The Landower Legacy

THE SECRET OF THE MINE

After Rosie had gone there seemed to be an anticlimax until one day when I met Paul in the lane leading to Tressidor just as I was going to one of the farms.

I noticed the change in him.

I said: “Something has happened.”

“She’s gone away,” he told me.

“Your wife?”

He nodded and a smile spread across his face. “You can’t imagine … the relief.”

“I think I can. Where has she gone? For how long?”

“She’s gone to Yorkshire … visiting an aunt.”

“I didn’t know she had an aunt.”

“Oh yes. They’ve corresponded apparently … spasmodically. She suddenly took it into her head to go and see her.”

“For how long?”

He lifted his shoulders. “Who knows? Not a brief visit … I hope.”

“She must have decided suddenly.”

“Yes. It was after Jago and Rosie left. She didn’t waste much time once she’d decided. I drove her to the station myself. She had to go to London first and take the train to Yorkshire from there.”

“She has never been away before.”

“All those years …” he said wearily. “At least this is a respite. I have wanted to talk with you so often … to be with you.”

I was silent and he went on: “What are we going to do, Caroline?”

“Much the same as we have been doing, I suppose,” I answered. “We seem to go on in the same way. What else can we do?”

“We must see each other sometimes … alone. We have to face up to facts. Here we are … in this impasse. We can’t go forward and we can’t go back. Are we going to deny ourselves forever? Are we going to live here like this, frustrated all our lives?”

“I had thought of going away for a while … going to London. Rosie suggested I should visit them.”

“Oh no,” he said.

“I thought it was a good idea. I need to get away … to think about everything.”

“You can’t leave Tressidor any more than I can leave Landower.”

I said: “I have Livia now. It makes me think very seriously about what I can do. Before I had a sort of freedom. There was a time when I had almost decided …”

“Decided what?”

“That I would risk everything to be with you.”

“Caroline?”

“Oh, yes I did. I almost did. I saw it all clearly … this liaison between us … secret meetings … living in fear of discovery … asking myself what discovery would mean. And there were times when I told myself that I did not care what the consequences would be, I would risk everything. Then I had my responsibilities … just as you have.”

He said: “We could go right away. God knows I’ve thought of it often enough. We could live abroad. France … do you remember France? What a long time ago that seems. I was so afraid for you then. I learned what you meant to me in those few days … and I learned it forever. I came to look at you when you were sleeping. I stood at the glass doors leading to the balcony.”

I said: “I was not sleeping.”

“I … almost came in. I often wondered if things would have been different if I had.”

“Yes, I wondered that too.”

“You would have taken me in then.”

“I did not know that you were married … married to save Landower. I thought you had worked some miracle. I believed you were capable of miracles.”

“What a sordid miracle! A miracle that brought with it a lifetime’s bitterness.”

“Do you hate her so much?”

“I hated her for all sorts of reasons. I hated her for a hundred irritating habits. I hated her because she was herself and I hated her most of all because she stood between us.”

I said: “You are talking of her as though she were no longer there.”

“Let us think of her as gone.”

“She will be back soon.”

“Not yet … Let’s hope not yet.”

“It’s only a visit.”

“Let’s hope she stays away.”

“But when she comes back …”

“Let us not think of her.”

“How can we do anything else? She’s there and, as you said, she is between us.”

“Not at this moment. Forget her. Talk of us.”

“There is nothing more to say.”

“We are not going on like this.”

“But what is the alternative?”

“You know. And perhaps … one day … everything will come right for us.”

He leaned towards me and laid his hand over mine. Then he took it and held it to his lips.

“Caroline, the future is ours to make. Let us forget all this. Let us go away … somewhere we are not known …”

I shook my head and turned away.

I left him then but all that day I kept thinking of him and I wanted to be with him, to explore those avenues which he was begging me to travel with him.

Yet still I hesitated.

I was not quite sure when the rumours started.

Someone said he saw a black dog at the mine; then someone else immediately saw—or thought she saw—a white hare.

These were the harbingers of death. In the old days they had been said to foretell a disaster in the mine; now it was just the warning of death … but in the mine.

Old rumours were recalled. At the time when a man had murdered his wife and put her in the mine, people had seen a black dog; at the time when the man himself had gone down the shaft the dog had appeared again—and with it the white hare.

Now the sightings had begun again.

Something was due to happen at the mine.

I rode out there on one occasion and was surprised to see several people. Some were sitting about on the grass … others walking, and there was a rider or two.

I saw one of the grooms from the stable and greeted him.

“Don’t ‘ee go too near the mine, Miss Tressidor. They do say the black dog have been seen again.”

“I thought that was last week.”

“And again this, Miss Tressidor. There be something going to happen at the mine, sure as God made little apples. Aye, you can be sure of that.”

“I expect everyone is taking special care.”

” ‘Tis a bad thing to see the black dog.”

“I should have thought it would have been good to be warned.”

” ‘Tain’t like that, Miss Tressidor. If the black dog ‘ave come for you, ‘tis no use trying to escape from ‘un.”

“Well, there are quite a few people here. Aren’t they tempting fate?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, Miss Tressidor. You’m not been in these parts long enough to pay proper attention like. But things happen here in the Duchy as perhaps don’t happen in other places.”

“I’m sure they do,” I said.

I rode home thinking about Paul and wondering what he was doing at this moment.

There were times when I almost went to him but something made me draw back. Then I would go and play with Livia. But for her perhaps I should have considered giving up everything, for I believed he had that in mind too. Landower was not the same to him since his marriage. It had had to be too dearly bought.

Then the terrible fear came to me.

It happened when I went to my room to find Bessie, my personal maid, dusting there. She apologised and said that there had been such a lot to do this morning that she was behind with her work.

I said: “That’s all right, Bessie. Just carry on.”

“I was wondering, Miss Tressidor,” she said, “if you’d heard from Mrs. Landower.”

“Heard from her? Why? She’s away. In Yorkshire … visiting her aunt.”

“Well, there be some as says …”

I said: “What do they say?”

“Well, there’s some as asks whether she did go to Yorkshire. She left … sudden like.”

I wanted to close the conversation but I had to know what lay behind Bessie’s words.

“I suppose she suddenly made up her mind,” I said. “She comes from Yorkshire, you know.”

“It’s Jenny … her maid … lady’s maid. She said she knew her mistress well and she didn’t say nothing to her about going to Yorkshire.”

“That was a matter for Mrs. Landower to decide surely.”

“Jenny said it was funny like … her not saying … and she’s left her comb behind.”

“Comb? What on earth are you talking about, Bessie?”

“Well, according to Jenny, she always used this comb when she was dressing up like. For her hair. You know what her hair was like. It was all over the place if it wasn’t held … like. This comb used to be stuck in the back. She was hardly ever without it.”

“It seems to me that Jenny’s trying to tell us something. What?”

Bessie looked embarrassed and said: “Well, I don’t want to talk out of turn, Miss Tressidor.”

“But you want to share this gossip with me. You know that I am outspoken and like others to be the same. So tell me quickly please, what is Jenny hinting?”

“Well, I don’t rightly know. She said she thought Mrs. Landower might not have gone to Yorkshire after all.”

“Well, where does the all-knowing Jenny think she went?”

“That’s what she’s worried about. She’s gone … and she’s left her comb.”

“I cannot imagine that a comb should play so big a part in Mrs. Landower’s life.”

“Well, seeing as how things are … up at Landower, I mean, Jenny just thought it was funny like.”

“I should think Jenny probably hasn’t got enough to do now that her mistress is away.”

Bessie was silent.

“She writ a letter. Jenny can write a good hand. She likes to show it off a bit, I think.”

“So she has written you say … To whom?”

“She’s writ to Mrs. Landower’s aunt. She knew her address because Mrs. Landower had it in a little book, and Mrs. Landower talked to Jenny a lot. She tells her things … and Jenny says they always talked together … like friends. It wasn’t like a mistress and maid, if you know what I mean.”

“Yes, I know.”

“Mrs. Landower liked to hear about everybody, and Jenny used to tell her what she knew. Well, Jenny have writ this letter to her aunt with a letter inside for Mrs. Landower … care of Miss Arkwright. Jenny knows how to do these things. Jenny reckoned she’d be missing that comb and perhaps sending for it and Jenny thought she’d ask her. That’s if she’s there …”

“If she’s there?”

“Jenny thinks it’s funny … and then there’s that black dog.”

I felt I could endure no more of this conversation.

“That’ll do, Bessie,” I said.

And she went out leaving me with a terrible fear in my heart.

Nanny Loman had taken Livia to Landower to play with Julian. Ever since that talk with Bessie I had been unable to throw off an ever increasing uneasiness.

Gossip! I thought. It is foolish to think too much of it. But I could not shut out of my mind the memory of the moors, with those people wandering about, whispering, their attention focussed on the mine as though they expected to see black dogs and white hares at any moment.

When Livia returned I would supervise getting her to bed, an undertaking which soothed me considerably. I would watch her absorption in Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood and occasionally diverge from the text so that she could have the pleasure of putting me right because she knew it off by heart.

I heard them return and went to the nursery.

Nanny Loman looked disturbed.

I said to her: “Is anything wrong, Nanny?”

She looked at Livia and I nodded. It was something she did not want to say in front of the child.

Cinderella seemed a long time reaching her happy ending that evening, but as soon as I had tucked in Livia I sought out Nanny Loman.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Well, it’s very strange, Miss Tressidor. You know Jenny who acted as lady’s maid to Mrs. Landower …”

“Yes, of course.”

“Well, apparently she thought it was rather strange that Mrs. Landower had gone off to Yorkshire without telling her and she had not taken some comb or other which she usually wore.”

“Yes,” I said. “I did hear that.”

“Well, she wrote to Mrs. Landower’s aunt, because Mr. Landower said she had gone to her. The letter she enclosed to Mrs. Landower herself has come back with a note from the aunt saying Mrs. Landower had never been there and she hadn’t heard from her since Christmas.”

“Oh! What can that mean?”

“Well, it means … where is Mrs. Landower?”

“She must have gone to Yorkshire.”

Nanny Loman shook her head and turned away.

I could not read her thoughts, but I could guess the direction they were taking. I thought that our lives were an open book to them. Sometimes I wondered how much they knew of our secret thoughts. And what they did not know they would guess.

The expression in her eyes when they looked at me … were they faintly suspicious? Was she asking: And what part are you playing in all this?

I had the utmost respect for Nanny Loman. She was a good, conscientious nurse who took her duties seriously, but because of her virtues it was unlikely that she would ever have been tempted to step out of line. Perhaps this made her specially censorious.

All would know the state of affairs which existed between Paul and Gwennie. What did they know of Paul’s feelings for me and mine for him? It was hardly likely that we had been able entirely to disguise them from those ever-watchful eyes.

They would reason: Mrs. Landower was in the way. And now Mrs. Landower had disappeared.

I had to see Paul.

Suspicion was like a worm that wriggled its way through my mind. It would give me no peace.

I kept seeing his face. “Something will be done.” What had he said: “I hated her …” and I had replied: “You talk of her as though she were no longer there.”

Yes, we had said something like that. Why had he talked of Gwennie in the past tense?

I knew it was probably foolish but I couldn’t help it. I walked over to Landower.

It was a pity there were so many servants and I could not see him without its being known.

One of the maids opened the door.

I said: “Good evening. Mrs. Landower isn’t back yet, is she?”

“No, Miss Tressidor.”

“No news of when she is coming?”

“No, Miss Tressidor.”

“Then perhaps I could see Mr. Landower.”

“I will tell the master you be here, Miss Tressidor.”

Was she smirking? What were they thinking, this army of detectives who recorded our every movement, who lived in our lives, alongside their own?

He came to me quickly.

“Caroline!” He took my hands.

“I shouldn’t have come.”

“You could come to me … always.”

I said: “Paul, I’ve got to talk to you. I’ve heard the news.”

“You mean about Gwennie.”

“She’s not in Yorkshire. Where is she, Paul?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “She could have gone off … anywhere.”

“But why? She’s never done it before.”

“I don’t know. She has never taken me into her confidence.”

“What happened? How did she leave?”

“Early in the morning. She caught the seven-thirty to London.”

“Why so early?”

“Because she wanted to go straight through to Yorkshire and had to go to London first.”

“Who took her to the station?”

“I did.”

“You? Why?”

“I suppose it was because it was so early … and I was glad to see her go. I took her in the trap.”

“There must have been people on the platform. She must have got a ticket!”

“No. We were rather late. The train was in. She didn’t go through the main entrance. She took the short cut through the yard and she planned to get her ticket on the train. It saves time.”

“So nobody saw her get on.”

“I don’t know. All I know is that that was how she went …”

“But she didn’t go to Yorkshire, Paul. Oh, what has happened?”

“She must have changed her mind and gone somewhere else.”

“Where would she go?”

“Why are you asking these questions?”

“Don’t you see? They are saying she didn’t go to Yorkshire. That girl has the letter from the aunt. She did not go there. She had not written to say she was going. There’s all that interest in the mine. You know what the gossip is like here. These people watch us all the time. Don’t you see what they’re implying? They know how things were between you and your wife. Perhaps they know about us. I don’t think much escapes them, and what they don’t see they make up. Paul, do you know where she is?”

“What are you suggesting, Caroline, that I …”

“Just tell me the truth. I shall understand … I shall understand everything … but I must know.”

“Are you thinking that I know where she is?”

“Oh, where is she, Paul?”

“I don’t know. I saw her on the train to London. That’s all I can say.”

“Paul … you would tell me … Don’t let us have any secrets.”

“More than anything,” he said fervently, “I want us to be together. I want us to be here … where we belong … you and I … for the rest of our lives. She stops it. But I swear to you, Caroline, as surely as I love you, that I do not know where she is. I saw her on the train. I know no more than that. Do you believe me?”

“Yes,” I answered. “I believe you. But I’m frightened, Paul, I’m terribly frightened.”

The main topic of conversation everywhere was the disappearance of Gwennie. Interest in the mine increased and rumour was rampant. Lights had been seen hanging over the mine. A black dog was said to be prowling around but he had appeared only to certain people.

I lived in a state of desperate uncertainty. I believed Paul. I did not think he would lie to me … unless he felt he must do so to keep me out of danger.

I could not believe that he would indulge in violence. But there was a breaking point for everyone, I suppose; and I know that the tension at Landower had been mounting over the years.

I called in to see Jamie.

He said: “There’s excitement in the air. The bees know it. They can’t seem to settle. It’s all this talk about the lady up at Landower.”

“People talk to you about it, do they, Jamie?”

“They can talk of nothing else. She’s gone off somewhere. Well, she was a fussy woman, too anxious to pry into matters that didn’t concern her. She’ll be back, I don’t doubt.”

“I am sure she will, but I wish she would come soon. I don’t like all this gossip. They’re talking about the mine and seeing black dogs and white hares.”

“Oh, the mine,” he said. “There is something about that mine. Lionheart is fascinated by it. No matter how much I warn him I can see he wants to explore.”

“There are always people there now. They all seem to be expecting something to happen.”

“If you expect something, like as not it will come.”

I wanted to talk of something else and I said: “How are the maimed and the sick?”

“A little rabbit at the moment. I found him on the road … a broken leg. Something on wheels must have run over him.”

“Jamie,” I said, “it’s so peaceful here … particularly now. It’s a pleasure to be able to call in.”

“Call in whenever you have a fancy to, Miss Tressidor.”

It was true. I felt a little comforted, but when I reached Tressidor the servants were all whispering together about the new turn of events.

In view of all the rumours about the mine, the local police had reported to headquarters in Plymouth, and it had been decided that there should be an investigation of the mine.

I shall never forget that hot sultry day.

In the morning the operation started. I heard it whispered that ropes and ladders had been taken onto the moor and that numerous men were there to arrange a descent down the mine shaft.

No one said openly that they were expecting to discover Gwennie’s body, but that was what everyone thought. They had made up their minds that her husband had murdered her, and had given out the story of her having gone to Yorkshire, and then disposed of her; and it was all because he was tired of her, had never wanted her, had married her for the money which was to save Landower for the Landowers, and was now sweet on Miss Tressidor.

It was a dramatic story and one which appealed to their love of intrigue and showed that those who set themselves above ordinary folk because of birth and affluence were as full of human faults as anyone else.

I could not stay in. I could not talk to anyone. I wanted to be out and alone.

Yet I had to know immediately if anything had been discovered. I wanted to be with Paul. And I wanted to tell him that whatever he had done I understood.

I rode out and found him waiting in the lane for me.

He said: “I had to be with you.”

“Yes,” I answered. “I’m glad. I wanted to be with you.”

“Let’s go away … somewhere where we can talk. Let’s be quiet … away from everyone.”

“Almost everyone will be on the moors today.”

We came to the woods and there we tethered our horses. We walked through the trees. He put his arm round me and held me close.

I said: “Paul, no matter what …”

“What I’ve done,” he finished.

“You have told me you have not harmed her and I believe you. But what if …”

“If they found her in the mine …”

“How could she be there?”

“Who knows … some quirk of fate. What if she were set upon and robbed? You know how she decked herself out in jewellery. What if someone murdered her and threw her body down the mine?”

“But she was in the train.”

“I don’t know. Strange things happen. They would accuse me, Caroline.”

“Yes,” I said.

“And you?”

“I would believe in you. I would help you prove your innocence.”

“Oh, Caroline …”

“It can’t be long now. How long will they take?”

“Not long, I should imagine. We shall soon know.” “But whatever happens, I love you. I have been so critical of people. Life teaches one so much and when things like this happen one sees so much more clearly. I know how you have been provoked and even if"

“But it is not so, Caroline. I put her on the train. Whatever has happened to her is none of my doing.”

We walked through the woods; the sunlight was dappled on the leaves and the smell of damp earth was in the air; now and then a startled animal moved among the undergrowth and I thought: I want to go on like this. I want to stay here forever.

It was strange that in that time of fear and apprehension which was almost too great to be borne, I should know how deeply I loved him and that nothing he had done or ever would do, could alter that.

I was not sure how long we were in the wood, but we knew we must part.

I said: “I am going to ride to the moor.”

“You shouldn’t,” he said.

“I must.”

“I shall go back to Landower,” he said.

“Never forget,” I told him. “Whatever happens, I love you. I will be with you … against all the world if need be.”

“If it took this to make you say that I can’t regret it,” he said.

He held me in his arms for a long time and then we mounted. He went back to Landower and I rode on to the moor.

There were crowds of people there. I saw the men near the mine. They appeared to have finished their task. I looked about me. One of the grooms was standing nearby.

“Is it over, Jim?” I asked.

“Yes, Miss Tressidor. They found nothing … nothing but a few animals … bones and such like.”

Great waves of relief swept over me.

“Looks like a waste of time,” said Jim.

Still people stood about. I wanted to ride back to Landower. I had to see Paul.

I turned my horse and went back as fast as I could.

I did not care what the servants thought. Let them do their worst. Gwennie’s body was not in the mine. They would have to believe that she had got on that train to London.

I knocked at the door. One of the servants opened it. I stared. Someone was coming down the stairs. It was Gwennie.

“Hello, Caroline. This is a joke. Here I am. I gathered you have been wondering what had become of me?”

“Gwennie!” I cried.

“None other,” she said.

“But …”

“I know. I’ve been hearing all about it from Jenny. They’ve been searching the mine, looking for my corpse. What fun!”

“It wasn’t much fun.”

“No. I gathered they suspected my dearly beloved husband. Well, that’ll teach him a lesson. Perhaps he’ll treat me better now.”

Paul had come into the hall.

“She’s come back,” he said.

“Perhaps we ought to go and tell them at the mine,” said Gwennie.

“They had already finished their work,” I said.

“Oh, were you there? Had you gone to see my grisly remains?”

“Certainly not,” said Paul. “She knew you were not there. I had already explained that you had gone off on the train.”

“Poor Paul. It must have been awful for you … that suspicion. I can’t wait to show myself. I’d have loved to arrive at the mine. They might have thought I was the ghost of myself.”

“There was a great deal of consternation when Jenny heard from your aunt that you had not been to Yorkshire.”

“Oh yes … I decided against it at the last moment,” said Gwennie lightly. “I went to see someone I knew in Scotland.”

“What a pity you didn’t say. It would have saved a great deal of trouble.”

“I must say it is rather comforting to know that people round here were so concerned for my welfare. I thought they always looked on me as an outsider.”

“They love drama and you gave them the opportunity to create it,” I said. “They love you for that.”

“I think it’s fun. I’m going out now. To ride round and show myself.”

I said: “Then I’ll leave you to enjoy your fun. Goodbye.”

I went home. I was relieved but far from happy.

The neighbourhood was abuzz with the news: Gwennie was back. It had all been a storm in a teacup. I guessed there were some red faces.

Those who had seen the black dogs and the white hares were suitably subdued. Why should these omens of evil appear just to announce the deaths of a stray sheep and a few animals? And even they had been down there for quite a long time.

Gwennie continued to be greatly amused. She talked of little else. Jenny was shamefaced. She admitted to some of her fellow servants, who reported it to ours so that it came to my ears, that Mrs. Landower did not always wear the comb, and she had mentioned it because she had wanted to know if she had really gone to Yorkshire.

Gwennie came to see me. She said she wanted to talk and could we be alone?

I took her into the winter parlour and sent for some tea, as it was afternoon.

She looked different, I thought, sly in a way.

She began talking about all the fuss of her so-called disappearance.

“Why shouldn’t I go where I want to? As a matter of fact I had no intention of going to Yorkshire. I just said so because it was the first thing I thought of … having my Aunt Grace up there. I didn’t think that fool Jenny would raise all that trouble … on account of a comb.”

“I think the comb was just an excuse.”

“But why should she suspect that something had happened to me?” She laughed. “All the intrigue that’s going on, I suppose. Well, Jenny likes to be in the middle of all that. You can’t blame her. So all this about my comb.”

She took it out of her hair and looked at it. It was tortoiseshell, Spanish type, not large and with little brilliants set in it.

“It’s true I wear it a good deal, but why she should think I would never leave without it, I can’t imagine.”

She stuck it back in her hair.

“So you had other plans right from the first?” I said.

She nodded. “I can’t bear to be in the dark.”

“I know that well.”

“I like to know. It worries me if I don’t. I just have to find out.”

“I did realise that.”

“Yes, everything that goes on. My Ma used to call me Meddlesome Matty. She used to say: ‘Sometimes she’d lift the teapot lid, to see what was within.’ I forget how the rhyme goes on but I believe something terrible happened to Matty. ‘Curiosity killed the cat.’ That was another of my Ma’s sayings. Pa used to laugh at me. ‘It’s no good trying to keep anything from Gwennie,’ he used to say. I knew that it was you and Jago who caused my accident.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t look so startled. I saw you. I remember your green eyes and your hair was all tied up with a ribbon … remember? One day you had it done just like that and I said, ‘Hello, I’ve seen that before.’ It was one of those things that come to you after … you know what I mean. Then I found the door in the gallery and the staircase up to the attics. It didn’t take me long to work that out. I went up there and found the clothes you’d worn. You might have killed me. That was the first thing I had against you.”

“I realised how foolish we were as soon as we’d done it. It was meant to be a joke.”

“Typical of Jago. To frighten us away, of course. Just get rid of us, never mind the consequences.”

“We didn’t think for a moment that you would fall. We didn’t know the rail was rotten.”

“Everything in the house was rotten till Pa and I took it over.”

I was silent.

“I couldn’t walk for a while. I still feel twinges in my back and when I do I say, Thank you, Caroline. Thank you, Jago. It’s all due to you.”

“I am so sorry.”

“All right. You were children. You didn’t think and I know you’re sorry. Jago was always very nice to me. I think it was because of that.”

“Jago was quite fond of you.”

“Landowers are fond of Landower … all the glory of the family. I have to admit I like that, too.”

“I think Jago can’t be accused of those feelings. He was very willing to abandon it all.”

“He’ll be well gilded now. Rosie knows what she’s about.”

“I don’t think he was all that concerned with the gildings.”

“Everybody likes them. They make the wheels go smoothly round.”

“Do they?”

She looked at me sharply. “If you let them,” she said. “I know about Paul, of course.”

“What do you know?”

“That he is after you … and I don’t think you feel much like saying No to him either. But let me tell you this: I’ll never let him go. He married me. Look what he got out of it. He’s got to remember that.”

“He doesn’t forget that he’s married to you.”

“He’d better not. I shall never let him go. You’d better understand that.”

“I do understand it.”

“The best thing you can do is go up to Rosie. She’s fond of you. She’ll help you find a husband and then you won’t have need of someone else’s.”

“There is no need for you to talk in this strain. I understand the position perfectly. I am not looking for a husband, and if I went to London to stay with Jago and Rosie for a visit it would not be with such a hunt in mind.”

“I like your way of talking. Dignity, I suppose you call it. I suppose that is what he likes. Lady of the Manor and so on. Well, it’s not to be, because I’ll never let him go. He’s got the house and he has to take me with it. And that’s how it’s going to stay.”

I said: “Why don’t you try living amicably together?”

“What? With him hating the bargain all the time and trying to wriggle out of it?”

“If you look upon it as a bargain, you’ll never live serenely together.”

“Life’s what it is, Caroline. You take what you want and you pay for it. It’s no use niggling about the price when it’s all signed and settled.”

“I don’t think that is quite the way to look on marriage.”

“And if you go on like this it seems to me you’ll never have an opportunity of looking at it at all.”

“That is very probable,” I said, “and entirely my own affair.”

“Well,” she said, good-natured suddenly, “I didn’t come here to quarrel with you. I know it’s not your fault … or anybody’s fault. It just is. I came to talk to you about something else. As we said, I like to know what’s going on around me. Well, I thought I’d do a little tour of investigation. That’s what I’ve been doing.”

“Where?”

“In Scotland. I went to Edinburgh. I stayed with someone we used to know before we came south. Her father was a friend of my father’s. She married and went to live up in Edinburgh. I thought I’d look her up.”

“What made you do that suddenly?”

“It was something Rosie said. Rosie always had her ears open, I imagine. She’s like me in a way. That’s why we got on. We talked a lot together. I reckon she’s had a life of it. She mentioned this after we’d seen him.”

“Seen him?”

“Jamie McGill. I wanted to get some honey for her to take back to London with her and I said to her, ‘You won’t be able to buy anything like you can get from this man. He’s a magician with the bees and has conferences with them. He’s a little loose in the top storey.’ “

“I wish you wouldn’t talk about him like that. Sometimes I think he’s cleverer than any of us. He’s learned how to be contented and that’s about the wisest thing anyone can do.”

“Well, don’t you want to hear?”

“Of course.”

“I took her along. She was interested in the bees and in him and we stopped and talked awhile. When he left she asked what his name was, and when I told her she said, ‘McGill. I’m sure there was a McGill case.’ Well, as you can imagine, I was all ears. I said to her, ‘There’s always been a bit of a mystery about Jamie McGill. He won’t talk and he got a little fussed when I asked him a few simple questions … just the ordinary sort of ones you might ask anybody.’ Rosie said, ‘Well, I can’t be sure, but there was a case and I’m certain the name was McGill. There wasn’t a lot about it in the London papers because it happened in Scotland.’”

“I think it must have been something to do with his brother,” I said. “He did mention a brother to me once.”

“Yes … that’s right. Rosie remembered that this McGill had been involved in a murder case. She wasn’t sure what happened, but he got off. Then she remembered that it was because he got off that there was this bit of a stir about it. It was a verdict we don’t have here. ‘Not proven.’ That was why it was written about and Rosie remembered. Well, I felt ever so interested … but Rosie didn’t remember anything more.”

“Do you mean to tell me,” I said incredulously, “that you travelled up to Scotland to discover the secrets of Jamie McGill?”

She nodded, her eyes shining with mischief. “Though I’d have gone in any case if I’d known what a lovely little drama I was making here.”

“I believe you like stirring up trouble.”

She was thoughtful. “I’m not sure. I like to know … I always did. I like to find out what people are hiding.”

“And did you find out about poor Jamie McGill?”

“Yes. I talked to people who remembered, and you’re able to get some of the papers which came out years back. I stayed with my friend in Edinburgh and she took me about the town … showing me the ropes. As I said we found quite a number of people who remembered. It wasn’t all that long ago … only ten years or so. People remember these things.”

“Well, what did you discover?”

“It was Donald McGill. I thought it might be Jamie.”

“That,” I said coldly, “was what you hoped to discover.”

“But it was Donald. His brother didn’t come into it at all. There was no mention of him. Donald had murdered his wife.”

“I thought you said it was not proven?”

“I mean he was on trial for murder, but they couldn’t prove him guilty. She was found at the bottom of a staircase in their home. They had been on bad terms and there she was … dead. She had a blow on her head, but they couldn’t tell whether she had got it in falling or if it had been delivered before she was pushed down. That was why they had to decide and they couldn’t, so there was this verdict, ‘Not Proven.’ “

“Congratulations on your discovery,” I said.

“Well, at least you know about the man you employ.”

“But this was his brother.”

“It’s something he doesn’t want to come out.”

“I can quite understand why not. If anything like that happens in your family, I daresay you want to get away from it.”

“I had to know.”

“Well, now you are satisfied.”

“Yes, I’m satisfied now.”

“I hope you won’t go round talking about this. If Jamie wants to keep his secrets he should be allowed to.”

“I don’t suppose I shall say anything, and in any case it is only his brother. Now if he were the murderer …”

“You mean the suspected murderer. It was not proven as I have to keep reminding you.”

“If it had been Jamie that would have been different.”

“A great disappointment for you!”

“I’m still interested in him. I think there is something very odd about him.”

“I should leave him in peace if I were you.”

She looked at me, smiling. “You’re of much greater interest to me, Caroline. When I think of you … coming here, getting the estate and everything … and then getting your own back on Jeremy Brandon … and then falling in love with my husband … I must say there is never a dull moment with you, Caroline.”

“I am astonished that my life is so interesting to you. One thing I ask you. Please don’t upset Jamie by letting him know you have discovered his secret. Remember it is his.”

“Yes,” she said, still smiling. “Let’s all keep our secrets, eh?”