Weird Sister (30 page)

‘In my room?’ she asks, mock indignant.

‘Yes, your room.’ Jim apologizes. ‘But you’re welcome back here any time. Just say the word.’ Jim blushes; he doesn’t mean to imply that Agnes might leave Robert.

Agnes ignores his gaffe. She leans forward, conspiratorial. ‘But what would we do with Lolita?’

Jim swallows hard, turns toward the glasses and pretends not to get the joke. ‘Lolita? She’s in the back cooking these people a meal.’

Agnes stops smiling. Jim won’t play. She asks for a Bush Mills – she drinks Irish whiskey to wind him up – and goes to sit by the fire.

Geoff Henderson is in tonight with David Trevelyan, they’ve come out together for a drink. Geoff has left Marlene at home with a hot-water bottle in front of the TV. He knows what his wife has been saying about Agnes; he’s worried, but he thinks she’ll get better soon. She’s being German, and she’ll get over it. Geoff was frightened at the idea of his wife bearing a child – he remembers all too well when Mrs Throckmorton died labouring with Jenny, he was at school with Robert and Graeme at the time – and a deep unspoken part of him was relieved when Marlene lost the baby. This relief has soured his grieving and makes him feel ashamed. Marlene can say whatever she wants as far as he is concerned, she can blame Agnes, she can blame the Prime Minister and the Pope if she likes; he is glad to have her in one piece.

He excuses himself from David for a moment and crosses the pub to Agnes.

‘Hello,’ he says and gives her his dependable smile.

Agnes is staring at the fire. She sits with her legs crossed and her back straight. Her hair is black and glossy and it’s as though Geoff Henderson can see the flames reflected in every strand. ‘Hello,’ she says without looking up.

Geoff pulls over a stool and sits down beside her. ‘How’s Graeme?’

‘Who?’ says Agnes and he sees the effort she has to make to pull herself away from the fire.

‘Graeme?’ says Geoff, thinking she must have misheard him. He too has heard the rumour about Agnes and Graeme but he has decided to ignore it. Idle talk.

‘Oh,’ says Agnes. ‘He’s fine.’

Jim Drury watches from behind the bar. He can smell Lolita’s lasagne as the oven exhales in the kitchen. He feels guilty for dismissing Agnes earlier, he doesn’t know why he didn’t want to be seduced. He wants to be near her, he wants to sit beside her like Geoff Henderson is doing, he wants to take her by the hand and talk, really talk. He knows she isn’t like what people are saying. He has seen how much Robert loves her, he knows she wouldn’t betray him. He was at the wedding, he has seen how happy they are.

Agnes turns her attention from the fire to Geoff. ‘How is Marlene?’ she asks, solicitous.

Geoff feels a pang of guilt for leaving his wife at home on her own. ‘She’s okay. It’s tough. She’s a little . . . unstable, she’s –’ He stops himself mid-sentence. He can’t believe he has said this of his wife. He is appalled at his own small act of betrayal.

‘She’ll be fine,’ Agnes says simply. ‘You both will be.’

‘Yes,’ says Geoff, ‘I know you’re right.’

Agnes shifts the mood again. ‘When are you boys going to start playing cricket? I have yet to see a single cricket game on that field.’

‘Match,’ corrects Geoff apologetically. ‘It’s a cricket match. And it’s a pitch, we play on a pitch. We’ll start playing again in the spring, when it’s a bit drier.’

‘You must explain it to me.’

‘Really?’ Geoff doesn’t believe she is interested but she questions him brightly nonetheless. He finds himself explaining the game. Agnes listens attentively. Her eyes glisten and Geoff enjoys himself; he talks away.

After a while Robert comes into the Black Hat. He stamps his feet to knock out the cold and asks Agnes and Geoff if they want a drink before he goes up to the bar. When he returns Geoff is standing. ‘You must come round for dinner sometime,’ Geoff says. ‘It would be great.’ He has completely forgotten his wife’s allegations.

‘That would be nice,’ says Robert.

‘Yes,’ says Agnes. ‘Give my regards to Marlene.’

He remembers then, and he blushes a deep red as he makes his way back to his drink.

‘Everything okay?’ Agnes asks Robert, meaning back home, at the house.

‘Yes,’ he says and he begins to tell her his plans, his new scheme to promote the cottages. ‘We’ve got to be more assertive,’ he says, ‘we’ve got to sell ourselves upmarket, throughout the year.’

Agnes stares into the fire once more. She is listening and not listening, one of her talents. In the fire she sees herself, she sees the Throckmorton family. She sees Jenny in Robert’s bedroom, searching through her things. She looks up at Robert and interrupts him.

‘People don’t like outsiders,’ she says.

‘No.’ Robert is immediately overwhelmed by worry. ‘But you’ve been welcomed here, haven’t you? You feel welcome.’

‘That’s changing. It was only skin-deep.’

‘What do you mean, love?’

‘You’ll see.’ She takes Robert’s hands in hers. His are warm, hers are cold, he moves his hands round hers. ‘People enjoy rumours, they enjoy speculation,’ she says. ‘They like to be nasty. Even the nice ones; everyone gives in to the nasty, the mean spirit. You mustn’t listen to them, Robert.’

He is afraid to ask her what she means. He is reassuring instead. ‘I won’t listen, Agnes, I won’t.’

‘They don’t like outsiders,’ she says, ‘even though this is where I belong.’ Agnes shifts the mood once more. ‘Although I despair of the perfect bathroom.’

‘I know, I –’

‘I hate that bathroom,’ she laughs. ‘The water’s never hot enough, there’s no shower, the toilet is . . . ornery, there’s nowhere to hang the towels, there’s no room to put anything in fact . . .’

Robert is laughing too, back on safe territory. This riff is comfortable, happy.

Elizabeth is failing

Elizabeth has stopped dropping in on the Throckmorton house-hold. My skin isn’t thick enough, she thinks. She is resigned to not seeing Robert, but she worries about Jenny. She speculates that perhaps Lolly Senior is a bad influence, except she’s always liked Lolly. She wants to see Jenny. And if she sees her she might see Robert as well. Am I using Jenny as a kind of round-about way to get to Robert? she wonders. No. I want to see Jenny.

She picks up the phone and dials the Throckmorton number. Agnes answers.

‘Can I speak to Jenny?’ Elizabeth asks after exchanging faint pleasantries. She can hear Robert in the background.

‘I’ll get her,’ says Agnes.

The girl comes on the line. Her voice is sullen. ‘What do you want?’

‘I’d like to see you Jenny. Can I take you out for lunch at the weekend?’

‘I don’t know. I’m pretty busy with schoolwork.’ Elizabeth hears Robert hissing parentally. Jenny speaks again, louder this time. ‘Why don’t you come round here?’ (Jenny turns and sticks her tongue out at Robert, who frowns and makes a face.)

‘All right. When’s a good time?’

‘I’m in most evenings.’ As if there is anywhere for me else to go, she thinks.

‘Okay,’ Elizabeth says, ‘That would be nice.’

Elizabeth arrives on the Throckmortons’ doorstep two days later. She carries a bunch of freesias that she picked up earlier from Barbara’s. She knocks this time, no longer feeling able to open the door and walk straight in. Agnes appears.

‘Elizabeth!’ she says, smiling widely. ‘I haven’t seen you since – the other week.’

Elizabeth recalls the tunnel incident. She feels her colour rise. ‘Is Jenny around?’

Agnes’s smile fades. ‘No, she’s out with Robert. They’ve gone to Peterborough. But come in. Come in and have a drink.’

Elizabeth finds herself escorted through to the sitting room. She gives Agnes the flowers, reluctantly. Martin is parked beside the fire, there is an open bottle of wine on the side table. The lights are low and there’s the warm glow that Elizabeth associates with long evenings spent in this room. Agnes settles into the big armchair. After greeting Martin, touching his hand, Elizabeth lowers herself onto the settee.

‘So,’ says Agnes, her voice relaxed, even, ‘what is Marlene Henderson saying about me?’

‘Marlene?’ says Elizabeth, taken aback. She glances at Martin. He stares at the floor.

‘Marlene Henderson,’ Agnes replies sharply, ‘German. About 36. Good-looking woman. Your friend?’

‘Yes. She’s – she’s not been very well.’

‘There’s always that excuse.’

‘She’s –’

‘Have you heard what she’s saying? She lost her baby. Okay, I’ll allow for the torture of that. But really – in this day and age –’

‘I don’t know what she’s thinking . . .’ Elizabeth finds herself shaking. ‘Of course it’s ridiculous, I know that.’

‘It’s like something a child would say, like something Andrew would come up with to explain her poor behaviour.’

‘Look,’ says Elizabeth, ‘don’t be too harsh. Marlene’s not . . .’ Elizabeth attempts to explain her friend.

Jenny is not in Peterborough with Robert. She is upstairs in her bedroom with Lolly. They are burning candles and reading. Lolly has done some more research. Earlier today in the library in Cambridge she found a little book. It has a long title:

The Most Strange and Admirable discoverie of the three Witches of Warboys, arraigned, convicted, and executed at the last Assises of Huntingdon, for the bewitching of the five daughters of Robert Throckmorton Esquire, and divers other persons, with sundrie Devillish and grievous torments: And also for the bewitching to death of the Lady Cromwell, the like hath not been heard of in this age
.

Lolly took the book out of the library, although it was not available for loan; she stole it, temporarily. She brings it into the Throckmorton house, gives it to Jenny.

‘1593,’ she says, gleefully pointing out the date on the title page. ‘1593.’ To her the book’s age gives it authority.

Jenny handles the book cautiously. It is small and, for its size, extraordinarily heavy. She feels her heart sink down through her gut, like a stone dropped into turbid water. ‘What is it?’ she asks.

‘Look!’ says Lolly. ‘It’s about Mother Samuel, Father Samuel, and their daughter Agnes. It’s all there, exactly what happened. It’s written down.’ She takes the book away from Jenny who has failed to open it, she finds a page where the names are listed plainly. ‘Look.’ She pushes the book at Jenny. ‘They were hanged.’

But Jenny isn’t looking, she won’t look. She stares toward the window. ‘She had a wedding dress with her when she arrived,’ she murmurs. She turns to look at Lolly. ‘She brought an old wedding dress with her to Warboys.’

Robert walks into the sitting room. Elizabeth looks at him, wide-eyed, then back at Agnes. She’d said he’d gone to Peterborough.

‘How are they?’ asks Agnes of him. ‘Are they happy?’

‘Yes,’ says Robert wearily. ‘They’re fine.’ He turns to Elizabeth. ‘Trouble with some guests. They couldn’t get the gas fire working. They were freezing out there. I almost invited them back here.’

‘Oh,’ says Agnes, ‘don’t do that.’

‘They complained about Graeme. They thought he was a tramp.’

Agnes laughs.

‘Don’t worry,’ says Robert. They’re sorted. What brings you out Elizabeth?’

‘I came to see Jenny.’

‘Right,’ he says, uninterested, relieved, already heading for the kitchen. ‘Anyone like a cup of tea?’

Once Robert has left the room Elizabeth gets up, retrieves her coat and goes toward the door without offering any excuses. Agnes watches from her armchair, doesn’t object, doesn’t say anything. Why did you tell me he was in Peterborough? Elizabeth is filling with unasked questions, it’s all she can do to stop herself overflowing. Why did you tell me he wasn’t here? Why did you invite me in?

At the last moment, as Elizabeth nears the door, Agnes rises from her armchair. She moves smoothly across the room, Elizabeth blinks hard, it’s as though she hovers above the floor, as though she glides on a thin cushion of air. She stops very close, puts her arm around Elizabeth’s waist, gives her a soft, warm squeeze. ‘You’re looking lovely,’ Agnes whispers in her ear, ‘Robert will be pleased. Let’s get together,’ she smiles, ‘soon.’

Elizabeth is in the foyer of the house; she never uses the front door but she will today. She catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She stops dead, her face has gone white. As she pauses she hears a sound filter through from upstairs – girls’ voices – and realizes that, of course, Jenny has been here all along as well. Elizabeth is through the door quickly and out onto the drive. She turns and sees Agnes standing in the sitting room window, very straight, very still. Elizabeth – she can’t stop herself – gives in to her impulse to run up the drive.

Upstairs Lolly is imagining herself a High Priestess. Of what she isn’t sure, it doesn’t matter. She is thrilled by her find. The little book is amazing. She doesn’t notice what is happening to Jenny.

Something has happened to Jenny. Inside her head a door is opening, the handle comes away in her hand. The door swings back and falls off its hinges. There is nothing between Jenny and what’s out there. There is nothing stopping Jenny.

Lolly looks at her friend. She thinks she has fallen asleep. She gets up off the floor and drapes a blanket over her where she leans against the bed. She puts the book on Jenny’s pillow. She pulls on her coat and tiptoes out of the room. In the corridor she hears Robert and Agnes talking in their bedroom. She creeps through the house and away.

Outside the Warboys moon is high in the sky. It is a clear night, a spirit night, frosty. Out on the fens there is a stirring and Agnes hears it, even as she pleasures Robert, she hears it. There is no avoiding it; it is coming this way.

Jenny tells Agnes a story

Jenny finishes the last page of the little book. She places it under her pillow and falls asleep.

Then in the middle of the night, Jenny wakes up. Agnes is standing at the foot of her bed. She is dressed all in black, like a cat burglar, black slim trousers, black roll-neck top. ‘Hello Jenny,’ she says.

Jenny sits up, rubs her eyes, stretches. She is relaxed, she’s been waiting for this. Now she possesses knowledge – the facts – and she feels calm, in control, and rather pleased. She wishes Lolly could see her. ‘Hello,’ she says to Agnes, ‘have a seat.’ She indicates the end of the bed. ‘Let me tell you a story.’