Sidney Chambers and The Forgiveness of Sins (13 page)

‘It’s not enough.’

‘What else are you proposing, Amanda?’

‘I have spoken to Henry. I have told him that he has to have it out with Mark.’

‘I’m not sure that’s the kind of thing men do.’

‘What on earth do you mean?’

‘Henry will consider a man’s marriage to be his own business. He will want to respect Sir Mark’s privacy. It’s considered poor form to intrude . . .’

‘Well it’s certainly bad manners to hit your wife.’

‘We don’t know he’s doing that, Amanda.’

‘We have a fairly good idea.’

‘There is still the notion of privacy. Henry Richmond won’t want to risk his friendship with Sir Mark by asking impertinent questions or making insinuations . . .’

‘He won’t be as direct as that.’

‘If he wants Sir Mark to listen to anything he says then he may have to be.’

‘Henry’s already told me that he doesn’t like confrontation.’

‘Then goodness knows what he is doing with you.’

Amanda did not always appreciate Sidney’s wry asides and was humourless in her response. ‘He’s not “doing” anything with me. Besides, a man can always be trained up.’

‘I’m not so sure. Hildegard thinks that men are remarkably resilient to change.’

‘Your wife lets you get away with murder . . .’

‘I think she’d stop at that.’

‘I’m sorry.’ Amanda was contrite. ‘That wasn’t necessary. I’m sorry. I’m upset. I am trying my best.’

‘I think our friendship can forgive any inappropriate remarks.’

‘That’s what I’ve told Henry about Mark. He has to risk their friendship. Truth is more important than misplaced loyalty.’

‘Then it will be up to him to decide. I am sure he won’t find it easy.’

‘Perhaps you could give him a few tips?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, Sidney, you do know how to get information out of people.’

‘Sometimes people just tell me things.’

‘And that never interests you? You can’t fool me, Chambers. You love knowing stuff that no one else does.’

‘Sometimes it’s a heavy burden.’

‘You can always lighten your load by talking to Hildegard. That’s one of the points of marriage, is it not?’

‘So I believe.’

‘And that’s why I’m testing out Henry. Do you see what I’m doing, Sidney? Two birds, one very large stone. Goodbye, my darling.’

Amanda rang off. Sidney had no intention of giving his friend’s potential partner a few ‘tips’. In fact he was not sure that the relationship was a good idea at all but at least Amanda was not rushing as she had done before.

He returned to matters in hand. He had to tell Hildegard both about the phone call and the letter from the Church Commissioners. He could hear that she was still singing to their daughter and he would start with the good news. He hoped that she would be pleased.

‘Gott der Herr rief sie mit Namen,

daß sie all ins Leben kamen,

daß sie nun so fröhlich sind,

daß sie nun so fröhlich sind.’

The Lord God called them by name,

So that they all came to life,

And now they are all so happy,

And now they are all so happy.

*          *          *

Hildegard was first up with Anna the following morning and brought Sidney a cup of tea and a copy of
The Times
while he was still in bed. ‘Perhaps one day we will have a butler as they have at Witchford Hall. When you are a bishop . . .’

‘I don’t think I want to be a bishop.’

‘And a maid. You could have your own little Rita Hayworth. Would you like that?’

‘Of course not, Hildegard. All I want is to be with you.’

‘That is good because it is all you have got. I will get Anna dressed now and buy a map of Ely.’

‘It’s not a very big place.’

‘It will be an adventure.’ She stopped for a moment. ‘Sometimes I thought we would never leave.’

‘We can always come back.’

‘It is time, my darling. I will let Byron out but you must walk him. You remember it is Malcolm’s day off?’

‘Have we got any food in the house?’

‘I will go to the shops.’

Sidney took his Labrador out on to the meadows. Byron was a more unpredictable dog than his predecessor, Dickens, and Sidney had yet to get the measure of him. Although he lived in the moment, without any anxiety about the future, he appeared to anticipate what human beings around him were going to do, even if he wasn’t actually able to act on that intuition. So what would Byron do if he was a human being at Witchford Hall? Would he, like Musket, be steady, ‘free from chase’, and unwaveringly loyal to his master? Could you teach a dog loyalty or was it instinctive? Were there parallels between the loyalty of a dog and the friendship between human beings and, if so, was Henry Richmond’s reluctance to intervene a proof of his fidelity to friendship?

A few days later, on a similar outing, Sidney bumped into Michael Robinson. After a shaky start to their relationship, in which both he and Keating had suspected the medical practitioner of helping his elderly patients book an earlier passage to the next world than they had, perhaps, anticipated, Sidney had grown to like and trust the doctor’s ability to bend the rules, not least in the previous year when he had dropped very strong hints as to which one of his patients might have been responsible for the theft of a baby.

Dr Robinson revealed that he had paid a call on Lady Elizabeth Kirby-Grey while her husband was staying at his club in London. She had scalded a foot while getting into a bath that was too hot for her, and was prepared to show the doctor her injury only to reveal that her back hurt too. On a cursory inspection this too was red, and her subsequent excuse (that she must have lain back without appreciating the high temperature of the water) had been unconvincing.

‘You think she has been scalded deliberately?’

‘Do I think, Sidney, that someone, the husband or even the maid, threw boiling water at her? Yes, I do. But until she tells me or anyone else exactly what has happened it’s going to be hard to intervene. The burns are not that bad, and if this is a case of domestic violence then those responsible are being careful to make sure that any marks are on parts of the body that are regularly hidden from view: behind the hairline, on the foot, and now the back. In winter you wouldn’t know that anything was amiss . . .’

‘Apart from her leg . . .’

‘Which may, ironically, have been caused by the incident she described. If there’s a plausible explanation for that then she might be persuaded there’s a reason for everything.’

‘You think the maid and husband are in it together?’

‘I think you do, Canon Chambers.’

‘I am afraid so. Amanda detailed Henry Richmond to ferret out the truth but I don’t hold out much hope.’

‘Did you know we were all at Millingham together?’ the doctor asked.

‘The school? No, I didn’t.’

‘Dreadful place. Mark was bullied. We used to call him Marina Kirby-Grip. His father was a terrible man. Drank, as you might expect. Hopeless after nine in the evening. When Mark wrote to his mother saying he was unhappy at school his father intercepted the message and replied by sending the letter straight back to his son with the spelling and punctuation corrected. It’s hard to know how to love when you’ve been brought up like that. Mark had to learn how to make friends and he did most of that by spending money and being a buffoon. After his father died, his mother ran off with another man within a month. At least Mark was left with the estate. But that’s probably why he married so young. He needed someone to help him . . .’

‘And someone who won’t “run off” like his mother.’

‘Exactly. It’s often the case that the bullied becomes the bully. I’m worried this could get out of hand. It also tends to get worse with age; not to mention drink. Do you think you should alert Inspector Keating? I thought you two met regularly.’

‘Thursday nights.’

‘Tomorrow then?’

‘Yes, Michael. Tomorrow.’

Sidney would rather have discussed his potential move to Ely with Geordie Keating but recognised that he did not really need his friend’s advice. He was going to have to take the job and so the next time they met for their customary two pints in the RAF bar of the Eagle he decided that he would not mention it quite yet. He asked his friend about domestic violence instead.

Keating explained how the odds were stacked against abused women. ‘There often isn’t any concrete evidence that the husband is the one doing the beating. It could be a lover or another family member.’

‘I don’t think that’s likely in this case. At least there are no children.’

‘If the wife won’t tell us there is anything wrong . . .’

‘She won’t.’

‘Because she is so afraid of her husband?’

‘I think so. What can be done?’

‘We have to construct a case on the basis of evidence other than that of the victim. That means you, Sidney, and Amanda, and any witnesses. Her maid, for example.’

‘I think she’s having an affair with the husband.’

‘He’s made her his accomplice. What about the doctor? He’s crucial. We can investigate on medical evidence. Would he testify?’

‘I am sure of it.’

‘Then that’s a start. The best thing, however, would be to sort all this out before it gets to court. The publicity never helps and the husband often nurses even more of a grievance.’

‘Even though he’s the one at fault?’

‘They don’t always see it that way. First they deny it altogether; then they say it is just between them and the wife. Finally they complain that they have been provoked. And, in a case like this, the accused probably knows the judge, however remotely. It’s always harder to convict a toff. They never think they’ve done anything wrong.’

‘Never?’

‘Hardly ever.’

‘They don’t even apologise?’

‘Repentance is your job; and while the legal situation is tricky, my official advice is to persuade both parties to sort it out amongst themselves.’

‘And your unofficial advice?’

‘Is to get Lady Kirby-Grey out of her house and away from her husband as quickly as possible. These things hardly ever die down. In fact, they get worse.’

The next morning Hildegard brought Anna into their bed from her cot. She had discovered a new game; holding on to the bedstead to balance, facing the door with her back towards them, before bouncing up and down, then stopping and looking back at her parents to check that they were watching.

‘I think she might turn out to be very musical,’ said Sidney as he got out of bed to perform his first duty of the day: making the morning tea.

‘Why do you think that?’

‘Billie Holiday said that jazz is all in the bounce. Anna’s got plenty of that. How young can she start to learn the piano?’

‘She needs to be able to read first. We don’t want to push her. Do you think she’s progressing all right?’

‘She isn’t yet one. She hasn’t even started to speak.’

‘She has. I am convinced she said “Dada”. ’

‘I think it’s sweet that all fathers assume their daughters’ first words will be about them.’

‘Do they?’

‘So I’m told.’

‘She hasn’t said “
Mutt
i
” yet?’

‘I will tell you when she does . . . but in the meantime, she needs a feed. You will let Byron out . . .’

‘It is part of my morning routine, as well you know.’

Sidney put on slippers that had seen better days (perhaps Hildegard would give him a new pair for Christmas?) and padded downstairs. Life was so much simpler when it was like this. All he had to do was make the tea and look after the people he loved. Soon Anna would be walking and speaking and expressing her opinions. Would she be more like her father or her mother? How could he protect her against the disappointments, perils and dangers of the world?

It was half past seven. Sidney thought of Elizabeth Kirby-Grey. Would she still be asleep? He tried to imagine what it must be like to wake up having been hit or burned in the night; to be the subject or both subtle and explicit abuse. Why did her husband torture her in this way, and how much did Nancy Hayworth know?

He had just given Hildegard her tea and was about to shave when Amanda telephoned. As soon as she had ascertained that she was speaking to Sidney she launched into a diatribe about ‘that pathetic fool of a man I’ve been seeing’.

‘You mean Henry?’

‘He didn’t mention it to Mark at all. When I started to speak to him
very firmly indeed
he apologised and said “the situation never arose”. Well,
of course
it didn’t. I don’t know much about gentleman’s clubs but I am pretty sure they don’t stand around the billiard table discussing the best way to beat up their wives.’