No Time For Love (Bantam Series No. 40) (4 page)

BOOK: No Time For Love (Bantam Series No. 40)
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“I want you to go over to England just as quickly as you can and shut this woman’s mouth!”
Ha
rvey said. “Strangle her, suffocate her, kidnap her and keep her silent until the election is over. Do anything as long as she does not go near a newspaper reporter or realise how much she can damage me.”

Wynstan looked amused as he turned round to put his hand out towards the bell-pull.

“What are you doing? Who are you ringing for?” Harvey enquired.

“I have to find out something about Larina or whatever her name is,” he said. “She has signed only her Christian name, and there is no address.”

“No-one must know about this,” Harvey said quickly. “If the newshawks get even a smell of it, I am finished!”

“I am going to speak to Prudence,” Wynstan said soothingly as if speaking to a child
.
“Prudence has been with Elvin ever since he came back from Europe, she has also been with us since before I was born. I imagine we can trust her after all these years.”

“Yes, of course,” Harvey agreed in a somewhat shamefaced manner.

The Butler opened the door.

“Ask Prudence to come downstairs for a moment, Hudson,” Wynstan said to him. “I imagine she is back by now from the funeral.”

“Yes, Mr. Wynstan, she is upstairs.”

“We would like to speak to her.”

“Of course, Mr. Wynstan.”

The door closed and Wynstan stood in front of the fireplace.

“Stop being so agitated, Harvey!” he said after a moment. “You are sweating, and anyone who knew you would know that you are frightened!”

“I am frightened!” Harvey said. “I do not mind telling you, Wynstan, this is a stab in the back which I had not anticipated, and certainly not from one of my own brothers!”

“I think you are being unnecessarily apprehensive,” Wynstan said, “but because I am fond of you, Harvey, and Elvin meant a great deal to me, I will certainly try and see if I can solve this problem.”

“Pay anything—anything.” Harvey said, “but keep her quiet, that is all I ask. Keep her quiet!”

When Prudence came into the room she looked surprised to see all three brothers together in the Study while, as she knew, the big Drawing-Room was filled with their relatives and friends.

She was an elderly woman with a kind, open face which made adults and children alike trust her instinctively. Her eyes were red and a little swollen from weeping.

She was dressed, as she always had been ever since the brothers could remember, in a dress of grey cotton with stiff white collar and cuffs that were always spotlessly clean.

She had grown stouter and heavier over the years, Wynstan thought as she walked towards them, but otherwise she had changed very little from when as a child he had said his first prayers at her knee and she had taught him his alphabet.

“Come in, Prudence,” he said. “We want your help, which is nothing unusual!”

“What happened?” Prudence asked looking from Wynstan to Harvey and then at Gary.

“We want you to tell us what you know about a woman called Larina,” Wynstan replied.

Prudence did not hesitate.

“She was a friend of Mr. Elvin’s.”

“What sort of friend?” Harvey questioned quickly.

“I think it was someone he met while he was in Switzerland,” Prudence answered. “He had several letters from her after he returned and I know that he wrote to her.”

“Where are they? Where are the letters?” Harvey asked. “Fetch them at once.”

“I can’t do that, Mr. Harvey,” Prudence said.

“Why not?”

“Because Mr. Elvin burnt them.”

“Burnt them?” Harvey exclaimed.

“Yes, a few days before he died he said to me: ‘Prudence, I think I had better tidy up my possessions. Bring me my special box.’ ”

“What box was that?”

Prudence looked at Wynstan.

“You remember it, Mr. Wynstan.”

“Yes, I gave it to him,” Wynstan said. “He must have been fifteen at the time. I remember saying that every man should have a place where he could lock away papers he did not want everyone else to read.”

Wynstan paused and smiled as he added:

“That was after I found Mama reading letters I had received from a girl-friend of whom she did not approve.”

“She must have been kept busy if she read all your love
-
letters!” Gary teased.

“Go on, Prudence.” Wynstan said quietly.

“I fetched the box to his bed and he took out some poems he had been writing from time to time. Sometimes he would read them to me and sometimes he would not. He looked at them and said:

“ ‘Burn these, Prudence!’ ”

“ ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘They’re beautiful, Mr. Elvin! Let’s keep them. Someone might publish them one day.’ ”

“ ‘That is what I am afraid of and it would not be because they wanted to understand what I was trying to say,’ he answered. ‘Burn them, Prudence!’ ”

Prudence made a little gesture with her hands.

“So I burnt them.”

“And what else?” Wynstan asked.

“The letters he had kept over the years, one or two from you, Mr. Wynstan, some from his mother, and those he had received from the young lady.”

“How do you know they were from her?” Wynstan asked.

“They were the only letters he received after he returned home,” Prudence answered, “and he seemed happy to have them. He also said to me: ‘Don’t you think Larina is a pretty name, Prudence? I think it is lovely!’ ”

Harvey’s eyes met his brother Gary’s.

“What was her surname, Prudence?” he asked.

“I don’t know, Mr. Harvey!”

“But you must have some idea.”

“No, Mr. Elvin never told me anything about her.” There was silence, then as if she knew the brothers were perturbed. Prudence said:

“But Mr. Renour will know it.”

“Renour? Why should he know it?” Harvey asked in surprise.

“Because Mr. Elvin wrote to her and it would be entered in the post-book.”

“Of course!” Wynstan exclaimed. “I had forgotten that we kept a post-book in the house! He will also have her address.”

“Of course,” Prudence agreed.

“Then would you be kind enough to ask him to bring the post-book here to us?” Wynstan said. “And thank you, Prudence, for your help.”

“I hope I have been able to assist you,” Prudence said looking from one to the other.

She waited for a second then she said:

“Thank you, Mr. Harvey, for the beautiful things you said at the Service. I’m sure Mr. Elvin would have been pleased.”

Tears came into her eyes as she spoke and she turned quickly and went from the room.

“Beautiful things!” Harvey said scornfully. “I wonder what Prudence would say if she knew the truth.”

“You certainly made Elvin a cross between the Archangel Gabriel and St. Sebastian,” Wynstan remarked.

“All the more reason why he should not get knocked off his pedestal!” Harvey snapped.

“Now stop agitating yourself!” Gary pleaded. “Wynstan said he will help and he is pretty efficient when he makes up his mind to do something.”

“Thank you!” Wynstan said with an amused smile.

The door opened and Hudson came in.

“Prudence said you wanted the post-book, Mr. Harvey,” he said, “but Mr. Renour is not yet back from the funeral so I have brought it myself.”

“Thank you very much, Hudson.”

Harvey took it from him and turned the pages quickly.

“I had no idea we sent out so many letters from this house!” he remarked. “With what we contribute the Post Office should pay a dividend!”

Neither of his brothers answered and he knew they were waiting impatiently to see what he would find.

“Here it is!” he said at length. “Miss Larina Milton, 68 Eaton Terrace, London, England.”

“Well, at least we know where she is!” Gary said.

“I suppose you want me to see her as soon as possible?” Wynstan said in a resigned voice. “I will do it, but I would like to point out that it is extremely inconvenient. I have a new car being delivered tomorrow and there are two polo ponies I wish to train before the games start in May.”

“Polo ponies!” Harvey said with a groan which was also a sound of contempt.

“I have an idea!” Gary said suddenly.

Both brothers turned to look at him.

“What is it?” Wynstan enquired.

“I have just thought that the election will be reported in the English newspapers. Even if this girl had no idea who Elvin was when he was in Switzerland, she will read about Harvey and they may easily mention Elvin’s death. Then she will know—”

“Just how much money she can get out of us!” Harvey interjected. “She would up her price every day of the campaign.”

Wynstan did not speak and Harvey went on:

“Gary is right—of course he is right! It is no use your seeing her in London and trying to keep her quiet. You have got to get her away. Take her to France—Spain—Italy—anywhere so long as the newspapers are not delivered regularly every morning.”

“We have no reason to suppose that she already knows that Elvin was a Vanderfeld,” Wynstan said.

“We have no reason to be sure she does not!” Harvey retorted. “It would be a mistake to take a risk. Besides although Elvin became pathetically thin after he got so ill, there is a likeness about us all. Mama has often remarked on it.”

“And added that Wynstan is much the best-looking!” Gary said.

“Do not let it make you jealous!” Wynstan remarked. “It is often a liability!”

“You can hardly expect us to believe that!” Gary laughed. “You know as well as I do, Wynstan, that the girls fall down like a set of ninepins whenever you appear.”

“I tell you it is often a liability!” Wynstan insisted.

“Oh, keep to the point!” Harvey said irritably. “Gary has had a good idea. We must consider it. Where can you take her, Wynstan?”

“Presuming of course that she will go with me,” Wynstan replied. “I presume also that you want me to tell her that Elvin is dead?”

“No, I have a better idea,” Harvey said.

“What is it?”

“In this cable she has sent to Elvin she has begged him to come to her, and it is obvious that he promised her he would. Well then, he must keep his promise.”

“What do you mean by that?” Wynstan asked.

Harvey’s eyes narrowed a little, as those who did business with him on Wall Street knew always happened when he was doing a big deal.

“We will send her a cable from Elvin saying that he will meet her at the Villa. That ought to get her away from London.”

“The Villa in Sorrento?” Wynstan asked. “Good Lord, I have not been there for years!”

“Grace and I spent a fortnight there in 1900.” Gary said. “It is being kept up in just the same way as when grandfather built it, or rather restored it to its Roman glory, and spent a fortune in the process!”

“As a matter of fact I would rather like to see it again,” Wynstan said. “I remember as a child thinking it was the most beautiful place in the world.”

“Then that is settled,” Harvey said briskly determined to get back to business. “We will send her a telegram and sign it with Elvin’s name.”

“You had better take it to the Post Office yourself. It cannot be sent from here. Renour must not know about this.”

“Supposing she refuses to go?” Gary said. “Besides, you cannot expect a woman to travel all that way alone.”

“No, of course not,” Harvey said impatiently. “Why do we keep that large, expensive office in London except to do what they are told in a situation like this?”

His lips tightened, then he went on:

“On second thought, we will cable Donaldson to see this woman and persuade her to go to Italy.”

He paused to explain:

“No point in her receiving anything else signed by Elvin—it might strengthen her case against us.”

“I can see that,” Gary remarked.

“Then we tell Donaldson,” Harvey went on, “to arrange for the Villa to be got ready for Wynstan, and to get Larina, or whatever her name is, there as soon as possible. If he cannot take her himself, he can send a competent Courier with her. It is only a question of organisation.”

Harvey paused to look at his brothers for their approval. “It is certainly an idea,” Wynstan said slowly.

“Have you a better one?”

“No, and I would much prefer to argue this thing out in Sorrento rather than in London.”

“I am glad somebody is pleased about it!” Harvey said in an exasperated voice. “I shall not have a moment’s peace or a good night’s sleep until I know you have settled this matter, Wynstan. I am relying on you to save the people who have given me their faith and trust.”

There was almost a sob in his voice.

His brother laughed.

“Spare me the dramatics, Harvey! I will do my best, although I do not mind telling you I find it an intolerable nuisance to have to go traipsing off to Europe just when I want to be at home.”

BOOK: No Time For Love (Bantam Series No. 40)
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