“No. Apparently not. It was caused by something in the house…gas, they say.”
“How dreadful! I didn’t come down because it had awakened Edward. He was a bit fretful. I couldn’t leave him.”
“Yes. I guessed that. Was he frightened?”
“Just a bit. I soothed him and finally he got to sleep.”
“I expect we shall hear more about this explosion.”
“I’d like to take a look at it.”
“Perhaps when Edward is having his nap, we could ride over.”
We did. The police were at the scene. We rode as close as we could. It was a sight to shock…twisted girders, collapsed walls, piles of bricks…where once that rather lovely old house had stood.
“There’s little left of it,” said Andrée with a shiver.
“They’ll never sell it now.”
“It’s a complete ruin,” went on Andrée. “Have they any idea yet how it happened?”
“I expect they will soon find out. I wonder who the owners are?”
“Didn’t someone buy it recently?”
“I’m not sure whether it was sold or being prepared for a sale.”
“Well, whatever it was, that’s the end of it.”
We rode back no wiser.
Later we heard that the explosion was due to a leakage of gas.
My father arrived later that afternoon.
He went over to look at the Priory. He met some official there and, as a Member of Parliament, I suppose, was allowed to go over the remains of the house. It occurred to me that the man might be from one of the ministries, and my father, because the Priory was situated in his constituency, had come down to investigate the mystery.
I thought he looked distinctly worried.
Two of the men with whom he had been at the Priory came to dine with us. And at the dinner table it became clear that my father and his guests did not want to talk about the explosion.
However, the rest of us—my mother, Miss Carruthers, Dr. Edgerton and myself—could not easily dismiss the matter, which was uppermost in our droughts.
“Lucinda was very curious about the Priory when she saw how changed it was,” my mother was saying. “That was some time ago. We had all made up our minds that it must have been one of those horrible Zeppelins.”
“We can’t be sure that it was not,” said my father.
“Oh, no, Joel,” protested my mother. “Those things are so huge. They just seem to hang in the sky. Someone would have seen it.”
“It is just possible that it quickly dropped the bomb and got away.”
“But the explosion was so loud,” I said. “People nearby would go out to look. It couldn’t have got away so quickly without being seen.”
“Well then, perhaps it was not a Zeppelin.”
“I’ve just thought of something,” I said. “There’s no gas at Milton Priory. How could there be? Nobody ever put it in.”
“They must have been putting it in now,” replied my father.
“If they were, surely we should have known,” I said. “No, it wasn’t gas. It wasn’t dropped from the air. So what was it? What a mystery! No doubt we shall find out sooner or later. How I should love to know! It’s really very intriguing. I shan’t rest until I find out.”
“Well,” said my father, “in the words of our Prime Minister, we must ‘wait and see.’ ”
It was the following day. I had just finished my session with Miss Carruthers, and as I came out of the schoolroom I saw my mother on the stairs.
“Lucinda, I wanted to talk to you,” she said.
“Yes?”
“Come into my sitting room. I don’t want anyone to hear.”
I was eager to learn what she had to say, and when we reached her room she shut the door and, looking at me anxiously, said, “Sit down.”
I did so, very puzzled.
“Lucinda,” she began. “This is very important. It is also secret. But your father and I know you will be discreet; after all, you are no longer a child.”
I waited apprehensively as she paused, for she was staring ahead, frowning.
“I know you have been aware of the fact for a long time that your father is…well, something more than an ordinary Member of Parliament.”
“Yes…vaguely. He does go off sometimes, and I know you are a little anxious when he does, and there is, of course, the implication that no questions should be asked.”
“I wish he were not engaged in all this secrecy. I’m always afraid he will come to some harm. It could have ruined our lives in the beginning, when he was engaged in secret work and I thought he was dead. I married…” She shook her head. “If he had been here, it would have been so different.”
“I do know something about that.”
I guessed this preamble was because she was trying to make up her mind to tell me what all this was about.
“Your father is doing a wonderful job for the country,” she went on. “He has never taken Cabinet rank because of this work. It would not be possible for a minister to do what he is doing. So…he just sits in Parliament. Well, that is a Greenham tradition, and he had to follow it. But it’s all part of the same thing. It’s working for the country.”
“Yes, I know.”
“There is a matter which has come up. He is going to tell you about it himself. He was reluctant to, but we both thought it best. He asked me to…well, prepare you, as it were. I think he wants to be sure that it will be all right to take you into this secret. In fact he thinks it might be necessary to.”
“What is this secret?”
“He is going to tell you. We were discussing it last night and we came to the conclusion that it is the best way. Your father thought at first that you were too young, but, well, everything that has been happening lately has jerked you out of your childhood. You’ll understand and do all you can to help, I know. I’ve convinced him of this. He’s in his study now. Let’s go to him.”
My father was waiting for us.
“Here she is,” said my mother. “We can rely on Lucinda. She understands.”
“Sit down, my dear,” said my father. “This must sound very mysterious to you.”
“It does,” I answered.
“Your mother has told you that I am involved in certain matters.”
“Yes, she has.”
“It’s about Milton Priory.”
I was taken aback. “Milton Priory!” I said.
“Yes, Milton Priory,” he repeated. “You know, don’t you, that you must not give an indication to anyone at any time of this?”
“I understand that.”
“I don’t want people talking about it…as you were inclined to do. I want it believed that the explosion was caused by a Zeppelin or a gas leak…something that could happen in any place at any time. I know you were especially interested in the place, but you must stop speculating about it. Keeping the mystery alive arouses people’s curiosity, so you must stop talking of it and if the subject is raised in your presence, do everything you can to divert the conversation away from it. I don’t want people prying…investigating….”
“Why not?”
“Listen, Lucinda. The Priory was being used by the Government as a research center. Important experiments were being carried out there. A secret place was needed for these experiments. We are surrounded by spies, as countries are in war. We cannot trust anyone. It was very important for the location of this research to be kept secret. It was on my recommendation that the Priory was chosen. There it was, an almost derelict house, empty for some years. A great amount of work was needed to make it habitable as a residence. It would be acceptable in the neighborhood that people should be there. And there was a show of restoring the place while the essential work was being carried out. That was what was happening at the Priory.”
My father paused and looked at me.
“And you think that spies discovered this and blew it up?” I said,