Lonesome Road

Chapter Forty

And now, Caroline,” said Rachel, “will you tell us why you behaved in this suspicious manner?”

Caroline raised herself, flushed, looked across at Louisa, and then turned imploring eyes on Rachel.

“Louisa is one of those who has suspected you,” said Rachel. “If she does not hear your explanation she will always suspect you. This would hurt me so much that I ask you for my sake to speak.”

Caroline hung her head. Then she said, speaking very low to Richard.

“Please go away-a little farther off. Please don’t look at me. I can’t bear it if you do.”

He took her hand and put it to his lips, then got to his feet with a jerk and went over to the window, where he stood with his back to the room, eyes staring blindly and ears straining for the sound of Caroline’s faint words.

They were very faint indeed. She sat up, put her feet to the ground, and leaned against the shoulder of the couch, one elbow propped and her forehead resting on her hand. She said,

“I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t fond of Cosmo, but he’s always been there-like an uncle. I don’t think I thought whether I was fond of him or not-I don’t know. When you’ve known someone always like that you don’t think whether they’re telling you the truth.”

Miss Silver spoke in a very kind voice.

“What did he tell you, Miss Caroline?”

“It was about Richard-” She stopped, drew a long sighing breath, and forced the flagging words. “He said when Richard was at college he had got into difficulties. He said it wasn’t really Richard’s fault-he took the blame for a friend. He knew I wouldn’t believe anything against Richard, but he made it seem as if Richard would get into most dreadful trouble if it came out. He said there was a forged cheque, and if it came out Richard would go to prison.”

Richard swung round, came back, and stood over her.

“My darling little lunatic! What are you saying?”

Caroline lifted swimming eyes and said in a choked voice,

“Go away-I told you to go away.”

“Well, I’m not going!” said Richard.

He was so angry, and so relieved, that he would have liked to pick her up, shake her till her teeth chattered, and then kiss her until she cried for mercy. He restrained these barbaric desires, sat down beside her on the couch, and put a firm arm about her waist.

“So I’m a forger? And a damned fool into the bargain? Go on, darling!”

“Please go away.”

He did actually shake her a very little.

“I’m not going. Have you got that? Now get on with this blithering story. Cosmo told you I had forged a cheque in a spasm of nobility to save a friend, and you lapped it all up. Is that it?”

Quite a bright colour came into Caroline’s cheeks. She blinked away the brimming tears and said in a soft, indignant voice,

“I didn’t! Of course you can make it sound stupid, but if you’d heard him-”

“I should have believed I’d forged that cheque. All right, we’ve got that-he convinced you I was a philanthropic forger. What then?”

Her colour faded again. She looked across to Miss Silver and spoke to her.

“I can’t put it the way he put it-I’m not nearly clever enough. And I trusted him. He said someone had got hold of the story and unless he could be persuaded to hold his tongue it would ruin Richard. So I gave him fifty pounds- he said he hoped that would be enough. But afterwards he said it wasn’t, and I managed another ten. And that wasn’t enough either.”

Gale Brandon said something into the fire, and Rachel said, “Oh, Caroline darling!” Richard’s arm tightened, and he said angrily,

“Why on earth didn’t you come to me?”

The brown eyes looked at him with reproach.

“I couldn’t, because, you see, what he said was quite true. It would always have been between us if you had known that I knew. That’s true, Richard-you wouldn’t have liked me to know.”

“That I was a forger! I suppose I wouldn’t! Go on!”

Her eyes went back to Miss Silver.

“I’m not clever. He made it sound quite reasonable. He said this man had got the cheque, and if I wouldn’t buy it he would go to Richard. I thought that would hurt him so frightfully-oh, can’t you see what I thought? It was all years and years ago. I felt I would do anything to prevent him from dragging it up-I didn’t want Richard to know. I couldn’t touch most of my money because of its being in trust. I sold out two hundred pounds that Aunt Mary left me, and I gave up my flat. And when that wasn’t enough, I sold my mother’s ring.”

Richard said, “Caroline!” in a shaken voice.

She turned to him at once.

“I didn’t mind, darling-I didn’t really. Only Cherry found out and was horrid. And then-then there was that dreadful Thursday evening.”

“Yes, Miss Caroline? Will you tell us exactly what happened on the Thursday evening?”

“I went out with Richard after tea. We went up on to the cliff. He asked me to marry him. And I said I couldn’t. I didn’t feel I could with this dreadful secret going on. I didn’t feel as if I could keep a secret from him if we were to be married. So I said no. And Richard went on up the cliff, but I came back. And when I was quite near the house I met Cosmo. I was crying, and he was very kind. He said the only thing to do was to offer the blackmailer a really large sum and that would finish the whole thing. And he said I could get the money from Rachel if I told her I was in trouble and that I must have it. And that made me cry more than ever, because the one thing I couldn’t, couldn’t bear was for Rachel to think it was money I wanted from her. So I ran in through the garden gate. But there was someone there, and I came back and ran down the path to the road and came in that way. I didn’t see Cosmo, so I knew that he must have gone along the cliff. And afterwards he came to me and said I mustn’t ever say I’d seen him, because if I did, he would be obliged to say that he had seen Richard near the place where Rachel fell. That’s why I fainted when Rachel told us she had been pushed. I knew that Richard and Cosmo had both been there on the cliff.”

“As a matter of fact I went across the downs to the road, and came in the same way that you did,” said Richard.

“Cosmo said he went a little way along the cliff path and turned back. He said Richard passed him and went along towards Nanny Capper’s-walking very fast. He said if I spoke of having seen him, he would have to say this, and then Rachel would believe that it was Richard who had pushed her. And when Richard didn’t say he had been on the cliff path, I thought-I thought-I didn’t know what to think.”

At this point Louisa gave a rending sniff. It might have been the sniff of affliction, or it might, on the other hand, have signified acute disbelief.

Her face, like her hands, remained clenched upon whatever it was that she was feeling.

Richard’s arm dropped from Caroline’s waist.

“You thought-you thought that I had pushed Rachel over the cliff!”

She broke into a childish sob.

“Richard-I didn’t-I wouldn’t! He said he’d seen you. He said you were angry with Rachel, and he was afraid you had lost your head. I didn’t believe it-but I’d got so that I couldn’t think.”

“And why was I angry with Rachel? Did he tell you that?”

“He said-he said he was afraid the blackmailer had got tired of waiting for me to find the money. He said he thought the man had been to you, and that you had tried to get the money from Rachel and-and failed.”

“So I went and pushed her over the cliff! Caroline, did you really believe all this stuff?”

They had both forgotten that there was anyone else in the room. She said in the voice of a scolded child,

“He kept on saying things. I couldn’t think about them any more. They just hurt.”

“You see,” said Miss Silver with a small preliminary cough-“you see what a strong motive there was for silencing Miss Caroline. Mr. Frith must have been in desperate straits for money. In fact we now know that this was the case. He was very much afraid of losing his footing with Miss Treherne, yet if Miss Caroline were to confide in her or in Mr. Richard, he would lose that footing once and for all. He was running a frightful risk and he dared not go on. Hence the attempt on Miss Treherne’s life. It was cleverly planned and boldly executed. If it had succeeded, it would have been quite impossible to bring it home to him, but thanks to Mr. Brandon it did not succeed. He was still desperate for money, alarmed by my presence, and afraid of what Miss Caroline would say when she was questioned. He might well be afraid, because now not only was she likely to give away the falsehoods he had made her believe about Mr. Richard, but she was also in a position to say that his story of having been in the house between five and six-fifteen was untrue, since she had actually met him on his way to the cliff path. His guilty conscience pushed him on. Some time on the Thursday night he took out his car and ran over to Pewitt’s Corner to uncover the well. Barlow, whose room is over the garage, is known to be an extremely heavy sleeper, Mr. Maurice was away. Mr. Richard might have heard the car-”

Richard shook his head.

“I’m like Barlow-nothing wakes me.”

“Mr. Frith would naturally be aware of that. He chose to take the slight risk of being heard rather than the risk of being seen by daylight at Pewitt’s Corner. There really was very little risk at all. It was, I feel, an interposition of Providence that Miss Treherne mentioned the cottage and the well to me before she left with Mr. Brandon. I had to wait until Mr. Frith took his departure. He was so very explicit as to his movements that my suspicions were redoubled. Why, in the midst of all this anxiety about Miss Caroline, should he go out of his way to inform me that he was leaving his car at a garage in Ledlington whilst he continued his journey to London by train? When I found that he had actually done this I realized that Miss Caroline was in very great danger. But I did not believe that the danger lay in London. No, if Mr. Frith wished to direct everyone’s attention to London, then the danger lay elsewhere, and when I asked myself where, I remembered the lonely cottage at Pewitt’s Corner with its very convenient well. As we now know, Mr. Frith alighted at Slepham and joined Miss Caroline who was waiting for him with her car at the old house near the halt. Mercifully, I had a five miles start of him. The fog was an equal handicap to both cars, and thanks to Barlow’s skilful driving we reached the cottage in time to prevent a terrible tragedy. I was naturally much surprised to find that Miss Treherne and Mr. Brandon were already there. You have never told me how that happened, Miss Treherne.”

Rachel coloured.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about the well,” she said in a low voice.

Miss Silver nodded.

“We were all thinking about the well-Mr. Frith-and myself-and you. A very dangerous contrivance, and lamentably out of date. Modern plumbing is not only a great deal more convenient, but it does not so readily lend itself to a criminal intent. Survivals from the dark ages may be romantic, but I must confess I prefer modern conveniences.”

Gale Brandon slid his hand over his mouth. Rachel turned rather hastily to Louisa.

“Now, Louie-you have heard everything. I should like to hear you beg Miss Caroline’s pardon.” Louisa lifted her eyes. They looked first fiercely and then imploringly, but Rachel met them with something implacable in her own level gaze. Louisa received an ultimatum, opposed it, hung irresolute, and suddenly gave way.

Her hands still gripping one another, she got up, stared over the top of Caroline’s head, and said in a hard, mechanical voice,

“I’m sure I beg your pardon, Miss Caroline, but none of it wouldn’t have happened if so be you’d spoken up.”

After which she retired in good order upon Rachel’s bedroom, where she could be heard relieving her feelings by a vigorous opening and shutting of drawers and cupboard doors.

Caroline cast a wavering look at Richard’s angry face, burst into tears, and ran out of the room. Richard, to all appearances angrier than before, jumped up and went after her, slamming the door behind him with so much violence as to wake Noisy, who, opening both eyes this time, uttered a protesting grunt, rolled over to face the fire, and once more sank deep into a dream.

Miss Silver said, “Dear me!” patted her neat front as if she feared that the draught of the slammed door might have disarranged it, murmured a polite unheeded excuse and withdrew.

Gale Brandon went over to the bedroom door and shut it firmly.

The sound of Louisa working off her temper receded. He turned and held out his arms to Rachel, and she came into them with a sob.

“I’ve been a terrible failure, Gale. I wonder you’re not afraid to try me for a wife.”

Mr. Brandon’s lips being muffled by her hair, his answer was not very plainly audible, but she inferred that he was quite willing to try. After an interval he elaborated the theme.

“You know, honey, I think you’re the finest woman on the earth, so if you couldn’t make a go of it, there isn’t anyone in the world who could. And that’s just where it got you. There isn’t anyone who could make a go of all that money, and this will business, and those relations of yours. I don’t know what they were like to start with, but this show was just naturally bound to bring out every single bad quality they’d got. That’s hard talking, but there’s got to be some hard talking between us. I don’t blame you, because you were nothing but a girl-you hadn’t any experience to go on, and your father landed you in for it. And I don’t blame him, because first he was a very sick man, and then he was so sick that he died, and it stands to reason that he wasn’t in a state to think clearly. It always beats me why people attach so much importance to a dying wish. If there’s one kind of wish that oughtn’t to be taken any notice of, it’s that, because it stands to reason that a man who’s so sick he’s going to die isn’t in a fit state to go binding wishes on other people. Anyhow, honey, it’s all got to stop now. You give your sister what you think she ought to have-tied up in trust if you like-and do the same by the others. Let them have their money and stand on their own feet, and if they ditch themselves, you just leave them there till they get enough horse sense to climb out again. Don’t you go feeding them pap any more. It doesn’t do them any good and it doesn’t do you any good, and anyhow I’m not going to have it.”

Rachel felt rather as if she were out in a high wind. The wind seemed to be blowing quite a lot of things away. And she didn’t care. She let them go down the wind. The rough tweed of Gale’s coat was pleasant and harsh under her cheek. Half her life was gone, but there was another half to come.

Gale tipped up her chin with a strong, gentle hand.

“What you really want is a family of your own,” he said.