The Landower Legacy (58 page)

“I must say it is rather comforting to know that people round here were so concerned for my welfare. I thought they always looked on me as an outsider.”

“They love drama and you gave them the opportunity to create it,” I said. “They love you for that.”

“I think it’s fun. I’m going out now. To ride round and show myself.”

I said: “Then I’ll leave you to enjoy your fun. Goodbye.”

I went home. I was relieved but far from happy.

The neighbourhood was abuzz with the news: Gwennie was back. It had all been a storm in a teacup. I guessed there were some red faces.

Those who had seen the black dogs and the white hares were suitably subdued. Why should these omens of evil appear just to announce the deaths of a stray sheep and a few animals? And even they had been down there for quite a long time.

Gwennie continued to be greatly amused. She talked of little else. Jenny was shamefaced. She admitted to some of her fellow servants, who reported it to ours so that it came to my ears, that Mrs. Landower did not always wear the comb, and she had mentioned it because she had wanted to know if she had really gone to Yorkshire.

Gwennie came to see me. She said she wanted to talk and could we be alone?

I took her into the winter parlour and sent for some tea, as it was afternoon.

She looked different, I thought, sly in a way.

She began talking about all the fuss of her so-called disappearance.

“Why shouldn’t I go where I want to? As a matter of fact I had no intention of going to Yorkshire. I just said so because it was the first thing I thought of … having my Aunt Grace up there. I didn’t think that fool Jenny would raise all that trouble … on account of a comb.”

“I think the comb was just an excuse.”

“But why should she suspect that something had happened to me?” She laughed. “All the intrigue that’s going on, I suppose. Well, Jenny likes to be in the middle of all that. You can’t blame her. So all this about my comb.”

She took it out of her hair and looked at it. It was tortoiseshell, Spanish type, not large and with little brilliants set in it.

“It’s true I wear it a good deal, but why she should think I would never leave without it, I can’t imagine.”

She stuck it back in her hair.

“So you had other plans right from the first?” I said.

She nodded. “I can’t bear to be in the dark.”

“I know that well.”

“I like to
know.
It worries me if I don’t. I just have to find out.”

“I did realise that.”

“Yes, everything that goes on. My Ma used to call me Meddlesome Matty. She used to say: ‘Sometimes she’d lift the teapot lid, to see what was within.’ I forget how the rhyme goes on but I believe something terrible happened to Matty. ‘Curiosity killed the cat.’ That was another of my Ma’s sayings. Pa used to laugh at me. ‘It’s no good trying to keep
anything from Gwennie,’ he used to say. I knew that it was you and Jago who caused my accident.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t look so startled. I saw
you.
I remember your green eyes and your hair was all tied up with a ribbon … remember? One day you had it done just like that and I said, ‘Hello, I’ve seen that before.’ It was one of those things that come to you after … you know what I mean. Then I found the door in the gallery and the staircase up to the attics. It didn’t take me long to work that out. I went up there and found the clothes you’d worn. You might have killed me. That was the first thing I had against you.”

“I realised how foolish we were as soon as we’d done it. It was meant to be a joke.”

“Typical of Jago. To frighten us away, of course. Just get rid of us, never mind the consequences.”

“We didn’t think for a moment that you would fall. We didn’t know the rail was rotten.”

“Everything in the house was rotten till Pa and I took it over.”

I was silent.

“I couldn’t walk for a while. I still feel twinges in my back and when I do I say, Thank you, Caroline. Thank you, Jago. It’s all due to you.”

“I am so sorry.”

“All right. You were children. You didn’t think and I know you’re sorry. Jago was always very nice to me. I think it was because of that.”

“Jago was quite fond of you.”

“Landowers are fond of Landower … all the glory of the family. I have to admit I like that, too.”

“I think Jago can’t be accused of those feelings. He was very willing to abandon it all.”

“He’ll be well gilded now. Rosie knows what she’s about.”

“I don’t think he was all that concerned with the gildings.”

“Everybody likes them. They make the wheels go smoothly round.”

“Do they?”

She looked at me sharply. “If you let them,” she said. “I know about Paul, of course.”

“What do you know?”

“That he is after you … and I don’t think you feel much like
saying No to him either. But let me tell you this: I’ll never let him go. He married me. Look what he got out of it. He’s got to remember that.”

“He doesn’t forget that he’s married to you.”

“He’d better not. I shall never let him go. You’d better understand that.”

“I do understand it.”

“The best thing you can do is go up to Rosie. She’s fond of you. She’ll help you find a husband and then you won’t have need of someone else’s.”

“There is no need for you to talk in this strain. I understand the position perfectly. I am not looking for a husband, and if I went to London to stay with Jago and Rosie for a visit it would not be with such a hunt in mind.”

“I like your way of talking. Dignity, I suppose you call it. I suppose that is what he likes. Lady of the Manor and so on. Well, it’s not to be, because I’ll never let him go. He’s got the house and he has to take me with it. And that’s how it’s going to stay.”

I said: “Why don’t you try living amicably together?”

“What? With him hating the bargain all the time and trying to wriggle out of it?”

“If you look upon it as a bargain, you’ll never live serenely together.”

“Life’s what it is, Caroline. You take what you want and you pay for it. It’s no use niggling about the price when it’s all signed and settled.”

“I don’t think that is quite the way to look on marriage.”

“And if you go on like this it seems to me you’ll never have an opportunity of looking at it at all.”

“That is very probable,” I said, “and entirely my own affair.”

“Well,” she said, good-natured suddenly, “I didn’t come here to quarrel with you. I know it’s not your fault … or anybody’s fault. It just is. I came to talk to you about something else. As we said, I like to know what’s going on around me. Well, I thought I’d do a little tour of investigation. That’s what I’ve been doing.”

“Where?”

“In Scotland. I went to Edinburgh. I stayed with someone we used to know before we came south. Her father was a friend of my father’s. She married and went to live up in Edinburgh. I thought I’d look her up.”

“What made you do that suddenly?”

“It was something Rosie said. Rosie always had her ears open, I imagine. She’s like me in a way. That’s why we got on. We talked a lot together. I reckon she’s had a life of it. She mentioned this after we’d seen him.”

“Seen him?”

“Jamie McGill. I wanted to get some honey for her to take back to London with her and I said to her, ‘You won’t be able to buy anything like you can get from this man. He’s a magician with the bees and has conferences with them. He’s a little loose in the top storey.’ “

“I wish you wouldn’t talk about him like that. Sometimes I think he’s cleverer than any of us. He’s learned how to be contented and that’s about the wisest thing anyone can do.”

“Well, don’t you want to hear?”

“Of course.”

“I took her along. She was interested in the bees and in him and we stopped and talked awhile. When he left she asked what his name was, and when I told her she said, ‘McGill. I’m sure there was a McGill case.’ Well, as you can imagine, I was all ears. I said to her, ‘There’s always been a bit of a mystery about Jamie McGill. He won’t talk and he got a little fussed when I asked him a few simple questions … just the ordinary sort of ones you might ask anybody.’ Rosie said, ‘Well, I can’t be sure, but there was a case and I’m certain the name was McGill. There wasn’t a lot about it in the London papers because it happened in Scotland.’”

“I think it must have been something to do with his brother,” I said. “He did mention a brother to me once.”

“Yes … that’s right. Rosie remembered that this McGill had been involved in a murder case. She wasn’t sure what happened, but he got off. Then she remembered that it was because he got off that there was this bit of a stir about it. It was a verdict we don’t have here. ‘Not proven.’ That was why it was written about and Rosie remembered. Well, I felt ever so interested … but Rosie didn’t remember anything more.”

“Do you mean to tell me,” I said incredulously, “that you travelled up to Scotland to discover the secrets of Jamie McGill?”

She nodded, her eyes shining with mischief. “Though I’d have gone in any case if I’d known what a lovely little drama I was making here.”

“I believe you like stirring up trouble.”

She was thoughtful. “I’m not sure. I like to know … I always did. I like to find out what people are hiding.”

“And did you find out about poor Jamie McGill?”

“Yes. I talked to people who remembered, and you’re able to get some of the papers which came out years back. I stayed with my friend in Edinburgh and she took me about the town … showing me the ropes. As I said we found quite a number of people who remembered. It wasn’t all that long ago … only ten years or so. People remember these things.”

“Well, what did you discover?”

“It was Donald McGill. I thought it might be Jamie.”

“That,” I said coldly, “was what you hoped to discover.”

“But it was Donald. His brother didn’t come into it at all. There was no mention of him. Donald had murdered his wife.”

“I thought you said it was not proven?”

“I mean he was on trial for murder, but they couldn’t prove him guilty. She was found at the bottom of a staircase in their home. They had been on bad terms and there she was … dead. She had a blow on her head, but they couldn’t tell whether she had got it in falling or if it had been delivered before she was pushed down. That was why they had to decide and they couldn’t, so there was this verdict, ‘Not Proven.’ “

“Congratulations on your discovery,” I said.

“Well, at least you know about the man you employ.”

“But this was his brother.”

“It’s something he doesn’t want to come out.”

“I can quite understand why not. If anything like that happens in your family, I daresay you want to get away from it.”

“I had to know.”

“Well, now you are satisfied.”

“Yes, I’m satisfied now.”

“I hope you won’t go round talking about this. If Jamie wants to keep his secrets he should be allowed to.”

“I don’t suppose I shall say anything, and in any case it is only his brother. Now if he were the murderer …”

“You mean the suspected murderer. It was not proven as I have to keep reminding you.”

“If it had been Jamie that would have been different.”

“A great disappointment for you!”

“I’m still interested in him. I think there is something very odd about him.”

“I should leave him in peace if I were you.”

She looked at me, smiling. “You’re of much greater interest to me, Caroline. When I think of you … coming here, getting the estate and everything … and then getting your own back on Jeremy Brandon … and then falling in love with my husband … I must say there is never a dull moment with you, Caroline.”

“I am astonished that my life is so interesting to you. One thing I ask you. Please don’t upset Jamie by letting him know you have discovered his secret. Remember it is his.”

“Yes,” she said, still smiling. “Let’s all keep our secrets, eh?”

DISCLOSURES

During the days which followed I did not want to meet people. I knew that the great topic of conversation throughout the neighbourhood would be the search of the mine shaft and the return of Gwennie.

I did hear certain comments and it amazed me how those who had been so certain that Gwennie’s body would be found in the mine shaft now declared they had never suspected foul play for one moment and they had guessed all the time that she had gone off somewhere without saying.

I did not go to Landower. I did not want to see Gwennie and I was afraid of seeing Paul. I just wanted to shut myself away for a little while. All that had happened had been a great shock to me and that was partly because I had suspected that Paul, driven beyond endurance, might have killed her. It was a terrible accusation to make against the man one loved; and it taught me something about myself. Even if he had, I should have been ready to shield him.