I decided there was no point in beating about the bush, or letting the twins seize the initiative in the choice of conversation. So I asked, straight out, ‘Do you remember what happened the evening that Eris Lilywhite disappeared?’
The question took them by surprise and Jocelyn choked into his beaker. Christopher just stared at me as though I’d enquired about the Great Cham of Tartary.
‘Listen,’ I said patiently. ‘Dame Theresa Lilywhite wants me to find out, if I can, what has happened to her granddaughter. That’s natural enough, you must agree!’ Even these unfeeling young brutes could surely understand that. ‘Wouldn’t you want to know what had become of someone you love?’
Christopher scratched his head. ‘I s’pose,’ he conceded eventually.
Jocelyn lowered his beaker, having recovered his breath, and eyed me narrowly. He had a less open expression than his twin. I felt that of the two, he would be better at concealing facts he thought I didn’t need to know. But on the surface, he seemed willing enough to humour me.
‘What do you want us to tell you?’ he asked.
‘Suppose you begin by describing what you both felt about Eris. After all, she was nearer to you two in age than to any other member of your family.’
‘She was all right,’ said Christopher. ‘But she was more fun when she was younger. We used to play together when we were children. She’d come birds’ nesting with us in Upper Brockhurst woods. She could climb a tree as well as we could. Better, in fact. And kick a ball or hit a shuttlecock. And she could whip a top with the best of us. She was bossy, mind you. I suppose because she was that bit older than we were.’
‘You were close, then?’ I suggested.
Christopher pursed his lips. ‘Maybe. People who didn’t know us very well – strangers to the village – used to think we were brothers and sister. But then she grew up, and men started noticing her and telling her how pretty she was, so she didn’t have time for Josh and me any more. By the time she came to work at Dragonswick, a year ago, she was behaving like she was the Queen of Sheba.’
His twin said grudgingly, ‘Be fair, Chris! She had cause. She was beautiful.’
‘Oh, I know you thought so.’ Christopher’s tone was suddenly spiteful. ‘I saw you trying to kiss her sometimes when you believed no one was looking. She wouldn’t have anything to do with you, though, would she? Called you a silly little boy once. I heard her, so there’s no point denying it.’
Jocelyn flushed painfully. ‘The only reason she wouldn’t have anything to do with me was because she was a mercenary little wretch who had set her sights on Uncle Tom. And then on Grandfather.’
Christopher laughed and his brother looked murderous. I hurriedly intervened before there was a major falling out between the pair of them.
‘I know all this. What I want you to tell me, if you can remember, is about the night she disappeared. What happened after your Uncle Tom arrived home that evening and after your grandfather announced that he was going to marry Eris?’
‘You mean after Uncle Tom tried to murder them both?’ Christopher scratched his chin, ignoring a mumbled protest from his brother. ‘Well, Uncle Tom rushed out of the house without his cloak or anything. It was a terrible night, pouring with rain. And then Mother started shouting at Eris to go home. She wouldn’t stop. It was like she was hysterical. Father couldn’t go to her because he was attending to Grandfather, but he kept telling her to be quiet. I think Great-Aunt Jacquetta managed to calm her down after a while.’
‘But then Great-Aunt rounded on Eris.’ Jocelyn had evidently overcome his scruples and decided to join in. ‘She hated Eris because Eris had found out that her real name was Joan and not Jacquetta, and always insisted on calling her by it. And the way she used to say “Dame Joan” made it sound like an insult.’ He shrugged. ‘Silly, really! But women seem to set a lot of store by such things.’
I concealed a smile at his weary-man-of-the-world air, and asked, ‘What happened next?’
They thought about this. ‘I believe Father went out to look for Uncle Tom,’ Jocelyn decided, looking at his brother for confirmation. His twin nodded.
‘That’s right.’ Christopher rubbed his chin again, where his former scratching had made a pimple bleed. ‘But he couldn’t find him, and it was too stormy to stay out for long. Then Mother attacked Eris. Physically, I mean. Mistress Merryman and Great-Aunt Jacquetta pretended to hold her back, but I don’t think either of them could have been trying very hard because Mother managed to claw Eris’s cheek open with her nails. That’s when Eris said she was going home and left … We never saw her again,’ he added, regarding me with his direct, ingenuous, boyish gaze.
It was impossible to tell if he were speaking the truth or not. I turned to Jocelyn.
‘Your grandfather was all for going after her, so I’ve been told. But your father wouldn’t let him and went instead.’
Jocelyn nodded. ‘Yes. Father was gone about an hour that time …’
‘Longer,’ his brother put in.
‘Possibly. He’d called on Maud Lilywhite to tell her what had happened, and waited to see if Eris came back. But she hadn’t returned when he left. Grandfather was beside himself. Said Father hadn’t done enough to find Eris. But Father just grabbed hold of Mother and they went to bed. So then Grandfather said he was going out to search for her. Great-Aunt and Mistress Merryman pleaded with him not to go, but he wouldn’t listen to them. Wouldn’t listen to us, either. So we went with him. There was nothing else we could do.’
‘Couldn’t let him go alone,’ Christopher confirmed. He shivered. ‘Holy Virgin! It was a terrible night. Pitch black and blowing a gale. The rain doused the lanterns and we got separated in the dark.’
‘What did you do?’ I asked, turning my head enquiringly from one to the other.
There was a moment’s hesitation on both their parts. At least, it seemed so to me.
Jocelyn was the first to answer. ‘Oh, I stumbled around a bit, then decided it was a fool’s errand and went home. I didn’t feel so guilty when I discovered that Chris and Grandfather had returned before me.’
‘Go on,’ I urged, when neither of them seemed inclined to continue.
‘That’s all,’ Jocelyn said.
His brother agreed. ‘Then Josh and I went to bed. I think everyone did. There was nothing else that could be done that night. Nothing until morning.’
I jogged their memories. ‘Maud Lilywhite told me that she came up to the farm later, when Eris still hadn’t come home, and roused the household. Dame Jacquetta confirmed her story. Didn’t her knocking wake you?’
‘Once we’re asleep, even the Last Trump wouldn’t wake us,’ Jocelyn announced proudly. ‘That’s what Mother always says.’
‘That’s right.’ Christopher finished the wine in his beaker and up-ended the bottle to drain the dregs. ‘We didn’t know anything about it until we got up next morning. Father came in just as we were sitting down to breakfast, soaking wet and absolutely filthy, plastered with mud and muck. He was exhausted. He’d been searching all night. Mother and Mistress Merryman heated water and filled the bathtub, here, in the kitchen, and scented it with herbs to ease his aches and pains. Afterwards, Mother wanted him to go to bed to get some rest; but he wouldn’t. He went off out again, down to the village to tell people what had happened and raise a posse to search the district. They hunted for days. Weeks.’ Christopher brought his headlong narrative to an abrupt halt, then shrugged. ‘But they never found her.’ He gave a callous laugh.
There was something shocking in his lack of concern, especially in one so young. But then, of course, the young are more honest, less hypocritical, than their elders. He knew very well that Eris’s disappearance, and probable death, had been a blessing for himself, his brother and his parents (and possibly for others). He wasn’t going to pretend to a grief he didn’t feel.
I allowed the silence to stretch between us for as long as one might count to thirty. Then I enquired, ‘What do you two think happened to Eris?’