The Dead Songbird (The Northminster Mysteries) (38 page)

He set to cleaning and dressing the lacerations as fast as he could. The conditions and equipment were not ideal, but at least he had his medical bag with him, and Lord Rothborough had a flask of French brandy in his top coat pocket. As she grew more and more tired from the pain and the shock, he saw her complexion fade into alarming greyness, and he met Lord Rothborough’s eyes.

“She won’t be lost,” Lord Rothborough said, in a quiet voice. “She is in the best of hands, with you.” He turned his gaze back to her, stroking her forehead and murmuring to her. “You will not leave here yet, my dear, we will not allow it. Hold fast.”

She rolled her head a little and said, “Where is Giles? I want...” and passed out again.

***

As he entered the house, Giles met Lord Rothborough. He was coming downstairs in his shirtsleeves and carrying a pail and a jug.

“She’s upstairs and God willing, out of immediate danger,” he said to Giles. “She’s been asking for you.”

He ran upstairs into the drawing room. Nancy was lying on the floor, half supported by a heap of cushions, half-covered by what looked like Lord Rothborough’s great-coat, while Carswell was on his knees, bent over her. Her eyes were closed, her face distorted with pain, and she gave a gasp.

“That’s the last one,” Carswell said.

She seemed to relax a little and open her eyes. It was then that she saw Giles, and stretched out her hand to him. He went and knelt beside her, took her hand and kissed it.

“I am sorry,” he said. “I am so sorry.”

“For what?” she said.

“This should not have happened. I was wrong. I should not have allowed this to happen.”

“How could you have prevented it?” she said.

“I... I...” he broke off, glancing down at her ravaged legs. “I should have prevented it. I could have anticipated this.” He folded both hands around hers and kissed her finger-tips. “But you are safe now. You have Mr Carswell. Thank God you were here!” he said, glancing over to Carswell, who was sitting on the floor, catching his breath for a moment.

“We must get you into bed,” Carswell said, staggering to his feet.

“At least I can help with that,” said Giles, gathering her into his arms.

Together they got her upstairs.

Gently he removed what remained of her dress and disentangled her from her stays. He found a fresh nightgown and put it on her while Carswell rearranged the bed, improvising with a towel rail to keep the weight of the bedclothes from her body. When she was installed, Carswell gave her a dose of tincture of opium while Giles got the fire going.

Giles turned back to see her imploring hand stretched out to him again, and when he came to her side, she grasped at his hand fervently. What had he awakened in her, he thought, looking down at her, and what had she awakened in him?

“That will work its way soon enough,” Carswell said. “And you will be much more comfortable. Sleep is the best thing for you now, Mrs Morgan.”

“He’s right,” Giles said, crouching down, and gently pushing back a lock of hair that had fallen across her face.

“Please do not go, Giles, not yet,” she said. She knew that he must leave, sooner or later. “Please.”

“I will stay until you are asleep,” he said.

***

Felix came out onto the landing and closed the door behind him softly. Lord Rothborough was there, pulling his great-coat on.

“I shall be back directly. I am going for reinforcements,” he said. “What do you need?”

“A clean shirt,” said Felix. He really wanted a bath and a cheroot, but that would have to wait. “Will you get her maid? She’s at Mrs Fforde’s.”

“Yes, and James Bodley and my cook,” said Rothborough. “Where the devil did all the servants go?”

“Morgan must have sent them away. He must have...” Felix broke off, suddenly overcome with exhaustion. He sat down on the cane settee on the half landing and tried to steady himself. His head was suddenly throbbing. He reached up, wondered how much damage Morgan had done when he had thrown him across the room.

“I tried to stop him,” he said. “I did, but he pushed me over. I was out for... for...”

Lord Rothborough sat down beside him and put his arm gently about his shoulders. Felix, although he scarcely meant to, relaxed against him and accepted the embrace. He felt, for all his confusion, there was a sense of rightness in it, and it steadied him.

“She nearly died,” he managed to say.

“But she did not,” Rothborough said, squeezing his shoulder. “Because of you.”

“She is not out of danger yet,” Felix said. “We ought not fool ourselves. There can always be complications in such cases. She might yet –”

“Courage,” said Lord Rothborough. “And remember she has the will to live. She has a child, and well, other objects, it seems.”

“Major Vernon, yes,” said Felix, hauling himself to his feet.

Lord Rothborough stood up also. “It is a hard loss. But there are other prizes, my dear boy. Now, you must rest. Go and sit by the fire in the kitchen. I will be back directly.”

Chapter Forty-eight

Morgan sat on the floor of his cell hunched in the corner, as if he meant somehow to make himself invisible. He looked up at Giles with terror in his eyes, as though he were holding a noose in his hands. Perhaps he might have preferred that – a speedy end to his evident misery.

Giles said, “I am Major Vernon, the Chief Constable. Do you understand why you are here?”

“Yes,” said Morgan. “My wife... oh, Christ forgive me. Have you any news of her?”

“She may live, she may not,” Giles said.

“Christ forgive me,” Morgan said again, covering his face with his hands. “I did not mean... I did not...” He put down his hands and looked up at Giles again. “Vernon – that is the name that she told me – she said that you and Nancy...”

“She?”

“Lina.”

“Paulina Ridolfi?”

“Yes,” he said, “That evil little bitch. She said... and I believed her. I believed every fucking word. She knows how to play me. She has done these last ten years. She has had me wound about her wicked little finger and now... she... oh, Christ in Heaven...” He began to gasp and shake, racked with sobs.

Giles crouched down opposite him.

“Talk to me, it will be better if you talk,” Giles said. “Tell me what Paulina has said to you. I know she came to see you at the Greyhound. What happened then?”

“What happened?” said Morgan, looking at him. “What always happens. She gives me everything but nothing. She is the devil, and now I will hang for her and Nancy will die, and she will get everything she wants. The thing she really wants.”

“Which is?” Giles asked.

“My poor bloody child. My poor little Harry.”

***

“How long am I to be kept here?” Mrs Ridolfi asked, rising as he came into the room.

“You may go for the present,” he said. “But you will still have to appear before the justices tomorrow. If you attempt to leave Northminster, the consequences will be serious.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I will not.”

“Would you allow me to escort you home?”

“You are very kind, Major Vernon,” she said.

He arranged a carriage, and they drove in silence to the Treasurer’s House.

“Why are we stopping here, sir?” she said.

“I have some bad news for you, ma’am,” he said, opening the door. “It is better that I break it here. Besides, your nephew is here. I thought you might like to see him.”

He handed her out of the carriage.

“Yes, very much. How kind you are sir, so thoughtful. But what is this news?”

“Let us go in, shall we?”

He told the servant to fetch Sally and sat Mrs Ridolfi down in the large wing chair that stood by the fire in the hall.

“Please tell me, what has happened.”

“It is your sister-in-law,” he said. “I am afraid to say...”

Mrs Ridolfi grasped at her throat.

“What has happened? Tell me, for God’s sake!”

“I am afraid she is dead.”

“Oh, dear Lord, no. How? What happened?”

“Morgan attacked her with a knife this afternoon. She died of her wounds. There was nothing that could be done to save her, though Mr Carswell tried all he could.”

“No... oh but... Morgan? He did that? Dear God! Oh, but... but...” she jumped up and walked across the hall, in great agitation. Giles watched her, feeling again that he was watching a performance.

At that moment, the schoolroom door opened and Sally came out. Through the open door Celia could be seen entertaining Harry with a game of skittles on the hearthrug. Mrs Ridolfi saw him and ran past them both, and fell down onto her knees beside the child, enfolding him in her arms, hugging him as if she meant to suffocate him. She kissed him with ecstatic pleasure but he struggled in her arms.

“Auntie, no, I’m playing. We’re playing!”

“Let him be, ma’am,” said Giles. “You and I must talk a little more.”

“I must comfort Harry...”

“Not now, ma’am,” he said, anxious that she would say too much to the boy. “This can wait.”

He put his hand upon her shoulder and she looked up at him.

“No, I will not come,” she said, clinging a little tighter. “I cannot. He needs me. My boy needs me. He cannot do without me now!”

“Auntie, let go, you’re hurting!” said Harry. “And I’m not your boy. I’m Hannah’s boy and Mamma’s boy, but I’m not your boy!” and he burst free. “Am not! Am not!”

“Harry!” she exclaimed and looked as if she were about to box his ears, but she clutched her hands together.

“Celia,” said Sally, “why don’t you take Harry upstairs and show him the soldiers?”

“We have a whole regiment of Grenadiers,” said Celia, putting out her hand to him. Mrs Ridolfi would have gone with them, but Giles caught her arm.

“No, ma’am,” he said quietly. “You and I are going to the Constabulary Headquarters.”

“Why?”

He waited until Celia and the child had left the room, before he spoke: “Because, Paulina Ridolfi, I am arresting you for conspiracy to murder.”

***

Felix found Major Vernon studying the fire in the drawing room. Since James Bodley and Lord Rothborough had taken command of the house, order had quickly been restored, the fires made up and the lamps lit. It looked as if nothing unpleasant had ever happened in the room.

“How is she?” he asked, turning from the fire.

“Comfortable. And awake again. You can go up to her if you like.”

“I don’t think I should. I have to get back to the Unicorn. So long as she is out of danger...”

“As much as she can be at this stage,” Felix said. “But the problem is always the healing process. You saw how extensive the damage was –” He broke off, seeing a flicker of pain cross the Major’s face. “You should go up to her. That would do her good.”

“It would and it wouldn’t,” said Major Vernon after a moment. “I do not wish and neither... So long as she is out of danger. That is all I needed to know.”

He went towards the door.

“What is to prevent you, sir?” Felix could not help asking. “Morgan will hang and she will be free.”

“I am not free,” said Major Vernon. Felix’s surprise must have shown. “Forgive, Mr Carswell, I should have told you earlier. It is a difficult subject with me. She is unwell in her mind and necessarily we live apart.”

Felix could not think how to answer this.

“That is why I must leave Mrs Morgan alone,” Major Vernon said. “I have done enough damage already. And my apologies, for any lectures on moral conduct, Mr Carswell. I am in no position to deliver such things, as you know. It is a bad habit of mine.”

Felix would have spoken then, but the Major put his hand up to silence him, and left without another word.

Felix went up to his patient. Berthe was sitting with her, holding her hand with a tenderness that made him regret thinking her sour.

“I heard the door close,” said Mrs Morgan.

“It was Major Vernon leaving,” Felix said. “I tried to make him come up.”

“It is better he did not,” she said, after a moment. Her words were forced, full of quiet emotion. “Berthe, un moment, si te plait.”

“Bien sur, Madame,” said Berthe, getting up. She made a little curtsey to Felix and left them alone. He went and sat in her place, but he did not venture to take Mrs Morgan’s hand. He was still struggling to understand what had happened between her and Major Vernon, wondering what it could be like to make such a profound connection with a woman and then have to renounce it utterly.

“Lord Rothborough thinks I should go to Scarborough as soon as I am able. He has a house there,” she said.

“I think the sea air would be a good idea,” said Felix. “As as soon as you are able.”

She nodded and there were tears in her eyes.

“My wounds will heal,” she said, after a moment.

“All of them?” Felix found he must ask. She twisted up her mouth and reached out for his hand. He allowed her to take it.

“Look after him, Mr Carswell,” she said. “And his wife.”

Epilogue

April 1840

“I think it might be safer to put this up somewhere higher,” said Mrs Fforde once again tweaking a stem of apple blossom in the vase she had put on the table. As she did so, a little shower of petals fell onto the table. Quickly she gathered them up and looked about the room nervously. Felix did not think he had ever seen her at such a loss.

“Is that the carriage I hear?” said Canon Fforde, who was sitting reading a newspaper.

Mrs Fforde at once went to the window.

“You may be right,” she said.

She glanced back into the room and caught Felix’s eye. She gave him a brief smile, which he supposed she meant to be encouraging. He did not feel encouraged. Rather, he shared her unease. He had been cramming himself with what he hoped was the most up-to-date and useful information for the management of such cases, but did not feel confident. In truth there was often little that could be done.

The carriage drew up and he joined Mrs Fforde in the window to see Major Vernon handing his wife out. She was a tall, extremely thin young woman, dressed plainly in dull colours. She appeared sallow and undernourished, with hollow eyes, and she looked suspiciously about her as she came up the path with her husband. He had her firmly by the arm as if he were afraid she might bolt.