Island of Bones (9 page)

Felix smiled lopsidedly. ‘You ask the impossible. My mother tells me I chatter far too much, and I am sure I become an irritant to many of my friends, even those as good-willed as yourself I have had a very expensive education, and know nothing. I have an estate in Mecklenburg and no idea of agriculture. The last two years that I have spent in Vienna, I have been mostly at the card table. I am careless, idle and bored. My uncle will dislike me intensely, I think.’

There was nothing playful in Harriet’s frown now. ‘How can you say such things of yourself? I understand there is an extensive library here. Perhaps you can use your stay to remedy the defects of your education.’

He laughed – his spirits as suddenly recovered as they were lost. ‘Now, dear Mrs Westerman, you sound like one of those dull country parsons. So severe! How could I spend my time in the library with this landscape to explore? And I am sure there are diversions in Keswick too for a man of my age and expectations. Though I do love to read novels. Are there any here? Have you read
The Sorrows of Young Werther
? It is a remarkable book, although I cannot quite believe a man suffering so for love. I have too much English blood in my veins, though every man one meets in Vienna has taken to sighing over some unavailable beauty in imitation of the hero.’

Harriet had read the book when it was translated into her own tongue, and found it rather irritating, so was happy to spend some time
mocking it in Felix’s company. His tone continued careless, but there was perception in his remarks and Harriet began to think he might be cleverer than he pretended. Once they had entertained themselves in this way for some minutes, the door opened and Crowther appeared. Felix introduced himself and Crowther looked him carefully up and down, said he was glad to meet him, then took a paper from the side-table and sat down to read.

Felix tried to meet Harriet’s eye, but she would not engage and instead walked to the window to admire again the view down to the lake. Mrs Briggs arrived, which drew them back together into the island of settees around the empty fire. Though when Mrs Briggs mentioned that she understood there was an acquaintance of Felix’s staying in the town, he scowled.

‘Would you like to invite them to Silverside for my summer party tomorrow?’ she asked uncertainly.

‘Do not trouble yourself, madam,’ he replied. ‘The acquaintance is very slight, and they are not the sort of person to whom my mother would wish to be introduced.’ Mrs Briggs was obviously somewhat taken aback, but when Harriet asked about the arrangements for her party, she recovered quickly enough. The ladies discussed the trouble of providing ices for a crowd, and Felix offered his opinion on the arrangements for the archery competition. Crowther did not contribute to their talk, but the others established an easy flow of conversation until the Vizegräfin entered.

She apologised lightly for keeping them from their dinner, and touched the complicated arrangement of her hair by way of explanation. As Harriet stood to make her curtsey, she studied the woman. In her form she was very like Crowther, with the same hooded blue eyes, and high bones in the cheek. She had none of his reserve, however, and as soon as they were seated, began to question Harriet rather thoroughly about her estate, her children and her parents. When she began to make detailed enquiries about the affairs of the family at Thornleigh Hall and the young Lord Sussex, Harriet found she was struggling to answer with
any degree of politeness. Twice Mrs Briggs tried to steer the conversation clear of the shoals with some other remark, and twice she was all but ignored by the Vizegräfin. Her eyes were constantly darting between Harriet and Crowther in a way that began to irritate. Felix started to frown and Harriet felt herself examined from all sides; she could sense her fingers tightening on her fan. Having observed the interrogation for some minutes, Crowther sighed audibly, then turned to Mrs Briggs and began to talk to her, listening to her replies with apparent interest.

When the Vizegräfin noticed this, her eyes narrowed and she asked her brother some question. Crowther replied as briefly as possible, hardly looking at her as he did so, then continued to speak to Mrs Briggs.

Harriet’s relief when they were summoned to the table was extreme.

At least at dinner the dishes that appeared before them supplied some conversation, and when the subject of the excellence of the carp taken from the lake at Bassenthwaite had been raised, Harriet went so far as to ask the Vizegräfin whether the taste recalled to her her childhood in the area. The Vizegräfin set down her glass on the table and turned towards her, putting her head on one side.

‘Perhaps it does, Mrs Westerman. I am beset by all sorts of strange ghosts of my girlhood in this house.’ She glanced significantly at Crowther as she spoke, but he showed no sign of noticing it.

‘A ghostly fish!’ Felix said. ‘A strange ghost indeed.’ He gave a high-pitched giggle and leaned forward to pull more meat from it, doing so a little messily. His mother looked at him critically.

‘I wish you could rid yourself of that foolish laugh,’ she snapped. ‘It makes you sound like a schoolgirl.’

Felix flushed and looked down at his plate.

When the ladies withdrew, they found a visitor waiting for them by the tea table and Harriet was introduced to Mr Sturgess, the magistrate, who had been one of the party when the tomb was opened. A gentleman
who, if not young still appeared vigorous, who dressed elegantly but without ostentation, he stood and made his bows with a steady smile. He wore his clothes well. The chatelaine that bore his watch and seal at his side was gilt and white enamel, but managed to seem at home against the dull sage of his waistcoat, whereas the more gaudy version Felix sported seemed to wheedle for attention. Harriet felt him study her and was glad she had decided on the blue. The Vizegräfin all but skipped to his side.

‘Mr Sturgess, what a delight to see you! You have come to look at Mrs Westerman, I suppose.’

Mr Sturgess smiled at her and bowed, though it seemed the remark surprised him a little, then he turned to Harriet. ‘I have come in hopes of meeting Mrs Westerman and Mr Crowther, naturally. It is an honour for us all to have them among us. I am glad there is such a comfortable home as Silverside to welcome them.’

Mrs Briggs and Harriet were perhaps happier with this statement than the Vizegräfin.

Harriet took her seat with her usual, open smile, saying, ‘You are the magistrate here, I believe, Mr Sturgess. Have you discovered anything about this strange body in the tomb as yet? Are you here to tell us Crowther and I are no longer required?’

He took his tea from Mrs Briggs and shook his head. ‘I am indeed magistrate here, though the people are well-behaved enough and seldom trouble me, so my official duties are light. Of the body I can tell you nothing. I had the news spread and bills put up in town, but no one has come forward with any information as yet.’

‘A true mystery, then. Perhaps he is indeed an ancient or was a stranger here,’ Harriet said. She noticed Sturgess had grey eyes and a square jaw. There was something of the military in his bearing for all his ease of manner. She thought she might like him.

‘Perhaps so, Mrs Westerman, but just because no one has come to me, it does not mean that they know nothing. The people here are a close-knit and close-mouthed lot. I learn what business of the town I
know only when something comes to blows in the public street. Perhaps that is how it should be. It might have been different with a magistrate born in the area, but I am only five years into my life here, so am regarded of very little consequence – unless you need a licence for a new ale-house.’

Harriet was about to ask more about Mr Sturgess’s history, but he forestalled her, getting to his feet and approaching her chair while the others watched.

‘However, I do have
something
here for you.’ He reached into his pocket and produced a snuff barrel, putting it into her hand before sitting down again. It fitted snugly into Harriet’s palm. As she turned it over with a frown he continued, ‘There was a fight in Portinscale outside the Black Pig last night, and it turns out that that snuffbox was at the heart of it.’ He turned to Mrs Briggs. ‘I am sorry to say, it seems that the two men your steward hired were less than honest. Apparently the snuffbox fell from the clothing of the body as it was moved, and they snatched it up behind your man’s back. The fight was over the division of the spoils.’

‘Thieves! How dreadful!’ said the Vizegräfin.

The magistrate shook his head sadly, but continued speaking to Mrs Briggs. ‘Madam, I hope that as the property is now returned to you, we need proceed no further in the case. You could have them both transported should you wish to prosecute, but though they are difficult men, I do not think them irredeemable.’

Mrs Briggs patted his sleeve. ‘Quite right, quite right. I am of the same mind. We shall not have them on our property again, but you may tell them I shall carry the matter no further.’

‘Wrongdoers should be punished,’ said the Vizegräfin stiffly.

‘A little mercy, Vizegräfin,’ Sturgess murmured.

Mrs Briggs cleared her throat. ‘Let your investigations commence then, Mrs Westerman! I am sure I think you so clever I expect you to give me all the details of the matter from this one object.’

Harriet turned the snuffbox over in her hands. Ivory and mahogany,
she thought. The hinge was in the form of a silver butterfly and on its lid bloomed a single rose in the same metal. She lifted her eyebrows.

‘Your poor wretch was a Jacobite, then, Mrs Briggs.’

The woman almost spilled her tea. ‘Good Lord, Mrs Westerman! I spoke in jest! How can you say so?’

Harriet shrugged, and felt rather than saw the Vizegräfin stiffen in her chair. She held the box towards her host. ‘When I was a child there was an old gentleman in my father’s parish whom we used to visit. My father felt it was his duty, as there was no Catholic priest in the area to tend to him. He was a Jacobite, still convinced the true King lived on the continent rather than in the Palace, and his home was full of items with these sorts of designs. I mean the rose and the butterfly, madam, and the use of ivory in the construction as well, I imagine, since white was the colour of the cause.’

Mr Sturgess was looking at her steadily. ‘Bravo, Mrs Westerman.’ Harriet almost blushed.

Mrs Briggs sipped her tea. ‘I
do
remember, my dear. I am quite old enough to remember the colours being worn. Of course, the rose. How clever of you to see it so quickly! And of course the last Lord Greta was such a Jacobite. Perhaps you have solved the mystery at a stroke, Mrs Westerman. Herbert’s Island was part of the Greta estate before it was bought by Lord Keswick, and then by ourselves. No doubt this was one of his followers who suffered some injury and was carelessly buried in the heat of the times.’

‘I would not call the burial careless, Mrs Briggs, would you?’ Harriet said, leaning back and taking up her fan. The heat was still oppressive. ‘But perhaps you are right. We shall know more when we examine the body in the morning.’

The Vizegräfin swung her head round to face Harriet. ‘You assist my brother in these examinations, Mrs Westerman? How horrible.’

Harriet fluttered the fan. Her sister had painted it the previous year for her, and it had been one of her successes; it showed a wooded glade where a figure of Pan played pipes to an audience of a fox, a crow and
a pair of small children whom Rachel had modelled on her nephew and niece.

‘I am sorry to say, madam, I have not the skills to “assist” in any practical way. Perhaps you think I am too delicate? I have acted as a nurse in my husband’s commands when it was required. I assure you it is a far more delicate procedure to examine a corpse than hold down a young man while his leg is removed. I take no active part in the autopsies Crowther performs. I am merely present and offer what conjectures I may, suggested by the evidence he discovers.’

Sturgess looked serious. ‘I am sure your contributions are invaluable, Mrs Westerman. Mr Crowther is lucky to have you.’ The Vizegräfin sniffed, and Harriet was relieved to see Mrs Briggs looking rather amused.

Before anything further could be said, Crowther and his nephew came into the room. Harriet noticed that Crowther was looking bored, and Felix rather deflated. She suspected he had ignored her advice and chattered over his wine. It seemed unlikely they would bring any great cheer to the group so she was pleased when they were almost immediately joined by Stephen and his tutor, summoned from their own amusements to spend a little of the evening with the company. After the various introductions and explanations required by the gathering of the party, Mr Quince took a chair a little removed from the rest of them, produced his guidebook from his pocket and began to read. Stephen, however, began at once to tell them of his adventures in the wood and the talking jackdaw. He turned to Crowther.

‘Can all birds speak, sir? Do they have throats as we do? Mr Quince said he did not know.’

Crowther looked steadily at him and brought his fingertips together. ‘What do you think, Stephen?’ The boy bit his lip. It was also a habit Harriet had when she was thinking. Crowther wondered if her son had mimicked her, as one generation of birds mimics the songs of its forebears.

‘I think if all birds
could
talk, I should have met one before now. And the crows near our house sound a little like people at times, do they not? So perhaps they are more like us than sparrows or jays.’

Crowther nodded. ‘That seems a sensible speculation, though of course you would have to make careful experiment to support your theory.’

A look of wary concern crossed Stephen’s face. ‘But not on Joe, sir? He is a nice bird and I would not like to see him hurt.’

‘We shall not steal and cut up someone’s pet, Stephen.’ Crowther lifted his chin to look across at Mr Quince. ‘I can recommend a book or two about the anatomy of the throat to your tutor, if it would interest you. And I believe there are some interesting works on birds in the library here. My own experiments in anatomy began with the study of the canaries of a neighbour here – my father’s solicitor, then my own – a Mr Leathes.’