“Yes,” said Cousin Mary. “There could be something behind that.”
“I’m going to get them working on it,” said Gwennie.
I heard a sound behind us. We all started and a voice said: “Boo!”
Jago was grinning at us and Paul was just behind him.
Jago said: “I told Paul you’d be inspecting Gwennie’s latest discovery.”
Jago stepped forward and tapped the wall.
“Is anyone there?” he enquired.
He turned to smile at Gwennie. “Dear sister-in-law,” he said, “I’m only teasing. There is only one thing in the world before which that stalwart northern spirit quails—and that is ghosts. As if any of them would want to hurt the one who has saved their habitation from crumbling into decay!”
Behind his banter there was a certain malice. I thought: Both of these brothers resent her, and she is determined to remind them at every moment of what she has done. There is more than resentment in this house. There is hatred.
“We shall soon see what is behind that wall,” said Paul.
“Did no one ever wonder about it before?” I asked.
“No one.”
“Until Gwennie came,” added Jago.
“Well, there is nothing to be seen here tonight,” went on Paul.
We came out into the gallery. Paul and Cousin Mary walked on ahead. Cousin Mary was talking about a similar experience at Tressidor. “We took down a wall … oh, that was long ago … in my grandfather’s day, and all that was behind it was a cupboard.”
Gwennie joined them and began asking eager questions.
“I can’t say much about it,” said Cousin Mary. “I only heard of it. I know the spot where it was done, of course.”
I paused to look at a picture which I thought was Paul.
“Our father as a young man,” said Jago.
“He is like your brother.”
“Oh yes. That was before his dissolute days. Let us hope that Paul doesn’t go the same way. Not much hope … or fear … of that.”
“I should think it is hardly likely.”
The others had passed out of the gallery.
“He could be driven to it.”
“Oh?”
“Haven’t you noticed the way it is? Never mind. I want to show you something. It’s the view from one of the towers. It’s just through here.”
“The others will wonder …”
“It will do them good to exercise their minds.”
“You haven’t changed much, Jago.”
“The boy is father to the man. Aren’t they the wise words of someone? You should know. You’re the wise one. All that education in France … !”
“How did you hear about that?”
“Miss Tressidor is mighty proud of her young relative. She’s talked a great deal about you.”
“It is nice to know that the two families have become friends.”
I had allowed him to lead the way out of the gallery. We had come to a winding staircase which we mounted. He cautioned me to hold the rope banister. Then we were on a tower, out in the open air. I stood still breathing in the fresh coolness. A faint moonlight showed the parapet and the battlements and park and woodlands stretched out before my eyes.
“It’s magnificent,” I said.
“Can you imagine Gwennie’s bringing my brother up here and saying: ‘Sell your soul to me and all this shall be thine’?”
“No, I can’t.”
“Of course not. It would be a matter-of-fact transaction. Just imagine Pa, banging the table. ‘You’ve got the house, the background and the family. I’ve got the brass. Take my daughter and I’ll save the house for you.’ “
“You resent it, don’t you?”
“Mildly. / wasn’t the one who had to take Gwennie.”
“Why do you dislike her so much?”
“I dislike her because I don’t dislike her as much as I want to! Or rather I do dislike her and I know I shouldn’t. She’s not a bad sort, our Gwennie. If only she was less brass-conscious, if you know what I mean, and my brother was less proud … it might work.”
“Marriages of convenience should at least be convenient.”
“That’s exactly what it is. Convenient. And there it ends.”
“You should have stayed at the farmhouse. That seems to me to have been the best bargain.”
“Younger sons never get the best of the bargain. The house will go to Paul’s offspring. Young Julian is half Arkwright. That’s part of the bargain.”
“You can always congratulate yourselves on saving the house.”
“I suppose we do. It’s something we don’t forget. But what is past can’t be altered. It is the future which concerns us. I’m glad you’ve come back, Caroline.”
I was silent, looking out over the moonlit grass. Was I glad? I was immensely excited. Life was certainly not monotonous as it had been in France. How different it would have been if Paul had decided to save his dignity and his honour rather than the house, and was living humbly in the farmhouse looking after the few acres which went with it—a poor man, but at least a proud one. I should have liked that better.
“You look sad,” said Jago. “Has life been difficult?”
“Not exactly. Unexpected perhaps.”
“That’s how one wants it to be, surely. As soon as the expected happens it becomes dull.”
“Sometimes one’s expectations are very important to one.”
“Don’t let’s get philosophical. Do you still ride as well?”
“Well, I did have a spill in the French mountains, of which you have heard.”
“I wish I’d known you were there. I would have come out to spy out the land. We would have had some fun and I should not have allowed you to fall off your horse.”
“It was I who allowed myself to do that. Jago … does Gwennie suspect?”
“Suspect what?”
“That a trick was played on her … in the gallery that time.”
“You mean the ghosts?”
I nodded. “Sometimes she seems …”
“Gwennie is the most inquisitive person I have ever known. She wants to know everything about everyone, and she doesn’t rest until she finds out. She doesn’t suspect it was a trick. She insists she saw ghosts. They are the only things that can scare Gwennie, and it is comforting to know that such a formidable lady has one weak spot.”
“What do you think she would do … if she were to find out that we were the ghosts?”
“I don’t know. It’s so long ago, and if she hadn’t fallen and we hadn’t played the good hosts everything might have been different. There might have been other people at Landower. There might have been no buyer at all, in which case this revered old place would be a crumbled ruin and we would be struggling in penury in our farmhouse. Who can say?”
“It is interesting to see how it brought about the opposite result to what we intended. Remember we played the ghosts to drive the Arkwrights away and we succeeded in bringing them in.”
“It was in our stars, as they say.”
“Ordained. The saving of Landower and the union of Gwennie with your brother.”
“I believe the old house arranged it. Naturally it didn’t want to tumble down. You’re very beautiful, Caroline.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“I’ve never seen such green eyes.”
“Which my mother’s lady’s maid would tell you came from my wearing this brooch.”
He bent his head to look at it and his fingers lingered on it; and just at that moment a voice said: “Oh, you’re here. I guessed you’d come up by way of the gallery staircase.” It was Paul.
“We wanted a little fresh air and I was showing Caroline the view.”
“It’s very beautiful,” I said. “And so is the house. You are very proud of it, I know.”
There was a coldness in my voice which he must have been aware of.
“Shall we join the others?” he said.