The Captive (39 page)

“Why should the child think it was her father?”

“She’s a strange child … given to fantasy. It occurred to me that she might miss a father and was inventing one.”

“She has Sir Tristan as a stepfather.”

“He doesn’t take much notice of her. She calls him Stepper in a rather contemptuous way … but then she is contemptuous of most of us. It occurred to me that she had seen people putting flowers on graves and thought she would like to do it and so invented a father. The sailor had no relations so she put flowers on his grave and adopted him.”

“It seems plausible … but how is all this going to solve Simon Perrivale’s troubles?”

“I don’t know. But just suppose someone now in the house did the murder … well, people who commit one might not hesitate at another. It might be part of the whole picture.”

He looked at me in some exasperation.

I said: “I knew you’d take it like this. I thought you might help me.”

“I’ll help,” he said.

“But I don’t think it is going to get anywhere.

Simon, it seems, was jealous of the other two. He killed one in a rage, and was caught by the other. That’s it. As for the sailor, I think you may be right. The child wanted a father so she took up with the dead man who had no relations around. “

“She cut the head gardener’s prize roses to put on his grave.”

“There you are. That bears it out.”

“All the same …”

“All the same …” he repeated, smiling at me quizzically.

“If we are going to investigate, we have to pick up the most likely point and there is a faint possibility that something might be lurking behind the untimely death of the sailor. At least that is something we could start with.”

“How?”

“Find out something about him. Who was he? Who was his wife? Then if she should happen to be the present Lady Perrivale it might begin to

look as though we were on to something. And if someone actually got rid of the sailor because he was making a nuisance of himself … well, there is a possibility that that person, having successfully accomplished one crime, might try another.”

“I knew you’d help me, Lucas.”

“So we begin to unravel the skein,” he said dramatically.

“How?”

“Go to London. Look up records. What a pity Dick Duvane isn’t here. He would throw himself into this with enthusiasm.”

“Oh Lucas … I’m so grateful.”

“I’m grateful, too,” he said.

“It relieves the monotony of the days.”

I went back to Perrivale Court in a state of euphoria.

I knew I was right to have taken Lucas into my confidence.

Lucas was away for three weeks. Each day I looked for a message from him. Kate and I had settled into a routine. She still had her difficult moments, but she made no attempts to play truant. We read together, discussed what we read, and I made no reference to the sailor’s grave which she continued to visit. She did not take any more flowers from the garden but contented herself with wild ones.

A few days after Lucas had left for London, Maria, the Dowager Lady Perrivale’s maid, sought me out and said that her mistress would like to have a chat with me.

Maria was one of those servants who, having been in the service of a master or mistress for a long time, feel themselves to be especially privileged. Moreover, they are usually too useful to their employers to be denied what they expect. They look upon themselves as ‘one of the family’, and I could see that, as far as Maria was concerned, this might be to my advantage.

It was the first time I had been in that part of the house

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which, when I looked from my own window, I could see across the courtyard.

Maria greeted me, putting her finger to her lips.

“She’s fast asleep,” she said.

“That’s just like her. She’ll ask someone to come and see her and when they come she’s dead to the world.”

She beckoned me and opened a door. There, sitting in a big armchair, was Lady Perrivale. Her head had fallen to one side and she was fast asleep.

“We won’t disturb her for a bit. She had a bad night. Gets them sometimes. Having nightmares about that Sir Edward. He was a bit of a tartar. Eee … but you know naught about that. She’s up and down.

Quite her old self sometimes. Then her mind goes wandering. “

“Shall I come back later?”

She shook her head.

“Sit you down here for a bit. When she wakes she’ll ring or bang her stick. Oh dear me, she’s not what she was.”

“I suppose that happens to us all in time.”

“Reckon. But she went down when Sir Edward passed away.”

“Well, I suppose they’d been married for a long time.”

She nodded.

“I was with her when she came south. Sorry to leave Yorkshire, I was. Ever been, Miss Cranleigh?”

“No, I’m afraid not.”

“The dales have to be seen to be believed … and the moors.

“Tis a gradeley place, Yorkshire.”

“I am sure it is.”

“Here? Well … I don’t know. I could never get used to these folks.

Full of fancies. Now that’s something you couldn’t accuse us of. “

She looked at me in a somewhat bellicose manner which I thought was undeserved as I had no intention of accusing her of being fanciful.

“A spade’s a spade up there, Miss Cranleigh. None of this fancy stuff.

Airy-fairy . people walked out of their graves . little men in the mines . and goblins and things sinking the boats. I don’t know. Seems a funny way of going on to me. “

“It certainly does,” I agreed.

“Mind you, in a house like this, some people might get the creeps.”

“But not a Yorkshire woman.”

She grinned at me. I could see she was regarding me as . well, not quite as a kindred spirit. but, coming from London, at least I was not one of the fanciful Cornish.

“So you came here with Lady Perrivale when she married,” I said.

“Well, I was with her before that. And what a to-do it was. Marrying a title. He had the brass, old Arkwright did … rolling in it. But brass ain’t everything. And when she became ” my lady”, she was on clouds of glory. This house … what she did to it. It was in a right old mess. This house … and her ladyship too, if you please. Of course, she had to take Sir Edward with it.”

“Was that such an ordeal?”

“He was a strange sort, he was. You never got to know him. She was used to having her own way. Old Arkwright adored her. Good-looking, she was, and all that brass of course. Only child … heiress. You could see what Sir Edward was after.”

“How was he such a strange one?”

“He didn’t say much. He was always so very proper. My goodness, he was strict.”

“I’ve heard that.”

“At church every Sunday… morning and evening. Everyone had to go even the tenants … or it was a black mark against them. He was making sure of his place in Heaven … and then that boy …”

“Yes?” I said eagerly, for she had paused.

“Bringing him in like that. If it was anyone else’s you would have said … you know what I mean … men being

what they are. But you wouldn’t believe it with Sir Edward. I often wondered who that boy was. Her ladyship hated the sight of him. Well, you could understand it. Old Nanny Crockett used to stick up for him.

I wondered her ladyship didn’t get rid of her . but Sir Edward wouldn’t have had that. He’d have put his foot down hard about that . though mostly he didn’t interfere about the house . as long as they all went to church and attended the prayer meetings every morning in the hall. I’ve heard her ladyship storm and rage, say she wouldn’t have the little bastard in the house . yes, she went as far as that. Well, you could understand it. I heard everything, me being her personal maid and all that, having been with her when we was in Yorkshire. She wanted her own maid and she settled on me. There’s not much I haven’t seen. Here, why am I talking to you like this? Well, I look on her as my child, really. It’s like talking about myself. And you’re here . one of the family, you know. You must have seen a bit of life with that Miss Kate . “

She pressed her lips together and I had the impression that she was reproaching herself for having talked of such intimate matters to me, almost a stranger.

“You must have seen a great many changes here,” I said.

She nodded.

“I was always one for a bit of gossip,” she said, still excusing herself.

“And I don’t get much chance of that up here all day. It gets a bit lonely. You’ve got one of them sympathetic natures.

Miss Cranleigh, I can see that. You’re an understanding sort. “

“I hope so. I find it very interesting here … the house and the people.”

“That’s so. As you was saying, I’ve seen some changes. People don’t come to this part of the house much. You know what they’re like round here, as we were saying … Sir Ed ward died here. They think he’ll come back and haunt the place. There’s talk about it. They’ve seen lights. They say it’s Sir Edward looking for something because he can’t rest.”

“I saw a light once,” I said.

“I thought it was a candle.. It flickered … and then I didn’t see it any more.”

She nudged me.

“I can tell you what that was. That was her.” She jerked her head towards Lady Perrivale’s room.

“She does that sometimes. Gets up in the night. She’ll light a candle. I’ve told her many times. I said, ” You’ll set the place alight one day . your own nightdress perhaps. ” She said, ” I have to look. I have to find it. “

“Find what?” I say. Then she gets a funny look in her eyes and shuts her mouth and won’t say a thing. “

“Do you think she is really looking for something?”

“People get notions when they get old. No … there’s nothing. She’s just got this notion in her head. Time after time I’ve told her, ” If there’s something you’ve mislaid, tell me what. I’ll find it for you.

”

But no . it’s just some fancy that comes to her in the night. I have to watch out, though. She could start a fire and there’s a lot of wood in a place like this. What I do is hide the matches. But that don’t stop her. I’ve heard her groping about in the dark. “

“In her room?”

“No, in his room … Sir Edward’s. They had separate rooms, you know.

I always think there’s something amiss with separate rooms. “

“You must be kept busy here, looking after Lady Perrivale.”

“Oh yes. I do everything. Keep the place clean … cook her food.

It’s not often she goes down to parties like she did the other night.

But she’d been better for the last week or so. They lead their own lives and she’s very content with the present Lady Perrivale. She wanted her to marry one of the boys. “

“Yes, I heard that she knew her mother.”

“Yes, school friend, she was. She wanted the Major to come here; she found Seashell Cottage for them and before long Miss Mirabel was engaged to Mr. Cosmo.”

“He died though … didn’t he?”

“Murdered. I can tell you, that was a time. It was that boy Simon.

They’d always been against each other. “

“He went away, didn’t he?”

“Oh yes. Ran off. He was a sharp little fellow when he was little, even. It was the only thing he could do … or hang by the neck. I reckon he’ll fall on his feet. He was that sort.”

“What do you think happened?”

“It’s plain as the nose on your face. Simon had had enough. He had his eyes on Mirabel. Not that he had a chance.” She lowered her voice.

“Perhaps I’m speaking out of turn, but I always thought she had her eyes on the title, so she took Cosmo. I think Simon shot him in a temper.”

“But why should he have the gun handy like that?”

“Now you’re asking me. Looks like he took it there for a purpose, don’t it? Eee. You never know. There’s nowt so queer as folk, as we say in Yorkshire. And by gum, we’re right. Well, everyone seems to have made up their minds it was jealousy … and jealousy’s a terrible thing. It can lead anywhere.”

“So then Lady Perrivale married Tristan.”

“Yes. Well, they always had a fancy for each other, those two. I’ve got a pair of eyes in my head. I’ve seen things. And I’ll tell you this: I said to myself, more than once, ” Ho, ho, there’ll be trouble when she marries Cosmo because Tristan’s the one she wants. ” I’ve seen a thing or two.”

She stopped abruptly and put her fingers to her mouth.

“I’m talking out of turn again. It’s so nice to have a chat with someone who’s interested.”

“I am certainly interested,” I assured her.

“Well, you’re one of the family now, I suppose. And, after all, it happened some time ago. It’s all over and done with now.”

I could see that she would need but little prompting to overcome her qualms of conscience, and I continued to prompt her.

“Yes, of course,” I said.

“And I dare say everyone was discussing it all at one time.”

“My goodness yes. That’s a fact.” , “You were saying you’d seen a thing or two.”

“Oh … I don’t know. It was just that I noticed one or two things … so it didn’t surprise me at all when she turned to Tristan. People said it was on the rebound … and poor things they comforted each other. Well, you know what people say …”

She was frowning slightly. She was, I think, trying to remember how much she had said.

“Her ladyship and me … we used to have some fun together. She’d tell me everything … two girls together, that’s what we were like and then of course she’s changed since Cosmo’s death. You wouldn’t believe how it’s aged her. It’s a long time since I’ve had a chat like this. Well… I’d better take a look at her. Catnaps, that’s what she takes. Then she’ll wake up suddenly and want to know what’s going on.”

She rose and went to the door. I was hoping that Lady Perrivale would not have woken up, for the conversation with Maria had been very interesting and illuminating. I had always been aware that servants knew as much as anyone did of the family’s secrets perhaps even more.

I heard a peevish voice: “Maria … what’s happened? Wasn’t someone coming?”

“Yes, you wanted to have a chat with the governess. She’s been waiting here for you to wake up.”