Daughter of Deceit (48 page)

She giggled with pleasure. I was so pleased to see her happy and contented.

I went to my room, and it was not very long before there was a gentle tap on my door. I called: “Come in,” and, to my pleasure, there was Gertie, the maid who had looked after me when I was last here.

“I’ve come to see you’ve got everything you want, miss,” she said.

“Gertie! I’m so glad to see you. How are you?”

“Not so bad, miss. How’s yourself? And you’ve brought this young lady with you.”

“Yes.” I told her: “Marie-Christine lost her family during the war in France and is now living with me.”

She looked shocked. “I was ever so sad when you went, miss,” she said. “Everybody here was.”

“Yes, it was very sad. Do you see much of Mrs. Claverham?”

“Oh yes, miss. I look after her in a way. She … er … don’t seem to fit here … her being an actress nobody’s ever heard of … not like Desiree … and being a cripple. Well, she can be a bit touchy at times. It’s nothing like it was here.”

“And Lady Constance—she is … all right with you now?”

“She don’t take much notice of me. She don’t pick on me. I’ll
never forget that bust. I reckon I’d have been out of this place in no time if you hadn’t took the blame for it. I often think of that and what you done for me.”

“It was nothing, Gertie.”

“It was to me. We’ve got a new girl here now. Mabel … a sort of tweeny … learning and doing all the jobs nobody wants to do. I’d say she was a ha’p’orth short, if you ask me.”

“Do you mean she’s a little simple?”

“I’d say. And not a little. I’m the one that’s got to keep an eye on her. Will you be staying here long, miss?”

“I don’t think so. It’s just a short visit. I’ve really come to see Mrs. Claverham.”

“She’s ill most of the time. You never know how she’s going to be. Well … her being crippled like that. Perhaps you’ll be able to cheer her up.”

“I hope so,” I said.

“Well, if there’s anything you want, just ring. I’ll say good night. Have a good sleep.”

I doubted I should. My mind was in too much of a turmoil.

The next day I saw Lisa. She was lying in bed, propped up by pillows. She had changed a good deal, and I was shocked by her appearance.

“Oh, Noelle,” she said. “I am so glad you have come. What a lot has happened since we last met. You have not changed much. I know I have.”

“Poor Lisa! I was horrified when I heard of your accident.”

“All my hopes … all my dreams of greatness … gone, and because of a faulty trapdoor. I fell seven feet onto a concrete floor. I could have broken my neck. It could have finished me altogether … instead of finishing my career.” Her voice broke. “Perhaps it would have been better if it had.”

I had taken a seat by her bed, and put my hand over hers. I said: “You wanted to see me.”

“Oh yes. I did. I have for a long time … and now this. You are involved in it. In fact, our lives seem to have been involved
ever since we met. It’s fate. Roderick has told me he always loved you. It was terrible, the way it had to end … and all the time it wasn’t true. Why did she do that to you?”

“It was all clear in her letters. She wanted to make sure that I was well looked after if anything happened to her. She had suffered during her own childhood, and she was determined that I should not be with people who did not want me. Charlie was rich. My real father was a poor man. She thought he could not give me all she wanted me to have.”

“I understand that. She was splendid. She would never let life lead her. She would guide it the way she wanted it to go. But that time it went wrong.”

“It was because she died so suddenly. If she had known that Roderick and I were seeing each other … if she had seen the possibility … she would have explained everything. But she died … so suddenly …”

“I thought she was the most wonderful person I had ever met.”

“You were not the only one who thought that.”

“And when she died … so unexpectedly …” Her face twisted, and her voice shook with emotion. “When I heard what had happened, it was the most horrifying moment of my life. She had done everything for me. No one had ever been so kind to me before.”

We were silent for a few moments.

“And now,” she went on, “I am asked to give up my husband and my home. Oh, Noelle, I have been happier here than I could be anywhere else. Roderick was so kind to me. I felt safe and secure, for the first time in my life.”

“He wanted to help you.”

“When it happened, I was completely desolate … without hope. I did not know which way to turn. I had saved a little money, but it would not last long. I had no idea what would happen to me. I was finished. I was desperate. I felt there was nothing left for me but to die. I thought of taking my life. He knew this. He is very sensitive. He is a good, kind man. He cares about people. He tried to cheer me up … and then suddenly he asked me to marry him. I could not believe it at first. But he meant it.”

“He understood what you were going through.”

“As no one else did. I could not believe it. It seemed like the greatest good fortune. It was a sudden change from despair to happiness. I think I was a little light-headed. I knew that he was still in love with you. But I thought: They can’t marry. Noelle will in time marry someone else. They have to forget each other. I will make him love me. I kept saying to myself: Brother and sister can’t marry. It’s against the law. It’s against nature. There is no reason why I shouldn’t marry him. I wouldn’t have hurt you for the world, Noelle. I shall never forget what you and your mother did for me. But it made no difference. You couldn’t marry him, could you? Or then you couldn’t.”

“Don’t reproach yourself, please.”

She lay back on her pillows, her eyes closed.

I said: “You are distressing yourself, Lisa. You must not do that.”

“I feel so tired sometimes. Worn out with the pain and not knowing what I must do. You are not leaving yet, are you?”

“No. I shall be here for a little while.”

“Come and see me again … when I feel better. We’ll be able to talk more then. I had a bad day yesterday. It takes me time to recover. I am so tired.”

“Rest now,” I said. “I will come and see you soon … and when you feel better, we’ll talk.”

Marie-Christine was eager to see the site, and in the afternoon I took her there. There was a certain amount of activity in progress. Some excavations were still going on and there were a few visitors.

Fiona greeted us warmly. She introduced us to the young man who was working with her, Jack Blackstock, her husband. He was very pleasant and, I immediately perceived, as earnest about the work they were doing as she was.

“There have been some changes here lately,” said Fiona. “The discovery of the temple attracted a great deal of attention.”

Marie-Christine asked several questions and there was nothing that delighted Fiona more, as I knew from the past, than other
people’s interest in the work she was doing. This was a trait she shared with her husband.

Enthusiastically they showed Marie-Christine some of the artifacts, explaining how they were attempting to restore them. And after a while Fiona said we must see the temple.

My memories were stirred as we descended a slight incline. A few steps had been dug out of the earth to make the descent easy, and there we were standing on the stone floor on which I had once sat with Lady Constance, wondering whether our last moments were at hand.

The floor was tessellated in places, and some of the colours were quite beautiful. Fiona said they were in the process of being cleaned and she thought the result would be fantastic. We were confronted by a large figure with enough remaining to indicate that it was Neptune. The distinguishing trident was almost intact, and the bearded face was very little damaged. One of the legs was broken, but Fiona said one could imagine it as it had undoubtedly been.

Marie-Christine was eager to see the baths, and Fiona suggested that Jack take her right away to see them while she and I returned to the cottage to chat over old times while we waited for their return.

I was delighted at the prospect, for I thought Fiona might be able to tell me something about the situation at Leverson Manor.

“I’ll
give you some coffee when you come back,” Fiona promised Jack and Marie-Christine.

Marie-Christine was enjoying this, and I was delighted by her interest in everything.

On the way back to the cottage, I explained to Fiona why Marie-Christine was with me, and I told her a little about my stay in France.

She listened with great interest and expressed her deep sorrow, which I knew was sincere.

I said: “And you, Fiona, how have you been since I left?”

“Well, I married, of course.”

“And you are happy?”

“Sublimely so. We are both so wrapped up in all this … and for years my grandmother was a great anxiety to me.”

“She is still in that nursing home?”

“Yes. She is happy enough there. She lives in a dream world. She is very popular with the others there … telling their fortunes, predicting the future. I daresay it makes their lives a little more interesting.”

“Does she mind being there?”

“I think she is only just aware of reality. She likes to be surrounded by people whom she can dominate in a way … which she has done through what she calls her ‘powers.’ “

“Does she remember about the warning notice she took away?”

“Oh, what a terrible thing that was! You might have been killed … both you and Lady Constance. She forgets all that. She is now immersed in the lives of her fellow companions. Sometimes she seems to have forgotten who I am. It has lifted a great strain from me. And now that Jack and I are together, everything is quite different. I am so lucky. Of course, removing the warning sign was the last straw. That was when I knew she had to be put away. It is strange how something really frightful like that can result in something good.”

I thought of Lady Constance and myself down there, and how barriers had been swept away, and we had come to an understanding of each other.

“Discovering the temple,” Fiona was saying. “What a wonderful thing that was! And that brought Jack down here and, well … it just went on from there.”

“I am glad some good came out of it.”

“And when I think of what the result might have been!”

“But it disclosed the temple,” I said with a smile. “And it brought Jack down here. It also brought home the fact that your grandmother should be under supervision. Fiona, what is it like at Leverson Manor? You go there, don’t you?”

“Yes, occasionally I go to see poor Lisa. What a terrible tragedy that is!”

“The accident ruined her career, but because of it she married Roderick.”

Fiona shook her head. She looked at me intently and said: “It is a sad household.”

“It seems so.”

“You went so suddenly. I thought that Roderick and you …”

“Have you heard nothing, then?”

“One hears rumours. One never is sure what to believe. Lady Constance never liked me, but she is mildly friendly now. She thought I was after Roderick because he was interested in the site. She did not like that.” She smiled. “Well, that little matter is settled now. I go to see Lisa. She came here once or twice before she became so incapacitated. She was always so interested. I take things over to show her sometimes. I think she looks forward to the visits.”

“Do you know why I went away so suddenly?”

“Well, I did hear that you were the result of an indiscretion of Charlie Claverham’s; you were going to marry Roderick and you found you were brother and sister.”

“That was why I went, Fiona.”

“So it was true?”

“No. We thought so … and that was why I went. But now I have proof that I am not Charlie’s daughter.”

“And so … you have come back …”

“Lisa asked me to. I don’t know what will happen.”

“I see. I know Roderick is not happy. Nor is Lisa. She does not tell me a great deal, but she has mentioned how wonderful Roderick is … how sympathetic and how she did not know which way to turn, and it was like the ending to a fairy tale when Roderick asked her to marry him and brought her to the luxury of Leverson Manor.”

“I shall not stay here long,” I said. “I only came because Lisa asked me to. I was given a very warm welcome.”

“Lady Constance has taken to you. That’s rare. She likes so few.”

“We had that adventure together.”

“What is going to happen now, Noelle?”

“I don’t know.”

“Poor Lisa. She suffers great pain. I often think of her lying there. She has told me she had dreams … of greatness. She talks a lot about your mother. She seems to have an obsession about her. She has said more than once that her ambition was to be another Desiree. She said she could have done it if fate had not been so cruel to her. But at least now she does not have to worry about the future. It is secure, and that means a lot to her.”

“Poor … poor Lisa.”