‘What will happen to them?’
‘Too early to know yet. Dan Feather took them both into custody, of course, and Peter Loomis was already calling in his lawyers … I think Mrs Morgan went over the edge into madness when her niece was killed. Lady Emily will claim a mercy killing for the child but the killing of Joe and then Amy cannot be explained away like that. Prison for her, I guess, for a spell. Possibly diminished responsibility will be the plea for Mousie Moucher. What I can say is that they will get the best legal aid.’
‘It’s hard to see how she could do it, she couldn’t be sure of what the child had.’
‘She claims she could. She holds no brief for Western medicine and she consulted her own Chinese practitioner and Dr Liu drew graphs and consulted the stars and said the child was doomed. And I suppose from that moment, so she was,’ ended Charmian sadly. ‘Lady Grahamden hasn’t said very much, if anything, but she has produced what she calls her Testament.’
‘So what’s that?’
‘She says that she believes in the absolute power of love, and that an act done in love can never be wrong. She also says that we are responsible, one for another, and that it is wrong to let a fellow human suffer as an animal.’
‘So she says she killed for love?’
‘That’s about it. She must have persuaded Biddy. It’s not a bad defence, and she may well believe. In fact, I think she does. She says she doesn’t believe in absolute forgiveness for every act, but if it is done with love, then you are all right. She’ll get a lot of sympathy from certain quarters.’
‘As well as a lot of publicity … What about Loomis?’
‘He claims he knew nothing, but he certainly guessed. Biddy knew and there may be some charge for her, but a lot of sympathy too. I don’t know. It will be decided by the legal big-wigs, I don’t suppose I shall have a say.’
Humphrey said: ‘She’ll divorce Holt, he’s left her anyway, and she’ll marry Peter. The marriage to Holt was never anything but a matter of convenience to both of them. Biddy’s very rich, you know. She looks a poor little thing but she inherited millions from her grandfather.’
‘Happy ending for those two, then.’ I ought to have guessed that Biddy had money, Charmian thought, how else would Mary Erskine know her? ‘If you can call it happy and if it is an ending. But they may settle down now and be perfectly ordinary people.’ Yet still richer than most and, when Emily died (although it was hard to believe she ever would) a lord and lady.
‘Wouldn’t be surprised,’ said Humphrey. He put her gently back on the sofa cushion. ‘I must go and see to the pudding and the coffee.’
‘Pudding?’
‘It’s a kind of apple tart,’ he said carefully. ‘Lady Mary came over and made it.’
‘Heaven help us both,’ said Charmian, ‘I’ll drink some more wine to strengthen me for it.’
She sat there drinking strong red wine for a little while, enjoying the rest and the heat. She knew that Biddy had been driven by Peter Loomis to stay with Lady Mary, who was loyal to her friends. There might be a good future for Biddy and Peter, if the gods of the family (who must be related to Hecate and Medusa) let them alone.
She reached out a hand for the telephone: ‘Mother, happy birthday tomorrow. How’s your work going? Oh good. What would you like for your birthday? Not having one? Don’t blame you, darling. I shall give up myself this year, I think.’ After a certain age, birthdays were a luxury one could do without. All the same, a present of some sort would travel to her mother. A special notebook, a new best-seller, carefully chosen (what about Donna Tartt?), her mother would like the book even if she never admitted it. ‘Mother … tell me, if you can remember, was there ever an old lady in my life who kept talking about girls being good? No sex, she meant.’
‘Oh’ – she could hear her mother laugh – ‘that was Granny Niven, she was your great-grandmother really on your father’s side, not mine thank goodness, and she was always trying to get me to warn you about sex and babies, you were only about five. She’d been reading a book about the London poor and sad lost girls and I think saw death and damnation ahead for you if I didn’t keep you right … I caught you looking at the book once and took it away from you. You wouldn’t remember.’
Underneath, I did, thought Charmian. ‘Thanks for telling me, you’ve explained something.’ She sipped some wine as she relaxed by the fire, Muff was purring
and from the kitchen the smell of apple and cinnamon floated
towards her.
The door bell rang loudly, she heard Humphrey answer it and
come in with Rewley.
She took one look at his face and stood up. ‘The baby … tell
me.’
‘The baby is all right, a boy …’ He shuddered. ‘But Kate died.’
Charmian drew his head on to her shoulder and nursed him
against her. She looked towards Humphrey and knew what he was
thinking as she was herself.
‘You are going to live and Kate is dead.’
That was the way it went.
Copyright
First published 1994 by Macmillan
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Copyright © Jennie Melville, 1994
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Baby Drop Page 24
