Mingled With Venom

Chapter 8

Speculations and Near Certainties

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‘So now we know,’ said Bluebell, when she was back in her own home. ‘So much for Fiona. She has preferred the birthright to the mess of pottage.’

‘She has no birthright, my dear,’ said Parsifal, ‘and you may have paid the penalty, I’m afraid, for having taken her to your bosom.’

‘She is saying “ha ha among the trumpets,” ’ said Gamaliel. ‘I am glad she is gone. Now we can be ourselves again.’

‘You seemed fond enough of her when she was here,’ said Garnet.

‘Oh, yes, but absence does not make the heart grow fonder. It is better now she is not with us.’

‘I wonder who tipped Ruby off that there was another dinner party with something in the wind?’ said Parsifal.

‘Oh, don’t you think it was merely coincidence that she turned up when she did?’ asked Garnet.

‘No. I have a sixth sense about these things.’

‘It would have been Mattie who told her,’ said Bluebell. ‘They went to school together.’

‘I went to school with a boy named Bracknell,’ said Parsifal, ‘and if I met him again I’d murder him.’

‘Would you know him if you met him again?’

‘Possibly not.’

‘Was he cruel to you?’

‘He used to twist my arm.’

‘You point him out if ever you see him,’ said Gamaliel, ‘and I will twist his neck.’

‘I don’t care for all this talk of murdering and twisting necks,’ said Bluebell. ‘Let us have done with it. Gamaliel, it is high time you were in bed. Who would like a cup of cocoa before we all turn in?’

‘The Will is only a draft, I think,’ said Parsifal to Bluebell, when they were in bed, ‘and, in any case, she did not tell us anything definite.’

‘It seems that Garnet and I may hope to benefit, but I thought she made more threats than promises. Of course Gamaliel will not adhere to this ridiculous idea of becoming a professional boxer, so there is no fear of his losing any small share she may have allotted to him.’

‘If he loses it, then you may also lose yours, which seems to me very unfair. She expects us to nullify his plans.’

‘You don’t think he will really go his own way, do you? He is headstrong and very sure of himself, you know.’

‘He envisages glittering prizes and I have a feeling that he may prove obstinate. He told us boastfully that your grandmother’s fortune, whatever it may turn out to be, is chickenfeed (his word) to what he will make in the ring.’

‘Yes, I know he did. He said it to the whole company. He added, I am sure sincerely, that we shall want for nothing once he is fully launched, but I must confess, as I did to him, that I would rather rely upon my share of what grandmother will leave me.’

‘Then we must exert all our influence to make certain that you get it. What of Diana and Rupert? A divorce would be Rupert’s undoing.’

‘Where could grandmother have heard such a rumour?’

‘Oh, from Ruby of course. What Ruby does not know she invents and in this case I am not so sure that invention comes into it. I don’t know how much Garnet makes from his books, but no doubt it is sufficient for him to be able to provide for a wife and the liaison with Diana has gone on for a good long time.’

‘I suppose if he married he would want this house for himself and his wife.’

‘And turn us out? But that is unthinkable! Besides, he would never part from Gamaliel, and where our adopted son is, there must we be also.’

‘A biblical sentiment! Gamaliel is turned sixteen. In two years’ time he will be of age.’

‘Oh, well, she will hardly die before that.’

‘It might be better, from everybody’s point of view, if she did, of course, but one baulks at that kind of wishful thinking.’

‘Yes, indeed. It may do for one of Garnet’s plots, but it will hardly do for people of our moral stature.’

‘So now you realise what the consequences would be if you divorced me or I you,’ said Rupert, handing Diana a weak mixture of whisky and water. ‘I am surprised that I am mentioned in the Will at all, considering what she thought about my father.’

‘Oh, blood is thicker than water. Does her money mean more to you than happiness?’

‘How can I be sure I would be happy with Fiona?—or make her happy, come to that? Besides, she is under the same ban as I. If she married me she would be cut off automatically from her share of my grandmother’s fortune. Without that, at grandmother’s death she would be destitute.’

‘No, she would not. She would be married to you.’

‘What are you trying to say?’

‘Nothing. We must be content to rub along together, I suppose. Even if I were prepared to deprive you of your inheritance by divorcing you or allowing you to divorce me, I could not be the means of depriving Garnet of his. A fine start to a new-married life that would be!’

‘Do you love him?’

‘I suppose I do. Do you love Fiona?’

‘Not enough to lose everything, hers and mine, for the sake of connubial bliss.’

‘Of course, nothing really definite came out, did it? Could I have another dollop of whisky in this penitential drink?’

‘Yes, of course. You know, Diana, it’s a pity we can’t make a go of things. We were all right until you were carrying the twins.’

‘I didn’t want children. I didn’t want to go about looking like a captive balloon. I didn’t want nappies and losing sleep at nights and babies’ caterwauling and bringing up wind and having to be taken to the post-natal clinic and having measles and whooping-cough and all the other childish ailments to deal with and not being able to have exciting holidays and having to spend all that money on school fees and clothes for the brats. And then to have two! As though one baby at a time is not one too many! I lost seven years out of my life bringing them up! Seven years that can never come again.’

‘You’re tired and her oblique hints about her Will have upset you,’ said Rupert in a gentler, more considerate tone than he had used, when he spoke to her at all, for some years. ‘Why don’t you drink up and go to bed? My grandmother isn’t dead yet.’

‘If wishes were horses—’

‘Pigs might fly and you told that black boy they don’t. Would it benefit anybody if they did? Even the pigs themselves might not like it.’

‘It seems that Maria and I are the only ones with an assured future,’ said Ruby, meeting Fiona in the hall at Headlands on the following morning. ‘My training is to be paid for, chance what, and Maria is to have this house.’

‘With not enough money to keep it up, I fancy, unless the others sacrifice their shares for the reasons given.’

‘If she has any sense she’ll sell the house and live on the proceeds.’

‘Who would buy a great place like this, stuck down in the wilds of nowhere?’

‘Would you rather live at Seawards?’

‘No, I am glad to be back here with madre.’

‘Campions would be a better proposition for you, perhaps, if it didn’t knock out Rupert’s chances.’

‘I’ll thank you not to be impudent.’

‘No offence. I suppose you know that all the threats and prohibitions are not in the Will.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘She was ad-libbing as she read out the provisions.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Oh, she can’t keep her secrets from me.’

‘You are in her confidence to that extent?’

‘No. I am into her bureau to that extent, of course. I’ve seen the rough draft she sent to Monaker. There was nothing in it about divorces and where people were to live.’

‘Really, Ruby, you are incorrigible!’

‘In other words,’ said Ruby, as they stepped out of doors to walk over to the stables, ‘if she died tonight a lot of people would be happy. I suppose you know that Mattie has got her come-uppance?’

‘What has that to do with it?’

‘Until the abuela alters the Will or unless she does, Mattie gets the three horses.’

‘She didn’t mention that last night.’

‘She didn’t mention any of the bequests to the servants, but they are all down on paper.’

Mattie came out of the Lunns’ cottage and greeted them. ‘I’ve been turned out to grass,’ she said.

‘How do you mean?’ asked Fiona, although she knew perfectly well what Mattie intended to convey.

‘What I say. But she won’t get the better of me, I can promise you that. Redruth to look after the horses? He haven’t a clue. Cares for nowt but his old motor-car. And as for her sellin’ of ’em, I’ve talked her out of that.’

‘Do you mean you’re going to look after the horses without being paid?’ asked Ruby. ‘Dashed if I would!’

‘You aren’t me, Ruby.’

‘Miss Ruby, if you please.’

‘Oh, yes, Miss Ruby. You takes after your ma in that as in other matters, I reckon. She was never more than Miss, neither, as my understanding of it goes.’

Ruby stepped forward and smacked Mattie hard across the face. It caught the bridge of her nose as well, and blood appeared.

‘—you, you bloody little jumped-up snotty little—!’ said Mattie. With the edge of a man-hard hand she caught Ruby across the throat. Ruby gave a strangled yelp and fell sobbing upon the downland turf.

‘Oh, Mattie!’ said Fiona, stooping over the choking, sobbing girl. ‘Her throat! You shouldn’t have done that! You might ruin her voice.’

‘Take away her living, same as that old woman have tooken away mine?’ muttered Mattie, going towards the stables. By the time she returned, leading Brutus, Ruby was heading towards the house. Mattie, without a word, saw Fiona mounted and then went into her brother’s cottage. Fiona loosed Brutus into a canter towards where the formidable headland, brown and grey and purple-shadowed, reared up its menacing tip like the blunt-headed crest of some prehistoric monster about to fall upon and devour the tiny rocky island just beyond it.

Fiona dismounted, leaving the quiet gelding to graze. From the ledges below, a climbing figure in an impeding tweed skirt came up slowly by way of a track more suitable for goats than for human beings, reached the short grass at the top, heaved itself over and sat down to pant and rest.

‘Well, madre, you’re out early,’ said Fiona. ‘Ought you really to scramble about on the cliffs like that? It can’t be good for you, and you might easily tumble again.’

‘I didn’t tumble, and of course it’s good for me,’ said Romula, ‘and it’s perfectly safe so near the house. Besides, I don’t feel old while I can still do it. A grand view from here, I always think.’

‘Yes, better than the view from Smugglers.’

‘Didn’t Ruby go riding with you this morning?’

‘No. She and Mattie fell out.’

‘Oh? Why?’

‘I don’t really know. I think Ruby thought Mattie wasn’t respectful enough to her.’

‘Why should she be? They were at school together.’

‘Perhaps you have given Ruby an inflated idea of her own importance.’

‘She wants a flat in town. I’ve told her it’s out of the question. If a student’s hostel isn’t good enough for her she had better come home and study locally. What happened between the two of them?’

‘Nothing really. It was just a girlish set-to.’

‘Physical violence, you mean?’

‘Oh, nothing to signify. Unfortunately Ruby began it and Mattie retaliated. Ruby will give you her version when you get back, I expect.’

‘I’m leaving Mattie the horses if I don’t outlive them.’

‘I hope you will, madre.’

‘Give her the horses, or outlive them?’

‘Come, now, you know perfectly well what I meant.’

‘You walked yourself out of my house.’

‘And now I’ve walked myself in again.’

‘You will be dependent upon Maria for a home when I go.’

‘Have you left her anything with which to maintain me?’

‘ “Twere good she do so much for charity” ’ said Romula, with a sardonic chuckle.

‘I don’t want charity. I want my rights.’

‘And what do you suppose those are?’

‘You took me in and have cared for me. If Maria had not been widowed and so had not come back to you, would your provision for her have been different?’

‘You mean to ask whether, in such a case, Headlands would have been left to you?’

‘I have served you well.’

‘A paid employee would have been less expensive.’

‘I need to know where I stand. Are you really going to leave me nothing?’

‘Is that what you gathered at last night’s meeting?’

‘I was left with little alternative.’

‘Were you not? If you left me once, you may leave me again. Why should I continue to provide for you after my death?’

‘Because you have given me no chance to train for any kind of profession which would allow me to provide for myself.’

‘I needed your companionship. I shall no longer need it when I am in my grave.’

‘Would it have made any difference if I had not gone to live at Seawards?’

‘I shall not answer that. You may draw your own conclusions. I am not a vindictive woman.’

Fiona walked back to where her horse was cropping the grasses. Scrambling she mounted and turned the animal’s head towards home. At the stables she changed her mind. She turned from the headland and followed the narrow track away from the house and towards the village. At the turning she took the steep road which led to the National Trust property on which the rent-free Campions was enclosed in trees. To the frenzied yapping of Diana’s dachshunds she hitched the horse’s reins to the gatepost and shouted.

A maid came out from the back door and yelled at the dogs, who subsided.

‘Is Mrs Bosse-Leyden at home?’ asked Fiona.

‘No. Taken the car into Truro, miss.’

‘Mr Bosse-Leyden?’

‘Working. But you come in, Miss Bute, while I see if he’ll disturb himself to see you.’ She ushered the dogs into their wired enclosures and returned to the house. Fiona opened the gate and walked into the untidy garden. Rupert came out by the french windows which overlooked it. The pen with which he had been writing was still in his hand. He clipped it into his top pocket and took Fiona in his arms.

‘Is Fiona coming back here to live?’ said Gamaliel.

‘Only until Rupert and Diana have settled their affairs, if she comes at all,’ said Garnet, ‘and that will not be until after my grandmother’s death.’

‘Why will they wait until then?’

‘Because she won’t let them settle their affairs in the way they would like.’

‘It’s to do with the money, I suppose. She did not tell us very much that evening, did she? Will she leave you anything?’

‘Yes, a good deal, I think. Some would say that I should have it all.’

‘Rather than my mother and Rupert?’

‘Well, I’m the nearest male heir.’

‘Would you like to have it all?’

‘I should like to have enough to give some to Blue.’

‘Wouldn’t she rather have it left to her by my great grandmother?’

‘It would make no difference, so long as she got it.’

‘It would make a difference to me.’

‘You are a man, Greg. Women think differently.’

‘Fiona doesn’t. That’s why she won’t come back here to live. It is because she feels sure she will not be left anything if she does. Is Rupert still fond of her?’

‘Yes. Rupert will marry her as soon as my grandmother dies.’

‘You mean he will get a divorce from Diana?’

‘Yes, I mean that.’

‘Won’t Diana mind?’

‘Oh, dear me, no. She will welcome it, and so shall I.’

‘But my great grandmother has to die first?’

‘Yes, that is so.’

‘And then everybody will be happy?’

‘I hope so, yes.’

‘There are three who will not be happy.’

‘How do you make that out?’

‘Will Diana come to live here with us?’

‘Oh, now, there’s no need for you to jump to any conclusions.’

‘My mother will never share a house with Diana.’

‘How do you know?’

‘She told my father she wouldn’t. If Diana comes, will Quentin and Millament come to live here too?’

‘Oh, do stop anticipating what is going to happen!’

‘I hope my great grandmother goes on living for years and years, that’s all,’ said Gamaliel, ‘because, if she dies under the present circumstances, it will mean that someone has murdered her.’

‘Where do you get these ideas?’

‘I have studied the situation. Garnie, do you want to marry Diana as much as she wants to marry you? I think not.’

‘I can’t discuss it, Greg.’