The Body on the Beach (The Weymouth Trilogy) (16 page)

She took another deep breath and kissed her aunt on the forehead. She whispered a little prayer as she did so. Then she thanked her for the consistent love and support she had shown
her
for as long as she could ever remember. And then she said sorry – sorry for putting her through so much, sorry for robbing her of her lifelong home, sorry for leaving her so very much on her own. Only after all of this did she replace the cover over her face, leave the room, and go off in search of the landlady.

It took quite some time to sort out all the business but luckily the landlady was more than prepared to facilitate the necessary events
for her
. She
told Kathryn that she
had foun
d the old lady that very lunchtime
. She was not quite sure exactly when she had died, though she had still been warm when she had laid her out, so it had probably been sometime
that day. Kathryn felt mortifi
ed. Had it not been for Giles she might have come in time to sit with her –  to be with her at the end. And as it was the old lady, her last remaining relative, had been left to die, frightened and in pain, entirely on her own. It didn’t seem fair
at all
.

She had precious little time for regrets
, however. Time was moving on and there was a lot to think about. A f
uneral had to be paid for, of course, even
an e
xtremely modest one
, and the landlady would need the money in advance
. So Kathryn
gave her
all her coins
, which she hoped would be sufficient to pay for it, thanked
her
for all her assistance, and promised to return to clear out the apartment in a
couple of
days’ time. The bell of St Mary’s was just clanging five fifteen as she
left the house
. She
hurried her way back towards the elegant building that was the Royal Hotel
in order to meet
back up
with Giles
.

She was twenty minutes later than planned when she got there. Giles was nowhere to be seen. Kathryn took a deep breath and wondered what to do. In his usual careless manner Giles had not thought to make an appointment before turning up at Mr Brewer’s that afternoon and it may well be that the banker had not immediately been at liberty to talk to him. Perhaps she should make her way to the bank instead and see if Giles was inside
?
But when she got there she could see that the bank was not open. Whether her husband had managed to get his interview or not, it was apparent that he would not be in there now. She went back to the hotel again and lingered outside for a few minutes more. But it was obvious that Giles was not going to come. She hoped that he had not waited for her for a couple of minutes and then made off on his own, for she knew that he would be angry with her for making him look a fool. Eventually she realised that there was nothing to be done but to set off on her own back to Sandsford. It was most annoying. She had wasted another hour, wandered
unnecessarily half way
around Weymouth, and now she had to make the wearisome journey
back home
on her own. It was the outside of enough.

She had hardly been gone above fifteen minutes when three gentlemen emerged from the Royal Hotel, seemingly a trifle above par. Giles had reached the bank just in time to meet up with Mr Brewer and Mr Berkeley as they emerged from the offices, and been greeted like an old friend by both (although neither had met him above once before in their lives). They had been on their way out for a couple of bevvies before continuing to Brewer’s for their dinner. Would Mr Miller care to join them? Of course Mr Miller had cared to join them. Instantly forgetting the reason for his meeting with Mr Brewer, he joined in with them without question. And after an hour and a half in the gentlemen’s bar in the Royal they had staggered their way up the Esplanade and into one of the town houses just a few doors down the road, in a smart new terrace by the name of Gloster Row.

Giles reappeared the next afternoon. Kathryn was
reading with Bob in the kitchen
and wa
s just announcing the end of
lessons for the day when she heard her husband coming into the hall.

She went to meet him, and managed a smile.
Giles seemed to
notice that she had donned her mourning outfit
. He failed to say anything about it.

‘Have you sorted everything, Giles?’ she asked.

Giles took her in his arms and gave her a big hug.

‘We’
ll be all right, Kitty
,
don’t you fret.’

Kathryn felt that she would be far less likely to fret if she were to know exactly how things stood but she could see that her husband was determined to give nothing away.

‘I met up with your friend’s brother – Berkeley, is it? – at the bank,’ he said, carelessly, taking off his coat. ‘He and Brewer were off for a bevvy so I went alongside. Invited me for dinner so I had to stay. Brewer’s eldest daughter was there – Sophie
he called her. Gad, what a girl
. Just sixteen and straight from school. Ripe for the plucking. Dainty as a fairy – a bit in your style, Kitty, but twice the woman. She won’t be hanging around for long, that’s for sure. Berkeley couldn’t take his eyes off her.’

It was perhaps fortunate that Giles had slung his coat onto the floor, as it gave Kathryn the opportunity of turning away to pick it up again, and hence hiding the effects of his news from sight. She had never thought of Mr Berkeley taking an interest in other women, she knew not why. She did not like the idea at all, though she knew that she had no right to think it. After all, it was perfectly natural for him to do so.

‘So did you stay with Mr Brewer?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. Didn’t get out of there until after midnight so there was nothing for it but to put up at the Royal.’

‘But I thought you were short of money.’

‘So – what else would you have had me do? I couldn’t walk back here in the dark, could I? I might have killed myself falling down the cliffs. None of the lodging houses would’ve taken me in at that time of night. I was lucky enough to get in at the Royal.’

Kathryn couldn
’
t help but reflect on the money she had just given to the landlady to cover her poor aunt’s funeral. It had been all that she’d had left until the end of June, yet it was probably a quarter of the amount that Giles had just expended upon himself for his single night at the Royal.

‘Well, I’m glad that everything has got sorted anyway,’ she said. ‘I daresay
that
everything will work out in the end.’

On the first of May
Kathryn
took Bob up to the village green for the annual celebrations and watched as he romped joyously around the maypole with the rest of the village children, sorry that she had to drag him home instead of treating him to the rather delicious-smelling hog roast that enticed them
to
the fire. The next day she
returned to her aunt’s apartment, as promised, and sorted out the pathetically few belongings that had not come as part of the furnishings. There was nothing of any real value, apart from a little silver ring that Kathryn knew had belonged to her aunt’s mama – Kathryn’s own grandmama – and a couple of guinea coins wrapped round with a note. For Kathryn the note was by far the most valuable of the three. She kissed it gently as she read it. It told Kathryn to spend the guineas on herself and Bob and not on any account to give them to Giles. It told her that, what ever she did, she must always keep her trust that God would look after her. It told her that she was very much loved, and always would be, and that she should ever be true to herself.

Kathryn
took a deep breath and immediately resolved to squirrel the precious note away, and to keep the money and the ring with it as little Bob’s inheritance. But where could she put it? No area in the house could be guaranteed off limits from Giles – even Tom’s shed, or Sally’s attic. No, the three precious items – the
coins
, the
ring
and the note – would not be safe at Sandsford House. Perhaps Mrs Wright might be prepared to keep them for her?

Kathryn could think of no better plan, so as soon as she had finished at the apartment she made her way over the bridge and across to
High Street
.
She had to wait for a moment while the bridge swung closed after some boats sailed through it towards the sea
, providing a welcome moment of respite.
Mrs Wright was sitting at her window, sewing, and waved at Kathryn as she appeared before it. She rose to greet her and invited her inside.

‘I am so pleased to see you,’ she said. ‘It feels an age since you were here, though it is scarcely a week since our day out, isn’t it?’

Was it scarcely a week? Kathryn supposed that it must be, though it felt an absolute lifetime.

‘My husband is now returned from London, Mrs Wright, and what with that and the sad death of my aunt at the weekend I fear I have scarcely had a moment to myself. But what a lovely day out we had. I was most impressed by your brother’s ability to plan everything. I cannot imagine Giles ever having the gumption to plan the half of it.’

‘No. I know that gentlemen as a whole are not too good at that sort of thing, though I must say that John is quite the planner as well. H
e has to be, as a navy man. He should not know where he was
going, or how to get there, were he not.’

Kathryn smiled. She realised, with a start, that life here in
High Street
was quite normal whilst her own life since Giles’ sudden return had been far from normal. Yet, oddly, it was normality that was
just then
feeling strange.

‘I am sorry to hear about your aunt, Mrs Miller. I think you have mentioned her to me before.’

‘Yes. She was my last remaining relative – apart from little Bob, of course. My father’s sister. We had both expected that she should see out her days at Sandsford House but
– well, unfortunately it didn’
t prove possible so she rented an apartment here in town instead. She used to make and repair the linen for the hotels hereabouts – bed linen, curtains, altering and mending visitors’ clothing and the like. It is surprising just how much rough treatment some of it receives. I am thinking of taking over some of the work myself – it will give me some...give me something to do. She has left me a couple of items which she expressly requested that I keep. In fact,’ Kathryn gulped a little, ‘it is about my aunt’s things that I particularly came to talk to you. I was not sure where else to turn. I wonder whether I could ask a great favour of you, Mrs Wright? I am hoping that you might retain them for me in order to keep them safe.’

Mrs Wright looked at her curiously for a moment – a look that Kathryn felt quite unable to return. She was not quite sure why Mrs Miller might consider the little house here in
High Street
to be any more secure than her larger one in Preston, and she was certainly not sure why she felt in need of any further employment. She would like to have asked her a little more about it but it was obvious that Kathryn was embarrassed and upset so she simply
acceded
to the request instead, went off in search of a suitable tin in which to deposit the treasured items, and told her that she should have free access to it at any time she wished and that it would be secreted away in her dressing table where no-one bar herself would ever go.

Kathryn’s final task in Weymouth was to visit her aunt’s regular customers and impart the sad news of her death to them. She explained that she would be maintaining the business by herself but that, being based as she was in Preston, she would need to undertake the work on the customers’ premises rather than taking it away. This arrangement was not thought feasible by most
of
them
, but two – the Royal Hotel and Scrivens’ boarding house – were large enough to be able to supply her with a workroom and she was able to come to a satisfactory arrangement with them for some regular employment t
here every couple of weeks
.

Towards the middle of May Giles received a letter which, when he detected the direction, caused him to start, and blanch. He took it with him into the parlour and
kicked the door shut
. Kathryn and Sally, w
ho were both in the kitchen, bak
ing, looked at each other in silence, and then got on with their work.

A few minutes later Kathryn heard him shouting to Tom to get the horse saddled for
a trip
into town. She heard him banging about in the hall. Then he was gone. A moment later Bob appeared in the kitchen, clutching the letter. Papa had dropped it on his way out, he told her, and he had found it on the ground.

Kathryn looked at it as warily as if it were a cobra ready to strike. Sally looked at it, too.

‘Leave it there, Bob, thank you,’ said his mama. ‘Perhaps I will put it back where you found it, later. Will you go and fetch your blackboard? I want to see some perfect letters from you today.’