the maltese angel (43 page)

What if anything had happened to her child! And Janie wcis her

child:

she had reared her, cared for her, loved her; and yet in doing so she had imprisoned her;

but only for her own safety. With what result? Yes, she knew if

anything had happened to Janie she would scream her loathing at her sister, and at her father, too. Oh, yes, at her father, who cared for nothing, nor for no-one but the replica of his wife.

As she turned away she was surprised by the fact that she could think of her mother just as her father's wife ..

Carl had dismounted from his horse, which was now holding up its head as it answered the neighing of another in a stable along the yard; then he turned to meet Lady Lydia's approach.

Her greeting was warm: "Hello, Carl," she said.

"Dear! dear! it's such a long time since we met, but ... but it's enviable how you carry your years because you don't appear any older than when I last saw you."

"Thank you. Lady Lydia." He nodded at her as he smiled.

"I would like to believe that. You're very kind, as always."

She asked now, "Can I help you in any way?"

"We've had a little upset back at the farm, and the child you know, the young girl, Janie has been missing since this morning. And Miss Jessie wondered if you would allow me to look through your grounds to see if she might ... well' he shrugged his shoulders 'it's a faint hope

because I don't know how she could have got into your place. But as I said. Miss Jessie thinks she might be hiding somewhere. It's a sort of last straw before we apply for further help from ... the polis. And I ... well, you can understand Mr. Gibson wouldn't take kindly to

that."

"Oh no; I can understand. And of course you are very welcome to search where you like. My son is out

at the moment. He's on some business in the town and McNamara, our gardener, is with. him. They were killing two birds with one stone, so to speak. " She smiled before adding, " We run a business now, you know, called a small holding She poked her face forward, an amused expression on it, and he said, "Yes. Yes, I've heard, and also, m'lady, that it's doing well."

"Yes. Yes." Her eyes widened now.

"Surprisingly well. My son seems to be a genius with a pick and shovel, which, too, is very surprising when he doesn't appear to be ...

well, to have a manual temperament.

Books are more in his line. "

Carl smiled at her now, saying, "Yes. Yes, I recall that was his line, m'lady. We had a talk now and again when he came home from the

university, and he recommended one or two books to me that were good reading. Yes, yes, that was his line."

"Would you like to leave your horse here' she pointed ... 'there are plenty of empty stables while you look around?"

"Thank you, thank you. I'll do that." Now his smile widened: "And he won't be lost for company, as he's already made evident," he added.

He turned now and led the horse into a stable towards which Lady Lydia was pointing; then after closing the half-door on his animal he bade her goodbye by saying, "Thank you for your kindness, m'lady." And to this she answered, while shaking her head, "Oh, 'tis nothing. If we can be of help in any way, you must tell us."

It was a full hour later when he returned to the yard, and there being no-one about he knocked on the kitchen door; and when it was opened by a maid, he said briefly to her, "Will you please give her ladyship my thanks?" He did not add, "I haven't found her," for, as he knew only too well, maids' tongues rattled, and not only inside the house. So he turned and retrieved his horse and rode away, leaving Nancy Bellways asking herself, "And what has he got to thank her for, I wonder."

It was not fifteen minutes later when Gerald entered the house and, having been informed by Nancy that his mother was in the sitting-room, he went straight there, making a dramatic gesture as he opened the door: flinging his arms wide, he cried, "Success! Success! Another avenue has opened: fruit, flowers and vegetables, they'll take as much as we can supply."

He allowed his arms to drop, then moved quickly towards her, asking,

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing here," she said.

"And I'm so glad about the new orders. But Carl from Gibson's farm called in. The child is missing, you know, the daughter of the young girl. Something must have happened at the farm this morning because they've been searching all day, and he came to see if he could look through the grounds. Of course I said yes, but I didn't see him when later he left. He gave only a brief message to Nancy, and didn't say whether or not he had found her. Well, I didn't expect him to.

Likely, if the child was running away she would have come here,

wouldn't she? She would have made for a house, surely? Yet, I don't know."

"How long ago was this?"

"Oh' she thought for a moment 'since Nancy told me, I should think some twenty minutes or so. Anyway, our place seemed to be the last resort for them before they went to the police. But come; sit down and tell me all your news. Nancy's just brought the tea in."

"I'll just have a cup. Mama, then I'll go and have a look through the woods and thereabouts."

"But Carl has already done that, dear."

"Yes, I know, but' he smiled at her 'he doesn't know this place as I know it. Don't forget, I used to hide in the woods when father was on the rampage looking for me when I had yet again refused to play toy soldiers."

"Don't be silly, Gerald. Your father never wanted you to play toy soldiers."

"Well, the equivalent during my vacs: riding hell for leather over the fields as if we were in tournaments,

lances pointed I'm sure he imagined he was doing that half of his time then yelling at me when I purposely missed shooting the rooks.

What was that but soldier practice? Anyway, I knew some good

hidey-holes. Now, I won't be long, and I'll tell you all about our latest rise in the business when I come back. "

He heard her tut-tut ting as he left the room; then he was hurrying through the yard and into the labyrinth of garden beds that still

hadn't been cleared. As he approached the near-derelict woodman's

cottage his step slowed, and at the door he stopped and called in a low voice, "Are you there? It's only me." Then there being no answer, he went on, "I'm the man that knows about your rabbit hole."

When there was still no answer he pushed past the hanging door and passed through the first room and into the second. And there, about to rise from the mattress that he knew had housed a colony of field mice, he saw her. And he stared at her in amazement and pity for her chin and neck were covered with dried blood, as was one of her hands. She was blinking at him as she said, "I ... I must have fallen asleep."

"Oh, my dear!" He was sitting on the mattress beside her now.

"What on earth's happened?" And when he went to touch her hand, she jerked it back from him, saying, "There's ... there's pieces of glass still in it."

"What?"

"She ... she threw the lamp at me."

"Who did?"

"The ... the She had to swallow hard now before she could go on and say, " The woman, or person who they say is my mother. "

His eyes stretched, his mouth dropped into a gape, and he asked softly,

"But how did it come about?"

"I... I wanted to see her. I oiled the rusty keys and got in the back way. When I went into her room She now screwed up her eyes tightly, then did a strange thing: she put her tongue right out and brought her teeth down on it as if to stop herself talking. And when he said, "

Come, dear; we must get you home," she shrank back from him, saying, "

No! No! Auntie Jessie will keep the door locked on me for ever now.

"

"Oh no, she won't. No. No, she won't. I promise you."

"How ... how can you promise me; you don't live there."

No, I don't. " His voice was stern now.

"But I shall see ... I shall make it my business that no-one locks you up again."

"Will you?"

"Yes, I will. And that is a promise."

"I feel very tired. I ... I heard Carl calling me."

"Didn't he come in here?"

"I wasn't in here then, I was lying in the thicket, but I didn't let him know. Then I felt very tired and I remembered the bed." She turned her head and looked behind her and said, "The mice all ran away.

They were only small. I am not afraid of mice."

He took out a handkerchief now, but when he went to wipe her face she pulled her head back, saying, "I think my neck is cut." And when he looked closer he could detect a long scratch covered with dried

blood.

He didn't know how deep it might be, but he did know he must get her back to her home, and that she must see a doctor, for there were still pieces of glass in her hand. Good God! It was unbelievable that her mother, who had once been that beautiful, fragile young girl, was

capable of wreaking such vengeance on her offspring;

but then it was her offspring that had wrecked her life. What a

tangle! What a dreadful, dreadful tangle!

"You're a very sensible little girl," he said more gently now, 'and you must know that you cannot stay here. It will soon be nightfall and the animals' he moved his hand as though he knew of their whereabouts

'they'll come roving round here and frighten the life out of you. "

"I'm not afraid of animals."

No, she wasn't afraid of animals, it was people she was afraid of, and with good cause. He said, "Now listen, my dear. Nothing bad is going to happen to you when you get back home. I shall make it my business to see that you are in no way punished for--' What word would he give to a child for wanting to see her mother? The only one that came to mind was escapade, and that is what he said 'for your escapade."

She shook her head slowly now, then asked him a question that he could not answer: "Why are things at the farm like they are?" When he made no reply, she went on, "Other children can get out and run about. I saw them, lots of them. Were you ever locked up when you were a

boy?"

"Yes' he could smile at her 'and apart from some water I had nothing to eat or drink for a full day."

"What had you done?"

"Well ... I had kicked one of the yard men; then I had thrown a bucket of again he paused 'not too clean water over him."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because' he had to think here of his next words 'he was treating some animals as I thought he shouldn't." He couldn't go on to say he was drowning a litter of unwanted puppies.

When she moved her hand and winced, he got up, saying firmly, "Now you must come back with me. I've already told you, haven't I? and I

promise you again, you won't be locked in."

"How can you stop me being locked in? You don't live there."

"There are ways and means, my dear, ways and means. Now, come along."

When she stood up she swayed slightly. And when he went to take her hand she said, "Oh, don't touch that hand, please, it's very sore."

"I wasn't going to touch your poor hand; but give me your other hand."

She gave him her hand; but when they were outside the cottage he

stopped her and, looking down on her, said, "Now you know you can't crawl back through your rabbit hole because you mustn't get dirt in that hand. If you were to do so, well ... I don't know what would

happen. So we'll go by the road."

To this she made no objection; and so he now led her through the

grounds and to the actual ditch she had jumped on the day she visited the school. And after helping her across, he stamped down the broken railings with his feet, making note that this part of the boundary must be seen to. But they hadn't walked very far towards the farm when her step slowed and she said, "Can we sit down for a while? I am feeling very tired."

He looked down at her, then along both sides of the road before saying reluctantly, "There is nowhere to sit here, my dear, except on the verge." But when she suddenly leant her head against his arm he shook his own as though for the moment he was perplexed, but then, bending down to her, he said, "I am going to lift you up and carry you. Now I won't hurt your hand. Just hold it out away from me."

She made no protest. But when she was in his arms and leant her head against his shoulder, it came to him that on their walk here she had not chatted at all and that the child might not only be tired, but ill, and not only from her injuries but from shock. And further, as he

approached the farm gate, he was thinking it not only strange but

somewhat weird that he had once also helped to carry the child's mother through these gates, and now he was carrying the child herself.

He was greeted with a loud shout: it was from Hamish McNabb, crying,

"Mr. Carl! man. Look! Look!" as he dashed, not towards Gerald, but to the kitchen door, from where there now appeared not only Carl but also Jessie and Patsy.

"Where did you find her?" Jessie ran quickly to meet them.

"God! Look at the sight of her." This remark came from Carl and was mixed up with other exclamations.

But it was to Jessie that Gerald addressed himself, saying, "Where does she sleep? And ... and I think you should get a doctor as soon as

possible."

Jessie had stepped quickly ahead of him, one hand stretched out as if to guide him to the cottage, but now turned and called, "Carl! get ..

get Doctor Patten." Then she was pushing open the cottage door; and when they stepped into the room she guided Gerald further, saying,

"Through here. Through here, please."

They were in the bedroom now, and gently and thankfully he laid the child down on the bed. And when Jessie exclaimed tearfully, "Oh! the blood. I... I'll get a basin," he stopped her, saying, "I would do nothing until the doctor comes. I think there are splinters of glass still in her hand. I don't know about her neck."

"Where ... where did you find her?"

"In my wood."

"But Carl searched there not long ..."

"Yes, I know. But Carl belongs to this house, and I must tell you it was to this house she was afraid of returning." He watched her stiffen as he went on, "And, too, I must tell you, Miss Jessie, that her freedom must not be curtailed to the extent of her being locked up."