Lucas was right: we could not speak of the family at their dinner table.
Conversation was general, embracing the Queen and her advancing years, the merits of Gladstone and Salisbury and suchlike.
I was not paying a great deal of attention. I so much wanted to be alone with Lucas. There was a great deal to say. I was longing to ask him what he thought about the drunken sailor.
I really believed then that, had it been possible to talk intimately with Lucas, I would have told him everything at that point.
With the ladies I left the men over the port and went into the drawing-room. To my surprise I found myself seated next to the Dowager Lady Perrivale. I thought perhaps it might have been arranged and she wanted to inspect Kate’s governess.
She was one of those women who must have been formidable in her prime.
I could see from her face that she was accustomed to having her own way. I remembered what I had heard of her; how she had restored Perrivale Court when she brought her money into the family, and I imagined she had a certain fondness for the place.
“I’m glad to have the opportunity of a chat, Miss Cranleigh,” she said.
“My daughter-in-law tells me that you are doing very well with Kate. My goodness, that is an achievement. The governesses that child has had! And not one to stay more than a month or two.”
“I haven’t completed a month yet. Lady Perrivale.”
“I do hope you will… and many months. My daughter-in-law is so happy with the outcome. She said Kate is a different child.”
“Kate needs to be understood.”
“I suppose we all do. Miss Cranleigh.”
“Some of us are less predictable than others.”
“I expect you are very predictable, Miss Cranleigh. I am most unpredictable. This is what they call one of my good days. I shouldn’t be down here if it were not. You look to me as if you have a very orderly mind.”
“I try to have.”
Then if you try, you will’. I have given up trying. Though I used to be the same. I could never endure mess and muddle. One grows old. Miss Cranleigh. Things change. How do you like Perrivale Court? “
“I think it is one of the most interesting houses I have ever been in.”
“Then we agree. I was fascinated by it from the moment I saw it. I am so pleased Tristan is married and settled. I hope there will be grandchildren … soon enough for me to see them before I go. I should like several.”
“I hope your wishes will be granted.”
“I want this place to pass to my grandchildren… children of the Arkwright blood mingling with the Perrivale … you know what I mean. Arkwright money made it what it is today … so it is only right. It would be just the right mixture, you see …”
I thought this was an odd conversation. I noticed that her eyes were slightly glazed and I wondered whether she had forgotten to whom she was talking. I saw Mirabel cast an anxious look in her direction.
The Dowager Lady Perrivale noticed Mirabel’s glance. She waved her hand and smiled.
“Don’t you think she is delightful, Miss Cranleigh? My daughter-in-law, I mean. Did you ever see anyone so beautiful?”
“No,” I said.
“I don’t think I have.”
“I knew her mother and her father … the dear Major. It is so nice to have him as a neighbour. Her mother was my best friend. We went to school together. That was why the Major came down here after her death
when he left the Army, of course. I said, ” Come and settle in Cornwall. ” I’m thankful that he did. It brought dear Mirabel into the family.”
“She lost her first husband,” I said tentatively.
“Poor Mirabel. It’s sad to be left a widow with a child to care for. Of course she had her wonderful, wonderful father … and he came out of the Army just at the right time. He has been a tower of strength to us all. Such a delightful man. Have you met him … I mean apart from tonight?”
“Yes.
Kate took me to see him at the Dower House. “
“She would. She adores him. He’s so good with children. Well … he’s good with anyone.
He’s devoted to Mirabel. He was delighted with the marriage . so was I. It was just what I wanted. And it means the Major is here with us a charming neighbour . and a member of the family really. “
“He has a lovely home there at the Dower House.”
“He seems to like it.
I’d like to go along and see him there . but I can’t get out now .”
“What a pity.”
“Yes … indeed. But I have a good woman. She has been my maid for years. She’s my constant companion. I’m in the rooms next to those used by my husband when he was alive. It’s almost a separate part of the house. My husband was a man who liked to be alone. He was very religious, you know. I always said he should have gone into the Church. Well, it has been nice to chat. You must come along and see me. Maria-that’s my maid-will be pleased to see you. In fact she keeps me informed.”
“I don’t think I’ve met Maria.”
“No, you wouldn’t. She’s mostly in my part of the house.”
“I think my room must be opposite yours.”
“You’re up in the nursery.
Yes, that would be about it . across the courtyard. Oh look, the men are coming back. They’ll split us up now. I have enjoyed getting to
know you. And thank you for what you’re doing with Kate. That child did know how to make a nuisance of herself. My daughter-in-law tells me she is greatly relieved. “
“I really don’t deserve all these compliments.”
Mirabel was coming towards us. She smiled at me.
“Miss Cranleigh must come and talk to her friend,” she said to the old lady.
Then she drew me to one side.
“I hope my mother-in-law didn’t confuse you. She rambles on a bit. Since the tragedy she’s been a little strange. It’s rarely that she comes to things like this. But she seemed a great deal better and wanted to meet you. She’s not always lucid … and talks wildly quite often.”
“No, no,” I said.
“She talked normally.”
“Oh, I’m glad. Oh, here’s Mr. Lorimer.”
Lucas was coming towards us. There was someone with him and the evening was almost over before I found myself alone with him.
“Oh, it’s such a shame. I did want to say so much to you.”
“You’re making me very curious.”
“But not here, Lucas.”
“Well then, we’d better meet. What about tomorrow at The Sailor King?”
“I’ll manage to get there.”
“Two-thirty as before?”
“That’s a good time.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” said Lucas.
The evening was over. Kate came to my room as I was getting undressed.
“What was it like?” she asked.
“Interesting. I had a long chat with the Dowager Lady Perrivale.”
“You mean Stepper’s mother. She’s an old witch.”
“Really, Kate!”
“Well, a bit mad anyway-She stays in those rooms where Sir Edward died. She and that old Maria are up there all the time. She’s with the ghost up there. I don’t like her much.”
“She seemed concerned about you.”
“Oh, she doesn’t like me. She likes my mother and Gramps, though. Did you talk to Gramps?”
“Not really … just greetings. It is amazing how little one can talk to people.”
“What about old Lucas?”
“Why is everyone old to you?”
“Because they are.”
“Well, they are certainly not ten years old. Go away now, will you? I want to go to bed.”
“I want to hear all about it in the morning.”
“There’s really nothing to tell.”
“I suppose you think you are going to parties here to find a rich husband.”
“Most of the men seem to ha
ve wives already,” I said with a smile.
“All you have to do is …”
“What?” I asked.
“Murder them,” she said.
“Good night. Cranny. See you in the morning.”
And she was gone.
I was disturbed. What was actually in the child’s mind? I wondered.
What did she know? And how much did she make up when she did not know?
I kept thinking about the sailor. I had almost made up my mind to tell Lucas.
When I met Lucas the following day, I was still wavering. But the first thing he said when we were seated was: “Now, out with it. What’s on your mind? Why don’t you tell me? You’ve wanted to for a long time and in any case that’s why you’ve brought me here today.”
“There is something,” I said.
“Lucas, if you promise … promise you won’t do anything thatiJ ask you not to …”
He looked at me in puzzlement.
“Is it something that happened on the island?”
“Well, yes … in a way.”
“John Player?”
“Yes. But he isn’t John Player, Lucas.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. I knew there was some mystery.”
“Promise me, Lucas. I must have your promise before I tell you.”
“How can I promise when I don’t know what I’m promising?”
“How can I tell you if I don’t know you will?”
He smiled wryly.
“All right, I promise.”
I said, “He’s Simon Perrivale.”
“What?”
“Yes, he left England on the ship … taking the place of one of the deck hands.”
Lucas was staring at me.
“Lucas,” I said earnestly.
“I want to prove his innocence … so that he can come back.”
“This explains … everything.”
“I thought it would. And I was afraid that you might think it your duty to tell the authorities … or someone.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ve promised, haven’t I? Tell me more. I suppose he confessed this to you on the island when I was lying there, unable to move.”
“Yes, it was like that. There is something else you must know. He was in the seraglio … or rather just outside it, working in the gardens.
I told you how I became friendly with Nicole and she was the friend of the Chief Eunuch. Well, he Simon managed to ingratiate himself with the Eunuch and I think because of it and because of Nicole . he helped us both. Simon escaped with me. “
Lucas was speechless with incredulity.
“We were taken away together and left close to the British Embassy. I
went in … and in time came home. Simon dared not be sent home. He left me there. He was going to try to get to Australia.”
“And you have heard nothing of him since?”
I shook my head.
“I understand now,” he said, ‘why you have this crazy idea of proving his innocence. “
“It’s not crazy. I know he’s innocent.”
“Because he told you?”
“It’s more than that. I got to know Simon very well…”
He paused for a few seconds before he said: “Wouldn’t it be better for him to come home and face things? If he is innocent…”
“He is innocent. But how could he prove it? They have all decided that he is guilty.”
“And you think you are going to make them change their minds?”
“Lucas, I know there is some way of doing this. There must be. I’m certain of it. If only I could find the answer.”
“This is the most important thing in the world to you, is it?”
“I want it more than anything.”
“I see. Well, what good is it playing governess to that child?”
“I’m here. I’m close to the people who were involved in it. It’s a way”
“Listen, Rosetta. You’re not being logical. You’re letting your emotions get in the way of your common sense. You’ve had some fantastic adventures; you were plunged into a world so different from the one you knew that you are not thinking clearly. What happened to you was melodramatic … beyond what you could have imagined before.
Miraculously, you came through. It was a chance in a thousand . but because it happened you expect life to go on like that. You were in that seraglio . a prisoner. everything was so different there. Wild things could happen. You’re in another sort of seraglio now. one of your own making. You’re a prisoner of your imagination. You think you are going to solve this murder, when it is clear what has happened. The innocent rarely run away. You should’re member that. He couldn’t have said, “I’m guilty” more clearly. You’re not being logical, Rosetta. You’re living in a world of dreams. “
“Nanny Crockett believes in him.”
“Nanny Crockett! What has she to do with it?”
“She was his nurse. She knew him better than anyone. She says he is incapable of such a thing. She knows.”
“That explains this friendship. I suppose she put you up to this governessing.”
“We worked it out together. We didn’t think of my being a governess until the possibility arose. Then we saw that it was a way of getting me into the house.”
I was looking at him appealingly.
“Do you want my opinion?” he said.
I nodded.
“Please, Lucas.”
“Drop it. Give up this farce. Come back to Trecorn. Marry me and make the best of a bad job.”
“What do you mean, a bad job … ?”
“Say goodbye to Simon Perrivale. Put him out of your thoughts. Look at it like this. He ran away when he was about to be arrested. That is too significant to be ignored. If he returned he’d be tried for murder and hanged. Let him lead a new life in Australia … or wherever he lands up. As you’re so certain of his innocence, give him a chance to start a new life.”
“I want to prove that he was wrongly accused.”
“You want him to come back.” He looked at me sadly.
“I understand absolutely,” he said. He shrugged his shoulders and looked grave, as though communing with himself. Then he said: “What discoveries have you made so far?”
“There was a drunken sailor.”
“Who?”
“His name was Thomas Parry. He fell over a cliff and was drowned.”
“Wait a minute. I remember something about that. There was quite a stir about it at the time. It was some while ago. Didn’t he come down here … from London, I think. Got drunk and fell over the cliff.
It’s coming back to me. “
“Yes,” I said.
“That’s the one. Well, he’s buried in the graveyard here. I discovered Kate putting flowers on his grave. When I asked her why she said he was her father.”
“What! Married to the glorious Mirabel?”
“One can’t be sure with Kate. She romances. She said that she saw him in the market in Upbridge and he was asking if anyone knew a woman named Parry with a little girl. She was frightened and hid herself behind the woman she was with … the mother of a little girl she had gone to play with. She was frightened of him. Apparently she remembered something of a father who was a brute.”
“And he was found at the bottom of the cliff.”
“You see, it seemed so fortuitous. If Mirabel was hoping to marry one of the Perrivales and a husband from the past who is supposed to be dead turns up, it could be awkward.”
“And as far as the glorious Mirabel was concerned, he was more useful at the bottom of the cliff than making trouble for her. It makes sense.”
“Not completely. You see, I have only Kate’s word for it. I asked her if she had told her mother she had seen him. She said no. But she had told Gramps. Gramps is her name for her grandfather. Major Durrell. He said she had made a mistake and she shouldn’t mention it because it would upset her mother and her father anyway was dead. He’d been drowned at sea.”
<
br /> “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.”
The Captive Page 30
