Daughter of Deceit (24 page)

“I
thought I heard a voice,” I said, and we fell silent, still listening.

“Ah … there it is again.”

“Hello … hello!”

“Let’s shout,” I cried. “Hello! Hello! Down here.”

Lady Constance shouted with me. There was silence while we waited breathlessly.

“Someone’s there,” I whispered. “They must be looking for us.”

We turned and embraced each other in our relief. I think we were both near tears.

We sat holding each other … tense … listening. There was no sound. The disappointment was intense.

“Let’s call again,” I said, and shouted: “We’re here. We’re down here.”

Then I heard a voice. It was Roderick’s.

“Can you hear me? Can you hear me?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Don’t move. Wait. We’re coming.”

There was a dark shadow above.

Someone was up there.

“Noelle … Mother …”

“We’re here,” I cried. “We’re here … together.”

“Thank God. Don’t move, whatever you do. This can be dangerous.”

There was a pause which seemed to go on for a long time but could not have been more than five minutes. Then Roderick was there again. There must have been others with him, for I heard several voices.

He shouted down: “We’re lowering ropes. Attach yourselves to them. Tie them round your waists. We’re going to pull you up.”

We kept our eyes on the opening and we saw the ropes descending. I seized them. First I helped Lady Constance to tie one round her waist. Then I did the same for myself.

“Are you ready?” called Roderick.

“You must go first,” I said to Lady Constance.

“Suppose more earth falls down.”

“I’m tied to the rope. I’ll be all right.”

“Noelle, Noelle.” It was Roderick.

“I’m here,” I answered.

“We are going to start now. We are going to bring you up together. Hold on to each other and make sure the ropes are securely tied. Ready? Now …”

Arms about each other, Lady Constance and I were lifted. We moved upwards, dislodging earth as we went. I heard stones rattling on the shelf which we had just vacated. Nearer and nearer to the top … and then the fresh air was enveloping us, and we were standing on terra firma. The air seemed intoxicating. And most wonderful of all, there was Roderick. He had his arms round both of us.

“You’ve given us a fright,” he said, his voice strained with emotion.

Then they were untying the ropes. Lady Constance could not stand up and she was taken to the carriage which was waiting for us. Earth fell from my clothes and I staggered and would have fallen if Roderick had not caught me. He was holding me tightly.

“It is wonderful … wonderful … to have you safe,” he said. “Oh, Noelle … when you weren’t there …”

I said: “I felt you would come. All the time, I felt it. It just kept me from despair.”

He held me firmly for some seconds and I was happier in that moment than I had been since my mother died.

“I love you, Noelle,” he said. “You’re never going away from me again.”

“I never want to.”

We stood close for a few seconds.

He said: “We’ll talk. First we’ve got to get you both back … make sure you’ve suffered no harm. Dearest Noelle, I thank God I found you.”

I was in the carriage. Lady Constance was lying back, her eyes closed. She was almost unrecognizable; her face and clothes were streaked with dirt and her hair was straying from its usual austere order. I suddenly realized how I must have looked when Roderick was saying he loved me.

Lady Constance opened her eyes and smiled at me. All the warmth and friendship I had felt when we were in danger was still there.

This was the most bewildering experience. I had been plunged into disaster, to find that there could be a happy life for me.

I felt I was living in a dream from which I should awake at any moment.

The rest of that night seems rather hazy. I was more shocked than I had first realized. I was taken to my room, where the first thing I wanted to do was throw off all my clothes and get into a bath. This I was allowed to do before the doctor arrived.

I was amazed at the quantities of soil which fell from me. It was in the pockets of my coat, in my shoes … everywhere.

I soaked myself in the hip bath, and my soiled clothes were taken away.

I was in bed when the doctor visited me and proclaimed that no bones were broken, though I had plenty of bruises, and, as I had had a terrible shock, I must have hot food and then take a sedative he would leave for me. Then I must see whether I was well enough to get up next morning.

I was content to do this. I did not want to think of that experience, because I could not do so without recalling those terrifying moments when I had fallen and thought the earth was going to bury me alive. I wanted to be alone to think of Roderick with his arms about me, showing me so clearly how happy he was because I was safe. I wanted to think of his saying he loved me. I also wanted to remember what Lady Constance and I had said together in those moments of revelation. That was enough for this night.

As for Lady Constance, she was suffering from a sprained ankle and acute shock, and would stay in bed until the doctor saw her again.

I slept deeply and awoke the next morning feeling refreshed. I was longing to see both Roderick and Lady Constance.

I
stretched out in my bed, savouring the comforts of sheets and soft pillows.

I looked round the room and out of the window. Everything seemed so beautiful and precious as I remembered how I had thought I might never see any of it again.

How lucky we had been to be discovered so soon … for it was comparatively soon. We might still be there. I shuddered at the thought.

I wondered whether I should get up, what it would be like to see Roderick again. It would be different between us after his declaration. I had thought he might have been on the point of telling me he loved me on one or two occasions, but he had not done so, and that had set doubts in my mind. Yesterday it was such an emotional moment that the words had slipped out.

I was glad. I felt joyous, full of hope for a future which had previously been filled with misgivings. It had been worthwhile to have been nearly buried alive to hear those words.

The door of my room was slowly opening. Gertie came in. She was looking excited and expectant.

“I just looked in to see whether you was awake, miss,” she said. “And if you’d like something. I thought I wouldn’t knock, which might wake you if you wasn’t already awake like.”

“Thank you, Gertie. I am awake.”

She came towards the bed, her eyes wide, looking at me as though I were a different person from the one I had been before.

“I’m ever so thankful you’re safe, miss.”

“Thank you, Gertie.”

“And it was because of me, in a way. It was an awful thing, and to think, if I hadn’t been able to … well, miss … I can’t tell you how pleased I was to be the one … after all you did for me. I was able to do something for you.”

“What do you mean, Gertie?”

“Well, it was her, wasn’t it? … Kitty. Her coming here like that … to me. All upset she was. She knew, you see. She’s here now … won’t go back. Mr. Roderick said she was to be given a room. Reckon there might be a job for her here. And her ladyship wouldn’t say no to that, seeing it was her who saved her, too.”

“I
don’t understand what all this is about, Gertie.”

“Well, it was her that come here. She was in a terrible state. She didn’t know what to do, so she came to me. I told you how we got on, after I’d helped her with the bag and she looked on me like I was something special. So when she was frightened she came to me. She told me old Mrs. Carling had taken away the notice.”

“What notice?”

“Warning people not to use the path.”

“There was a notice?”

“Not when you was there, because she’d taken it away, hadn’t she? Real mischief. Kitty reckons it was so’s you’d fall in. Mrs. Carling knew you went almost every afternoon to see Miss Vance, and she guessed you’d be along. And there you was … just as she’d planned it.”

“Gertie. I can’t believe this. Mrs. Carling took the notice away in the hope that I would be trapped!”

Gertie nodded and looked wise. “She’s been off her head these last weeks. They’ve had a terrible time with her. She set fire to the cottage because she wanted Miss Vance to come up and work at the Manor.”

“Set fire to the cottage!”

Gertie looked knowledgeable. “She wanted Mr. Roderick for Fiona. She goes about muttering to herself. Kitty heard. So she wanted her up at the house, and you out of the way. I reckon that’s the long and the short of it.”

“It cannot be true.”

“Well, why did she take the notice away? Kitty saw her go out on the night of the fire and she knows she took paraffin with her. Then she actually saw her take the notice away. She went out and waited there. She saw you go down. She didn’t see Lady Constance, but she saw you. She didn’t know what she ought to do. After a time she came to me. You could have knocked me down with a feather. I soon spread the news. They got Mr. Roderick right away, and he called the men all together with ropes and things. So they got you out. But Kitty was afraid to go back after what she’d done. That’s why she’s here. I’ve got her in my room. I have to keep telling her it’s all right and she’s done a good thing in
telling on her old mistress. I tell her she’s not got to worry about going back to Mrs. Carling anymore. I’m going to look after her.”

“Oh, Gertie …”

She rushed to me and flung her arms round my neck. We hugged each other for a few moments.

“I’m that glad you’re safe, miss, I’m forgetting my place. You’re safe and sound and I had a part in bringing you back. Now, can I get you something to eat? Some coffee … some toast?”

“Just that, Gertie, and some hot water. I’m longing to get up.”

“I’ll see to it,” she said.

I lay back in bed, marvelling at what I had heard and wondering if it could possibly be true.

I hastily washed and dressed and ate a little breakfast. I must admit I felt light-headed, but that was due to everything which had happened in such a short time rather than any physical disability.

My mind was a jumble of memories: those horrifying moments when I had fallen, my conversation with Lady Constance, the rescue, all that Gertie had told me—and all dominated by Roderick’s telling me he loved me.

More than anything I wanted to see Roderick.

When I was ready to go down, I went to the window, and there he was, seated on the wicker seat, looking up at my window. He saw me immediately.

“I’m coming down now,” I called.

I ran out of the room and down the stairs. He was striding towards me, taking my hands in his.

“Noelle … how are you this morning? It’s wonderful to see you! I have been sitting here … waiting … since Gertie told me you were going to get up.”

“I wanted so much to talk to you.”

“And I to you. Did you sleep well?”

“I knew nothing since I took the doctor’s sedative and woke to find the sun streaming into my room.”

“I’ve had nightmares … dreaming that we couldn’t get you out.”

“Well, forget them, because here I am.”

“And you are always going to be here, Noelle. Let’s sit down and talk. I love you, Noelle … so much. I’ve been wanting to tell you for a long time. I was afraid it was too soon … your mother was so recently dead, and I knew you were still living with your grief. I was afraid you could not think of anything else. I told myself I must wait until you had recovered a little. But yesterday it came out. I couldn’t stop it.”

“I’m glad.”

“Does that mean you love me, too?”

I nodded and he put his arm round and tightened his hold on me.

“We shan’t want a long engagement,” he said. “My father will be pleased. He’ll see it as a way of keeping you here.”

“I’m so suddenly happy,” I said. “I never thought to feel like this again. It all looked so grim. I hated being in London. There were so many memories of her … and I was away from you. Then you came and it was bearable. I was wondering what I should do … and now there is a chance to be happy again.”

“We certainly shall be.”

“What of your mother? Have you heard how she is this morning?”

“Still sleeping. She is very shocked. She will need a long rest.”

“She has other plans for you.”

He laughed. “Oh,” he said. “Marriage. She will come round when she sees it’s inevitable. Don’t think of obstacles. There are not going to be any … and if there are, we shall quickly overcome them.”

“I’m thinking about it all the time.”

He kissed my hair gently. I thought: How can I be so suddenly happy? Yesterday was so different. Today I am in another world … and all because yesterday I nearly lost my life. The birds were singing more gaily; the grass glistened with tiny globules of morning dew; the flowers were more colourful and fragrant because of the recent heavy rain: the whole world had become more beautiful because I was happy.