Daughter of Deceit (26 page)

“And Gertie will keep an eye on her.”

She came in with the coffee.

“Now,” she said, “we can talk. Yes, my grandmother wanted me to marry Roderick. That was at the root of the trouble.”

“Oh,” I said.

She smiled. “I heard,” she went on, “about you two. Congratulations! I saw it coming, of course, but the marvellous thing is that Lady Constance is pleased about it.”

“How news travels!”

“I was saying my grandmother had obsessions and this was one of them. She thought if she made the cottage uninhabitable, I should have to go to work in a room in the Manor, which would bring me into closer contact with Roderick. Hence the fire. Then she saw an obstacle in you. She quite rightly saw how things were between you and Roderick.”

“How did she know that?”

Fiona looked at me with an indulgent smile. “It was rather obvious, you know.”

“She saw us so rarely together.”

“Once was enough. And she wanted to remove you from the scene.”

“She did warn me that danger was threatening me here.”

“Yes, she wanted you to go away.”

“I see now.”

“And then, when you wouldn’t, she looked for opportunities.”

“She was taking a chance. Someone else could have fallen into the trap … and Lady Constance did before me.”

“She was not really thinking as normal people think. She was ready to take the chance to remove you … and, you see … from her point of view … it worked.”

“Her mind must be very distorted.”

“Poor Granny. She became very strange once before. That was after the death of my mother. She had a stay in hospital then … but she recovered and I went to her, and caring for me seemed to help her. Of course, she always believed in her special powers and such things, but that did not intrude too much on normal life at that time. She gave me the utmost care. It was when I was growing up and became interested in archaeology that it started up again. She was obsessed by my future. She wanted a grand marriage for me and Roderick was the one she chose. She had discovered that I was corresponding with a student whom I met when I was with Sir Harry Harcourt. He’s studying archaeology. We got to know each other and have kept in touch. It’s a … very firm friendship.”

“I’m glad.”

She flushed slightly. “So you see, my grandmother’s dreams are all her own.”

“Poor lady. Does she know what has happened?”

“I don’t think so. When I last saw her, she was talking about my mother as though she had recently died. So I could see she was back all those years.”

“I hope she will be all right.”

“I think she will be in that hospital for some time.”

“And you are managing all right without Kitty?”

“Oh yes. Mrs. Heather comes in and cleans up the house. She cooks me a meal every evening, as she says so that I can have something good inside me at least once a day. So, you see, I am managing very well. In fact, it is a relief to know my grandmother is having the best possible care.”

“It was a terrible experience,” I said, “both for me and for Lady Constance. But in some ways it seems to have straightened out a lot of difficulties.”

There was a knock on the door. Fiona opened it and one of the workmen stood there.

“There’s something down there, miss,” he said. “You know … where the path gave in. It’s stone or something.”

I said excitedly: “It must be the ledge on which we landed.”

“We dug down a bit, miss,” went on the man. “Looks like some sort of Roman stuff.”

That was the beginning. Excavations had been going on for some days and there was great jubilation when it was discovered that the stone ledge onto which Lady Constance and I had fallen was part of the floor of what could be a temple.

The existence of this could possibly have been the reason why our fall had not been deep and had made our rescue easier than it might have been. In fact, it may well have saved our lives.

Fiona and Roderick were in a state of great excitement. I shared this to some extent. It added a new zest to the days, and I would go down to the site with Roderick to watch. Several people from the archaeological world had come down to inspect the find and now some work was being done on it. The assumption was that the temple was an extension of the villa, and this might give rise to further interesting revelations. Each day something new came to light. Part of a statue had been found before what was an altar. And there were traces of a trident, and part of what could be a dolphin. The new discovery was known as the temple of Neptune.

In the midst of all this excitement, Charlie returned.

He was delighted to hear about the discovery, and I was looking forward to telling him the news about Roderick and myself.

That night remains clear in my memory.

We were at dinner, and the main topic of conversation was the temple of Neptune.

“Which,” said Roderick, “means that our site here could prove to be one of the most interesting in the country.”

“That might well be,” said Charlie. “How did they come to find out what was down there?”

“Of course, you haven’t heard,” said Lady Constance. “There was an accident.”

Charlie looked from one to the other of us in concern.

“An accident,” he repeated.

“It’s all over now,” said Lady Constance. “And all this has come out of it. If we hadn’t fallen, Neptune and his temple might never have seen the light of modern day.”

We gave Charlie a brief account of what had happened. He was dismayed.

“What a lot has happened since I have been away,” he said. “Thank God you are all right.”

“The temple was helpful,” I explained. “You see, we fell into it, which probably saved us from being buried in all that loose earth.”

“There is something else,” said Roderick. He was looking at me and smiling.

“Well?” said Charlie.

“Noelle and I have decided … well, we are going to be married.”

I was watching Charlie closely. I saw his face frozen for a moment, and then it seemed as though an expression of dismay crossed his face. I was amazed. I had expected him to be delighted.

I immediately thought: He is worried about Lady Constance. I wanted to tell him that he had no need to be.

He smiled, but I fancied it was a forced smile.

“Oh,” he said. “I see.”

Lady Constance put in: “We don’t want there to be any delay.”

“You … seem pleased,” said Charlie.

“I am,” replied Lady Constance firmly. “Very.”

“I … I see,” said Charlie.

He was smiling. Of course he was pleased. After all, why should he not be?

It was about ten o’clock next morning. I was preparing to go out with Roderick, and we were to make our first call at the temple.

Gertie came to me. She said: “Mr. Claverham wants you to go to his study, miss.”

“Now?”

“Yes, miss. He said now.”

I went down immediately. I was surprised to see that Roderick was there.

Charlie said: “Come in, Noelle. Shut the door. I have something to say to you both. I am afraid this will come as a terrible shock to the two of you. I blame myself. I should have seen the possibility. I have been pondering all night as to what is the best thing to do, and I have come to the conclusion that the only thing is to tell you the truth. You have to know. There can be no marriage between you two. You, Noelle, are my daughter. Roderick is your brother.”

PARIS

At La Maison Grise

I was sitting in the train which
was taking me to London. I was still reeling from the blow. When Charlie had told us, we had been too stunned to take in what it meant at first. With a few words he had shattered our dreams; the whole world was falling about us. We could only see our lives in ruins.

I do not know how I lived through the next few days. We talked. Was Charlie sure? All the time, he had known, he said. There had been no secrets between him and my mother.

“You should never have met,” he said. “I should have known better than to bring you down here. I am to blame. I thought Roderick would marry Fiona Vance. They seemed to have such interests in common. Your mother would have been so distressed if she knew what had happened. The last thing she wanted was to harm anyone … least of all you, Noelle. She loved you more than anyone. She always wanted what was best for you.”

There was no way out of the situation. Whichever way we looked, we came face to face with the impossibility. Then I saw that there was only one thing for me to do, and that was to go away.

Where could I go? What could I do?

There was my old home … Robert Bouchere’s now. I could go there for a while. He had told me I must always regard it as my home. I could stay there while I tried to make some sense of my life, to start again, to try to build something out of the ruins.

Charlie said: “You must let me look after you, Noelle. In view of our relationship, it is only right that I should do so. I shall make you an allowance.”

I was not listening. I could only think: I always wanted to know my father. Oh, Charlie, why did it have to be you!

Poor Charlie was deeply distressed. His infidelity towards his wife had lain heavily on his conscience, and now this. The sins of the fathers visited on the children. Both his children … Roderick and myself … must pay the cost of his sin.

He was a most unhappy man—as unhappy as we were.

I wrote to Mrs. Crimp and told her that I should be coming to stay until I made plans. What plans? I wondered.

I cannot bear to dwell on that time. Even now, I want to put it out of my mind. The death of my beloved mother, to be followed so soon by this dark tragedy, overwhelmed me.

I just wanted to go to my old room, to shut myself in, to pray for strength and the will and the power to pick up the shattered fragments of my life and try to rebuild something from it.

Through the familiar streets where I had ridden with her on our way back from the theatre … back to the house … the house of memories. Briefly, I had believed I had escaped from the clinging past … only to find that I had stumbled into a second tragedy as great as the first.

I knew I had to stop brooding on my misfortunes. Self-pity never helped anyone. I had to force myself to look around me, find an interest in something … anything to take me out of this melancholy into which I had fallen.

Mrs. Crimp welcomed me warmly.

“I’m right glad to see you, Miss Noelle, and so will Mr. Crimp be. Your room is ready … and you can have your dinner when you want it.”

“I don’t feel much like eating, Mrs. Crimp, thank you.”

“Something on a tray perhaps? Something you could have in your room?”

“That sounds nice.”

Lisa Fennell was coming down the stairs. She ran to me and embraced me.

“I was so thrilled when Mrs. Crimp told me you were coming,” she said. “How are you?” She was looking at me anxiously.

“Oh … all right,” I answered. “And you?”

“Fine! Let’s go to your room. Mrs. Crimp says it is ready.”

She was watching me intently, and when we reached my room, she said: “My poor Noelle. Something terrible has happened, hasn’t it? Is it … Charlie?”