.

“What is the time?”

” It’s six o’clock, madam.”

” But why … ?”

” I wanted to tell you yesterday, but with all the Christmas preparations I didn’t get a chance. I only found it yesterday. It was while we were getting the hall ready.”

I sat up in bed and cried: ” Mary-Jane, you have found the way out of the house?”

” I think so, madam. It is in the gallery … in the cupboard. There are two floorboards there with a gap between them, enough to get your fingers in. I thought there was something not usual about them so I put my fingers down and gripped one of the boards. It lifted up easy.

Then I saw the great black space below, so I got a candle and looked down. There are some stairs leading down. That’s all, madam. William was calling me then, so I let the board fall back and didn’t say anything . thinking I’d come straight to you to tell you. But then I had to go to the kitchens and help and I couldn’t get another chance, but I’ve been thinking about it all night. “

” Mary-Jane,” I said, ” we must look into this.”

” I thought you’d want to.”

” There’s no one up yet?”

” Only the servants, madam, and they’re not in this wing. They’ll be coming to do the hall in half an hour’s time though.”

” Well, we must move quickly,” I said. ” We’re going to have a look at those stairs now.”

” Shouldn’t you dress yourself first, madam?”

” No, I can’t wait,” I said. ” I’ll put on my cloak over my nightgown.”

So together Mary-Jane and I left my bedroom and quietly made our way to the minstrels’ gallery. I was afraid all the time that Luke would suddenly appear, but Mary-Jane was with me, and it would be difficult for him to do me any harm.

I was excited, for this was the proof I needed. The only person in this house whom I could trust was Mary-Jane, and we were together in this.

The house was very quiet, and for that reason even my slippered tread seemed noisy. But we reached the gallery and no one appeared.

Mary-Jane very gently shut the door, and I held the candle while she opened the cupboard and showed me the floorboards. She knelt and lifted one of these up and, as she had explained, it came up easily; evidently it had been cunningly made to act as a trapdoor.

I leaned over the aperture, holding the candle. I could see the flight of steps which she had told me about. I longed to go down there, but it would be necessary to take a short leap on to the top step and I dared not trust myself to do that.

But Mary-Jane was lithe and slim. I turned to her.

” You get through,” I said. ” And I’ll hand you the candle. Just look round and tell me what you see down there.”

She had turned a little pale, but she was the sort who would despise what she would call the gormless; and after that second’s hesitation she lowered herself through the aperture and when she was standing on the steps I handed her the candle.

She said: ” It seems like a big room down there. It’s very cold.”

“Just have a quick look round,” I ordered.

“Then we’D try to find the way in from the Abbey side.”

There was silence for a while. I peered down. I could see her gingerly descending the stairs, and sharply I warned her to be careful.

” Oh aye,” she assured me. ” I’m safe on me feet, madam.”

I heard her voice again when she had descended the steps. ” I can see a light in the distance. That must be the way out. I’ll just have a quick look.”

My heart was beating madly. I wanted to be down there with her, but I dared not risk slipping on those stone steps. I glanced over my shoulder. I could not rid myself of the feeling that someone was watching us. But there was no one there; there was no sound at all in that silent house.

I heard a sudden call from Mary-Jane. ” I’ve found some thing, madam.”

” I can’t see you now.” I called. ” Where are you?”

Her voice sounded faint. ” The candle nearly went out, madam.”

” Come back now, Mary-Jane. Bring what you’ve found if you can carry it.”

” But, madam …”

” Come back,” I said authoritatively.

Then I saw the candle again and breathed more freely.

Mary-Jane appeared on the steps; she was holding the candle in one hand and something under her arm. She handed the bundle up to me and I knew at once that it was I the monk’s robe. I took the candle from her and in a second or so Mary-Jane had scrambled through the aperture and was safe in the gallery.

” I was alarmed when you disappeared from sight.” I said.

” I wasn’t all that brave me self madam, down there, Qwf. me. the shivers.”

” Why, you are cold, Mary Jane

” It’s cold down there, madam. I found the robe though.”

” Let’s go along to my room. We don’t want anyone to find us here.”

We let down me floorboard of the cupboard and satisfied ourselves that it showed no signs of having been disturbed; and taking the robe with us we went back to my room.

When we were there Mary-Jane put the robe about her and I shuddered.

“Take it off,” I said.

“We must guard this. If anyone dare say that I’ve seen visions because my mind is disturbed, we can prove that it was not visions I saw.”

” Shouldn’t we tell someone? Shouldn’t we show them the robe?”

The day before I should have said: “Yes. We will tell Mr. Redvers.”

But I could no longer say that. I no longer trusted Simon, and if I could not trust Simon I trusted nobody.

” We will say nothing of this for the moment, Mary Jane t said. ” We have the evidence here. I will put it in my wardrobe and the door shall be locked so that no one can steal it. “

” And then, madam.”

I looked at the clock over the fireplace and saw that it was seven o’clock.

” You will be missed, if you stay here much longer. I will go back to bed. You will bring my breakfast in the ordinary way. I shall want very little to eat. Bring my hot water earlier. I want to think what I ought to do next.”

” Yes, madam,” she said.

And she left me.

Ruth came to my room to see how I was.

” You look exhausted,” she said. ” Yesterday was too much for you.”

” I do feel tired,” I admitted.

” I should stay in your room all day. I’ll keep them away. Then perhaps you’ll feel well enough to join us this evening There will only be the family; and Simon and Hagar will be leaving early to-morrow morning. The carriage always comes for them sharp at nine-thirty on the day after Boxing Day.”

” Yes. I should like to rest awhile,” I said.

All that day I lay on my bed and thought about the events which had led up to my discovery of the robe. I went over everything, beginning with my meeting with Gabriel and Friday. Gabriel knew there had been an attempt on his life in the ruins, and he was afraid. He had hoped that I would be able to help him—at least there would be two of us to fight whatever threatened him. Then there was the night before he died, when Friday had heard someone in the corridor. It would have been that night when Gabriel met his death, but for Friday.

Friday had obviously been killed so that he could not again give the warning. Sarah knew this and had conveyed it on her tapestry. How much more did she know? So Gabriel had died and I had been of little interest to the murderer until it was disclosed that I was to have a child. The idea to make me seem mad must have come when Dr. Smith thought it his duty to tell the family that there was a Catherine Corder in Worstwhistle.

What a diabolical mind was behind that plot! I did not believe the idea was to send me to Worstwhistle, but to build up a case of insanity against me and then possibly stage my suicide before the child was born.

Why was I thinking of the plot in the past tense? It still existed.

And when my would-be murderer discovered that his robe was missing, what would he do? Perhaps he would think there was need for prompt action.

I was undecided. Perhaps I should go back to Glen House. But how could I do this in secret? If I announced my intention I could expect immediate action. I was certain that I should not be allowed to leave this house.

I thought of them . Luke and Simon. I tried not to think of Simon.

It was Luke, I told myself. It must be Luke. And Damaris was helping them.

Damaris! But had I not learned something last night of the relationship between Damaris and Simoni My thoughts went round and round like a mouse in a cage. I had the robe; I should have been triumphant if I could have shared my knowledge with Simon.

But what could I ever share with Simon now?

I was wishing again, as I had wished when I let the water from the Knaresborough Well trickle on my hands: ” Not Simon. Oh, please, not Simon!”

I joined the family at dinner. Simon was attentive and appeared anxious on my behalf and, although I had told myself that I would give no sign of my changed feelings towards him, I could not help a coolness creeping into my manner.

He was next to me at dinner, which we took in the hall as we had on the previous night.

” I am disappointed,” he told me, ” that I’ve had no opportunity of being with you to-day. I had planned that we should take a drive together … you, my grandmother and myself.”

“Would not the weather have been too cold for her?”

” Perhaps, but she would not admit it. She, too, was disappointed.”

” You should have made up a party with the others.”

” You know that would not have been the same thing at all.”

” Perhaps Damaris would have accompanied you.”

He laughed, and lowered his voice. ” I have something to tell you about that.”

I looked at him interrogatively.

” Because,” he added, ” you obviously noticed. It is often necessary to go by devious ways to reach a certain goal.”

” You are talking in riddles.”

“Which is not inappropriate. We have a riddle to solve.”

I tamed away because I fancied Luke was trying to listen to our conversation; but fortunately Aunt Sarah was talking loudly about Christmases of the past, and although she was repeating what she had said yesterday she seemed determined that no one should miss a word.

After dinner we retired to the first-floor drawing-room, and there were no other visitors that night. I talked to Sir Matthew and would not leave his side, although I could see that Simon was growing exasperated with me.

I left the company early and had not been in my room more than five minutes when there was a knock on the door.

” Come in,” I called, and Sarah entered.

She smiled at me conspiratorially and whispered as though to excuse the intrusion: “Well, you were interested. That’s why …”

” What do you mean?” I asked.

” I’ve started to fill it in.”

My thoughts immediately went to the half-finished piece of tapestry which she had showed me when I was last in her room. She was watching me and her face seemed suddenly full of knowledge.

” Can I see it?” y^ ” Of course. That’s why I came. Will you come back with me?”

I rose eagerly and when we were in the corridor she put her fingers to her lips. ” Don’t want anyone to hear us,” she said.

“They’re still in the first-floor drawing-room. It’s early yet … for a Boxing night.

All very well for you to retire early. That’s on account of your condition. But the others . “

We mounted the stairs and went through to her wing. It was very silent in this part of the house and I shivered whether with cold or apprehension, I was not sure.

She led the way to her tapestry room, and she was now as excited as a child with a new toy which she wants to show off. She lighted several candles from the one she was carrying; then, setting that one down, she ran to the cupboard. She took out the canvas and held it in front of her as she had on another occasion. I could not see very clearly although it was obvious that the blank side had now been filled in with some thing. I picked up a candle and held it close to the canvas. Then I saw the outline of a drawing.

I looked closer. On one side were the dead bodies of Gabriel and Friday, and on the other a faint pencil drawing This was of another building, and the effect was that of looking through barred windows into a room which was like a prison cell. In that cell was the vague outline of a woman who held something in her arms. I felt a thrill of horror as I realised this was meant to be a baby.

I looked into Sarah’s face. Illumined as it was by the light of the candles, all shadows and lines seemed to be eliminated ; she was rejuvenated more than that; she seemed not quite human. I longed to know what secrets, what motives lay behind those calm eyes which could at times seem so simple, at others so wise.

” I suppose that figure is myself?” I said.

She nodded. ” You saw the baby, did you? You see, the baby is born.”

” But we seem to be in a sort of prison.”

” I think it would feel like being in prison.”

” Aunt Sarah, what would feel like being in prison?”

” There,” she said. ” That place.”

I understood. ” That’s all cleared up,” I explained. ” II was all a mistake. The doctor made a mistake. There is no need to think of that any more.”

” But it’s here.” she insisted. ” It’s here in the picture.”

“ That’s because you don’t know all that’s happened.”

She shook her head almost petulantly, and my apprehension increased. I knew she moved quietly about the house. listening from secret places; and then quietly in this room she recorded the family’s history. The history of the Rockwells was the most important thing in her life.

That was why she spent hours over her exquisite tapestry. Here in this room she was supreme, a sort of goddess looking on at the follies of her creatures; elsewhere she was of no account—merely poor Sarah, who was a little simple.

I was foolish to allow myself to be upset by the vague ideas which circulated in her wandering mind.

” In a prison,” she murmured, ” there has to be a jail or I can see him. He’s all in black, but he has his back to me and his hood makes it impossible to recognise him.”

“The monki” I spoke lightly for I could think of that creature without fear now.

She came up to me and looked into my face. ” The monk is very near you, Catherine,” she said. ” The monk is waiting for you, waiting to catch you. You should not think the monk is not near … and coming nearer.”

” You know who it is!” I accused her.

” It’s a lovely night,” she answered. ” The stars are wonderful.

There is frost in the air, and, Catherine, the view is beautiful from the balcony.”

I drew away from her.

” You’re right,” I said. ” It is cold here. I think I should go back to my room.”

“Wait awhile, Catherine.”

” I think I should go.”

I went to the door but she had caught my robe and was clinging to it.

I had begun to shiver again, but this time not with cold.

“The candle,” she said.

“You’ll need one. Take mine.”

Still holding my robe, she drew me into the room. She picked up one of the lighted candles and thrust it into my hand. I grasped it and, disengaging myself, hurried along the corridor, ‘half expecting her to pursue me.

I was breathless when I reached the sanctuary of my room and my apprehension remained with me. I could not dismiss Sarah’s ramblings from my mind because I was certain that there was some meaning hidden within them.

How uncertain I was on that night I longed to confide in someone.

When I was with Simon I could not help but trust him and I doubted my ability to resist him; I believed that if I told him what I had discovered and he gave me a plausible explanation, I should be only too glad to meet him half-way. Readily would I believe any story he could tell me if only it would exonerate him from the murder of Gabriel and from the attempted murder of me and my child.

I believed that night that I dared not listen to Simon. I had to remain aloof. For the first time I could not trust my own good sense.

I was at the mercy of my feelings for this man. It was humiliating, and yet in a way it was exhiliarating, because love must always be like that. And I learned that night, if I had not known it before, that I was in love with Simon.

The next day Simon and Hagar left Kirkland Revels. I said good-bye warmly to Hagar, coolly to Simon. He was aware of my changed attitude and it seemed to amuse him. I thought: Can he really be as cynical as that?

When they had left I went to my room. I wanted to be quiet and formulate some plan. I knew that I must act quickly, because it might be that already the robe had been missed.

The only person in whom I could confide was Mary Jane and what could she do to help me? Still, at such a time it was a comfort to confide in anybody. I thought of going to Sir Matthew, showing him what I had discovered, and asking him to make up a party to explore the passage between the house and the Abbey. Ruth? Could I tell Ruth? I was not sure of Ruth and it would not have surprised me to learn that she—although not the prime mover in the plot against me-was not unaware of what was going on. Sarah? What sense could one hope to get from Sarah? And Luke . I still clung to my belief that Luke was my real enemy.

I could not make up my mind.

I was in my room trying to come to some decision when I noticed an envelope lying on the floor by the door. I hurried to it and picked it up. There was nothing written on it. I opened my door, hoping to find someone hurrying away, but there was no one there; the letter might have been quietly pushed under my door some minutes before I had noticed it.

I shut my door and slit the envelope. There was a single sheet of paper inside; and on it was written in a shaky handwriting :

” Go back to your old horn without delay. You are in imminent danger.”

I stared at it. I did not know the handwriting and I wondered whether the shakiness was a method of disguising it, for the letter was unsigned and there was no address on the paper.

Who had pushed the letter under my door? And what did it mean? Was it yet another trick?

But there was something tangible about a piece of paper. No one could say I had imagined this.

I went to the window and looked out. Then my heart began to hammer wildly because I saw someone hurrying away from the house and I recognised her Damaris!

I suspected Damaris of working against me. How could I do otherwise when she had been with me and had seen the monk, and then had declared she had not?

I looked back at the paper. I would not let myself believe that she was working with Simon in this. And yet the position was desperate. I must look at the facts; I must face the truth. I had seen them together on Christmas night, and what had been implied by their words shocked me deeply. But I couldn’t believe this of Simon. My common sense might try to insist that I did, but my ridiculous feminine emotions refused to be convinced.

Someone had sent Damaris to put that note under my door. Was it Luke?

He could have done it himself. Dr. Smith? I looked again at the handwriting, and because I had seen his I decided that those words could not in any circumstances have been written by him.

Then I remembered that occasion when I had called at his house. I thought of the sick woman, me wife who was such a disappointment to him that he threw himself so whole heartedly into his work. The shaky handwriting might be that of a sick woman, a woman who was in some stress.

I put the paper into my pocket, wrapped myself in my heavy cloak and left my room. I paused on the stairs by the minstrels’ gallery; then I opened the door and looked inside, because I thought that someone might be biding there.

There was no one.

I went down through the hall and out of the house.

There was a bitterly cold wind blowing but I was impervious to the weather. I hurried away from the house, looking back only once to see if I was being followed. I could see no one, but I felt that from every window eyes might be watching me.

I went on until I came to the doctor’s house. It seemed more gloomy than it had on that other occasion The Venetian blinds were all drawn and the wind whistled through the firs.

I rang the bell and the maid let me in.

” The doctor is not at home, Mrs. Rockwell,” she said.

” I have come to see Mrs. Smith.”

She looked surprised. ” I will tell her you are here.”

” Please tell her that I am very eager to see her on a matter of importance.” ;

The maid went away almost reluctantly, while I wondered what I should do if Mrs. Smith refused to see me. I might ask for Damaris. I would insist on knowing whether it was she who had brought the note, why she had denied seeing the monk, what part she had played and was playing in this plot against me. I was determined to know the truth without delay.

In a few moments the maid returned;

” Mrs. Smith will see you,” she said; and I followed her up the stairs to the room which I had visited once before.

I was astonished to see Damaris with her mother. She was standing by Mrs. Smith’s chair, and it seemed as though she were clinging to her mother for protection. Mrs. Smith looked even more emaciated than when I had last seen her; her eyes were enormous and they seemed to bum with some deep purpose.

She said in a quiet voice: ” Good morning, Mrs. Rockwell It was good of you to call.”

I went forward and took the hand she extended; and then the door shut on the maid and we three were alone.

” Why did you come here?” she asked quickly. ” This is the last place you should come to.” , I took the sheet of paper from my pocket and held it out j to her. ‘/, “Have you shown this to anyone else?” she asked. | ” To no one.” i ” Why … do you come here?” i ” Because I believe you wrote that and sent it to me. I saw Damaris leaving the house.”

There was silence.

Then I cried: “You did write it, didn’t you?”

Damaris put her arm about her mother. ” You must not be disturbed,” she said. She looked at me almost defiantly ” You are making her ill.”

I answered: ” I think she can help me to find out who has been trying to make me ill.”

“You must not fret, my darling,” said Mrs. Smith to Damaris. ” She has come here, and it was very unwise of her. But she is here now and I must do what I can.”

” You already have …”

” If she would only take my advice!”

“What is your advice?” I demanded.

” Go away from here. Do not delay a moment. Return at once to your father’s house to-day. If you do not … it will be too late.”

” How do you know?”

” There is a great deal I know,” she said wearily.

“Will you tell me this: Did you write that note?”

She nodded. ” Because I know that you must get away if you wish to give birth to a child that will live?”

” How do I know that I can trust you?”

” What could I possibly gain by warning you?”

“Don’t you see that I’m in the dark?”

” Yes, I do. You are headstrong. You will not take my advice and go.

You want to solve mysteries. You are too bold, Mrs. Rockwell. “

” Tell me what you know,” I said. ” You owe that to me.”

“Mother!” gasped Damaris, and the mask dropped from her lovely face.

I knew that she was terrified.

I took the thin, clammy hand. ” You must tell me, Mrs. Smith,” I said.

” You know you must tell me.”

“Unless I tell you everything you will never believe me. You will never understand.”

“Then tell me everything.”

” It is a long story…. It goes back many years.”

” I am in no hurry.”

” You are wrong. You should be in a great hurry.”

” I shall not leave until you tell me.”

“And if I can convince you that your child is in danger, that you are in danger, will you go to your father’s house today?”

” If I think that necessary, I will.”

“Mother,” said Damaris, “you must not … you dare not.”

” You are afraid still, Damaris?”

” So are you. Mother. We both are … as we always have been.”

” Yes,” said Mrs. Smith, ” I am afraid. But I am thinking of the child . and of her. We cannot stand by and see that happen to her .. can we, Damaris? We must not think of ourselves. We must thing only of her now. “

I was beside myself with impatience. ” You must tell me,” I said. “

Come now.”

Still she hesitated, then bracing herself as for a mighty effort, she began:

” I married against my family’s wishes. You may think my story has nothing to do with this. I am merely trying to tell you how I happen to know …”

” Yes, yes.” I cried.

She plucked at the blanket which was wrapped about her knees.

” I have a small fortune of my own. As you know, when a woman marries, her fortune becomes her husband’s. He needed the fortune … so he married me. I had a great opinion of him. He was the dedicated doctor and I wanted to work with him. I wanted to help him … his patients loved him so. He was so self-sacrificing. But you see there were two doctors. There was the doctor who went among his friends and patients such a charming man, so solicitous of others. And there was the doctor at home. They were two different men. He liked to play his part but we couldn’t expect him to act all the time, could we. Damaris?”

Damaris murmured: “You must not … oh, you must not. When he hears”

“You see,” went on Mrs. Smith, ” he believed himself to be not quite mortal like the rest of us. He had done brilliantly at his work and from such humble beginnings. I admired that at the start. But he soon tired of playing the part for me j That happened before Damaris was born. He was very angry | that she was not a boy. He wanted a son, to be exactly like j himself which in his eyes meant perfect. Damaris quickly ; learned to understand him. Do you remember, Damaris, how I you would be playing, somewhere happily forgetful . | because children do forget and when they are happy for an ; hour they believe they have always been so. Then we heard his step in the hall; and you would come to me and cower : beside me, remembering. “

“He ill-treated you?” I asked.

” Not physically. That is not his way. But he hated me. Why should he do otherwise? He had wanted my money and when that was his. and after many attempts I had failed to give him a son, I was of little use to him. Those dreary years of sadness and terror … I cannot think how I have lived if through them.”

” So it is Dr. Smith who has tried to destroy me. Why … why?”

“I will tell you that too. I met his foster mother. She lives not far from here in a little cottage on the moors. He was brought to her when he was a baby. He was born to a gipsy girl who had forsaken her people for a while to work in the kitchens at the Revels. She was married to a gipsy named Smith; but when her child was born she did not want him and she deserted him. Sir Matthew took an interest in the girl. I do not know whether he was ever her lover, but that was what Deverel always believed. He believed that he was the son of Sir Matthew. Do you begin to understand now?”

” I begin to see some light,” I said.

“And when Sir Matthew had him educated, and trained as a doctor he was certain of this. He married me, and our daughter was called Damaris because the Rockwells had always chosen names from the Bible for their children. But it was a son he wanted. He wanted to see a son of his in the Revels. And so …”

She turned to Damaris, who was crying quietly.

” I must tell her this,” she soothed. ” It is the only way. I should have told her before. But you know how we have always feared his anger.”

” Please go on,” I pleaded.

” After several miscarriages I was warned that I ought to have no more children … but he wanted a son. I tried again. There was no son.

The child was born dead and I … well, I have been an invalid ever since.

Imagine how he hates me! I cannot even give him a son. I think that he would have rid himself of me if it had not been for Damaris. ” She put out a hand and stroked her daughter’s hair. ” You see, he does not know how far she would betray him if he attempted to destroy me. ” She turned to Damaris. ” You see, my darling, in some ways we have him in our power. ” Then to me: ” It was four years ago that I did my best to bear him a son. Before that I was not strong but I was able to take my part in the life of the neighbourhood. I played a part in the pageant. only one of the monks, it was true. I still had my robe though . until a few months ago. “

I caught my breath and said: ” So it is yours, that robe?”

” Yes, it was mine. I had kept it. I am a little sentimental about such things. It was a reminder to me of the days when I was not an invalid.”

” Damaris helped him,” I said accusingly. ” She swore that she had seen nothing.”

“I had to,” whispered Damaris, with a sob in her voice. ” He told me what I had to do. We always obeyed him. We dared do nothing else. I was to take you to the ruins … not too quickly … to give him time to get there before us. And then, when he appeared, I was to pretend I saw nothing. There is a way from the ruins into the house.

He discovered it when he was a boy. So he appeared to you in the house as well. “

Now that I had the vital facts, events began to fall into place. I saw bow he had everything fitted so neatly. I was filled with a wild exultation, and the reason was that the wish I had made at the Knaresborough Well had come true. It was not Simon.

” Why … why … ?” I demanded.

” He was determined to live in the Revels one day. As the poor boy he had watched the guests come and go. He had seen the picnics in summer, the skating parties in the winter; he had looked through the windows at the balls. He was obsessed by the Revels because he believed that he was Sir Matthew’s son and therefore belonged there. He was deter mined to get there one day, and he saw that the way to do so was through Damaris. She was to marry Luke. “

” But how could he be sure of that?”

” My daughter has a rare beauty. I do not think Luke is unaware of it.

They were thrown together always. It may have been that he would have found some way of insisting on that marriage. He discovered the secrets in people’s lives and used them when he found it expedient to do so. He would have discovered some things perhaps which Sir Matthew would not want made known . or perhaps Mrs. Grantley. The marriage would have taken place. He was not unduly concerned about Gabriel.

Gabriel was delicate; he himself diagnosed that weak heart the same complaint of which his mother had died. Perh’aps Gabriel’s heart was sound ; perhaps he was preparing the way to Gabriel’s end . I do not know everything. But when Gabriel married you he became a menace. He feared what actually did happen that you might have a child. He was determined that Gabriel must die, and you at that time were of little interest to him. So Gabriel . died. “

” It is not difficult to imagine how,” I said grimly. And I pictured it. Did he lure Gabriel on to the balcony, or did Gabriel go there as he had made a habit of doing? There was no Friday on that night to warn him of a sinister presence. And then as he stood there, a stealthy movement from behind, a hand over his mouth and his body lifted and sent hurtling over the balcony.

Suicide? It seemed a reasonable verdict.

She said: ” We are wasting time. Believe me, there is nothing more I can do for you. I have helped you all I can. Go at once to your old home. There you will be safe.”

” You know that he plans something?”

” We know that. He is angry. He does not take us into his confidence, but there are certain things we cannot help knowing Something has happened to anger him.”

I knew what that was. He had discovered that the robe had been removed. He was planning some immediate action against me. I thought of his coming into the minstrels’ gallery on Christmas night, and I wondered what would have happened to me then if Simon and Damaris had not been in the hall.

I caught their nervous excitement. I knew I had to act promptly. I could not see how he could harm me now, because I had so much evidence against him, but I did not doubt that he was diabolically clever.

” Go at once,” pleaded his wife. ” Do not wait for anything He may return here at any moment. If he found you … if he knew what we had told you….”

” Yes’,” I agreed. ” I will go at once. How can I thank you for telling me this? I know what it must have meant to you.”

” Don’t waste time in thanking us. Please go, and he must not see you leave this house.”

So I went, and when I came through the fir trees to the gate I was trying to make up my mind what I should do.

I was not going to Glen House. I was going to Kelly Grange. But first I would return to the Revels because I was determined that I would take the monk’s robe with me. I was not going to allow anyone in future to believe that I had suffered from hallucinations.

As I walked back to the Revels, I was in a state of great excitement.

I was certain that the account I had heard was a true one. How could I doubt that sick woman? Her fear had been genuine. Besides, now that I knew who my enemy was it was easy to understand how he had been in a position to act as he did. I thought back to the very beginning . the occasion when Friday had warned us of an intruder and had insisted on being taken out to the corridor; the next day when he had been missing and I had gone to look for him. and lost my way and been brought home by Simon, Deverel Smith had been present on our return.

He could have heard Gabriel say that he was going to order some milk for me. He might have seen the maid bringing it up, and have explained to her that I was upset about the loss of my dog and he would slip a sedative into my milk. Such a possibility had not entered my mind; on that tragic morning none of us thought of anything but Gabriel’s death.

But this could have been the reason why I slept so quickly and so deeply.

Then how easy it was for him to slip in and out of the house; to pull the curtains about my bed, to remove the warming-pan, and to put my cloak over the balcony.

He could come by the secret entry and if he were seen, on the stairs, in the hall, he would always have a plausible answer. He had been worried about Sir Matthew . Sarah . and latterly myself, and had dropped in to assure himself that all was well.

And Simon? I had to face the truth. I believed that Damaris regarded her father’s determination to marry her to Luke with repulsion; and what I had originally thought was an affection between her and Luke was merely Damaris’s desire to please a father whom she feared, and Luke’s natural interest in an attractive girl—and with one as beautiful as Damaris that interest would normally be intensified. But with Simon it would be different; and I did not believe that any woman could be completely indifferent to the virile charm of Simon Redvers. Even I—down to earth and sensible person that I believed myself to be—could not.

I must not think of Simon. But Hagar was my friend. I could rely on her. So I was going to the Revels; I was going to take the monk’s robe from my wardrobe and go with it to Kelly Grange. I would tell Mary-Jane to pack some of my things, and she could bring them over in the carriage later. I should walk because I was not going to let anyone but Mary Jane know that I was leaving.

Those were my plans as I entered the Revels.

I rang my bell, and Mary-Jane came to my room.

” Mary-Jane,” I said. ” I am going at once to Kelly Grange. Pack some things that I shall need. I will send for you and them. But I propose to go immediately.”

” Yes, madam,” said Mary-Jane, here eyes wide with surprise.

“Something has happened,” I told her.

“I cannot stop to explain now.

But I am going to leave this house at once. “

As I spoke I heard the sound of carriage wheels, and I went to the window.

I saw Dr. Smith alight and, because I no longer saw him as the benevolent doctor, I felt myself tremble.

” I should be gone,” I said. ” I must leave at once.”

I hurried out of the room, leaving a bewildered Mary Jane staring after me; I went along the corridor, down the first flight of stairs; then I heard the doctor’s voice; he was talking to Ruth.

” Is she at home?”

” Yes, I saw her come in only a few minutes ago.”

“That is fortunate.. I will go and get her now.”

“What if she … ?”

” She will know nothing until I have her safely there.”

My heart began to hammer uncertainly. He was already striding across the hall. I slipped into the minstrels’ gallery quickly, thinking that I might hide myself there while he well) on to my room. Then I should run out of the house and to Kelly Grange.

Ruth had remained in the hall and I wondered how I should get past her.

Would she tell the doctor that I had run out of the house? If so, how long would it take him to catch up with me?

I quietly shut the door of the gallery and I immediately thought of the cupboard. If I could escape by way of the secret tunnel they would not catch me.

But even as I, my body bent so that I should not be seen from the hall, went towards the cupboard, the door of the gallery opened and he was standing there.

” Oh … hallo, Catherine.” He was smiling the benign smile which had deluded me in the past.

I could say nothing for the moment; my voice had lost itself in my constricted throat.

” I came to call on you, and I saw you come in here as started up the stairs.”

” Good morning,” I said and I felt that my voice sounded calmer than I had thought possible. He stepped into the gallery and shut the door. When I glanced over the balcony I could see Ruth standing below.

^ “It’s a fine morning,” he went on.

“I wanted you to come for a little drive with me.”

” Thank you. I was just going out for a walk.”

” But you have just come in.”

” Nevertheless, I am just going out again.”

He lifted a finger and there was something so sinister in that playful gesture that I felt a shudder run down my spine.

” You are doing too much walking, and you know I don’t allow that.”

” I am perfectly healthy,” I answered. ” Jessie Dankwait is pleased with me.”

” The country midwife!” he said contemptuously. ” A drive will do you good.”

” Thank you, but I do not wish to go.”

He came towards me and took my wrist; he held it tenderly yet firmly.

“I am going to insist to-day, because you are looking a little pale.”

“’ No, Dr. Smith,” I said. ” I do not wish to go for a drive.”

” But my dear Catherine ” (his face was close to mine and his gentle, suave manner seemed more horrible than violence), ” you are coming with me.”

I tried to walk past him, but he caught and held me firmly. He took the robe from me and threw it on the floor.

“’ Give that to me and let me go at once,” I said.

” My dear, you must allow me to know what is good for you.”

I was filled with sudden panic. I called: “Ruthi Ruth! Help me.”

I saw her start up-the stairs, and I thanked God that she was at hand.

She opened the door of me minstrels’ gallery; he was still holding me in a grip so firm that I could not extricate myself.

” I am afraid.” he said to her, ” that she is going to give us a little trouble.”

” Catherine,” said Ruth, ” you must obey the doctor. He knows what’s best for you.”

” He knows what is besti Look at this robe. He is the one who has been playing those tricks on me.”

” I fear,” said the doctor, ” that it is more advanced than I believed.

I am afraid we are going to have trouble. It is a mistake to delay too long in these matters. It has happened before in my experience.”

“What diabolical plan have you in mind now?” I demanded.

” It is the persecution mania,” murmured the doctor to Ruth. “

Believing that they are alone against the whole world.” He turned to me. ” Catherine, my very dear Catherine, you must trust me. Have I not always been your friend?”

I burst out laughing and it was laughter which alarmed me. I was truly frightened now, because I began to see what he planned to do with me, and that Ruth either believed him or pretended to, and I was alone with them . and friendless. I knew the truth, but I had been a fool. I had told no one of my discovery. I could still do that. But whom could I tell . these two whose plan was to destroy me?

For Ruth, if not his accomplice, was no friend to me.

” Look,” I said, ” I know too much. It was you. Dr. Smith, who decided that my child should never be born. You killed Gabriel and you were determined to kill anyone who stood between Luke’s inheriting the Revels …”

” You see,” he said sadly, ” how far advanced it is.”

” I found the robe, and I know, too, that you believe you belong here.

I know it all. Do you think that you can deceive me any more. “

He had seized me firmly in his arms. I smelt a whiff of what might have been chloroform as something was pressed over my mouth. I felt as though everything was slipping away from me and I heard his voice, very faint, as though it were a long way off, ” I hoped to avoid this. It is the only way when they are obstreperous….”

Then I slipped away . into darkness.

I have heard it said that the mind is more powerful than the body. I believe that to be so. My mind commanded my body to reject the chloroform even as it was pressed over my mouth. This was not possible, of course; that would have been asking too much, but as it began to affect my body my brain continued to struggle against it. I must not sink into unconsciousness. I knew that if I did I should wake up a prisoner, and that all the evidence which I had acquired would be destroyed and my protests called the aberrations of the mentally sick.

So even as my body succumbed, my mind fought on.

So it was that I was half conscious of being in that jolting carriage with the evil doctor beside me. And I summoned all my will power to fight the terrible drowsiness which was lulling me into a sense of utter forgetfulness.

I realised he was taking me to Worstwhistle.

We were alone in his brougham and the driver could not hear what was said. The swaying of the vehicle was helpful; the clop-clop of the horse’s hoofs seemed to be saying:

” Doom is at hand. Fight it. Fight it with all your might. There is still time. But once you enter that grim grey building … it will not be so easy to come out.”

I would not enter. I would never let anyone be able to tell my child that once its mother had been an inmate of Worstwhistle.

“You should not struggle, Catherine,” said the doctor gently.

I tried to speak but the effect of the drug was claiming me.

” Close your eyes,” he murmured. ” Do you doubt that I will look after you? There is nothing for you to fear. I shall come and see you every day. I shall be there when your child is born….”

My mind said: ” You are a devil….” But the words did not come.

I was frightened because of this terrible drowsiness which was seeping over me, and which would not let me fight for my future and that of my child.

Subconsciously I knew that this had been his plan all along, to get me to Worstwhistle before my child was born, to attend to me there and make sure, if my child was a boy, that he did not live.

If I gave birth to a daughter or a stillborn child, then I should be of no more interest to him, because I should no longer menace Luke’s accession to the Revels and the marriage with Damaris.

But, fight as I would, I could only remain in this half- conscious state. And I reserved my strength for the moment when the carriage wheels should stop and he would call strong men to help him bring another reluctant victim to that grim prison.

The carriage had drawn up.

We had arrived. I felt sick and dizzy, and only half conscious.

” Why, my dear Catherine,” he said, and he put his arm about me; and once more I felt his gentle touch to be more hurtful than a blow, “you are unwell. Never mind. This is the end of the journey. Now you shall know peace. No more fancies … no more visions. Here you shall be cared for.”

” Listen …” I began, and I seemed to drawl the words.

” I … am not going in there.”

He was smiling. ” Leave this to me, my dear,” he whispered.

There was the sound of running footsteps and a man took his stand on one side of me; I felt him take my arm.

I heard their voices.

” She knows where she’s going, this one …”

Then the doctor’s voice: ” They have their lucid moments. Sometimes it’s a pity.”

I tried to scream but I could not; my legs were buckling under me. I was being dragged forward.

I saw the great iron door. swing open. I saw the porch with the name over it—the name which must have struck terror into a thousand hearts and minds.

” No …” I sobbed.

But they were so many; and I was so weak against them.

I heard the sudden clatter of a horse’s hoofs. Then the doctor said sharply: ” Quickly! Get the patient inside.”

And there was a note of fear in his voice to replace that gentle assurance which had been there before.

Then my whole being seemed to come alive again, and I realised that what seemed to make the blood run hot in my veins was hope.

A voice I knew well, a voice I loved, was shouting: ” What the devil’s all this I” And there he was—the man whom I had failed to dismiss from my thoughts although I had tried—striding towards me; and I knew that he came like a knight of old, and that he had come to save me from my enemies.

” Simon,” I sobbed; and as I fell forward I felt his arms about me.

I ceased to fight the lassitude then; I accepted the darkness.

I was no longer alone. Simon had come to stand beside me and fight my battle for me.