The Body on the Beach (The Weymouth Trilogy) (27 page)

It was not Kathryn but Andrew who turned out to provide his
primary
source of amusement, however. The day after his arrival at
High Street
Mr Rowley-Jones was favoured by a morning call from his host’s brother-in-law and immediately invited to a game of cards with him over at ‘The Ship’. Mr Wright, indeed, was also subject to the same invitation, but having just spent the best part of a year away from his new wife he declined the offer and resolved to spend some time alone with her instead.
Andrew
himself
was
actually
feeling in need of a few strong brews
as well as a game of cards
that day. Having heard that
his
fiancée
was
finally
expecting to travel back from her grandmama’s that afternoon he had resolved on paying her a short visit (as short a visit as he could reasonably get away with) in order to welcome her home, and had privately considered that some fortification might be in order
immediately
prior to doing just that.

From Andrew’s perspective
, therefore,
the absence of his brother-in-law, though completely understandable, was a little unfortunate. Cutlass Chard failing to turn up, and Giles still being absent who-knew-where, the absence of a fourth member made the playing of cards
– and hence, the downing of plenty of alcohol -
a little more tricky than expected.

‘No matter,’ said Mr Brewer, phlegmatically. ‘I’ll tell you what.
With Sophie and the children expected back home today
I had strict instructions from Mrs Brewer that I was to invite you over for your meal. Why doesn’t Mr Rowley-Jones come along as well? Everyone’s
as
dull as ditchwater with sitting inside
looking glum
all the time. We
can have a few brews at my place
and perhaps young Sophie will give us a little entertainment after the meal. She should be back from Sherborne by th
en
– she was setting out at about
one
or
one
thirty, I believe. I have a horrible feeling that she
was taking
the opportunity to spend some
more
of my money on clothes and the like
before she left
today
. Costs me a fortune, that young lady
does
– be glad to pass her on to you, to tell you the truth
, Berkeley
. She’ll certainly be pleased to see you.’

Andrew felt it politic to
accede
to Mr Brewer’s kind invitation. Sophie was his intended bride, after all, and
they had enjoyed only a most desultory correspondence during
her
six week absence (Andrew being as irregular a correspondent as
the average g
entlem
a
n, and Sophie having very little to say that would have been o
f any interest to a
nyone at all – even an ardent
lover -
despite her change of scene). But
now
that
she
was
return
ing
to the family
home, with all danger of infection over,
it was apparent that
he should be obliged to resum
e his
previous pattern of
visits there once
again
.
Even so, he didn
’
t
fail to take
the opportunity of reminding Mr Brewer of his heavy investments in the land reclamation – investments which would be unlikely to result in any ready cas
h for many a long year to come -
and that Miss Brewer should be gravely disappointed should she be expecting expensive Lo
ndon Seasons and extravagant presen
ts once she was
his bride
.

‘In fact, it will be quite the contrary you know, Mr Brewer. Although we will have plenty to meet our immediate needs we will have to live quite modestly at Belvoir for
several years at least
.’

Mr Rowley-Jones was similarly happy to accept. Having heard the words ‘young Sophie’ and ‘pleased to see you’ fall from his new friend’s lips he was more than
pleased
to
accompany him
on his walk to Gloster Row
, whilst the information that Mr Berkeley should shortly be welcoming her
into Belvoir House as his wife
was
quite
immaterial to that young gentleman’s considerations.

And it so happened that the lovely Sophie, delighted that her affianced husband should be returned to her
at long last
, so forgot herself that she flung her arms around him as soon as he had entered the house and treated Mr Rowley-Jones to the sight of just what that young lady was capable of. This excited his interest even further. ‘Pleased to see you’ was maybe an understatement. He got the distinct impression that the fascinating Miss Brewer might be so pleased to see any young gentleman – and particularly a young gentleman with a romantic occupation (like that, per
haps, of Captain of a delightful
ly comely Privateer
)
with
adventurous tales, money to burn,
silver ear-rings and dark seductive eyes – that she might offer similar favours to him as well.
Indeed, once the first flush of excitement at seeing Andrew had abated a little it soon became patently obvious that Mr Rowley-Jones’ initial impression was not too far wide of the mark. The rapt attention with which she listened to his
rollicking
tales
(which were a lot more exciting to a young lady than land reclamation, after all)
, the blushing smiles that she bestowed upon him and
the fact that Andrew had to address her several times at dinner before he could elicit the condiments that he was in need of certainly indicated that
she was not so perfectly set upon dedicating herself to her first choice as to prevent her from considering a more attractive offer should the prospect of one be in sight.

So overall the day had gone quite nicely for Mr Augustus Rowley-Jones.

Towards
the end of November Giles returned to Sandsford House. No notice, no warning. Nothing. One day he was not there and the next day he was. He breezed in, as careless a
s if he had just been out for an early
morning
ramble, took a startled Kathryn in his arms, kissed her for a lifetime and settled down in the kitchen as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Kathryn was wary about
mentioning the house move to him
. She knew from past experience that any implied criticism of his conduct – and certainly
she felt that
the
need to take a small apartment up in town
as a consequence of
hi
m
gambling
her house
and all her
belongings
away
might reasonably i
mply
some
criticism
of his conduct
– was liable to swift retribution on his part. But the removal date was
fast approaching. In another
four
days they must be gone. So she felt
quite
unable to delay the unpleasant news for too
much longer
. She decided to broach it th
e following morning
, when she judged that his breakfast time might be the least bad moment to
bring the matter up
.

The date should not have come as a surprise to him. Indeed, as the date he had originally agreed had already well gone he should, by rights, have been surprised to find Kathryn still in residence at all. Nevertheless he stared at her uncomprehendingly as she hesitatingly
mentioned
the issue and seemed on the point of trying to laugh it off when she hurried on to say that she had reserved the apartment and
that
they should be able to effect a seamless exchange once the extra
time
was up.

‘But you had no need to do that, Kitty,’ he protested. ‘Why ever did you feel the need to reserve anywhere else? We can stay here. I will sort it
out
with Brewer, don’t you worry.’

‘But he has taken the inventory and everything, Giles. His wife is hoping to have her first Christmas here. I cannot think that he
’
ll be happy to find us still here on Christmas day.’

‘I’
ll buy it back for you. I have made a little money. It should have been more but the cheating bastards sold me down the river. There is no need for you to move out of your house. I will go and get it sorted. Where were you about to go?’

When Kathryn told him that she had reserved her aunt’s old apartment Giles looked at her in disgust.

‘That smelly place? Well, I’m surprised at you. You make out you are so refined. I cannot conceive of you choosing to live in a place like that.’

‘It was not exactly of my own choosing, Giles. I did not take it out of choice. I had to take somewhere I could afford, and the landlady there was very helpful when...when I needed her help. We will have very little money – almost none, remember. What else could I...’

‘Stop that right there. Stop blaming me for everything. I have said that I will sort it out, and sort it out I will.’

There was no sign of him sorting anyth
ing out
that
day, however, and Kathryn began to get increasingly edgy. Their moving date was imminent but Giles remained firmly
e
sconced
at
Sandsford House
, doing what he had always done – shooting, fishing, drinking at the Osmington ‘Crown’
.
Always erratic, h
e
now
seemed to
be losing
all sense of reality
and s
he began to wonder whether he ha
d
simply
dismissed their conversation from his mind
.
After lunch on the following
day, however,
he
got up and
told Tom to
saddle his horse. Kathryn watched him go. She exchanged a glance with Sally. She
was feeling
very trouble
d.

Her sense of foreboding increased during the course of the evening. Giles had been gone a long time. She looked out of her bedroom window into the blank darkness, and wondered. She did not hear him return.

Kathryn had a sleepless night and a
t the first sign of light she got up and dressed. She let herself out of the back door and wandered down the little trackway towards the seashore.
But the sea had lost its power to soothe today.
Instead it was
stirred up,
angry, roaring
unfeelingly
as it
cruelly
whipped the rocky shore. Kathryn
was feeling nervous, edgy.
The wind was whistling across the barren grassland.
There were ravens about, the great black birds calling menacingly overhead.
She shivered and pulled her shawl closer round her shoulders.
She could not get h
er sense of impending doom
to
go away.

On her way back she called in at the cottages
to say her goodbyes
. The tenants had been there for as long as she could remember, and their parents and grandparents had tilled the self same land as hers had done. Mr Gabriel and Mr Arthur, in particular, seemed to be genuinely affected by her departure. They had long been fond of the gentle young woman who had already seen so much tragedy in her life.

At about a quarter before eleven Kathryn, helping Sally in the wash-house, became aware of the sound of carriage wheels on the gravel at the front.
She
could feel the fear gripping her as
she passed through the kitchen and opened the front door to see who it was.
It was
Mr Berkeley
who, together with
his tiger
, was
hauling a som
ewhat inebriated Giles out of his curricle
. Giles
was complaining lustily about his trea
tment
, though h
is
protestations did nothing to amend it
. He
finally
managed to
shrug himself
free and stagger a little unsteadily into the house
. S
traight through the hallway
he went
and into the kitchen beyond.
Kathryn
knew immediately that things had not gone according to plan – what ever that plan had been.