In a short time he had formed search parties and sent them off in different directions. He and I rode off together.
“To the woods,” he said.
“I’m always afraid of the Peak. If they got too near the edge … there might be an accident.”
We rode in silence. I was getting really frightened now. It was dark in the woods and all sorts of fearful pictures kept flashing into my mind. What could have happened to them? Some accident? Robbers? What would they have that was worth stealing? Gypsies! I had heard of them carrying off children.
I felt sick with anxiety and at the same time relieved because Rollo was with me.
We went to that spot which Marie-Claude had first shown me and where I had met Rollo later. I peered into the eerie darkness. We rode right to the drop. Rollo dismounted and gave me his horse to hold while he went to the edge of the ravine and looked over.
“Nothing down there. The ground hasn’t been disturbed. I don’t think they came to this spot.”
“I have a feeling they are in the woods,” I said.
“They came to the woods to play their game. They couldn’t have played it in the open country.”
Rollo shouted: “Kendal, where are you?”
His own voice echoed back.
Then he did a shrill whistle. It was earsplitting.
“I taught him how to do that,” he said.
“We practised it together.”
“Kendal, Kendal!” he called.
“Where are you?” And then he whistled again.
There was no response.
We rode on and came to a disused quarry.
“We’ll ride down here,” said Rollo, ‘and I’ll shout again. It’s amazing how one’s voice echoes from here. I used to call to my playmates when I was a boy. You get the echo back. I showed this to Kendal too. “
I wondered briefly how often they had been together. When Kendal went off into the woods, was the Baron there too? Did he join in the game of hunter and hunted?
We rode up to the top of the quarry and shouted again.
There was silence for a few seconds and then . unmistakably . the sound of a whistle.
“Listen,” said Rollo.
He whistled again and the whistle was returned.
“Thank God,” he said.
“We’ve found them.”
“Where?”
“We’ll find out.” He whistled again and again it came back.
“This way,” he said.
I followed him and we made our way through the trees.
The whistle was close now.
“Kendal,” called Rollo.
“Baron!” came the answer; and I don’t think I ever felt so happy in my life as I did at that moment.
We found them in a hollow-William white and scared, Kendal defiant.
They had contrived to build a tent of some sort with a sheet spread out over the bracken.
“What’s this!” cried Rollo.
“You’ve led us a pretty dance.”
“We’re camping,” said Kendal.
“You might have mentioned the fact. Your mother has been frantically wondering where you were. She thought you were lost.”
“I don’t get lost,” said Kendal, not looking at me.
Rollo had dismounted and pulled back the sheet.
“What’s this? A feast or something?”
“We took it from the kitchens in the castle. There was a lot of food there.”
“I see,” said Rollo.
“Well, now you’d better come back quickly because there are a lot of people searching the countryside for you.”
“Are you angry?” asked Kendal.
“Very,” said the Baron. He seized Kendal and put him on his horse.
“Am I going to ride back with you?” asked Kendal.
“You don’t deserve to. I ought to make you walk.”
“I’m not going to leave the castle,” announced Kendal.
“What?” cried Rollo.
“I’m going to stay with you. This is my home and you are my father.
You said you were. “
Rollo had turned to me and I was aware of his triumph. The boy was his. I knew that he was very happy in that moment.
William was standing up looking expectantly about him. Rollo lifted him up and set him on my horse in front of me.
“Now we’ll get these scamps home,” said Rollo.
As we approached the castle several of the servants saw us approaching and a shout of joy went up because the boys were safe.
I dismounted and helped William down.
“It wasn’t William’s fault,” said Kendal sullenly, as he was put on the ground made him come. “
“We know that,” said Rollo, sternly proud.
Jeanne and Clare came running up.
“Oh … you’ve found them!” panted Jeanne.
“Thank God!” cried Clare.
“Are they all right?”
“There’s nothing wrong with them,” I told her.
“Have you some hot food for them?” asked Rollo.
“Though they don’t deserve it.”
“I’m hungry,” said Kendal.
“So am I,” added William.
“Come along into the Loge,” said Jeanne.
“You shall have something in next to no time. Whatever did you do this for?”
Kendal looked steadily at Rollo.
“We were going to camp in the woods until my mother had gone,” he said.
“You won’t let them send me away, will you?”
There was a short silence and then Kendal ran to Rollo and seized him round the legs.
“This is where I live!” he cried.
Rollo picked him up.
“Don’t fret,” he said.
“I’m not going to leave you.”
“Then that’s all right,” replied Kendal.
He wriggled to be let down and Rollo put him on the ground. Rollo was looking at me and I was aware of the triumphant gleam in his eyes.
Both the children had a bowl of soup and when they had eaten William went back to the castle with Rollo.
He did not reprove William at all. His reproaches had been levelled at Kendal, but they were not really reproaches. Kendal had made everything very clear. He had run away and prevailed on William to go with him to show us that he was not going to leave the castle willingly.
Just for a moment I wondered whether Rollo had suggested the whole thing. Kendal had answered so promptly to the whistle. They might have planned it between them.
Oh no, surely not. Kendal was too young to take part in such schemes.
But with Rollo one could never be sure how far he would go.
Kendal was tired out and after he was in bed I sat talking with Clare.
“What a determined child he is!” she said.
“To run away just like that to show you that he resents being taken away from here.
What use did he think that would be? “
“His intention was to camp in the woods until we had gone, and then to emerge and go back to the castle.”
“Good heavens! What a scheme!”
“He is very young.”
“That man has woven a spell about him,” said Clare quietly.
“It is because he has admitted to him that he is his father. Kendal has always wanted a father.”
“Children do,” said Clare, and lapsed into silence.
That day will stand out forever in my memory.
It began ordinarily enough. I went to the castle to work on the manuscripts; Kendal had already gone with Jeanne for his lessons. In the afternoon I busied myself with getting a few things together with my imminent departure in mind.
I was thinking of Kendal. He had said nothing more about our leaving, but I knew by the set of his mouth and his attitude towards me that there would be more trouble to come.
Perhaps, I thought, we should stay. Perhaps I could make some excuse to Clare. I could
tell her that I wanted to finish the manuscripts and we would follow her later. I knew that If I did that I should capitulate, for I could not hold out much longer against Rollo.
I remembered the way he had looked when he had said:
“Kendal, don’t fret. I am not going to leave you.”
He had meant that. He must have plans. In my heart I wanted those plans to succeed. I wanted him to carry me off somewhere . as he had on that other occasion and to say:
“You are staying with me forever.”
And yet I went on, as though in a dream, making preparations to leave.
The afternoon wore on. Jeanne was in the kitchen preparing to cook. Kendal had come in and was in the kitchen with Jeanne.
Clare was in her room, probably resting, for she had been out all the afternoon.
We sat down at table at the usual time and while we were eating we had a caller. It was the housekeeper from the castle.
There was mingling anxiety and excitement in her face.
“Oh, Madame,” she cried.
“I wondered if Madame Collison had seen Madame la Baronne.” She was looking at Clare as she spoke.
“Seen her?” I said, puzzled.
“She is not at the castle. It is unusual for her to stay out without saying. I wondered if she were here … or if you had any idea where she had gone and when she would return.”
“No,” said Clare.
“I saw her yesterday. She did not tell me she was going anywhere special today.”
“She may be back now. I am sorry to have troubled you. It is just that it is so rare … and I thought either you, Madame, or Madame Collison might have had some idea.”
“I expect she has taken a ride,” I said.
“Yes, Madame, but it is rather long since she went.”
“She will probably have returned by the time you get back.”
“Yes, Madame, and I am sorry to have troubled you. But …”
“It was good of you to be so concerned,” said Clare softly.
She left us. Clare looked a little worried, but neither of us said anything because Kendal was present. When the meal was over I went up to Clare’s room.
“Are you worried about the Princesse?” I asked.
She was thoughtful for a moment.
“I’m not sure … She has been a little strange lately. It was since the Baron asked her for a divorce.”
“How was she different?”
“I don’t know. Defiant, perhaps. I fancied she was hiding something. She has never been very good at keeping things to herself.
Perhaps it was upsetting for her to be asked for a divorce. That would be all against her principles. He must have known that she would never give him a divorce. There would have to be a dispensation, in view of everything . “
“I do hope she is all right,” I said uneasily.
“So do I. I think it is a very good thing that we are leaving. It will take you right away from all this. You’ll settle in England, Kate. We shall be together. I’ll do everything I can to help.”
“What of Kendal?”
“He’ll be all right. He’s lived through some very strange times. It’s bound to have had an effect on him. He’ll settle though. A year from now we’ll all be happy together. This will be like a forgotten dream I promised your father that I would look after you.”
“Dear Clare, I’m so thankful for you.” I went to the window.
“I wish we could hear that Marie-Claude was safely back. She might have had an accident. I don’t think she is a very good horsewoman.”
“Oh, she’ll be all right on old Fidele. He’d never bestir himself to anything violent.”
As I stood there looking out, I heard noises. Voices . shouting . and the sounds of activity.
“Something’s happening at the castle,” I said.
“I’m going to find out what.”
“I’ll come with you,” said Clare.
There was consternation in the castle. The Baron was shouting orders.
I gathered that the Princesse was missing and that Fidele had returned to the stables alone. He had been found patiently waiting there for how long no one knew.
One of the grooms said that he had saddled the horse for the Princesse in the mid-afternoon and she had gone off on him.
That must have been several hours before.
The Baron said there must have been an accident, and, as he had done when Kendal was lost so recently, he was arranging for search parties to go off in various directions.
He was in perfect command of the situation as he had been a few nights earlier.
I raised my horror-stricken eyes to his and said: “Can I be of any help?”
He returned my gaze steadily, and I could not guess what was in his eyes. Then he said: “You go back to the Logo. When there is news I shall see that you get it without delay.”
He glanced at Clare.
“Take her back,” he said; and added:
“And stay with her.”
Clare nodded and slipped her arm through mine. We went back to the Loge.
Time seemed as though it would never pass. A terrible fear had come to me. Rollo’s face kept flashing in and out of my mind. I remembered words he had said: Something would be done. He was not going to lose us . myself or Kendal.
And Marie-Claude stood in his way.
I am imagining impossibilities, I told myself. But he always says that nothing is impossible. He is ruthless . determined to get his own way. I kept seeing him as he had been in the turret room. Implacable.
Bent on domination. What happened to those who impeded him? He swept them aside.
Oh Marie-Claude, I thought. Where are you? You must be alive and well, you must. And I must leave this place. I must forget my dreams. I have to get away and make a different life for myself. I have to forget the past. forget the excitement, the sort of love I had glimpsed lately. I must settle down to a humdrum life . but one of peace.
Peace? But would there ever be peace again?
Kendal went to bed. I was glad he had not noticed that anything was wrong. He was so obsessed by his own problem that he was not aware of anything else.
Jeanne came and sat with us. We talked in whispers and waited . and waited.
It was nearly midnight when there was a knock on the door. It was the housekeeper from the castle.
“They’ve found her,” she said. She looked at us with wide eyes, the expression of which was half horror, half excitement.
“Where?” whispered Clare.
The housekeeper bit her lips. I noticed that she avoided looking at me.
“They searched the woods. They thought the horse had thrown her.
They couldn’t see down the ravine. It was too dark. They had to go down . And that’s where they found her. She had been dead some hours. ”
I felt dizzy. Clare came to me and put her arm round me.
“Poor soul,” she murmured.
“Poor, poor lady.”
“I was sent to tell you,” said the housekeeper.
“Thank you,” answered Clare.
When she went out, Jeanne looked from me to Clare.
“It’s terrible,” she began.
Clare nodded.
“It’s a great shock. She must have done it … deliberately. She had talked of doing it… and now she has.”
I noticed that Jeanne did not now look at either of us. I could guess what thoughts were in her mind.
Clare said briskly: “There is nothing we can do. We should really try and get some rest. This is a terrible shock. I’ll make a little drink for us. We need it. Go to your rooms. I’ll bring it up to you.”
We were all glad to be alone, I think. I wanted to try to work out how it could have happened. I could not shut out of my mind the thought of her standing on that spot with the steep drop before her. And in my thoughts there was someone else standing close to her.
And then I remembered that occasion when I had gone there with F
idele and he had come up and been surprised to find me there. He had been expecting to come upon her.
“No, no,” I whispered.
“Not that. I couldn’t bear that. Not murder.”
I know he was capable of drastic action. I knew that he took bold steps. But not murder. That would stand between us far more strongly than ever Marie-Claude could have done.
The father of my son . a murderer!
I could not accept that. I would not listen to the voices in my mind . the voices of reason and logical deduction. If I believed them, it was over . over forever, and that was something I could not bear.
This night had brought no new solution for me. Unless it had shown me the only possible path I could take.
Clare came in stirring something.
“It will make you sleep,” she said.
She sat down on the bed and looked at me.
“This changes everything,” she said.
“I don’t know. It’s too soon yet. I can’t think clearly.”
“You’re shocked.”
“Clare, do you think that he …”
“No,” she said emphatically.
“How could you suggest such a thing? It’s obvious that she killed herself. , . unless it was an accident. She was a hypochondriac. She had often talked of killing herself. The more you think of it, the more simple the answer seems.”
“I wish I could be sure.”
“Do you really think that he murdered his wife?”
I was silent.
“My dear, dear Kate, he wouldn’t do it. I know he wouldn’t. To murder for gain … that’s the coward’s way. It means you can’t fight for what you want by any other means … and that another person is too strong for you. No, that’s not the Baron’s way. I’ve been thinking that we ought to go away … for a while. Then all this will blow over. We could live quietly at Collison House and in a few months … or after a suitable time has elapsed … he can come over for you and you can be married.”
“Oh Clare, you work everything out so very precisely.”
“It’s because lam of a practical nature. The poor Princesse has gone.
Poor woman. I was so sorry for her. She hadn’t much to live for, had she? I think it was the best way. It may be that she saw this, and realized it would make it easier for everyone. You see it was just her unhappiness against you, him, Kendal . and her own child too. How do you think young William would have felt if you and Kendal had gone away? You’ve done wonders for him between you you, Jeanne and Kendal. He would be a wretchedly lonely little boy again. Perhaps she knew this. Perhaps she weighed it up and saw the best solution . the noble way out. “
The Demon Lover Page 36
