Teardrops in the Moon

by Crosse, Tania

  They were standing by a field gate, watching the horses they had rounded up from the moor. There could well be others, but they might never know. Dartmoor consisted of over three hundred and sixty square miles, and although some of the army animals might turn up in the annual drift the following September and be identified by their branding marks, others might never be seen again. All they had was a list of those that were missing, Hermes among them, which had left Rose bereft. But they might never know which animals had been stolen and which were still roaming wild on the moor.

  ‘Fortunately our own horses were insured, as was your mother’s jewellery,’ Seth informed his daughter grimly, ‘although you never get the full value of what they were worth. Thank goodness your mother was wearing the amethyst necklace and her ring. But the cash wasn’t covered and it was a substantial sum, and neither was the vandalism. We’ll have to repair or replace all that. And I’ll send your mother’s portrait back to Mr Tilling to be restored, and God knows what that will cost.’

  ‘I wonder why they didn’t take it,’ Marianne pondered. ‘Surely it would be worth a lot.’

  ‘Too easily identifiable, the inspector said. But he reckons the whole attack was part malicious, damaging the furniture and everything like that, as if they wanted to get at us personally.’

  Marianne was all but dumbstruck. ‘Y-you mean, it was deliberately against us, not just a robbery?’

  ‘Don’t say anything to your mother, but possibly, yes.’

  ‘But who on earth—?’

  ‘We have no idea. But if the culprits are ever caught, the authorities will come down on them like a ton of bricks, stealing horses that were essentially government property in a time of war.’

  ‘Treason, you mean?’

  ‘Possibly, I suppose. I don’t really know. What I do know is that the Remounts are deciding whether we will have to reimburse them the value of their horses, or even if they’ll trust us with training any more for them. Besides, Hal isn’t here anymore, and he did the lion’s share of the work. And his misdemeanour, shall we call it, cost us a great deal, too. All I can say, my dear, is that we need to make some drastic economies after all this. So enjoy the Napier while we still have it. You know it’s a hugely expensive motorcar, and it’s a luxury we can do without. If I can find a buyer, it’ll fetch a good price.’

  Marianne’s already crumbling spirit dropped to her feet as the gravity of the situation hit home. ‘We won’t have to sell Pegasus, too, will we?’ she asked in sudden panic.

  Seth turned to her with a wistful smile. ‘I’ll hang onto him with my last breath. It’s bad enough your mother grieving over Hermes. I couldn’t stand two weeping women around me all day. Besides, I’ll need his services as champion stud as soon as we get going again.’

  But Marianne knew he had no need to voice his final thoughts. If we ever get going again, he should have concluded.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Marianne chewed the end of her pen for a moment before going on with her letter to Mary. It was strange how her friendship with the younger girl had deepened since Rose’s party, when her thwarted feelings for Michael Bradley should have driven them apart. As it was, Marianne found she could make confessions in her letters to Mary that she could never reveal to anyone else, as if she were talking to some absent confidante. She would always receive a sympathetic, sensible reply. Mary had a head on her shoulders far beyond her years, and Marianne recognized that her friend was having a steadying influence on her own erratic nature. It was no wonder Mary was so suited to nursing.

  Marianne’s hand went down to the paper again almost without her telling it to.

  We’re opening up the moss collection centre again tomorrow now the better weather’s coming. And this new Daylight Saving business should help as well. It’ll be good to feel I’m doing something useful again, although I’ve been helping with the horses all winter, of course. After that dreadful business at Christmas, Dad came to an agreement with the Remounts. We’re training a number of horses for free to make up for the losses they incurred over the ones that were stolen. I think Dad could have fought it, but he doesn’t have the same energy as he used to, and it makes him feel he’s making a personal contribution to the war. But it means we won’t be making any money for a while. We lost all our brood mares, too, and trying to replace them when the army have requisitioned so many animals is proving a nightmare.

  What with all that and making so little on the stock market, we’re really down on our uppers, as they say. Dad’s put the Napier up for sale and is hoping for a good price provided he can find someone to buy it, of course. It really has all been a terrible affair for us, and the police haven’t had any leads. Someone saw three cattle trucks passing through Princetown on Boxing Day heading towards Two Bridges and thought it odd, but that was all. I don’t suppose they’ll catch the culprits now.

  Marianne paused again. How could she word what was really on her mind without revealing her true guilt? She couldn’t tell even Mary that, it went so deep. But perhaps it would ease her conscience a little if she touched on the subject without showing the exact depth and nature of her troubles.

  We all miss Hal so much, as I’m sure you do Artie and Michael. I was so relieved to read in your last letter that they were both safe. Pray God they all remain so until this ghastly war is over. But thinking about them has brought me to a decision. I know with the moss and the horses I’m doing my bit to help, but Mum and Dad can manage perfectly well without me. So now that I’ve learnt to drive – and Dad says I’ve taken to it like a duck to water – I’ve decided to volunteer as an ambulance driver in France or wherever they see fit to send me. That way I can really be sure I’m helping to save the lives of our brave young volunteers. Of course, they’re not all volunteers now conscription has come in. And somehow that makes my volunteering even more vital. But please don’t breathe a word to anyone else yet. I won’t disappear off as Hal did without saying a proper goodbye, but I want to wait until it’s all settled before I tell my parents.

  There, it was said. The only person in the world to know. But it was only half the story. It would be a terrifying adventure, one which filled Marianne with both excitement and dread. But the main reason was that it would provide her with some sort of penance for keeping Hal’s enlisting a secret and the awful hurt it had created for their parents.

  Ned Cornish drummed his fingers on the table next to him and his mouth twisted into a restless curve. He was bored. Bored, bored, bored, his mind chanted silently. Nothing to do all day. Or the next. Or the next.

  The previous evening, he had paid for a woman to come home with him for the night. She wasn’t particularly young or pretty, but she had been willing to let him take her in several different ways until his desire was spent. His entire body had oozed with lasciviousness. He had felt aroused just holding the woman’s nakedness against his between each bout of lovemaking and talking to her about normal matters. So he had conjured up some vision of her becoming a friend, too, to ease his loneliness. But in the cold light of day, he had seen her for what she was, a common whore. She had taken his money and tucked it into the cleavage of her blouse with a casual, ‘I’ll want twice that next time, my lover,’ and slammed the door behind her.

  Had she been worth the wad of pound notes he had parted with? It had seemed so at the time, but now it seemed a total waste. For that sort of money, he wanted class. Someone like Rose Maddiford as she had been before her marriage to that toff from London.

  Ah, Rose. His heart still twirled at the thought of those far off, halcyon days when she would pay him sixpence to look after that brute of a horse in the stables where he worked while she went to visit her friend Molly. She would tease him, knowing she had him wrapped round her little finger. And then, when she had married and her husband had employed him as groom at Fencott Place, she wouldn’t even give him a kiss for old times’ sake. She had rejected him,
and yet she had gone on to help that bloody escaped convict hide in the stables for weeks, right under his nose!

  That had hurt him more than anything, tricking him as if he were a bloody idiot! Even more than when her husband had died and she had immediately dismissed him. The convict had been proved innocent and released – it had been in all the papers it was such an exceptional case – so there must have been someone of huge influence on his side. It was for that reason only that Ned had kept away and not sought his revenge at the time. Then he had got caught up in a web of crime on the backstreets of Plymouth which had led to his eventual going to America, and he had scarcely thought of Rose since.

  That was until he had seen her in Plymouth, and the need for vengeance had frothed up inside him and burned into the core of his being. To top it all, he had later discovered that it was that damnable bloody convict she had taken as her second husband. The knowledge had ripped Ned’s heart from his chest. Well, he would have revenge on the pair of them!

  What he had done at Christmas had brought him satisfaction at the time, but was it enough to satisfy the jealous rage that had been eating into him like a cancer all those years, a dormant lion within him? Surely he could find a way to hurt them far more deeply than that? So, what would be more precious to them than the few trinkets and the horses he had stolen? He didn’t take long to come up with the answer.

  At the sound of the post dropping through the letterbox, Marianne dashed out to the hall, almost colliding with Patsy who was on her way to collect the mail herself as part of her morning duties.

  ‘You’m always rushing to get the post afore me these days, Miss Marianne,’ the elderly housekeeper declared as a twinkle came into her eye. ‘Expecting a letter from someone special like, are us?’

  ‘No, nothing like that,’ Marianne smiled innocently. ‘I keep hoping there’ll be something from Hal.’

  That was true enough. But the exact truth was that she didn’t want her parents to see if she had a reply from the FANY as it would surely come in an official envelope. She would only tell them once she had been accepted and there was no going back. Unlike Hal, she wouldn’t be in any real danger, but even so, she would wait until the right moment to tell them.

  ‘Go on, then, cheel,’ Patsy chuckled. ‘The sooner I can get off to the shops the better, afore all the best food’s gone. Starting to get harder to get exactly what you want, it is.’

  ‘I’m sure you’ll make a super meal for us whatever you can get!’ Marianne grinned, and deposited a kiss on Patsy’s cheek that made the older woman colour with pride and affection.

  Marianne picked up the post, her face still lit with a smile. There was nothing official-looking, but oh, there was a letter in Hal’s hand-writing! She danced into the dining room and handed it to her father at the breakfast table since it was addressed to her parents. Seth opened it at once and then passed it to an excited Rose to read to them aloud.

  The letter began with the news that Hal was in the best of health. As he’d told them in previous letters, for the last few months, the regiment had been well behind the lines. Conditions weren’t at all bad, summer had brought welcome warmth after the freezing winter, and he was perfectly safe. The only enemy was disappointment, since cavalry seemed to have become obsolete in modern warfare and they hadn’t had a chance to fight properly. Nevertheless, they trained constantly, but were often granted leave to go into the nearby town. In one bar, a local chap played an accordion every evening, and they would all join in such songs as It’s a Long Way to Tipperary and Pack up your Troubles, which the Frenchman had picked up by ear from the Tommies.

  I’m actually serving under Major Thorneycroft, the chap who came to Fencott Place that time. Hardly a coincidence, I suppose, as we’re in the same regiment. He was wounded at the Second Battle of Ypres, but I’m pleased to say was able to return to full active duty. He’s a good sort and I’m happy to be under his command. It’s rumoured there’s going to be a huge push against the Hun, and we’ve had four night marches to bring us to a totally different location. If the rumour’s true, it could be the end for the Boche. They’re saying the cavalry will at long last be needed, so I’ll be playing a part in the victory!

  The letter ended with his good wishes to them all and his looking forward to being back with them at the end of the summer when the war would surely have been won.

  ‘Do you think he could be right, Seth?’ Rose cried elatedly.

  ‘I’d like to think so,’ Seth answered, but by the expression on his face, Marianne knew he didn’t believe it.

  ‘I think I’ll go for a ride on Pegasus,’ she announced, ‘and join you at the centre later, Mum, if you think you can manage without me for a while.’

  ‘Of course, dear,’ Rose agreed, and then her face dropped. ‘I’d have joined you if I’d still had poor Hermes. It’s such a lovely morning. You take care out on the moor.’

  ‘I will,’ Marianne promised, and went upstairs to change into her riding habit since she no longer wore it all the time as she used to before the war.

  Out on the moor, everything was flushed with summer life. The wild grass was a luscious green, and although the full flush of spring gorse was long over, smaller bushes were dotted with fragrant canary flowers. But then it was said that gorse could be found in bloom somewhere on Dartmoor during every month of the year.

  After a long gallop, Marianne slowed Pegasus to a walk and let her thoughts wander over everything in Hal’s letter. He had made it all sound like a jolly romp, but was that just to alleviate her parents’ fears? Mind you, she didn’t like the sound of this new offensive, even if it might put an end to the war. Doubt flooded back into her mind. What if she had revealed Hal’s secret? Could their parents have prevented his leaving? But that would have meant a betrayal of his trust in her. It was academic now that conscription had come in, but she still agonized over it. Although Hal’s work with the horses might have been considered so vital that he would have been exempted. Oh, if only he hadn’t told her about his enlisting in the first place!

  The tortured thoughts still swirled in her brain as she set Pegasus’s head for home. It was then that she saw the man coming towards her. He was on foot and looked like a rambler, carrying a map and using a walking stick. An older man, it struck her that he seemed fit and agile for his years, but beyond that, she scarcely gave him a second glance until he doffed his cap as he drew level with her.

  ‘Excuse us, miss, but be this the old abbots’ way to Buckfast?’

  Marianne drew Pegasus to a halt. ‘Yes, it is. You’ve a long way to go, mind, and you have to go through some difficult country, including Red Lake Mire. It isn’t really sensible to go alone if you don’t know it.’

  ‘Oh, I’ll be all right, miss. Can take care of me’self, I can.’

  ‘Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ Marianne advised him, and urged Pegasus forward again past the stranger.

  She didn’t see the fellow swing the stick at her from behind. All she felt was the sudden, blinding pain at the back of her head, and her vision clouded with black stars. She slumped forward in the saddle and the next moment realized she was being dragged from Pegasus’s back.

  It only took an instant for her senses to snap back into action. The man was forcing her downwards, pulling her off balance so that she toppled sideways with no way of saving herself. But once she was on the ground, a surge of anger ripped through her that she had let the bastard trick her! He was only after one thing as he pinned her slender form beneath his own bulk, and his hand moved up beneath the folds of her riding skirt. Well, he’d have a hard job as she was wearing breeches beneath, and though she might be helpless beneath his weight, her hands were free.

  His hat had fallen from his head and she dug her fingers into his hair, ready to yank it painfully from his scalp. One tug and . . .Good Lord, it came right away. It was a wig, and beneath it, his hair was grey an
d deeply receded. Marianne was so taken aback that she was unable to react to his fist that slammed into her jaw. But two could play at that game. She reached out her hand to fumble on the ground, and her fingers at once found what she was seeking. It only took a second for her to scrape the stone from the surrounding earth and she hit her assailant on the temple. At least, he moved just as she did so and as a result her aim wasn’t perfect, but it was enough for him to groan and recoil with his hands to his head.

  Quick as lightning, Marianne slid out from beneath him and leapt onto Pegasus’s back. She kicked his flanks and, unused to such harsh treatment from her, the animal reared up in surprise, knocking flat the attacker who by now was in pursuit again. But the horse knew what his mistress wanted and streaked along the track in the direction of home.

  Marianne eventually brought him to a stop and turned to look over her shoulder. There was no way the villain could catch them. Indeed, he was staggering away in the opposite direction as well he might, since she was sure to alert the constable in Princetown, wasn’t she?

  Or was she? A squall of indignation blasted through her chest. The devil had put her in another awkward situation, hadn’t he? She knew that she ought to go to the police so that the culprit could be caught before he attacked another young woman. But as with the incident with the snake two years ago now, if her parents found out about it, they would curtail her lone rides and especially now, it was the only way she could let her taut emotions unravel. Better to keep quiet. The blackguard would surely imagine she had reported him, and anyway, with any luck, he would drown in the wild bogs he was heading for. Besides, she had been perfectly capable of looking after herself, hadn’t she? It was proof enough to herself that she could do so out in France, too!

  She set her chin determinedly and turned Pegasus’s head for home once more.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  The two letters and the telegram arrived at the same time.