Murder in Abbot's Folly (12 page)

‘How could I?' Georgia murmured.

‘Georgia? It's Jennifer Fettis.'

Of all the people to be calling her in the evening at Medlars, Jennifer was the least expected.

‘Dora told me you're keen to know about the Jane Austen story and that she's holding back on telling you herself,' Jennifer continued. ‘If that's so, would you like to come over to Stourdens? I'd be happy to talk to you, and Dora can feel she has a clear field too.'

‘I'd love to,' Georgia said, ‘if you feel up to it.' At last she and Peter could move on.

‘Yes. We're rather pushed for the next few days. How about Friday afternoon? And bring your father too.' A pause. ‘I should tell you that Tim thinks I'm crazy, because it's the Luckhurst murder that interests you, not Jane Austen, but I need to talk about something other than my mother.' It seemed to Georgia a cry for help.

It was raining on Friday when she drew up outside Stourdens with Peter, and the house looked an even sadder place. ‘Perhaps bereavement has its own fingerprints,' she said as she got out of the car with a large umbrella to try to shield Peter. She was hoping against hope that only Jennifer would be present, but it was Tim who opened the door. He did his best to look as though he were pleased to see them, but she could see the set expression despite the welcoming words.

‘Jennifer's in the living room,' he said. ‘Go gently, will you?'

‘Of course. Are you still swamped with the media on top of everything else?'

He shrugged. ‘Yes, but it's inevitable. Ironic to think we wanted publicity for Stourdens and now we've got it, though hardly as we would have wished.'

‘Are you still holding back on future plans?' Peter asked as Georgia and Tim dealt with wet coats and umbrella.

‘It's a complicated business with wills and so on. We're thinking that the best way to deal with it may be to let it all happen gradually without any fanfares. Too many people besides us depend on us now. Laura wouldn't have wanted to let them down.'

‘Jake Halliday mentioned a documentary about Stourdens, and I gather that Philip Faring has a book on the stocks about it too.'

‘You're well informed,' Tim said pleasantly.

‘Our job,' Peter said mildly. ‘It all sounds interesting.'

‘It is. Phil's a first-class scholar, and he's had a breathtaking subject to work on here. It would be a crying shame if we didn't support it; it's due out in December. And Philip and Jake aren't the only ones. There are commitments to Tom Miller, some of whose land Laura was planning to buy; Barbara Hastings has set up her company ready to expand the catering side, and Craig is coming in with her on that. The whole of Dunham is going to be affected – and for good, not bad.'

And so, it occurred to Georgia, quite a few people would have reason to wish Laura Fettis dead, if she was beginning to have doubts about commercializing Stourdens.

Jennifer came out to meet them, looking very wary. From the look she gave Tim she wasn't pleased when he followed them into the living room overlooking the terrace. ‘We're only going to talk about the same old story, Tim,' she said pointedly.

The hint for him to leave failed, and he sat on the arm of her chair with his arm around her shoulder, until she made a direct appeal to him to ask if he could bring tea in and he unwillingly left.

‘Sorry,' Jennifer said to them. ‘It's just that I know how important the Austen collection was to my mother and I didn't want to be distracted.'

‘You showed us some of it in Abbot's Folly,' Peter prompted her when she seemed uncertain how to begin.

‘So we did. I'd forgotten – we showed you the portraits, didn't we, and I imagine Dora's already told you quite a bit.'

‘No. We only got as far as its having something to do with a love affair beginning at Edgar House when Captain Harker came into a room where Jane Austen was waiting. Dora implied that in the end something nasty had happened in the relationship.'

Jennifer managed a smile. ‘Dora must be longing to tell you more. She revels in it.'

‘Until Gerald calls a halt,' Peter said.

Jennifer shrugged. ‘It hardly matters now. In a nutshell: William Harker was paid off in 1802 from his ship HMS
Rhea
because the Treaty of Amiens called a halt to the hostilities between Napoleon and England. His brother owned the Edgar Arms, which was then an inn for changing post-chaises and stage coaches. William was staying there, and Jane and Cassandra were waiting for the carriage from Godmersham to pick them up. When they visited their brother Edward Austen, who then lived at Godmersham Park, they often hired post-chaises, stopping at coaching inns en route. Harker was a frequent guest at Stourdens because he was a friend of the fifth baronet and therefore knew his mother well, the widowed Lady Edgar. Stourdens is so close to Godmersham Park that Jane and Cassandra frequently visited it with their brother Edward and his family, and – as Dora would say – romance blossomed between Jane and William. Their stay was during September and October 1802, and on that occasion Jane's brother Charles was also present at Godmersham Park. It was during that time that Jane painted her watercolour of William and Cassandra drew Jane herself. We don't quite know how they came to be in the Luckhurst collection, but we suspect that Lady Edgar might have confiscated them.'

Georgia blinked. ‘Why on earth should she do that?'

‘Because she was the fly in the ointment. She seems to have mistaken the relationship she had with her son's best chum Harker for love, not just friendship. Unfortunately, he wasn't in love with her, but in Jane Austen's time there were rules about that sort of thing. He had been so constantly in Lady Edgar's company since he was paid off from his ship in May that gossip had them an affianced couple. So late in October poor old Jane went back with Charles and Cassandra to Steventon, by then her brother James' home, under the happy impression that William would be coming to visit her in a week or two's time. All she got was a letter saying that he was to marry Lady Edgar.'

‘Tough on Jane,' Georgia commented.

‘And Harker too. His marriage duly took place in March 1803, and two months later the Amiens treaty broke down and war broke out. He was recalled to his ship and died at Trafalgar two years later. He probably didn't see his blushing bride again, and maybe was glad not to do so. But it left Jane Austen so devastated that she accepted the first offer of marriage she received, which was at Manydown Park near Basingstoke in early December. The rebound, in fact.'

‘Harris Bigg-Wither,' Georgia said. ‘And then she immediately regretted it. But I thought there was a story about another man she was in love with earlier on – 1801?'

‘Date in doubt, location of meeting in doubt, and name and profession in doubt,' Jennifer said. ‘I talked this over with Mum time and time again. I don't see that it matters. Perhaps by the time Cassandra came to tell the story the passing years had confused the details with someone else and she was actually referring to Harker; if Harker wasn't the lucky man, then she had two beaux in addition to Bigg-Wither and not one. Not unlikely.'

‘Did your mother believe in the Harker story?'

‘Oh yes. After all, it fits so well with
The Watsons.
Stourdens is Osborne Castle where the widowed Lady Osborne lived with her son, the new fifth baronet. In the novel Emma Watson attended the local Assembly Rooms and danced with a Mr Howard. That's more or less the end of the action in
The Watsons
because Jane Austen abandoned it, but after her death it emerged – though it's disputed – that Jane Austen planned to have Lady Osborne make eyes at Mr Howard. In the novel, as distinct from Jane Austen's own love affair, Mr Howard was to disentangle himself and marry his true love Emma Watson. Wishful thinking on Jane's part.'

‘Still at it?' Tim appeared with a tray piled with cups and saucers, and it seemed to throw Jennifer off her stride because she busied herself with laying them out ready for tea. When Tim had fetched the teapot and a plate of biscuits, he went over to kiss Jennifer, but it seemed to Georgia she flinched a little.

‘Is the collection still in the folly?' Georgia asked brightly, to cover an awkward silence.

It was Tim who answered. ‘Yes. I gather Laura wanted it kept there just as it was in Bob Luckhurst's time, because it was away from the main house. She wanted it to be accessible, but not to every Tom, Dick and Harry who might come into Stourdens. Ridiculous, really, because it costs a small fortune in insurance to have it out there, plus the heating bills to keep it from the damp and frost. We might move it back indoors now.'

Jennifer did not comment, but again Georgia sensed a withdrawal in her, as though putting distance between herself and Tim.

‘Amelia Luckhurst told us that your mother was getting worried about the possible effects of your plans for Stourdens,' Peter said.

‘Nonsense,' Tim replied immediately just as Jennifer spoke again.

‘She was. It worries me too. Mum loved the peace and quiet and the atmosphere here. She was afraid Stourdens would be ruined.'

‘You don't want this place to fall down, do you, sweetheart?' Tim said solicitously, but there was an edge to his voice. ‘Your mother's worries would have passed; it was just nerves, leading up to the Gala, and you're not seeing things straight either at the moment. Naturally enough. You'll have to excuse her—'

‘Nobody has to excuse me anything, Tim,' Jennifer said coldly. ‘The Fettises hold the collection, and I propose to talk to Peter and Georgia about it.'

‘If you wish,' was all he murmured. ‘It's your inheritance, not mine.'

She ignored this, went over to a desk and brought back a sheet of paper. ‘Mum made a list of the more important documents in the collection; she made it in preparation for Jake's TV documentary, since she didn't want the collection itself to be seen in case it drew attention to the vulnerability of Abbot's Folly. The list was partly for that and partly as an aide-memoire for herself when she was to be interviewed about the collection. And now she never will be . . .' Jennifer struggled to regain her composure.

‘Anyway, I made these photocopies for you,' she said, handing them to Peter and Georgia. ‘I'd better run through one or two because Mum's descriptions aren't exactly explicit. The first is a letter from Mrs Wildman in 1806, who lived at Chilham Castle, addressed to Lady Edgar and recalling the balls at Chilham where Lady Edgar's late husband, Captain William Harker, had danced with Miss Jane Austen. That letter's either bitchy or ingenuous, I always think. Lady Edgar seems to have reverted to her former married name, which suggests a certain degree of snobbishness. There's a pocket book – they preceded diaries for noting one's daily events and thoughts – from a Tabitha Kemble recording her father speaking of a ball at Chilham where he danced with Miss Austen (which would be Cassandra, since she was the elder of the two); for the following year 1802 he recalled a friend of his named William Harker dancing with her sister Jane. The pocket book was given to the Luckhursts in 1890. There's a letter to Lord Edgar from Edward Austen's chum at Eastwell Park, Richard Milles, who was an MP and who had just dined at Godmersham; he had had the pleasure of sitting next to Miss Jane Austen. That's supported by a letter from his wife Mary to Lady Elizabeth Hatton, relating some gossip about the same dinner and the obvious affection between Miss Jane Austen and Captain William Harker.

‘There's also,' Jennifer continued, ‘a letter from the Reverend Isaac Lefroy to Edward Austen mentioning his having met Jane at Ramsgate in 1803 to whom he had recalled the happy occasion the previous year when she had been with Captain Harker. And just to whet the media appetite, Mum has underlined one from Jane herself to Lady Edgar congratulating her on her marriage in March 1803 which has a delightful twist about William: “He is the best of men, and one who thinks least of self and most of those for whom he cares, capable of riding out the heaviest weather.” That's a gem because no letters from Jane Austen have hitherto been known to exist during this whole period. Cassandra destroyed them – for whatever reason. Dora's sure it was because she was jealous of Jane's love affair, and who's to know she's not right?'

‘Could we go to the folly to see the collection?' Georgia asked.

A glance at Tim, and Jennifer replied regretfully, ‘Of course. Not today though. But tell Dora she can show you the letters she has. They're quite something, especially combined with ours.'

Tim had remained silent, but the way he rose unasked to show them to the door spoke volumes.

‘It strikes me that the household is at odds with itself over and above the problems of bereavement,' Peter said reflectively as they drove away. ‘Mike hasn't commented, but I wonder whether any of them are on the suspect list.'

‘Surely—' Georgia broke off. Just because she liked Jennifer didn't mean that her father and fiancé were immune from suspicion, or even worse, Jennifer herself, although that was something she could not entertain. ‘Tensions are bound to be high,' she said. ‘Just think what it must be like not only grieving but also having the police and the press on your back all the time.'

‘You would think that would draw them together, not put a wedge between them. Abbot's Folly seems to be a tension point in itself – any chance that Laura was going there, not the garden, when she was killed?'

‘It's possible, but why? It would have to be something dramatic because only half an hour before she'd told Dora she was too ill to make the speech. Something made her dash out of the house when she wasn't well and when her presence outside would undoubtedly be noted.'