by Anna Jacobs
‘I’ll go and tell Phoebe. I’d hoped to spend longer with her, but she’ll have Miss Bowers to guide her, at least.’
‘And Anne Latimer,’ he added quietly.
‘Do you suppose ghosts can guide people?’
‘They can frighten the villains off, that’s for sure.’
‘Anne has never frightened me … or Phoebe. Still, even after we’re settled at Dalton House, Phoebe can write to me if she needs help or advice.’
‘Or you can come here for visits.’ He looked at her, drew her closer again, his turn to offer comfort. ‘I’m only too aware how much leaving Greyladies will upset you. Thank you for helping my family like this.’
‘I know it’s the right thing to do. There are other people to care for Greyladies, but there’s only you left now to look after Dalton House.’
Phoebe stared at Harriet in shock. ‘Oh, poor Joseph!’ Then the implications dawned on her. ‘Does that mean you’ll be leaving here permanently?’
‘Within a week or so, probably. After the funeral, we’ll be coming back to pack up. It’ll take a while to sort through our things, and we don’t know what state Dalton House will be in. They’ve got three young women and their children staying there now, so it shouldn’t be too bad. I can’t turn them out, but there’s plenty of room. It’s a big house.’
‘That means you can continue to help people.’
‘I hope so. It’s the financial situation of the Dalton family that worries me. Selwyn was a gambler. If the house has to be sold to pay his debts, we shall be staying on here.’ But that sounded wrong even as she was uttering the words.
Phoebe studied her thoughtfully for a moment or two. ‘I don’t think you’d have been prepared to leave Greyladies if you weren’t going to rescue Dalton House for your husband and children.’
It was Harriet’s turn to feel surprised. ‘No. Of course not. You’re right. I’ve known for a while that I’d leave. That won’t change. I’m not thinking as clearly as usual, I’m afraid. I keep worrying about poor Mrs Dalton. I’d better go and round up the boys now.’
She stopped at the door to add, ‘I nearly forgot. I’m afraid this means I won’t be able to take your place to do the shopping in Swindon. But I’m sure you’ll be all right if neither the police nor his former associates have seen a sign of Frank.’
‘Yes, of course I’ll be all right.’
But Phoebe intended to keep a careful look out for him, and she’d wear a hat that pulled down as well as bulky clothing that made her look a different shape.
She’d be very relieved to get back to Greyladies after her outing.
Although she tried to share Mrs Stein’s pleasure at the thought of the shopping trip, she couldn’t. Apprehension skittered across her skin whenever she thought about going into Swindon.
Harriet and Joseph got out of the car at Dalton House and stood staring at their future home.
‘It looks different,’ she said.
‘The windows are clean, for a start. It’s as if the old place has started coming to life again.’
This time Mrs Dalton didn’t come to greet them and a young woman they didn’t recognise opened the door. She was heavily pregnant.
‘I’m Joseph Dalton,’ he told her.
‘Yes, sir. Your mother showed me your photo. I’m Mavis.’ She gestured. ‘She’s in the drawing room. Do you want me to look after the boys? She’s in a terrible state. We’ve done our best to comfort her, but she’s crushed by this latest death. And who can blame her?’ She looked down at the full curve of her stomach. ‘There are a lot of men who won’t be coming back.’
Mrs Dalton wasn’t weeping; she was sitting utterly still, as if frozen by her grief. She looked a shadow of her normal self. In a tight voice she thanked them for coming, then sat still again, as if waiting for Joseph to take charge.
Harriet had never admired him more. He managed to make his mother relax a little, and got her permission to finalise the arrangements for a memorial service, because once again, there was no body to bury.
‘You must call our lawyer as well, Joseph dear,’ Mrs Dalton said. ‘He’ll know how things have been left.’
‘I’ll do that.’
She lapsed into silence, then stood up suddenly. ‘I need a rest. I couldn’t sleep last night. It’s been … a very upsetting time. I feel so much better now you’ve come.’
‘Shall I come up with you?’ Harriet offered.
Looking as if she hadn’t heard this offer, Mrs Dalton walked slowly out of the room and Harriet decided not to intrude on her grief. Their relationship was still awkward, and she was finding the transition from maid to mistress of the house very difficult to get used to.
In the middle of the night, Joseph woke because the grinding pain in his hip was bad, as occasionally happened when he overdid things.
He decided to go down and fill a hot-water bottle, which sometimes helped.
There was a light in the library and his mother was in there, feverishly pulling out papers from the drawers of the desk and tossing them aside when she couldn’t find what she wanted.
‘Are you all right, Mother?’
She jumped and let out a squeak of shock, then sank down on an armchair. ‘No. I’m not all right. I suddenly wondered whether Selwyn had made a new will in your favour. He said he was going to do it. Mr Gerrington sent it to him, but he never received the signed copy back as arranged.’
‘It’ll be somewhere,’ he said soothingly. ‘Selwyn will have signed it and forgotten to put it in the post. Look, come upstairs again and—’
She threw off the arm he’d put round her shoulders. ‘You don’t understand. He didn’t leave the property to you in the old will, said a cripple couldn’t manage it. It went to a distant cousin.’
‘Then I’ll go back to live at Greyladies.’
She grabbed his arm and gave it a hard shake. ‘No, you won’t! We need you here. And I won’t have the house going to a nasty old cousin when I still have one son left to inherit. I’ll do whatever it takes to prevent that.’
Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was in such an agitated state, he didn’t try to reason with her. ‘Let me help you look, then.’
But though they searched every single drawer in the library, no will was discovered.
At length she realised he was looking pale and rubbing his hip, found out why and insisted on filling a hot-water bottle for him.
As they walked up the stairs, she said quietly, ‘I mean it. I won’t let them take this house away from you. I’ll think of something, if I have to forge Selwyn’s signature.’
Joseph was too tired and in too much pain to care about that at the moment. Relieved that Harriet hadn’t woken, he slipped into bed, found a slightly easier position with the warmth of the earthenware bottle in its flannel cover soothing his aching hip, and managed to get to sleep.
When they discussed it in the morning, Harriet remained serenely certain that he would inherit. It was one of the rare occasions when they disagreed, and her certainty rather annoyed him, though he tried to hide that.
He couldn’t work out what could possibly happen to change things if there wasn’t a will in his favour. It made him feel very sad to think he wouldn’t be coming back to live in the place he had never stopped thinking of as ‘home’.
Sadder than he’d expected.
The shopping trip into Swindon went very well, and to Phoebe’s relief, there was no sign of Frank. After they got back, Mrs Stein was bubbling over with pleasure at having something to do with her time and couldn’t wait to get started.
Mr Stein was delighted to have his beloved Trudi by his side and to see her working happily.
Only Phoebe kept worrying. She felt as if a cloud was hanging over her, a dark and threatening cloud, and as the days passed, she jerked awake from a nightmare several times.
She and Corin avoided talking about their situation, because they couldn’t see any easy solution. They made the most of every mom
ent they could spend together, always comfortable with one another, in spite of the decision that hovered between them.
Then he was called up to London and came back accompanied by the man who had been appointed to take over the management of Greyladies. The captain had lost a leg early in the war but was still considered fit to serve in an administrative capacity.
Phoebe had known Corin would have to leave, but she hadn’t thought it would happen until the two of them had resolved their problems. Surely they could find a way to marry? There had to be a way to compromise.
Now the wartime needs of the country had to take precedence over the needs of an individual and Corin was busy handing over the reins to the captain. Soon he’d be gone.
On their last evening together, they planned to go for a walk, but it rained heavily, and the only sheltered place they could find to be alone was the crypt.
She unlocked the metal grille that closed off the entrance and held the lamp high. ‘Harriet brought me here once, but we didn’t have time to explore it properly. What a pity it’s dark.’
‘I think there are some other lamps on this shelf. Shall we light one?’
Even with the increased light, the place was full of shadows that tricked the eye and seemed to move. But Phoebe forgot them as they found a stone shelf to sit on and Corin took hold of her hand.
‘If I haven’t said anything, it’s because I can’t seem to decide what to do about our situation,’ he said abruptly. ‘I feel as if I need to see my home first and … get this war over. Will you wait for me?’
‘Of course.’ She was disappointed, though she tried not to show it.
He kissed her, but it wasn’t a lingering kiss and with a sigh, he rubbed his eyes. ‘I’m not good company tonight, I’m afraid. I’m very weary.’
‘I can see that. I hope you’ll have a day or two to recover before you start your next assignment.’
‘I doubt it. I have to report to David Brookes tomorrow afternoon. For the time being, you’d better write to me care of my aunt. You will write, won’t you?’
‘Of course I will.’
That meant she wouldn’t know where he was, couldn’t even seek his help if her worst fears were realised and Frank turned up.
She was still having nightmares about him, still feeling as if a threat was hanging over her.
In the end, Corin yawned and said, ‘I’ll have to get some sleep, darling.’
She thought she saw a glow in one corner as they left the crypt, but she must have been mistaken, because when she paused to look more carefully, she saw nothing unusual, only a dark space. But it comforted her to think Anne Latimer might be keeping an eye on her.
Out at his parents’ farm, Frank was fretting. He had never enjoyed life in the countryside. It was too full of noisy animals and birds that seemed to wake at a ridiculously early hour, not to mention insects that stung you. Because he was in hiding, he had to spend most of his time shut up in the house, with no one to talk to because his mother and stepfather were outside working.
His mother had wormed the tale of what had happened out of him and fussed over him so much, worrying about his heart, that he kept going out to the storage barn which supposedly belonged to his boss, to keep out of her way.
Even that was frustrating, because at the moment he didn’t dare try to sell anything. They’d have made him a neat little fortune, these goods would. He’d never felt as frustrated in his whole life.
Inevitably, he spent a lot of time thinking about Phoebe. He knew she didn’t want him, but he wanted her, and it wasn’t for women to choose who they married anyway; that was the man’s choice. Anyway, once she was with him, she’d come round, of course she would. Especially when she found out how much money he’d have.
After all, the other fellow hadn’t married her, had he?
He checked the post every day. The woman who ran his little sideline in Swindon was keeping watch for him. She wrote twice to say the police had come nosing round, but she’d sworn blind she didn’t know where he was and they’d gone away again.
They’d asked other people if they’d seen Frank, too.
Worst of all, there hadn’t been any sign of Phoebe in Swindon, and he had people watching out for her. He’d promised twenty pounds if anyone found out where she was, and he knew how eager these folk were to earn that much money.
He pulled out his pocket watch and stared at it. Time seemed to be passing even more slowly than usual today. It was a relief when his mother came back at noon to make dinner and called out a greeting.
He didn’t feel optimistic as he popped his head through the kitchen door. ‘Any letters for me, Ma?’
‘Yes, love. I put it on the mantelpiece an hour ago. The post came early today. You were out at the barn, I think.’
Then why the hell hadn’t she called him in? She knew he was waiting to hear about something.
He snatched the envelope and took it outside to read.
The memorial service for Selwyn was more thinly attended than the ones for Joseph’s two brothers had been.
Mrs Dalton wept intermittently and when the lawyer called them together for the reading of the will, she berated him for not getting her eldest son to make a new will in favour of his youngest brother, brushing aside his protests that he had drawn one up, but could hardly have forced Selwyn to sign it.
Joseph tried to put an arm round her but she shook it off and shouted at him to let her go. ‘Don’t you realise what will happen? The estate will go to a stranger who will no doubt throw me and those poor women out on the streets. Selwyn has done both you and the family wrong, not leaving the estate to you. You’re his brother!’
One of Selwyn’s friends, who’d barely arrived in time for the funeral, stopped dead in the doorway as she said this, looking at her in shock.
The lawyer called across to him, ‘This is for the reading of the will, sir, family only.’
‘I know about the will. That’s why I came.’
‘I don’t understand. Who are you, sir?’
‘I’m Charles Parker, representing Selwyn’s regiment, and …’ He fumbled in his pocket. ‘I’ve brought your son’s last will and testament, Mrs Dalton. He wasn’t killed instantly, actually, and had time to sign the will and have the chaplain and myself witness it before he died.’
‘Is it the one I drew up?’ the lawyer asked.
‘I can’t tell, but I doubt Selwyn wrote this.’ He walked forward and handed a battered envelope to the lawyer. ‘He was on his deathbed when he signed. The chaplain said it would serve its purpose, even though his handwriting was shaky.’
The lawyer opened the crumpled envelope and scanned the will, shuddering at a brown smear in one corner that looked suspiciously like dried blood. ‘It’s his handwriting, Mrs Dalton, and it’s the will I drew up. Selwyn has left everything he possessed to his youngest brother Joseph Dalton, now known as Joseph Latimer.’
She moaned and swayed as if about to faint, so Harriet quickly helped her to sit down on the nearest chair.
Everyone stood silently watching, not sure what to do next.
Mrs Dalton took a few deep, sobbing breaths and said simply, ‘I’m all right now. I’m so very glad, not only that you’ve inherited Dalton House, Joseph dear, but also that Selwyn did the right thing by the family. I shall think better of him for that.’
Joseph turned to the officer. ‘Thank you for bringing the will.’
He nodded.
‘Can we offer you a room for the night?’
‘No, thank you. I have a staff car waiting to take me back. I’m sorry I was late. We had a flat tyre.’ He inclined his head to everyone and left the room.
‘I think I’d like to lie down now,’ Mrs Dalton announced. ‘I didn’t sleep a wink last night and I’m exhausted.’
Harriet helped her up. ‘I’ll see you to your room, shall I?’
‘Thank you, dear.’ This time she didn’t spurn her daughter-in-law’s offer of help.
T
he lawyer waited till they were out of earshot then turned to Joseph. ‘You’ve inherited a poisoned chalice, I’m afraid, and—’
The officer ran back into the room. ‘Sorry. I nearly forgot. This is from Algernon Smythe-Pawcett. They were playing cards the night before your son was killed, and Selwyn won some money from Algie, who says he’ll honour the debt as soon as he gets back to Blighty on leave.’
He slapped a piece of crumpled paper into the lawyer’s hand, and raced out again, muttering, ‘Got to go. Running late.’
The lawyer looked down at it and gasped. ‘This is for ten thousand pounds!’
Joseph felt angry. ‘Selwyn risked ten thousand pounds at cards! Risked losing the estate. He must have been mad.’
‘There are other debts, as well,’ the lawyer said.
‘How much?’
‘About four thousand pounds, as far as I can make out.’
‘From gambling?’ Joseph spat the words out.
‘Not all of it. There are tailors’ bills, and so on.’
‘I have some money of my own. If you’ll find out exactly how much Selwyn owed, we’ll discuss how to pay off the debts later.’ He looked firmly at the lawyer. ‘You will not find me as careless an owner as my brother was. And by the time my sons inherit, the estate will be worth inheriting. I swear that.’
Harriet came back just then. ‘What do you swear, darling?’
He explained.
‘Don’t look so grim. We’ll be all right.’
‘I’m risking our boys’ inheritance. The money owed will be a large percentage of what I’ve made by careful management of my money. And if this gambler chap doesn’t pay the larger amount, I don’t know what I’ll do.’
‘What we will do. I haven’t had time to tell you, but in the same post as you heard about Selwyn, I received news from the trust lawyer that I will be given a generous sum of money when I leave Greyladies. So we’ll still have something to fall back on.’
He closed his eyes and let out a low groan of relief.
