Dorothy Eden (26 page)

‘Why do I love you? Because we’re two of a kind. And we’ll see this through together. Won’t we?’

He had let her go and she could have escaped had she wished. She stood rubbing her wrist and trying to think of Ambrose.

‘Who
are
you?’ she burst out in baffled anger.

He laughed and touched her cheek lightly with his fingers.

‘My dear Miss Mildmay, I fear you’re going to find out very soon. So don’t run away. I’ve too much trouble on my hands already. And anyway, I should find you.’

Somewhere in the house a door banged. Sarah thought she heard Titus crying. With an enormous effort she pulled herself together.

‘I must go to Titus.’

‘Yes, go to him now. But he has to begin learning to do without you. That’s why I’m sending him to London with Mamma.’

‘So I’ve served my purpose!’ Sarah flashed indignantly.

‘Only that purpose—my dearest one!’

There were no complexities in his face now. Only longing. Tears sprang to Sarah’s eyes. She must go before he saw them, and read something into them that was not there.

For this was all crazy, crazy! He was married to Amalie, and she was waiting for Ambrose.

And anyway, she hated and despised him.

But he should not have shown her even momentarily his vulnerable side. It was a low trick…

‘Blane! Blane!’

Lady Malvina’s hoarse voice reached them long before that lady had come bundling down the stairs, her face purple with breathlessness, her eyes full of alarm.

‘What is it Mamma?’

‘We can’t find Titus. Eliza left him with his mother. She said she would stay with him while he had his tea. When Eliza came back to the nursery they were both gone.’

Blane was at the door. ‘Where’s Amalie?’

‘I don’t know. I thought she meant to look out Titus’s fur-lined coat for the morning.’

‘For now,’ said Blane, his face like stone.

‘But why would she be taking him out now in the dark? She said herself it was too cold.’

‘The lake!’ Sarah whispered.

Blane was ringing the bell for Tomkins.

‘She must have been so quick,’ Lady Malvina said. ‘I went up at once. But I’m slow on the stairs. And I never saw her coming down. She must have gone the back way.’

Tomkins had come across the hall. Blane spoke curtly,

‘Has Lady Mallow given any orders? Have you seen her go out?’

‘No, my lord.’

‘See if she’s in the house, will you? Look in every room. Don’t stop to knock at doors. Get Betsey and Eliza to help. And send someone for Soames.’

‘Very well, my lord.’ The man hesitated, puzzled.

‘Titus seems to be missing. He’s probably with his mother. Don’t waste time, you fool.’

Blane himself, a moment later, had flung the front door open and was running down towards the lake. Sarah followed him, forgetful of the freezing wind and the flakes of snow in the air. It was such a cold night. The water would be icy…

But the lake was deserted. A curved moon hung upside down in the branches of the elm on the opposite side. The water shimmered faintly. The little summer house was dark and deserted, the wind whistling through the broken window.

They were not too late, were they? The surface of the lake looked undisturbed, with no sinister bubbles or settling ripples.

An owl called on an infinitely melancholy note. Blane stood a moment, a dark brooding silhouette. Then he swung round and saw Sarah.

‘No, she wouldn’t do it twice,’ he said. ‘She’s not as stupid as that.’

There was no time to ponder his deadly words. He was hurrying back to the house, and Sarah had to run to keep up with him.

Tomkins was waiting to report that Soames could not be found.

‘Where is he?’ Blane’s voice was a lash.

‘No one seems to know, sir. Mrs Soames says he went out of the house just before six and a bit later she heard horses.’

‘Well, isn’t there a groom around?’

‘Only young Jim, and we can’t get any sense out of him. He’s blubbering, and saying he had orders to do it.’

‘To do
what
?’

‘Saddle the horses, my lord.’

‘He’ll saddle some more before he’s finished,’ said Blane, and was off at a run to the stables.

Shortly he came back, riding his big chestnut hunter. He leaned down to say to Sarah and Lady Malvina, huddled shivering in the doorway, ‘All I can get out of that fool of a boy is that he saddled a horse for Amalie and she rode off, with a bundle.’

‘A bundle,’ Lady Malvina echoed faintly.

‘Soames followed,’ Blane said grimly. ‘God knows where they’re heading for. Soames knows this country like the back of his hand.’

‘Why should he be going?’ Sarah asked.

‘I thought I could trust him. I’d have sworn I could.’

‘Lord Mallow, I’m coming with you!’

Blane looked down at her.

‘Can you ride?’

‘Of course I can.’

‘Then hurry. We’ll get another horse. What about your petticoats?’

‘Never mind my petticoats.’

It was dark, and she didn’t mind if they flew over her head. She rode astride like a boy. She had always done so, except when her mother or governess had been there, and forbade it, in horror. She didn’t know what the dark night held, but this was action at last, and she revelled in it.

Amalie and Soames could not have got far, and there was not a lot of cover in the marshes. As soon as they were out of the wood they would show up against the skyline. Unless Soames had some secret hiding place where they could stay until morning.

‘Is she trying to kidnap Titus?’ Sarah shouted, galloping up to Blane.

‘More likely to kill him.’

‘
Kill
him! Is she mad?’

‘When it comes to jealousy, yes. Hadn’t you noticed? But why should you? For I hadn’t myself until recently.’

The night was dark and the conventions far away.

‘You shouldn’t have locked your door against her,’ Sarah said.

He turned to look at her. The wind streamed through his hair.

‘So you knew that, too,’ he said, and that was all.

E
LIZA COULD NOT BE
made to stop crying. Finally Lady Malvina slapped her sharply across the face and exclaimed, ‘For goodness’ sake, girl, stop that noise! Nobody’s blaming you. After all, you couldn’t have been expected to defy your mistress.’

‘Miss Mildmay did, this afternoon,’ Eliza hiccupped. ‘She didn’t let the mistress take Master Titus out walking.’

‘Miss Mildmay is another matter. She isn’t a servant.’

Lady Malvina heard herself speak the words with some surprise. She wondered why she had not realised earlier that Sarah Mildmay had never behaved with the slightest servility. She might have tried to, but her serene confidence had always showed through. Then who was she? If it came to that, who was anyone? The poor drowned woman, Amalie, with her shrewishness, and her tendency to vulgar ostentation, the tall dark stranger who had just ridden off, and whom she had always known in her heart was not her son.

There was only Titus of whom she was sure, and Titus had been carried off, no one knew where. In the space of a few minutes her world had disintegrated. She was a forsaken old woman surrounded by stupidly weeping servants, and with only her pearls to show that this had not all been a dream.

Her pearls. In a daze, Lady Malvina went off to her room to make sure of them, at least. If Amalie had run off, one could be certain she had taken the Mallow diamonds, so if this was the pattern of future events, she might as well lay a firm claim to the pearls.

But sitting with the necklace in her hands, Lady Malvina realised that all that mattered was getting Titus back. She wanted the boy desperately. She thought that he was the only person she had really loved in her whole life. At first it had been fine to return to Mallow and to acquire her old importance. But jewels, clothes, the certainty of sleeping beneath her own roof for the rest of her days, didn’t finally matter at all. Her grandson was all that mattered. And whatever else she admitted she had been wrong about, she would never admit that Titus was not her own flesh and blood. She knew that he was.

‘Why, my lady, you’re sitting in the dark,’ Bessie exclaimed, coming in.

‘Yes, it’s dark,’ said Lady Malvina, shivering. ‘Dark.’

‘I’ll have the lamps lit in a moment, my lady.’

‘What are the servants saying, Bessie?’

Bessie, stout and phlegmatic, made a scornful sound.

‘They’re a foolish gossiping lot, my lady.’

‘I asked you what they’re saying.’

‘Oh, that the mistress has run off because she’s afraid,’ Bessie answered reluctantly.

Lady Malvina stared into the yellow lamplight that had driven the dark into the corners of the room.

‘Afraid of my son? Do they think—’

‘They haven’t the brains to think. Shall I pour you a glass of port, my lady?’

‘Just a little drop, Bessie. I feel faint.’

‘And who wouldn’t, my lady? But don’t you worry. Master Titus will sleep in his own bed tonight, where he belongs,’

‘Where he belongs…What a comforting creature you are, Bessie. You’ve enjoyed being at the Hall again, haven’t you?’

‘Yes, indeed, my lady.’

‘Then this is where we shall stay,’ Lady Malvina declared firmly. ‘Right or wrong. Well, fill the glass, woman, fill the glass!’

An hour had gone by, and it was quite dark when there was the sound of horses’ hooves coming up the curving drive. Lady Malvina started up eagerly and unsteadily. Blane was back with Titus. The wine had given her optimism. She knew that all would now be well.

The door bell rang with a long clangour. At the head of the stairs Lady Malvina waited tensely, listening for Tomkins’s relieved welcome. All the servants had been hanging about, waiting and whispering.

Lady Malvina felt the wind sweep up the stairs from the opened door. She couldn’t hear the voices. They were too low. Tomkins seemed to be hesitating. Then the door shut with a heavy thud, and there were footsteps across the tiled floor. Lady Malvina went down several more steps to peer into the hall. She couldn’t recognise the man who stood there in a riding cloak, and with the lamplight glinting in his fair hair.

Who was it? Someone with news? Tomkins was coming towards the stairs. Lady Malvina began to run down in a flurry.

‘Who is it, Tomkins?’

Tomkins’s face was impassive, as always.

‘Mr Ambrose, my lady.’

‘Mr Ambrose!’

What did he want here at this hour? What was he poking his nose into now? Blane had said he was in the West Indies. Alarm shot through Lady Malvina’s fuddled head. What had he discovered there ?

She contrived to complete the descent of the stairs with dignity. Her face was highly flushed and her elaborate curls coming slightly adrift beneath her lace cap. But her greeting was cool and haughty. She liked Ambrose’s pale elegant face no more now than she had ever done.

‘Well, Ambrose, this is a surprise. You haven’t visited me at Mallow for a very long time.’

‘No, Aunt Malvina. And I apologise for arriving so unceremoniously. But I’ve just returned from Trinidad. My ship docked this morning. I came down immediately.’

Lady Malvina’s brows rose. ‘There was a reason for such urgency?’

‘There are various questions I want to ask. Is Blane in?’

‘No. He’s out riding.’

‘Out riding!’

Lady Malvina nodded with deliberation.

‘Don’t look so astonished. I’m not lying.’

‘But it’s late. It’s dark.’

‘My son was always unpredictable. Don’t you remember?’ Lady Malvina gave her hoarse chuckle. She enjoyed baiting Ambrose, cold dry stick of a boy that he had been. His careful avoidance of trouble since the day of his birth had always contrasted unfavourably with her own son’s endless predicaments. The consequence was that she had grown to detest Ambrose. She thought him sly and ambitious, and too self-contained ever to be at the mercy of his emotions.

‘If you insist on waiting until Blane returns, and I warn you it might be any hour of the night, you’d better come into the library. We’ll have some sustenance. It’s a cold night.’

‘Very cold,’ said Ambrose, rubbing his hands. ‘Especially after the tropics.’

‘Ah, yes. And how did you find the tropics?’

‘Of great interest, Lady Malvina.’

‘H’mm. You’d better tell me. But first let us have some brandy. Will you pour it? We don’t want the servants in. We have things to talk about.’

‘We certainly have things to talk about, Aunt. What’s this I hear about a woman being drowned in the lake?’

‘You didn’t take long to hear that!’

‘Everyone at Yarby is talking of it. There seemed to be a good deal of unpleasant speculation.’

‘Are they saying she was pushed in?’ Lady Malvina asked bluntly. ‘And serve her right if she was. She was a lying thieving creature.’

‘Was her name Samantha?’

Lady Malvina stared. ‘I haven’t the least idea what her name was. Neither, for that matter, has the police.’

‘Was she Blane’s wife?’

‘Good heavens, what nonsense are you talking?’ Lady Malvina took a deep swallow of her drink. The brandy curled comfortingly inside her, renewing her optimism. So Ambrose had come here to bluff, had he? Since he was asking questions, he obviously hadn’t yet discovered the answers.

But that sneaking pasty-faced woman Blane’s wife! She had to conceal the deep shock such a suggestion gave her.

‘I thought you had met Blane’s wife. You surely did so at the time of the court proceedings.’

‘Amalie?’ said Ambrose. ‘But I don’t believe Amalie is his wife at all.’

Lady Malvina stared. How priggish this young man looked. Priggish and superior and detestable. She threw back her head and gave her shouts of laughter.

‘Ambrose, my dear boy, the hot sun in the tropics has affected your brain. My daughter-in-law Amalie is a most devoted wife and mother.’

‘I know she’s the daughter of Thomas Whitehouse,’ Ambrose muttered. ‘I found that out. The wily old man changed his name from the Spanish some time ago. He has his ambitions. It was fine for him to have his daughter become the wife of an English lord. Naturally he wasn’t going to tell more than was necessary. If the court hears that Blane’s chief witness is also his father-in-law they might take a different view of the evidence.’