Dear Laura (15 page)

‘Yes,’ she cried passionately, ‘that’s his very image, sir!’

*

‘May?’ Mrs Hill called, and then to herself, ‘Drat that girl! She’s never where she’s wanted. May!’ walking through to the scullery.

The girl was doubled over, arms clasped round her belly, in the cold twilight of the store-room. As the cook approached
uncertainly
, face concerned, May whimpered, ‘I’m very sorry, Auntie, I can’t help it!’

Apologizing for the life that was seeping out on the stone floor.

‘Oh, my God Almighty,’ whispered Mrs Hill. ‘Almighty God, May, why ever didn’t you tell me, girl? Let me get you up the backstairs to your bed.’

‘It came on sudden. She said as it would. I’m sorry for the mess.’

‘Oh, May, you’ve never been to one of them women? How did you find
her
out?’

‘Mr Titus told me. He paid. He said as I wasn’t to tell, so don’t you, will you?’

Confronting the august majesty of Theodore, accusing the charm of Titus. And being told what? That May lied? That the word of a gentleman should be sufficient? That she and her niece might leave the house for good?

‘I can’t say nothink, May, you know that. Here, let me get you upstairs. Where’s Miss Nagle? She’ll know what to do for the best. Did he force you?’

‘Oh no,’ May whispered, heavy in her arms. ‘I fancied him, you see. He was always such a gentleman.’

‘You didn’t throw yourself at him, I hope?’ But without the vigour of her usual questioning.

The heavy head moving from side to side in moaning dissent.

‘Oh, Miss Nagle!’ cried Mrs Hill, as the nanny appeared scandalized in the doorway. ‘It’s poor May, and I know as she’s been a bad girl but she needs help.’

In the end they had to fetch Dr Padgett, who could do no more than ease her out of this world and into the next, with a prayer that God would forgive this sinner. May kept faith:
refusing
to inform on anyone, sparing the Croziers the
embarrassment
of exposure and a police inquiry.

Sternly dignified, Mrs Hill sought a private interview with Titus. He denied everything, as she had expected he would. His head was held a little more arrogantly than usual, his hazel
eyes looked slightly beyond her, his manner was easy but wary. When he had dismissed the subject he dismissed her, too.

‘I’ll never forgive him, sir, never,’ said the cook. ‘You never saw anythink like poor May’s condition in all your born days. Makes me sick to think on it, even yet.’

Lintott said drily, ‘I’ve seen it all, Mrs Hill. I walk St Giles.’

‘Anythink as Mr Titus wants, sir, he gets. By fair means or foul. And he talks hisself out of everythink. You see, sir, he gets folk on his side. Like Mrs Crozier. She could be shielding him for all we know. And the master would never hear a word against him. Pay out and cover up, that’s how it was, sir. For fifteen year.’

‘You’re a handsome figure of a woman, Mrs Hill,’ said
Lintott
, partly from kindness. ‘You never married?’

She came out of an old sorrow, smoothed her apron, and replied, ‘I had my way to make, sir, and I was the eldest. They needed my wages. By the time the children was all set up in life it was on the late side for me.’

‘A pity,’ said Lintott. ‘You would have made somebody a good wife and been a good mother.’

‘Now Kate,’ said Lintott, indulging in a little fanciful
jocularity
. ‘Good Kate, pretty Kate, and never – I’ll bet on it! – Kate the Shrew. That’s Shakespeare, that is. My elder daughter learned me that. Sit down, my dear. I’m very interested in
you
, Kate. Just copy that out, will you, my love? Nasty, ain’t it?’

Her forehead crinkled in distaste as she obeyed.

‘You’ve had more schooling than the others, Kate. In fact,’ he surveyed her with respectful admiration, ‘you’re quite the lady, Kate.’

‘I hope something like, sir,’ but she spoke softly, mollified.

‘You watch your mistress as well as watching over her, eh? Model yourself on her? A very handsome woman, Mrs Crozier, but paler than I like a lady to be. This business will have upset her a great deal.’

‘Not only that, sir,’ Kate confided, losing her wariness in face of his paternal manner and the kindness with which he spoke of Laura. ‘She was badly done by, sir.’

‘A hard man, your late master. Hard but just, I understand.’

‘He had his good qualities,’ Kate admitted. ‘I had no
complaint
over the way he treated
me
.’

‘What wages did he pay you, Kate?’

‘Twenty-five pounds a year, sir, and my keep. Very fair. And, of course, Mrs Crozier gives me her clothes, so I don’t waste my money on finery like Harriet does.’

‘Is Harriet fond of the feathers, then, my dear?’

Kate giggled before she could stop herself, and Lintott
grinned
at her.

‘Harriet don’t – doesn’t – know any better, sir. You should see her on her day off! But everyone likes her.’

‘Just so. A good-natured wench. How old might you be, Kate? You don’t look above twenty.’

‘I’m twenty-six, sir,’ and to his raised eyebrows she replied proudly, ‘and I’ve had many a chance of marriage, but I don’t want to settle down just yet.’

‘Flying higher than sparrows, eh, my love? Well, to my knowledge, ladies’ maids usually marry butlers. Now I’ll wager there’s some gentleman’s gentleman walks you on the Common of
a Sunday afternoon, isn’t there?’

Kate looked down, and coloured.

‘Your mistress won’t care to lose you, Kate. You’re very close to her, ain’t you? How close, Kate?’

His tone hardened and her flush deepened, but she met his eyes resolutely.

‘You’ll excuse me, sir, meaning no disrespect, but I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of. I’ll answer your questions truthful as you please, but I won’t be bullied, sir. If you’ll excuse me saying so.’

His smile returned in all its benevolence.

‘Bully you, Kate? I never bully anybody.’ A dimple showed in her cheek. ‘Who do I bully, now, Kate?’ he asked genially.

‘Oh, you know well enough what I mean, sir. They was – were – all frightened to death of you in the kitchen.
And
you meant them to be.’

Lintott pointed a finger at her smile.

‘I said you were a sharp one, Kate. Come now, my dear, I know I can’t frighten you. You know what they’re all saying about your mistress, don’t you? Well, we don’t believe it and we want to help her, don’t we? Put them all to shame and let her rest easy in her mind again. Eh, my dear?’

‘I never saw her behave with Mr Titus except as a lady should. It was all him, sir. He’s too fond of my mistress but that isn’t her fault. She has a deal of admiration from the gentlemen in the proper way. But him, sir. I’ve seen a many like him. Girls of my sort can get in trouble with a gentleman of his sort. He
knows better than to pinch
my
cheek, sir, or chuck
me
under the chin!’

‘Ah, he’s a lucky man, that butler! Tell me, Kate, how was your master unkind to your mistress? He didn’t ill-treat her, surely?’

‘He would never lay a ringer on her, sir, if that’s what you mean. But there’s more ways than one of being cruel, and he knew them. I’ve seen her cry many a time. I’ve heard them quarrel – not to know what they said, just their voices raised. And the last months, since the summer, she couldn’t sleep at all except she took one of her capsules. And she was always ailing in little ways.’

Lintott was quiet, doodling, waiting.

‘She needs a deal of kindness and attention,’ said Kate, ‘and he never cared for her. No, sir, he didn’t. She was no more to him than his china collection. Oh, he liked to hear people say how handsome she was, but he never cared himself. The night after he died, sir, she slept like a child.’

‘Without a sleeping capsule, even?’ Lintott observed. ‘Because they had all gone and she was afraid to say so.
And still she slept like a child – after all the upset?’

Kate looked frightened, but he did not appear to notice.

‘Why did you take that package of letters to your mistress, Kate? Instead of directly to your master, as you were told. Don’t tell me he was resting. That’s all gammon, my dear.’

‘I knew what that woman was, sir. A common streetwalker, tor all her dress. It was only right that my mistress should know what was going on.’

‘That’s the reply I should expect of Harriet, not you. Harriet would think that Mrs Crozier should know what was going on. I’d have said that you might have taken care not to hurt Mrs Crozier’s feelings, and keep it from her. What good did you hope to do?’

Kate repeated obstinately, ‘She
had
a
right to know, sir. Why should he get away with it?’

‘Ah, but he did – up to a point – didn’t he? And would always do so, as long as Mrs Crozier needed a roof over her head and a pretty gown to wear. So whatever you or she might feel about
him, he always would get away with it. Wouldn’t he?’

‘Yes, sir,’ very low.

‘Do you know what
I
wondered, Kate. I wondered if you didn’t let her know out of a mistaken sense of delicacy.’

‘I don’t rightly understand you, sir.’

‘Didn’t you think that your mistress was in love with Mr Titus, and perhaps guilty of unfaithfulness to her husband? Didn’t you suspect that she tormented herself over it? Didn’t you think that what was hell for the goose should be hell for the gander? Excuse me using strong language, my dear, I associate with a very low class of person in my profession! And didn’t you think that if you took her that very accurate description of a trollop, and the package that felt like letters, possibly love-letters, she might feel a bit better?’

Stricken, Kate persisted. ‘There was nothing between them but family fondness. And not a policeman in the land’ll ever make me say anythink different in court!’

Her vehemence had destroyed her gentility for the moment. She sat, all defences down, endeavouring to gather the rags of her ladyhood about her.

‘I know you would never say so, Kate. I just wanted to find out whether you
thought
so. And I have found out, Kate.’

She was mute.

‘You’re a good girl, Kate, and a clever girl,’ said Lintott kindly, ‘but you’ll have to get up a deal earlier in the morning to get past
me
,
my dear. Having settled that question we can go on to a few others, that are more important. I believe that you were the only member of the staff to accept the idea of Mr Crozier’s taking his own life. Was that because it seemed the best way out for your mistress, or had you a
good
reason? The truth, mind!’

She had recovered herself, and met the challenge with some spirit.

‘No, sir. I thought at first that he’d had a stroke, like the doctor said. Then, when it come – came out, that didn’t surprise me neither. Mr Crozier was a brooding sort of gentleman. Very inward-looking. Very close.’

‘You don’t think that Mr Titus might have poisoned him, then?’

She said scornfully, ‘He’s not clever enough for that, sir.’

‘Well, well. Not even with a decanter full of port to hide the pills, my dear?’

‘Oh, that, sir! They don’t half talk! Mr Titus was just smoothing him down because they’d had a set-to. How would anybody grind up all them – those pills without being noticed? Besides, there was nearly twenty of them.’

‘Someone suggested they might have been disguised as
medicine
, Kate.’

‘A whole bottleful, sir? They must be off their heads!’

‘I tell you what occurred to me,’ said Lintott idly. ‘Someone might be laying the blame on your mistress by means of that bottle. There’s nothing to prevent a person dosing a man with three grains of morphine and throwing away a bottleful of
capsules
, so it looks as though
they
were the culprits!’

She was startled, questioning him with her eyes.

‘Only a theory, my love,’ said Lintott comfortably. ‘I’ve
developed
a very nasty mind, along of dealing with the wrong sort for so many years.’

He saw he had puzzled her, but not disturbed her.

‘Why should he commit suicide, my love?’ Lintott asked.

*

‘Laura! Laura! You have not, I hope, read this copy of the
Pall
Mall
Gazette
?’

‘I have not had time, Theodore. I have been out to tea.’

‘Then observe that this is what I consider it to be worth!’ And he tore it across and across, and tossed it on the drawing-room fire, as though she were personally responsible.

‘Why, what has Mr Stead done to offend you?’ she asked, for the magazine had become yet another means to explore the world outside, and she cherished it.

‘He has turned to
the gutters for his information, in order to sell this scurrilous rag. I will not have my household corrupted, made filthy even by sight or contact. If I wished to wallow in man’s depravity I should study the criminal reports. I thought him a person of some integrity, though his views are not always
mine. Still, one must keep an open mind. Now I know him to be a scoundrel who would sell his birthright for a mess of pottage.’

Kate, setting out her evening tray of wines and spirits, was noiseless: effacing herself.

‘But, Mr Crozier,’ said Laura quietly, addressing his most majestic self with due respect, ‘if what Mr Stead has discovered is the truth, surely we should give him a hearing?’

‘I have observed in you, madam, a tendency to romanticism and indulgence. There is right and there is wrong. One strives for the one and denounces and abhors the other.’

‘Are human beings so perfect, Mr Crozier? You yourself
contribute
to many charities, giving money – for which I honour you – to those who have in some way fallen from grace.’

‘But I do not mingle with them, madam. I would rather see you dead at my feet than dishonoured. I would rather my sons were taken in the flower of their youth than they should explore the sewers of this wicked world. I uphold the sanctity of the home, the virtue of women, the innocence of children. And I say this to you, madam – if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off! Kate! What are you doing?’

‘Your glass of Madeira, sir,’ withdrawing as quietly as she had come.

*

‘You are saying that your master was a hypocrite, my dear?’ Lintott asked.

‘Oh no, sir. He meant every word of it. You could always tell when the master was on his hobby-horse. He got quite
passionate
, and forgot that murmur at his heart. If he was just angry with the mistress he’d shout and rave, and then clutch his chest like and have to lay down. And we was – were – all running after him in consequence. I’m saying he truly meant it. But folks are human. He held himself very tight, sir. They’re the sort that fall hardest and regret it most.’

‘You’re an observant lass,’ said Lintott, regarding her.

‘He stayed out late at nights, sir, as long as I can remember – and I’ve been with the mistress since Miss Blanche was a baby. Mrs Crozier didn’t seem to mind or to notice until recently, and then she began to fret herself. But I saw a difference in him the
last year. Once or twice he forgot his key, and I went down to let him in. I sleep light, sir, unless I’m poorly.’

The dark brooding face on the doorstep, the apology that was mere outward good manners. The heavy body shrugging from its greatcoat, turning away.

‘Before last year, when he’d been out late, he’d march straight into the drawing-room and pour himself a glass of spirits. He never wanted any attendance – just used to say, “That will be all, Kate!” – but the next morning I’d notice how much he’d had. He never looked any different. He could carry his drink like a gentleman, but he drank heavy, as if he wanted to drown hisself.’

She was losing her gentility as the remembrance wrapped her about, and Lintott smiled slightly and listened attentively.

‘Then what happened last year, Kate, my love?’

‘He changed, sir. Oh, he was still carrying the sins of the world on his shoulders, as my poor mother used to say, but he was different. Used to smile to hisself. It must have been that woman as did it. Though what he seen in her I’ll never know! But he cared somethink for somebody, that was certain. You can tell, sir. He seemed like weighted down and lighted up all at once. You see, sir,’ cried Kate, at last finding an intelligence to which she could unburden herself, ‘they’re all a-sniggering
behind
their hands, and saying as he had a loose woman, but what does it matter what she was if he saw her different?’

‘I’m with you, Kate. You’re saying he was in love with her?’

‘Yes, sir, and pulled down with the influenza and his own
ailments
– and whatever Dr Padgett said would make no difference, Mr Crozier looked on hisself as a sick man. Gentleman, I mean,’ recollecting her status and his. ‘So supposing he really cared somethink for this – woman – and she’d got all she wanted out of him, and then blackmailed him atop of it? And him already a religious man that knew he’d done wrong. Isn’t that enough, sir, to drive him to it? Besides …’