‘Dr Jermyn is very able, they say.’
‘No doubt. But, you know, should not Mr Richardson bear some responsibility for what has happened? After all, he is Frank’s tutor. I hope I did not act unwisely in placing Frank in his care. At the time, I had some doubt about the choice, but Frank liked him and was very pressing in his favour. Tell me, my dear, has he said anything that might explain Frank’s behaviour? I cannot help wondering whether, if he had exercised more control over his pupil, this might not have happened.’
‘It is not always easy for a tutor to supervise his charges, madam, especially when’ – Elinor searched to find a term that would be suitable for Lady Anne’s ears – ‘especially when he has a pupil with such a decisive nature as Mr Frank’s.’
‘True, even as a boy, he found it natural to take the lead,’ Lady Anne said. ‘He is a Vauden through and through: but Frank is still young – he needs the guidance of older and wiser heads.’
There was a knock on the door and the footman appeared. He announced that Mr Cross was below and begged the favour of a word.
‘Ask him to step up,’ Lady Anne said. ‘No, my dear, you may stay,’ she added to Elinor, who was rising to her feet. ‘I should like you to hear what Mr Cross has to say. He has been assisting me in my little project.’
Mr Cross slipped into the room and bowed very low to Lady Anne, and rather less low to Elinor. He was the Oldershaws’ steward, and had in fact known Lady Anne for longer than anyone in the house, for he had grown up on the Earl of Vauden’s estate near Lydmouth and received his early training in the steward’s office there.
‘Well?’ Lady Anne demanded. ‘You may speak quite freely before Mrs Carbury.’
‘I have seen Mr Holdsworth, my lady. He will wait upon your ladyship tomorrow morning.’
‘And what did you tell him?’
‘I mentioned only the possibility of his cataloguing and valuing his lordship’s collection, and perhaps advising on its maintenance. Although he never had the honour of having dealings with his lordship, he was of course perfectly familiar with the reputation of the collection.’
‘But you said nothing else?’
‘No, madam. I followed your directions to the letter.’ He cleared his throat. ‘He did, however, ask why I had come to him rather than to someone else with his qualifications. I was obliged to tell him that I was not able to say. I hope I did not do wrong.’
‘It is quite all right, Mr Cross,’ Lady Anne said graciously. ‘How did the man seem to you?’
‘He is in much-reduced circumstances, I fear, and his misfortunes have weighed heavily on him. But there is no doubt that he has the ability to deal with the library – as you instructed, I made extensive inquiries on that point before approaching him. As to the man himself, he is younger than I expected. He has a fine person – vigorous, and well set up.’
‘A point in his favour,’ Lady Anne said. ‘You may continue.’
‘He said little, but what he did say was very much to the point, madam. I would say he has a prudent nature and is a man of some determination. All in all, my first impression was favourable.’
Lady Anne thanked him and the steward withdrew. When they were alone again, she turned to Elinor.
‘You see, my dear. I have taken your hint.’
‘Dear madam, I pray the plan will not go amiss. I would not for the world -’
‘Then let us hope it does not go amiss,’ Lady Anne interrupted, her voice suddenly sharp. ‘Tomorrow we shall discover whether the author of The Anatomy of Ghosts believes he can practise what he preaches.’
4
There was money here but not extravagance. A tradesman grows acute in judging such matters. The house in Golden Square had been new and fashionable at the turn of the century but it was neither of those things now. But it had an air of sober comfort, Holdsworth thought, rarely found in the houses of those who are newly rich or who live high on long credit.
The footman conducted Holdsworth across the hall, through an anteroom and into a long and shabby apartment at the back of the house. The books were everywhere – in cases ranged along the walls, stacked on tables and the floor, overflowing from the doorway of a closet at the end of the room.
‘Mr Holdsworth, my lady,’ announced the footman.
Lady Anne Oldershaw was sitting by the nearer of the two windows with a volume open on the table beside her. She signalled Holdsworth to approach. She was small and thin, with features so sharp and delicate they might have been cut in wax by a razor. She could have been almost any age between forty and seventy. Her face was coated very thickly with ceruse, so perhaps the skin beneath had been scarred by the smallpox; for that was an evil that neither wealth nor breeding could guard against.
‘Mr Holdsworth,’ she said in a dry, remote voice. ‘Good morning to you.’
‘Madam.’ He bowed low. ‘I am honoured to be of service to your ladyship.’
‘You have not been of service yet. It remains to be seen whether you will be.’
‘Yes, my lady.’
He waited for her to say what she wanted. She remained silent, studying him with a complete lack of self-consciousness. After a moment he looked away from her white face. Despite the room’s contents, he thought, it was clearly only a makeshift library. The books had been arranged by someone who neither knew nor cared that they were undoubtedly valuable. His eyes fixed on a precarious pile standing on an open escritoire between the windows; they should not have been left like that. There was a similar pile on the table beyond it beside an armchair -
There was another person in the room. The armchair placed before the second window had its back to the room. Holdsworth saw a woman’s cap over the top of the chair and, on one of the arms, an open book with a long hand resting motionless on the page.
Lady Anne clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. She looked past Holdsworth at the footman. ‘I shall ring if I need you, James.’
The footman bowed and silently withdrew.
‘Mr Cross has told you that I wish to discuss the disposal of my late husband’s library,’ Lady Anne said. ‘You see some of it in this room. There are more books, but they are still in the country. You are familiar with the collection, I apprehend?’
‘Only by reputation, madam.’
‘I have decided to dispose of the bulk of the library. But first I wish to know what it contains, and indeed what value it has.’
‘Would you wish to sell what you dispose of as a single lot, or in -?’
‘I do not intend to sell any of it. In any case I do not wish to consult you solely or even chiefly about the books.’
‘I’m afraid I do not catch your meaning, madam.’
‘That is because I have not expressed it to you yet.’ She waited while half a minute crawled by, emphasizing her power to control the pace and direction of the interview. ‘I wish to consult you about ghosts.’
‘I beg your pardon, my lady. I did not quite catch what you said.’
‘I think you heard me perfectly well. I wish to consult you about ghosts. About a particular ghost.’
After that, silence fell on the room. It was broken only by a rustle as the woman in the armchair turned over a page of her book. Lady Anne sucked in her cheeks, and for a moment he had a fancy that instead of flesh and blood there was nothing but a skull in a lace cap looking up at him.
‘I am a bookseller by trade, ma’am. I am not a ghost hunter or anything of that nature. Your ladyship must look elsewhere.’
‘I do not agree. I have read your – your squib. You seem eminently qualified to advise upon the subject.’
Holdsworth spread his hands wide. ‘I wrote in anger. As a way of assuaging grief.’