02 - Murder at Dareswick Hall (8 page)

There
was a silence as neither spoke for a moment.

‘If I
do agree to go through with it,’ Rose heard Isabella say finally, ‘do you
promise me faithfully that you won’t read any more of my letters?’

‘I do,
you have my word.’

‘Very
well then, so be it.’ A noise suggested that Isabella was stifling a sob.

‘Cheer
up, my dear. You’ll need to put a brave face on it, if only to convince your darling
siblings that this is what you want. I don’t really want to be forced to run
your brother through with a sword.’ Lord Sneddon laughed, as if he were
attempting a joke, but the sound was not pleasant.

‘So you
see,’ Hallam was saying as he paused to take a particularly difficult shot,
‘why I’m far from keen that Isabella should marry that scoundrel. He did
nothing but bring scandal on this household last time he was here, to say
nothing of breaking poor Josephine’s heart. She really fell for him, you know,
and to see them together you’d have thought that he was just as keen on her
when all the time…’ His voice faltered as he thought over again what Sneddon
had done.

‘I can
see why you feel as you do towards him,’ said Cedric, ‘but are you sure that
Josephine was as fond of him as you imagine? I grant you she looked rather
shocked when he turned up last night, but I wouldn’t have gone so far as to say
she looked devastated.’

‘Well,
it did happen about a year ago,’ admitted Hallam, ‘but even so she took it very
badly at the time. She’s become very secretive and withdrawn. There was a time
when we told each other everything, but now she hardly says a word about how
she’s really feeling. She always puts on a bit of an act for Father, you know,
pretends everything’s fine, but sometimes when she thinks no one is looking at
her she has such a sad look on her face.’

‘And
you think that’s to do with Sneddon?’

‘Yes,
I’m sure of it. The man’s an absolute rotter. I mean, pretending on the one
hand that he’s mad about her when all the while he’s cavorting with one of the
…Oh, bother!’ Hallam broke off as he missed his shot and Cedric took his go.

‘I take
it that Isabella knew all about this?’

‘Yes
she did and that’s why I can’t understand it. She was in London at the time,
but she knew what effect Sneddon’s behaviour had on Josephine, she saw it for
herself when she came back at weekends. Why, we even stayed up half the night
talking about it once.’ Hallam suddenly looked dejected. ‘That’s what I don’t
understand, Cedric. I know Isabella’s never been the sympathetic kind, but she
was genuinely upset for Josephine and then when we found out that awful
business with the maid, why, I’m surprised she even spoke to Sneddon in London let
alone became engaged to him.’

‘Well,
I’ve just told you what happened at Ashgrove, so what you’ve told me hardly
surprises me, although the situation with the maid is very tragic. But I’m
afraid you’ve got to face up to it, old chap. Whether you like it or not,
Isabella’s set on marrying the man.’

‘That’s
just it, Cedric. Although I can’t stand the chap after everything he’s done, I
suppose I could have made a bit of an effort to get along with him, if only for
Isabella’s sake. But it’s just that I don’t think she’s very happy about it all;
I don’t think it’s what she really wants.’

‘I
think you may be right,’ Cedric admitted slowly and reluctantly, knowing as he
did so that his saying so would only act to encourage Hallam in his speculation.
‘She certainly looked pretty miserable about it all last night. Of course, it
could have been because of your outburst.’

‘Yes,
but why didn’t she tell me just to be quiet? It wasn’t like her at all just to
stand there and say nothing. You know what she’s like. I would have expected
her to be over the moon at the prospect of marrying a man who’ll inherit a
dukedom one day. Don’t get me wrong, she would have been sad about how
Josephine might take the news, but she would have been pretty delighted about the
prospect all the same.’

‘Yes,
and their arrival at the last minute before dinner was rather strange,’ said
Cedric thinking. ‘I say, Hallam, concentrate a bit on the game, won’t you, that
was a very easy shot, you could have won.’

‘Sorry,’
Hallam said, sheepishly. ‘I can understand though why Isabella was elusive
about who her guest was going to be. She knew I’d kick up a fuss about it. And
I’m not surprised Sneddon insisted on seeing Father straightaway; he knew that
Father would have been minded to have him thrown out. Of course, Sneddon knew
that dangling the fact that he had asked Isabella to marry him was enough to
get Father’s support behind him. Father’s always been desperate for at least
one of his daughters to marry well and he’s always been rather worried about
Isabella.’

‘Hallam,’
began Cedric, slowly, choosing his words carefully, ‘you don’t think Isabella’s
being coerced into accepting Sneddon’s proposal, do you?’

‘You
mean being blackmailed?’ Hallam dropped his cue with a thud on the floor. ‘Why,
that would explain everything! That’s why Isabella looked so miserable last
night and didn’t seem to care a jot when the footman dropped boiling hot soup
over Sneddon at dinner. I say, I could have cheered when he did. Father was
jolly rotten to give Robert his marching orders.’

‘If
Isabella’s being coerced into this marriage, we’re going to have to do
something about it, Hallam.’

‘Too
right, we are,’ agreed Hallam gleefully. ‘I’ve a good mind to challenge the man
to a duel. I’m jolly good at fencing, you know. Although knowing Sneddon, I bet
he’d insist that we use pistols.’

‘Do
talk sense, Hallam. What I’m proposing is that we try and talk to Isabella,
find out exactly what’s going on.’

‘Oh, I
am talking sense, Cedric. If I find out that Sneddon’s been blackmailing my
sister into marrying him, I’m going to kill him.’ There was a certain look of
determination on his face and bitterness in his voice which suggested to Cedric
that he was being serious. It occurred to Cedric then that he might be forced
to take matters into his own hands.

Rose
heard the door open and the sound of movement as both Sneddon and Isabella
walked through it and shut the door behind them.

As soon
as the door had closed and she knew that she was alone again, Rose uncurled her
legs from under her and stood up trembling slightly. It was not so much because
of what she had heard for, if she were truthful, it hardly surprised her given
the way Isabella had behaved towards Sneddon the previous evening. No, it was
more the distraught state that Isabella had been in, and Sneddon’s coldness
towards her and total disregard of her feelings. She knew that both parties
would have been appalled had they known that their conversation had been
overheard, yet she felt that she must do something. She could not let Isabella
go through with a marriage to Lord Sneddon, not when it was so obviously against
her wishes. She hardly knew Isabella, but even so she resolved there and then
that she would do whatever it took to ensure that Isabella did not have to go
through with her side of the bargain.

Rose
wandered out into the hall, still in a bit of a daze, going over and over in
her mind what she had just heard.

‘Oh,
there you are, Rose, I’ve been looking for you everywhere,’ said Josephine,
suddenly appearing. ‘Shall we go for our walk now? It’s pretty warm outside. I
thought we might wander down to the lake.’

The two
girls set off, Rose still deep in her own thoughts. Josephine did not appear to
notice because she chatted on endlessly, apparently without expectation of any
response. It was only afterwards that Rose wondered whether her incessant
chatter had been contrived, hiding other deeper emotions.

‘I
expect I’d better tell you all about it, this business with Hugh. As I said
earlier, I’m afraid it’s all rather unpleasant, but it’ll help explain why
Hallam is acting the way he is. He is behaving rather childishly, but
justifiably, I would say. It’s a great pity Hugh’s here. Hallam had great plans
for all the things we were going to do together this weekend, but now I expect
most of the time will be taken in keeping him and Hugh apart.’

‘I got
the impression last night that he thought you’d be very upset by Lord Sneddon’s
unexpected arrival,’ began Rose, tentatively.

‘Yes,
well, I was of course.’ Josephine stopped abruptly. ‘I might as well tell you,
Rose. It’s all rather embarrassing but there was a time when I thought Hugh was
rather keen on me. It was about this time last year; perhaps a month or two
later. He made an awful fuss of me and I was rather taken by him, myself. He is
awfully handsome and can be quite charming when he wants to be. And of course Father
was delighted, as you can imagine. He’s always wanted either Isabella or myself
to marry well. Everyone thought it would be Isabella, of course, what with her
being much prettier than me and loving high society. Father just assumed that
I’d be content staying here at Dareswick and of course I would have been if
only …’

‘…it
hadn’t been for Hugh.’ Rose finished Josephine’s sentence for her because the
girl seemed to hesitate.

‘Hugh?
Yes, of course, Hugh.’ Josephine’s hand went sharply up to the side of her
face. At the same moment a breath of wind happened to sweep a strand of hair
aside and Rose could not help herself from letting out a gasp. For, not far
from her left eye was an ugly scar the length of a lipstick, quite white as if
it had been made years before.

‘Oh, my
scar,’ said Josephine, looking at the horror on Rose’s face and covering her
scar instinctively with her hand. ‘I’m afraid I’m rather sensitive about anyone
seeing it, it’s usually covered by my hair.

‘I’m
sorry, I didn’t mean to stare at it.’

‘It’s
alright, really it is. I know I’m silly about it. Hallam is always telling me
that it doesn’t look that awful. It’s just the result of a silly little sibling
argument that got out of hand when we were children.’

‘Hallam
gave you that scar?’

Josephine
hesitated slightly before nodding. ‘Yes, but don’t say anything about noticing it
to him, will you? He’s awfully ashamed about it, poor dear. It’s one of the
reasons I keep it covered up by my hair so as not to remind him of it. We were
both only young children when it happened, she didn’t mean anything by it.’

Rose
wasn’t so sure. It seemed to her that it would have taken some considerable
effort to cause such a wound, which led her to think that it might have been
deliberate rather than an accident. She thought of Hallam’s outburst the night
before, how he had worked himself up into such a state. She shivered slightly
despite the warmth of the day. For the first time that morning she was glad
that Cedric was keeping him occupied and wondered whether Hallam was seriously
intending to do Lord Sneddon harm. In her mind’s eye, she could see him raising
his hand and slashing Hugh’s face with a knife as he must have done all those
years before to Josephine’s.

‘Anyway,
what was I saying?’ continued Josephine hurriedly, her hair safely put back in
place with a realigned hairpin. ‘Oh yes, Hugh’s behaviour. Well, unbeknown to
us all, at the same time that he was supposedly courting me, he was also paying
his respects to one of the housemaids. The under housemaid at the time, a young
girl called Mabel. A pretty little thing she was but very naive, I’m afraid,
certainly insofar as men were concerned.’

‘What
happened?’

‘Well,
perhaps not surprisingly, he got her into trouble. The whole household knew
Lord Sneddon was responsible, but somehow word went around the village that
Hallam was to blame, when anyone who knows him at all would know that he
wouldn’t have dreamed of doing such a thing.’

‘How
awful.’

‘Yes,
thankfully our own servants knew he wasn’t at fault, but I’m afraid that’s not
all. I’m afraid it was much worse than that you see –.’

‘Lord
Sneddon’s blackmailing Isabella to marry him!’ Rose blurted out suddenly,
before she even had time to reconsider her words. Afterwards she realised
things may have turned out differently if only she had kept quiet. But all the
while Josephine had been talking, alluding to sordid and unsavoury acts on
Sneddon’s part, Rose had felt the need to confide in her the awful course
Sneddon had chosen to adopt with regard to her sister’s future. She heard again
in her mind Isabella’s pleading voice and Sneddon’s merciless response. She had
felt she must tell someone, she must. She had imagined that the person she
would tell would be Cedric, but here was Isabella’s sister, kind and sensible
Josephine, standing with her in the gardens far from the house and the
possibility of being overheard. Who better to tell but Isabella’s older sister?
Who better to rescue Isabella from her fate? Even so, as the words tumbled from
her mouth, she wondered even then whether she had made a mistake. Even then it
occurred to her that she should have kept silent until she had had the
opportunity to speak things over with Cedric. But it was too late; the words
were out now and could not be retracted.

‘What!’
Josephine was aghast. ‘Whatever do you mean? How do you know he’s blackmailing
her? Did Isabella tell you he was?’

‘No,
she didn’t have to. You see…’ Rose hesitated. She was beginning to regret her
outburst, not least because she would have to admit that she had listened in,
however unintentionally, to a conversation not meant for others’ ears. ‘I was
in the library this morning after breakfast, sitting in one of those great wing
chairs by the fireplace, reading a book. I was trying to kill time before
meeting up with you to go for this walk.’ Rose could feel her face burning. ‘There
didn’t seem much point–.’

‘Yes?’
interrupted Josephine impatiently.

‘I must
have fallen asleep for a couple of minutes because I didn’t hear the door open.
Lord Sneddon and your sister came in. They couldn’t have seen me sitting by the
fireplace. I was hidden by the chair back. Anyway, before I knew what was
happening, they were having an argument. I didn’t know what to do. Whether I
should make my presence known or not. So I’m afraid I just sat there and
listened until they left.’

‘I see.’
Josephine said slowly. ‘That would explain Isabella’s mood last night. It’s funny
but I’m almost glad in a way. Not that she’s being blackmailed, of course, but
that she isn’t intentionally hurting Hallam and me. But what I don’t understand
is what could Hugh possibly have to blackmail her over? I daresay she’s a bit
reckless when she’s in London, probably drinks a little too much and that sort
of thing, but I can’t imagine that he could have such a hold over her as to
force her into marrying him against her will.’

‘He’s
got hold of some letters somehow.’

‘Letters?
What sort of letters?’

‘About
a love affair, I think. With someone unsuitable. And I’m afraid they were
rather incriminating.’

‘In
what way?’ Josephine’s eyes had gone wide. She was staring at Rose so intently
that Rose began to squirm under such scrutiny.

‘“I
cannot wait until I am in your arms again and your lips are on mine”, that sort
of thing,’ Rose said looking at the ground, embarrassed.

 ‘Oh,
my God!’ said Josephine sitting down slowly on a nearby bench. ‘And do you know
who these letters were addressed to, who Isabella’s lover was?’

‘Yes,
Lord Sneddon mentioned his name,’ said Rose, racking her brains. ‘Claude
something, I think. I don’t remember his surname, I’m afraid. I’m not even sure
he mentioned it, but he said something about him having been Isabella’s French
tutor.’

‘Claude
Lambert,’ said Josephine slowly. ‘So I was right all along. Oh my God, I was
right!’ She covered her face with her hands.

‘You
knew about it?’

‘I had
my suspicions, yes. I just hoped that they would prove unfounded.’

‘Did
you ever meet him?’

‘Yes, I
met him a few times when I was up visiting Isabella in London.’ She groaned.
‘How could she have been so stupid?’

Rose
studied Josephine closely. She had expected her to be upset by the news, but
the girl appeared absolutely distraught; she was positively shaking.

‘Would
it be so disastrous if those letters became public?’

‘What?
Oh….yes, it would. My father has quite a temper as you have seen first-hand by
the way he treated the poor footman last night for spilling the soup on Lord
Sneddon. If he found out about those letters I’ve no doubt he’d disinherit her.
And if the content of those letters became public, it would be even worse. Any chance
Isabella had of a good marriage would be gone.’

‘But we
can’t let Lord Sneddon get away with it,’ pleaded Rose. ‘We can’t let him force
your sister into marrying him. You should have heard Isabella this morning. She
was desperate and he didn’t care one bit; he was completely heartless.’

‘No, we
can’t let him blackmail her into marrying him,’ agreed Josephine slowly. She
looked preoccupied as if she was trying to work out the best course of action.
‘Rose, I want you to leave this with me. I don’t want you to tell anyone else
about this, not even Cedric. Will you promise me that you won’t tell anyone, nobody
at all?’ There was an urgency in Josephine’s manner that Rose found unnerving.
She felt a sense of foreboding, as if something was very wrong, worse even than
Isabella being blackmailed.

‘Yes,
alright,’ Rose agreed reluctantly for now more than ever she desperately wanted
to tell Cedric, ‘if that’s what you want. But what are you going to do? Are you
going to reason with him? Do you think he will listen to you?’

‘Leave
it with me, Rose,’ Josephine said firmly. ‘Now, I’m going back to my room to
think what to do.’ For the first time she seemed aware of the concern on Rose’s
face. ‘You needn’t look so worried, Rose, it’ll be all right, I’ll think of
something. But you must promise me that you won’t breathe a word about this to
anyone.’ With that, Josephine walked quickly back to the house; indeed, she was
almost running.

Rose
looked after the retreating figure feeling anything but reassured. She had made
a mistake, she was sure of it now. If only she could take back her words. She
and Josephine could still be talking now about the scandal involving Lord
Sneddon that had taken place at Dareswick earlier in the year. He had got one
of the servant girls into trouble, Josephine had said, but she had hinted also
that that was not the worst thing that he had done. What could be worse, Rose
wondered, than ruining a young girl’s life? And it was only now after Josephine
was gone and Rose was left to wander the gardens alone, to survey the work
beginning to be done by the gardeners in preparation for the winter to come, that
it occurred to her that not once had Josephine asked why Lord Sneddon should
wish to marry her sister.