‘I do not doubt it, sir. But that is not to the point. I understand that your late wife was preyed upon by one who claimed falsely to be in communication with the world of ghosts. You set out to expose the cheat, but you did more than that. You revealed that the claims of those who believe in ghosts are baseless. With the possible exception of direct divine intervention, such stories may all be reduced to instances of popular superstition in the minds of the uneducated, or to tricks and pranks played upon the credulous, often in the hope of material advantage. That was your argument, which you pursued with great force.’
‘Nevertheless, I cannot put myself up as an authority.’
‘You do not need to do so.’ She sounded bored now. ‘I wish to put a proposition to you.’
‘About his lordship’s library?’
‘I told you: I wish to consult you about an apparition. An alleged apparition. But as it happens the matter is inextricably entangled with his lordship’s books and what becomes of them. So I offer you two commissions: and if you accept the one, you must accept the other.’
‘Madam, I do not understand what you wish me to do.’
‘There is no mystery about it. You have shown that those who prey on the credulous with their tales of ghosts are frauds. You began with a particular case, it is true, but you argued from that to the general. The tools that such people use for their foul trade are spirits, apparitions, hauntings and superstitions; but they trade in dreams, Mr Holdsworth, they trade in other people’s dreams. You have brought the resources of reason to bear upon their evil practices and you have shown them for what they are: traps to gull fools, snares to entangle the fearful. They are nothing but leeches, and they prey upon the sorrows of the innocent. You made all that as clear as day.’
‘Much good it did me. Or anyone else.’
He caught a movement at the edge of his range of vision. The woman by the other window had craned her head round to the back of her chair and was looking at him. He had a brief impression of a long face with heavy, dark brows above the eyes and a fringe of hair below the cap.
‘You have done it once,’ Lady Anne said. ‘You will do it again. You will not find me ungenerous, for I have a particular reason for desiring you to do this. And there is also considerable work to be done with the bishop’s library. I offer you the chance to better yourself while doing me a very material service. Moreover, in doing so, you may be able to help save a soul from despair, if not from perdition. Surely both self-interest and your duty as a Christian must point in the same direction?’
He said nothing. The ceruse gave her face the chalky whiteness that counterfeited death. Maria had been just such a colour at the end, though without the benefit of white lead. He wondered how Lady Anne knew so much about his case. He wondered even more what on earth she really wanted him to do.
She tapped her fingers on the surface of the table. ‘Well, sir?’
‘Madam, I – I am undecided.’
‘It is a simple enough decision, Mr Holdsworth.’
‘But there is much I do not understand.’
‘Then I shall try to enlighten you.’ Lady Anne fell silent. She turned her head and stared out of the window, which gave on to a narrow yard bounded by high brick walls. Soot-spotted shrubs lined a gravel path that bisected the area. ‘Let us discuss the matter of the library first. Are you familiar with Jerusalem College?’
‘Jerusalem?’ For a moment he thought he must have misheard. ‘Ah – perhaps you refer to the college in Cambridge, madam?’
‘Exactly so.’ She looked at him again. ‘My family has a connection with it. Indeed, one of my forebears was its Founder and the bishop was once a fellow there. So I have been turning over in my mind whether I might donate his books to the college. But before I decide, I wish to inquire into the present state of the college’s library. I do not choose that my husband’s collection should go to an unworthy recipient.’
‘Would your ladyship wish me to go to Cambridge on your behalf?’
She ignored the question. ‘And then there is the matter of the collection here, which needs to be catalogued and valued before I make my decision. I may decide to hold back some of the books. Indeed, some of the collection may not be appropriate for a college library.’
Holdsworth thought it very likely. He had seen the libraries of too many men, both living and dead, to be surprised by what they contained. A man’s library was like his mind: some of its contents might not be suitable for young gentlemen at the University, or indeed for his grieving widow or his fatherless children.
‘And there is another reason,’ Lady Anne went on, ‘why I wish you to go to Cambridge. It has to do with my son, Frank. He was admitted a fellow-commoner at Jerusalem last year. He has not been well. I wish you to investigate the circumstances that have led to his ill health and to bring him home.’
‘Madam, I am neither a physician nor a nursemaid.’ He wondered when they would come to the ghost. ‘I am afraid I must decline at least that part of the commission, because I can be of no earthly use to your son.’
‘Earthly use?’ she repeated, and she pulled back her lips revealing beneath the whiteness of her face three yellowing teeth set in glossy pink gums. ‘Earthly use?’ she said once more. ‘Some would say that is not what is needed. Mr Holdsworth, my son is not strong. His body is indeed robust, but his mind – that is where his infirmity lies. He is now in the care of a physician in Barnwell, a village near Cambridge. I must be plain with you but first I must require you to treat what I have to say as a confidence that must not be repeated to anyone outside the walls of this room.’
Holdsworth’s eyes strayed involuntarily towards the younger lady by the other window. ‘If you choose to honour me with a confidence, you may depend upon its remaining safe with me.’
Lady Anne was silent. Holdsworth listened to the sound of his own breathing, suddenly unnaturally loud. There was a creak from the younger lady’s chair.
‘The long and short of it is that my son believes he has seen a ghost,’ Lady Anne said abruptly. She glared at him, as though expecting him to challenge this statement. ‘He is an impressionable young man, and this wild misapprehension, which was almost certainly exacerbated by youthful high spirits and the taking of too much wine, is the immediate cause of his state of health. You will apprehend now why your qualifications are of particular interest to me. I believe my son is not beyond reach of reason. You will look into his alleged sighting of this apparition on my behalf. You will demonstrate to him that it was a delusion. I believe it may be the first stage towards his cure. Indeed, it may be all he requires.’
Lady Anne stopped speaking and looked straight ahead. It was an unnerving experience, as if she had suddenly turned herself into a statue.
‘A delusion, madam? Was it caused by a mere accidental combination of circumstances? Or was there’ – and here he hesitated, remembering poor Maria’s case – ‘was there another party involved, and therefore something deliberate or contrived about it?’
‘That I cannot tell. There is much that is obscure. So long as you find out the truth of the matter and can prove it to the world, it don’t much signify.’
‘Young men at the University have been known to play waggish pranks upon one another.’
‘An action with such evil consequences could not be classified as a mere prank. If this happened by design, I am persuaded that there is malevolence behind it.’
‘Had the ghost a name, my lady?’ Holdsworth asked.
‘My son is convinced that he encountered the deceased wife of an acquaintance, a Mrs Whichcote. The circumstances of her death may perhaps be germane to the matter. If necessary, you will inquire into them.’
‘There can be no guarantee of success. Not with a commission of this nature.’
‘But you will be successful. And when you are, I will lend you the money you require to discharge any debts you have, and on terms you will not find ungenerous. Moreover I shall instruct Mr Cross to pay you an honorarium for the business you transact on my behalf, and the expenses you incur in doing so, whether the business has to do with my son or with the cataloguing and disposal of my late husband’s library.’