Seven for a Secret (26 page)

“You’ve heard about the accident. I was called to identify her. She was very badly injured. Fortunately there was a ring which I had given her before we were married. It had been in the family for years. It had a crest on it, very delicately carved. I have the ring now. It was enough. There was also a fur stole with her initials worked in the lining. That episode was over.”

“And you must forget it.”

“I can now. The fact that you love me has restored my faith in myself.”

I laughed.

“I had always believed that was the last thing you lacked.

In fact. “

“I was arrogant, as we agreed.”

“Well, perhaps.”

“You don’t have to watch your words with me, my dearest. I shall want the truth from you.”

“And I from you,” I replied, again conscious of that little qualm of fear.

“I had the estate,” he went on.

“I gave myself up to that entirely.

You have no idea how it helped me through that time. “

“I understand perfectly.”

“It will be wonderful. We’ll be married … as soon as this affair is over.”

“3

“You will always make excuses for me like that, won’t.” you? “

“I suppose people do for those they love.”

He drew me to him and kissed me.

“How glad I am that I told you! I really can’t believe you, love me.

You will take care of me for ever more. “

“You are the strong man. It is you who should take care of me.”

“I will with all my strength … and in my weakness you will be there.”

“When you want me,” I told him. , There was silence for a few moments while he held mej close to him and kissed my hair.

“You were telling me,” I reminded him.

He was sober immediately.

“I am so ashamed of it, but you must know me as far:

as . ” He hesitated and I felt that fear touch me once. more. ;’ ” I want to know everything, Crispin,” I said firmly ” Please don’t hold anything back. I will understand . whatever it is. “

There was again that brief hesitation.

“Well,” he went on, ‘against the advice of my friends, married her. I gave up my studies. After all, I had the estateB I had always been interested in it. 1 thought I would settlfljj down. Kate I don’t think that was her real name-thenU was no truth about her; it was all false. Kate Carvel. S was bored with the estate. She didn’t want to live in t country. I was disillusioned. I realized very quickly wf a terrible mistake I had made. And to see oneself as a fiat the age of nineteen is a very humiliating experience. maims you . for life, sometimes. It did for me until y’ appeared. Then, I hope, 1 began to change. “

“I am so glad of that, Crispin.”

“I don’t want to make excuses for myself, but no ever really cared for

me before except Lucy Lane. That w why I was so easily duped by Kate. She was good at pretence. My parents had never been very interested in Tamarisk or me. They were so absorbed by their own way of life which didn’t include us. Lucy was always wonderful to me.”

“And you have been wonderful to her.”

“I have only done what was natural.”

“I think you have looked after her splendidly … and her sister, too.”

“I was so relieved when Kate went away. I can’t explain how I felt.”

“I can understand.”

“You’ve heard about the accident. I was called to identify her. She was very badly injured. Fortunately there was a ring which I had given her before we were married. It had been in the family for years. It had a crest on it, very delicately carved. I have the ring now. It was enough. There was also a fur stole with her initials worked in the lining. That episode was over.”

“And you must forget it.”

“I can now. The fact that you love me has restored my faith in myself.”

I laughed.

“I had always believed that was the last thing you lacked.

In fact. “

“I was arrogant, as we agreed.”

“Well, perhaps.”

“You don’t have to watch your words with me, my dearest. I shall want the truth from you.”

“And I from you,” I replied, again conscious of that little qualm of fear.

“I had the estate,” he went on.

“I gave myself up to that entirely.

You have no idea how it helped me through that time. “

“I understand perfectly.”

“It will be wonderful. We’ll be married … as soon as this affair is over.”

“3

“I do hope it soon will be. James was saying that there are strangers round the place, curious to see where a man was murdered.”

“Oh, James.” He looked at me intently.

“He’s a good fellow, James.”

“I know.”

“He has a fondness for you. I can tell you, I have been jealous of him at times.”

“There was no need.”

“People would say he will make an admirable husband.”

“I am sure he will to someone one day.”

“Do you have any strong feelings for him?”

“I like him.”

“Liking can grow into something stronger. But that growth is stunted now. Assure me this is so. You will find I am in constant need of reassurance.”

“You shall always have it.”

He stood up suddenly and, drawing me to my feet, he held me tightly against him so that I could not see his face.

“There we are,” he said.

“Explanations over. You know of my past and you still want to marry me. I could dance round this room, but you have already had experience of my dancing and I know you did not have any great opinion of it.” “I shall certainly not be marrying you for your ability to dance,” I said lightly. ;

His face was against mine and I longed to be able to still i the fears that would keep intruding. If only they would go, how happy I could be. I 1 said: “Aunt Sophie will be getting very curious. Shall we call her and tell her?”

“Yes, do. I want everyone to know.”

Aunt Sophie came in.

“We have news for you,” I said.

“Crispin and I are engaged to be married.”

She opened her eyes wide and her joy was apparent.

She kissed me and then Crispin.

“God bless you both,” she said.

“I knew … I just knew. But you were such a long time about it!”

When Crispin had left. Aunt Sophie and I sat together in the sitting-room and talked.

She told me how delighted she was.

“I always thought there was a lot of good in Crispin,” she said, ‘and when I saw you two together, I knew how it ought to be. He found that job for you, didn’t he? That was a sign all right. It made me laugh.

Of course, he did have that first marriage of his. It was rather sad.

He was so young and one of the saddest things about life is that when you are young you think you know everything, and when you get older you learn how little you know. But everything that happens is experience and at least when you’ve had one bad blow it teaches you not to do it again. I’m so happy for you, Freddie, and for myself.

You’ll be here a stone’s throw away. It’s the best thing that could have happened. I’ve always been scared that one day you would go away.

”

I told her about the find in the shrubbery. She was decidedly sobered and I saw some of the joy go out of her face.

“A gun from the gunroom!” she cried.

“What on earth does that mean?”

“No one knows.”

“It would seem that someone from St. Aubyn’s fired that shot.”

“Someone could have got in and taken the gun.”

“It would seem to be someone who knew the place pretty well.”

“There are a lot of people who do.”

“And why bury it? Why not put it back?”

“It’s a mystery. Oh, 1 do wish this wretched business was over.

2. “It won’t be until they find who killed that man.” She was looking at me with anxiety in her eyes. I wanted to shout at her: It wasn’t Crispin. He was in the house all the time. People don’t kill their brothers-inlaw just because they don’t like them.

I could see the thoughts chasing themselves round and, round in Aunt Sophie’s mind. Why had Crispin chosen this? time to ask me to marry him?

It was the day of the inquest. Crispin and I had not officially announced our engagement. We decided that it was not yet the time to do so, and Aunt Sophie had agreed with that.

Suspicion hung over Harper’s Green, the discovery in the grounds of St. Aubyn’s, having made headline news in the newspapers, was being discussed everywhere. I could imagine that all sorts of bizarre conclusions were being arrived at. We were all very uneasy.

I went to the office in the morning. James was very thoughtful.

“This is a horrible business,” he said.

“I can’t bear to see the sightseers round the place. They are all trying to get a look at the shrubbery. I wish they could find the murderer and have done with it.”

“There’ll be even more publicity when they do,” 1 reminded him.

“And there’ll be a trial.”

“I do hope no one here is involved,” he said uneasily. “Poor Mrs. Marchmont! This must be a trial for her.” “She keeps to the house,” I remarked.

“And it certainly ist very upsetting for her.” “She will have to go to the inquest, of course-and poorj Harry Gentry, too. And the servants-some of them, in any case. I wonder what effect this will have on the estate!

“What effect should it have?”

“I was thinking, if they never find the murderer, it’s going to make for a lot of uneasiness. 1 often thought of getting my own place. It would be small to start with. My own farm, I mean … a place to manage all of my own. There’s nothing like being one’s own master.”

“I suppose not.”

“One could rent at first and perhaps in time buy.” He was looking at me expectantly.

“At the moment,” I said, ‘you are doing very well here. Oh, I do wonder what will happen at the inquest. “

“I wish they hadn’t found that gun buried in the shrubbery.”

“I was hoping it was someone not known to us,” I said.

“Someone from his past.”

“Which must have been a shady one. Yes, that would have been a very good solution.”

I don’t know how I got through that day. I left as early as I could.

Aunt Sophie was waiting for the verdict as eagerly as I was. I was sure that Crispin, knowing my anxiety, would come immediately to The Rowans.

He did.

“The verdict,” he told us, ‘is murder, of course. Murder by some person or persons unknown. “

“What else could it be?” said Aunt Sophie.

“What now?” I asked.

“The police will be as busy as ever,” said Crispin.

“We all had rather a gruelling time on the stand. Poor Tamarisk was most upset. Harry Gentry stood up to it all very well. He had, of course, threatened Marchmont and fired his gun though into the air. And it had been witnessed by several people. But, of course, the gun which fired the fatal shot was not his. Marchmont was revealed as a very unpleasant type, but that doesn’t give anyone a right to murder him. We haven’t heard the last of this. The matter of the gun caused a great stir of interest. It appears to level it down to someone in the neighbourhood.

They asked me

A Ghost from the Past

We were in late September and there was to be a dinner party at St. Aubyn’s at which Crispin and I would announce our engagement.

“It is what my mother will want,” said Crispin.

“There has always been a certain amount of formality in the family.”

People were still talking of the murder. Far from stemming interest in that morbid subject, the inquest had increased it.

“Some person or persons unknown.” There was something sinister about the very phrase.

In the shops and every household the question was: “Who killed Gaston Marchmont?”

Suspicion rested on one or two people: Crispin was one of those, so were Tamarisk and Harry Gentry, though more than one clung to the belief that it was someone from Gaston’s past. After all, why should not someone have got into the house, taken the gun and not had an opportunity of putting it back? There was a certain plausibility in the theory.

Meanwhile there was the dinner-party and there would be another piece of news to startle the community.

Mrs. St. Aubyn joined us for dinner. Her health had improved so much since the arrival of Gaston that she had ceased to be the invalid she had been before. He had flattered her so blatantly, telling her she had the appearance of a young girl, that she had begun to behave like one. She had made a habit of dining at table with the family and she could not slip back into invalidism so soon after his departure. 1 thought to myself: He has done some good,

A Ghost from the Past

We were in late September and there was to be a dinner party at St. Aubyn’s at which Crispin and I would announce our engagement.

“It is what my mother will want,” said Crispin.

“There has always been a certain amount of formality in the family.”

People were still talking of the murder. Far from stemming interest in that morbid subject, the inquest had increased it.

“Some person or persons unknown.” There was something sinister about the very phrase.

In the shops and every household the question was: “Who killed Gaston Marchmont?”

Suspicion rested on one or two people: Crispin was one of those, so were Tamarisk and Harry Gentry, though more than one clung to the belief that it was someone from Gaston’s past. After all, why should not someone have got into the house, taken the gun and not had an opportunity of putting it back? There was a certain plausibility in the theory.

Meanwhile there was the dinner-party and there would be another piece of news to startle the community.

Mrs. St. Aubyn joined us for dinner. Her health had improved so much since the arrival of Gaston that she had ceased to be the invalid she had been before. He had flattered her so blatantly, telling her she had the appearance of a young girl, that she had begun to behave like one. She had made a habit of dining at table with the family and she

could not slip back into invalidism so soon after his departure. I thought to myself: He has done some good, then. She must have been the only person who mourned him, for there was no doubt that she was genuinely saddened by his death.