“I know. And … this is the secret never to be told. And the seven magpies … they were put into the nursery to remind Flora that she must never tell.”
“Poor Flora! It turned her brain. It was soon after that when she became as we know her. Lucy looked after her always. You know Lucy took over the care of me and became my nurse. Flora came back to the cottage. She was acting very strangely by that time. It is ever on my mind.”
“That this place does not really belong to you. You are afraid that someone will discover this?”
“There was a time when someone did come near to that.”
“Gaston Marchmont,” I whispered, a terrible fear coming to me.
“He was a rogue,” said Crispin.
“He deserved to die. He forced the secret from Flora. She could have gone on to the end of her life believing she was back in the past before it happened, that the child still lived. That was what she thought until he came along. You see what he has done to her … to Lucy? He guessed there was some secret there, some connection between me and that cottage, and he was determined to find out. He married Tamarisk for what he could get and then he saw that he could get much more than he had even believed at first. He stole the doll and he blackmailed poor witless Flora. He had seen that silly picture. She should never have had it. But Lucy thought it would be a constant reminder to her never to tell. You must forgive Lucy. She is my mother. She wanted everything for me. Her greatest joy was to see me master of the estate.”
“But it does not belong to you, Crispin.”
He shook his head vigorously, as though he could thrust such a fact away.
He went on: “He made poor Flora tell him. He threatened what he would do to the doll if she did not. The shock brought reality back to her and he had the secret. And he died.”
“You know who did it, Crispin?” I asked fearfully.
He turned to me and smiled gently.
“I know what is in your mind. I know how much you love me. No, sinner that I am, I did not kill Gaston Marchmont. You have to know everything. I see that now. These secrets are no help to us, and now you know so much you must know it all. Flora was in a terrible state of distress. She had betrayed the secret and at the same time this had brought home to her what had really happened all those years ago, which she had been deluding herself into thinking was just an evil dream. She had killed her precious charge in a moment of idiotic frivolity. She had done it to amuse Gerry. He had left for New Zealand soon after that. No doubt he thought the baby had lived. He, of course, knew nothing of what had happened. But the fear of those moments when the child lay on the ground may have had something to do with his decision to get away from the scene. Flora was in a state of mental disorder and Lucy thought it best to have the doll to delude her into thinking the child still lived. To Flora, when she realized that she had betrayed the secret and that the doll was simply a doll, there seemed only one way of making sure the secret was never told.
“It is amazing how she could have done this, but she did. I believe people such as she is can be very single-minded and plan with a calm precision, which is remarkable. She went to St. Aubyn’s. She knew the house well from the days when she had lived there. She went to the gunroom and took the gun, and then to the shrubbery to lie in wait for Gaston Marchmont. Most of the family came through the shrubbery when returning to the house. It was a short cut from the stables. He came and she was there. She shot him. Then her careful planning seemed to desert her. She left the gun on the ground and ran back to the cottage. Lucy was in deep distress. She was frantic, wondering where Flora had gone, and when she returned, drew from Flora exactly what had happened.
“Lucy’s one idea was to keep the secret. Her dream was that I should have St. Aubyn’s. It would be a compensation for all they had suffered.
I was her son, remember. She went back to St. Aubyn’s that night. She found the gun and buried it-unfortunately, not very efficiently. It was Flora who killed Gaston Marchmont, Frederica. Please . please understand. This is a secret which must never be told. “
I was silent for some time, bewildered by all I had heard. In spite of my horror, there was a certain relief. There were no longer secrets between us.
I was picturing it all. Flora, throwing the baby down, her agony when she realized what she had done; I could imagine those three desperate women seeking a way out of their intolerable situation; I could feel Lucy’s triumph when she saw a glorious future for her son; I pictured their burying the poor broken body of the baby Crispin. I could imagine Flora’s demented state; I could see the picture of the seven magpies, set up to remind her of the awful consequences if the secret were revealed. And she had told it. Gaston had forced her to tell the secret, and in her simple mind there was only one solution: to kill him before he could tell the secret which must never be told.
I said: “Crispin. This place does not belong to you.”
“But for me it would be nothing now. I have made it what it is.”
“Still, it is not yours. You are not the heir to this place.”
“No. Lucy is my mother. My father is unknown to me.”
“Lucy would know him,” I said.
“But the fact remains. What shall you do?”
“Do? What do you mean?”
“Crispin … I must call you Crispin.”
“I never had another name.”
“It will always be there, this knowledge, even though you have told me.”
He did not answer and I went on: This place does not belong to you.
That is so, isn’t it? “
He did not wish to admit it . but it was true and he knew it.
“I think you will never be happy with what is not yours by right.”
“I am happy. This place has always been mine. I could not imagine it otherwise.”
“If Gaston Marchmont had lived …”
“He did not live.”
“If he had, he would have brought this to light. And then…”
“Of course he would. That was his motive. He must have had some inkling. Flora must have betrayed something. And then the fact that the doll was Crispin to her was significant. He would have claimed the place on Tamarisk’s behalf and if he had succeeded, it would have had a very-short life.”
“But it is Tamarisk’s. She is the daughter of the house and there is no living son.”
He said: “If this came out it would be disastrous. Think of the livelihoods of all the people on the estate. Everything would go. You know the secret now. No one else must. I am glad you know. You are right. We don’t want secrets from each other. There must never be any more.”
“I am glad you see it that way.”
“There is the problem of Flora. I don’t know what we can do with her.
Lucy is afraid for her. You see how that man tackled her. It has upset her. She’s changed. “
“She must have his death on her conscience as well as that of the baby.”
“She doesn’t want the doll any more. She seems to have come to the conclusion that Crispin is dead and the doll is but a doll. When she believed it was a child her mind was at rest. She had shut out the past. But that evil man made her tell what had happened. He brought her back to reality and that is something she cannot face.”
“Crispin,” I said.
“There is one thing you must do or you will never know real peace of mind. Tamarisk must know that this place is hers.
She must know the truth. You will never be entirely happy until you have told her. “
“And when I have lost all that I have worked for through these years?”
“Tamarisk loves you. She is proud of you. She regards you as her brother. She will want you here. She understands that she would be useless to manage things without you.”