Nine Men Dancing

Six

Jacquetta turned her head and raked the newcomer with her deep-set eyes, but otherwise seemed unperturbed by the remark.

‘Ah! Elvina! I didn’t notice you there. But then, you do creep about so, listening at keyholes.’

The housekeeper grinned, acknowledging a hit, and the features of both women relaxed. I guessed that theirs was an old, longstanding rivalry, no doubt damaging enough in its heyday, but now a form of ritual gone through by two people who, although not exactly bosom friends, were still allies against intruders who threatened their peace.

‘Talking about Eris Lilywhite, were you?’ Elvina Merryman asked and gave a chuckle. ‘Soon found a way to get under your skin, didn’t she, my dear?’ She looked at me. ‘Discovered that Jacquetta’s baptismal name is really Joan and ever after called her by it. It was Dame Joan this and Dame Joan that until I thought poor Jacquetta was going to have an apoplexy. Made the Master laugh, though.’

‘That’s true,’ the older woman agreed without rancour. ‘Made Nathaniel laugh almost as much as the way she imitated you behind your back; your walk, the way you speak. He used to call her a baggage, and encouraged her to disobey your orders.’ Jacquetta frowned suddenly. ‘We were both slow there, Elvina. We should have foreseen what was coming.’

‘I never imagined your brother could be such a stupid old fool,’ was the vicious response. ‘Nor did you. Don’t blame yourself or me, my dear. The girl was a bigger slut than either of us thought her.’ The housekeeper took a deep breath. ‘Well, it’s all water under the bridge now. I’ll leave you to your gossip with the pedlar here.’ She winked. ‘You always did have an eye for a handsome man. I just came to tell you that I’ve been down to the cellar and brought up the wine Nathaniel wants for supper. But I’m not doing it in future. Forty-five is too old to go prancing up and down those steps, I can tell you.’

‘Oh, stop complaining, woman!’ Jacquetta chided her. ‘I can give you eighteen years and my left leg’s practically useless, but you don’t hear me whining all the time, now do you?’

Elvina Merryman snorted derisively. ‘Don’t come the old soldier with me, Jacquetta. We’ve known one another too long for that. Practically useless, indeed! I’ve seen you hopping along fast enough when you thought no one was looking. That stick and limp are just to make yourself interesting. There isn’t much goes on in this house that you don’t know about, and you don’t get your information by sitting around all day.’

For a moment it seemed as if my hostess might set about the housekeeper with her cane. She half-raised herself from her chair, gripping its handle in a determined hold, but then fell back again, a wry smile twisting her thin lips.

‘Oh, mind your own business, Elvina, and leave me to mine.’

The armed truce had been re-established between them and they again saluted one another with a nod and a grin. When the passage door had closed behind the housekeeper, Jacquetta settled herself in her chair and asked, ‘Right! Where do you want me to begin?’

‘I’m hoping,’ I said, ‘that you’re going to tell me what happened on the night that Eris Lilywhite disappeared.’

She laughed. ‘Oh, you are, are you? Has Maud Lilywhite put you up to asking these questions?’

‘No.’ True enough: it was Theresa. ‘I’ve told you, I’m naturally curious. I can’t keep my nose out of other people’s affairs. If my mother were still alive, she’d tell you I was born like it.’

‘Well, if it’s simply nosiness, I’ve no objection to telling you what you want to know,’ Jacquetta conceded. ‘Elvina’s right. If I have a weakness, it’s for good-looking young men. And we don’t get many of those wandering into this part of the world, especially in winter. So! Where shall I start?’

‘It was your brother’s birthday, I believe. At least, according to the elder Mistress Lilywhite.’

My companion nodded. ‘The first of September. Nathaniel was fifty-nine. Everyone had been summoned for the feast. Most of Lower Brockhurst was expected to attend. But then, a few days before, Nat developed a nasty rheum that descended to his chest. So the general feasting was cancelled. Eris Lilywhite and Ruth Hodges from the kitchen were sent down to the village to tell everyone not to come. But the family were still expected to be present, that went without saying. My brother’s nothing if not patriarchal. He likes to keep us all under his thumb, especially his sons. The farm and its land are not entailed, you see … Ah! I can see by your face that that’s shocked you.’

It had, indeed. Such a circumstance had not occurred to me. It put an entirely new complexion on Nathaniel’s proposed marriage to Eris Lilywhite. A child of theirs could have inherited outright under the terms of any new will that Nathaniel decided to make. I became more certain than ever that Eris had been murdered.

Jacquetta went on, ‘Tom’s always been a bit of a rebel. Edward – Ned – my elder nephew, is fifteen years older than his brother and has always been Nathaniel’s right-hand man, ever since he was old enough to help around the farm. He married to please his father. Petronelle’s a local girl who brought a decent dowry with her. A good, hard-working lass – well, woman now: she’s thirty-eight and more – who’s presented the old man with two strapping grandsons. She wouldn’t have been Ned’s choice I’m sure, left to himself, but Nathaniel insisted and, as ever, my nephew did as he was bidden. So Tom, you see, has always presumed that Ned will inherit Dragonswick and has never seen the need to toe the line in quite the same way that his brother does.

‘Mind you, that isn’t to say that Tom doesn’t respect his father nor want to please him. He knew that Nathaniel would be delighted when he got himself betrothed to Rosamund Bush. William Bush is known to be plump in the pocket and Rosamund’s his only child. We were all delighted, if it comes to that. Rosamund’s a very pretty, pleasant and friendly girl. She’d have been an asset to this family in more ways than one … I’m assuming that much of this story is already familiar to you, chapman. It should be if you’ve been in Lower Brockhurst for nearly twenty-four hours.’

I laughed. ‘All villages are the same, Mistress; hotbeds of gossip. But you’re right. I didn’t arrive until late yesterday afternoon, and it seems as if I’m already acquainted with everyone’s business.’

Jacquetta leaned forward and gripped my left knee, then let her long, bony fingers splay into what was a surprisingly sensuous caress. Perhaps she felt the sudden tension of my body, because after a moment she gave a dry chuckle and withdrew her hand. ‘Where was I?’ she asked.

‘Your nephew Tom’s betrothal to Rosamund Bush.’

‘Mmmm.’ She sucked her teeth, thought for a few seconds, then spat into the fire, making the flames leap and sizzle. ‘Time to move on to Eris Lilywhite. She’d come to help out in the house a few months earlier, because Elvina was poorly and Ruth Hodges … well, you’ve seen her. A sickly child, always ailing. Not like Eris, who was as strong and healthy as a young horse.’ I noted that Jacquetta spoke in the past tense, but I didn’t comment. ‘And beautiful, I’ll grant her that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a lovelier girl. She had her mother’s eyes; those great, dark, liquid brown eyes that Maud inherited from her mother. And hair, an abundance of it, russet, the colour of leaves in autumn. Skin like milk. Dear, sweet heaven! I should have recognized her as trouble from the moment she set foot across the threshold. I’d seen her around the village, of course, ever since she was a child, but she was one of those girls who blossom suddenly and late. At fourteen, she was a whey-faced, skinny little thing with red hair, and not much better at fifteen. I’d lost sight of her throughout the winter – I don’t go out much during the bad weather – and she came to us in late February, last year, a month after her sixteenth birthday.’ Jacquetta took a deep breath. ‘I hardly knew her. She’d filled out … Curves everywhere! She was like a flower that had suddenly unfurled its petals overnight.’

She paused, and, although I could guess the answer, I asked, ‘Prettier than Rosamund Bush?’

‘Can you compare a star with the sun? One twinkles, the other dazzles. However, it didn’t take me long to discern that the girl had a hard edge to her. A brittleness, a sharpness that was ugly. And having discovered as much, I shall blame myself to my dying day that I failed to guess what might happen. Not, as Elvina said, that I could ever have anticipated that my brother would be smitten but, Tom, yes, I should have expected that. With hindsight, I recall the way his eyes used to follow her every time she entered and left the room. I remember him arguing with Ned one day when Ned complained that Eris was slow in bringing him his ale, saying she was overworked and that his brother was being too rough on her. Worse than that, I recollect one time seeing him catch her round the waist and kiss her cheek.’ Jacquetta beat with her fists on the arms of her chair. ‘What a fool I was! What a purblind fool! But I thought it just a bit of fun. I thought Tom safely in love with Rosamund Bush. I didn’t think him capable of looking seriously at another woman.’

‘And your brother? You suspected nothing there?’

‘Nothing,’ was the fervent answer. ‘Eris was just sixteen, Nathaniel old enough to be her grandfather. If he favoured her – and, looking back, I think perhaps he did – I considered it no more than the soft spot an elderly man might have for a young and beautiful girl. If he ever thought of marrying again, which I doubted, I expected it to be with Elvina … I expect Theresa Lilywhite has told you the gossip concerning her.’

I nodded, realizing that we had wandered yet again from the subject of Eris’s disappearance. ‘Master Rawbone’s birthday …?’ I suggested tentatively.

‘Ah, yes! Nathaniel’s feast day. It had been quiet in general, except for the weather, which started clouding over in the afternoon and by evening had developed into a full-blown storm. Maud Lilywhite called in the morning, just after dinner, but she didn’t stay long. I don’t know why she came: she’s never much liked any of us except Ned. But then, he’s friends with everyone because he never lets on what he’s really thinking. In the afternoon, the meal was laid out on the table here, and by the time Elvina had turned the hourglass for the start of the fourth hour, we were all present, dressed in our Sunday clothes (even Ned, who had penned the sheep early and sent Billy Tyrrell off home). All, that is, except Tom. Well, time went on. Five o’clock, six o’clock, seven o’clock came and went and still he didn’t appear. We ate our meal without him, Nathaniel growing more and more furious with every passing minute. The storm by now was raging and we were beginning to get worried, wondering if Tom had had an accident and was lying helpless somewhere in the wind and the rain. Ned eventually said he was going to look for him, and my brother told him to call on Maud Lilywhite at the same time to say that Eris – she’d stayed on to wait at table – wouldn’t be going home that night. The weather was too bad. She could share a bed with Elvina. But just at that very moment, the door, the one over there-’ Jacquetta indicated the door on the opposite side of the room that opened on to the front yard – ‘burst open and Tom was literally blown into the room.

‘He was soaked to the skin, but other than that seemed perfectly sound in mind and limb and in tearing spirits. My first thought, and probably that of the others, was that he’d been drinking and had got into a fight. He was very flushed and had a cut under one eye as well as several scratch marks on his cheeks. Nathaniel heaved himself out of his chair, absolutely livid with temper, but before he could utter a word, Tom crossed the room, seized Eris Lilywhite about the waist and spun her round, shouting, “I’ve done it! I’ve done it! I’ve told old man Bush and his fat, frumpy daughter that I’m going to marry you, not her.” And he kissed her in front of everyone. Then he turned to Nathaniel and said, “I don’t care what you say, Father, Eris has promised to be my wife and I intend to wed her whatever measures you may take to try to prevent me.”’

‘What happened then?’ I asked, as my companion broke off, staring into the fire, obviously reliving the moment in her mind. ‘Dame Jacquetta?’ I leaned forward and gently touched her arm.

‘What?’ She jumped and turned a blank face towards me. Then understanding flowed back and she apologized.

‘I’m sorry, lad. I was lost in my own thoughts … What happened, you want to know. Well, I’ll tell you. My brother started to laugh, that’s what happened. Nathaniel sat down in his chair again and laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks. “You minx! You baggage!” he kept on saying to Eris. Then he grabbed her away from Tom and pulled her down on his knee. “You’re not going to marry her, my boy,” he said. “I am!” One of the twins, I remember, started to laugh, a loud, embarrassed sort of laugh, and the rest of us smiled feebly thinking it was either a very poor joke, or Nathaniel’s way of ridiculing Tom. We were all feeling shocked and someone, Petronelle I think, shouted, “You can’t do that, Thomas!” Though why she thought he would attend to anything she said, I’ve no idea. And, of course, he didn’t even hear her. He was staring at his father, absolutely transfixed.’

‘So when did you realize that your brother was serious?’ I asked.

‘Almost immediately. Nathaniel stopped laughing and just stared at us all until he had reduced us to silence. Then he said quite quietly, “You’re wrong if you think I’m funning. Eris promised to be my wife only this morning.” He kissed her cheek. “Tell them, my girl. Go on, don’t be scared. I won’t let them hurt you.” Scared!’ Jacquetta’s lips very nearly disappeared and she breathed heavily. ‘That hussy wasn’t scared! She just smiled serenely at us and said, “It’s true. I’m going to marry the Master. I’m sorry, Tom, but I didn’t think you’d be going down to the Roman Sandal today or I’d have told you earlier. You’d better try to make your peace with Rosamund.”’

Jacquetta rubbed a hand wearily across her forehead before continuing. ‘As you can imagine, Tom went wild. He caught hold of her wrists and pulled her off his father’s lap, then put both hands round Nathaniel’s throat and tried to strangle him. If Ned and the boys hadn’t managed to drag him away, it would have been a hanging matter. Tom would have killed him, I’m sure of that. But Ned and the twins had no sooner released him than he turned on Eris and tried to throttle her instead. Ned had to haul him off again, by which time Tom had begun to come to his senses. He tore himself free and flung himself away towards the outside door, cursing both his father and Eris. It was shocking to hear, but I don’t know that any of us blamed him. “May your soul rot in Hell this very night!” I remember him shouting at Eris, and then he rushed out into the storm.

‘Petronelle started shouting at Eris, too. “Go home!” she kept screaming. “You slut! You scheming little whore! Go home and tell your mother! We’ll see what Maud has to say about it!” Ned told her to be quiet. He was still attending to Nathaniel, who was very white and shaken, but beginning to come round; enough at any rate to tell us that if we didn’t like his choice of bride, we could all leave his house on the instant.’

‘And you … and Mistress Merryman …’ I suggested hesitantly, ‘Did you say anything?’

Jacquetta looked a little sheepish. ‘Probably,’ she admitted at length. ‘Although exactly what, I can’t remember. Petronelle was still yelling at Eris to go home. I went over to calm her down because I thought her in danger of having hysterics. I could understand why, of course. She could see that if my brother and Eris Lilywhite had a child, a son especially, Nathaniel was going to play God with Ned’s and the twins’ inheritance. Ned wouldn’t be able to call his soul his own: he’d be under constant threat of being cut out of his father’s will unless he obeyed every order to the letter.’

‘Had he never faced this threat from Tom?’ I queried.

My companion shook her head. ‘No. Tom has never been his father’s favourite. In many ways he’s too like Nathaniel for them to get along without bickering. The same traits in each irritate the other. Besides,’ she added viciously, ‘any idiot could see that Eris was going to be able to twist my brother round her little finger. The stupid old fool was besotted. And she’d take good care that any children of hers were given priority.’

‘Your nephew, Ned, went out after his brother, I believe.’

‘Not immediately, and not for long. He came back in about ten minutes, saying there was no sign of Tom and it was too dark and too stormy to go looking for him. I’d managed to quieten Petronelle down in the meantime, but as soon as she saw Ned she started up again and suddenly flung herself at Eris, clawing, kicking … That was when Eris left. She grabbed her cloak from the peg, announced she was going home and burst out sobbing. No tears, though, that I could see: it was all a fake for my brother’s benefit if you want my opinion. Then she ran out. Nathaniel was all for going after her, but Ned said his father was in no fit condition: he’d go. He was absent a lot longer the second time. When he did return, he said he’d called on Maud Lilywhite to tell her what had happened. Poor soul! She was as shocked as he was, and he’d waited a while with her, both of them hoping that Eris would appear. When she didn’t, he came on home. Of course, we all thought she’d turn up eventually. Although where we thought she was or what she was doing on a night like that, I now find it hard to imagine. But at the time, none of us was thinking properly. Nathaniel began shouting at Ned to go and look again, upbraiding him for not doing enough to find Eris, but suddenly Ned had had enough. He looked ghastly, absolutely exhausted, and so did Petronelle. “Fuck you, Father!” he said. “I’m going to bed!” And he seized Petronelle’s arm and pushed her out of the hall ahead of him and upstairs to their bedchamber. I heard him slam the door.’

There was another pause, so lengthy that I thought Jacquetta must have finished her tale, but she suddenly stirred and went on, ‘That was when Nathaniel said he was going out to search for Eris. Elvina and I told him not to be a silly old fool – he had a cough bad enough to see him six feet under – but he wouldn’t listen. He put on his cloak and took a lantern. The twins tried to stop him, but he cursed them and pushed them away, so they went with him. Needless to say, they lost one another in the dark. The lantern got blown out in the gale, and they came straggling back one at a time; Nathaniel after about half an hour, then Christopher and lastly Jocelyn. Josh said he’d even been down to the village, but didn’t do more than look up and down the main street. It wasn’t a fit night for a cat to be out in, let alone go knocking on doors. Besides, as you can guess, neither of the boys was that anxious to find Eris. If she never came back, it would be too soon for them. They’re not stupid: they knew very well what their grandfather’s marriage to her could mean, for Ned and for themselves.’

I stretched my legs and eased my shoulders, aware that I had been sitting in a hunched position, leaning forward on my knees, for far too long. My companion’s appreciative glance made me ask hurriedly, ‘When Eris failed to turn up, Maud Lilywhite says she came up here and roused the household. Your nephew, the elder one, got up and dressed and went with her for another search of the pasture and woods.’

‘That’s true. Poor Ned! But at least he’d had a few hours’ sleep when Maud came hammering on the door, and the storm had abated a little by then. We all got out of bed and went down to see what the matter was. Except Tom, of course. He hadn’t come home. Goodness knows where he spent the night; he’s never told us. I think Nathaniel hoped that it was Eris knocking: if I’m honest, I’m sure the rest of us were hoping that it wasn’t. Well, we had our wish. Although Ned went out with Maud again that night and searched, and again with other men from the village all the next day and the day after that – in truth, for the best part of a week – we never set eyes on Eris Lilywhite again. She’d run away and thank God for it, say I! Oh, it didn’t end there, naturally. Nathaniel had people looking for her as far afield as Gloucester and Dursley, but her whereabouts were never discovered. So, there you are, chapman. I’ve kept my side of our bargain. That’s the story of Eris Lilywhite and the night she vanished. She was ashamed of herself and ran away.’

‘You don’t believe that,’ I said.

She challenged me with a look. ‘Don’t I? What do I believe, then, my know-it-all friend? You tell me.’

‘All right! I will.’ I leaned forward again, holding those deep-set eyes with my own, daring her to drop her gaze. ‘You think Tom killed her. He was the only one out there in the dark when Eris said she was going home and ran out into the storm. He’d already attacked her once and he must still have been in a murderous rage. He’d been made to look the most goddam fool, not just in front of his family, but, as soon as the news became general knowledge, in front of the whole village, as well. How Rosamund Bush and her parents were going to sneer at him! He’d be the laughing stock of Lower Brockhurst and beyond. It would be too good a story for the villagers to keep to themselves. Everywhere they went, they’d be repeating it. A young man robbed of his sweetheart by his father, who’s twice his age … Oh, yes. I feel sure you think your younger nephew killed her. It’s the obvious thing to think. He was still loitering near the farmhouse when Eris left. The temptation to finish what he had been prevented from doing inside was too great. That’s certainly what they believe happened in Lower Brockhurst, judging by what I saw and heard yesterday evening.’ And I described the scene in the Roman Sandal when I had first clapped eyes on Tom Rawbone.

‘I wouldn’t give a groat for anything that rabble down there think!’ Jacquetta declared scornfully. But her eyes had shifted away from mine and refused to look back. ‘And if Tom did kill her,’ she added triumphantly, ‘where has he concealed her body? Because it’s never been found, as you must know.’

‘I didn’t say that I believed your nephew murdered Eris Lilywhite,’ I corrected her. ‘I said you did. And in spite of the mystery as to where the body is hidden, you still do.’

‘Nonsense!’ she answered stoutly, then glanced at me curiously. ‘Why don’t you think Tom killed her?’

‘I’m not saying he did or he didn’t. I’m keeping an open mind. But in my experience, things are often not as simple as they seem. On the face of it, allowing for possibility and probability, for motive and the opportunity to commit the crime, your nephew, Tom, appears the most likely person to have done it. But apart from your brother, everyone in this house would have liked to see her dead.’

‘Not liked,’ Jacquetta protested. ‘But … Very well! I agree that, except for Nathaniel, we’re all glad that she’s gone. And I think even my brother is beginning to realize that he might have had a lucky escape. Life is quieter without her.’

‘The old well in the woods – the one belonging to Upper Brockhurst Manor – was searched, so Mistress Lilywhite informed me.’

‘The Brothers’ Well? Yes, that’s so.’ And Jacquetta confirmed Maud’s story. Ned had climbed right down into the well the following morning, using the iron ladder and watched by a group of men from the village, including Father Anselm. The others didn’t bother going down after him, because they could see by peering over the rim that there was nothing there. A foot or two of brackish water, but that was all. ‘The well dried up,’ Jacquetta explained, ‘when, some years after the great plague the villagers of Lower Brockhurst diverted the course of the Draco to flow directly downhill in order to augment their own supply of water, that stream at the bottom of the pasture. I’ve always understood that before the plague, the Draco meandered in a curve through the main street of Upper Brockhurst. But sometime in the latter half of the last century, men from the lower village cut a new straight channel, so that the Draco flowed faster and more efficiently into the stream below, thus giving a better head of water for the mill race.’

I asked, ‘Do you know anything about the murder of two men that took place in the woods around Upper Brockhurst, just before the outbreak of the plague?’

My companion laughed. ‘My word, you have learned a lot about this place in less than twenty-four hours, chapman. I congratulate you. And I thought I was nosy! But in this case, I’m going to disappoint you. All I know is probably what you’ve been told already. Two wellers from Tetbury, who’d dug a well for the Martin brothers, the owners of Brockhurst Hall, were found battered to death in woodland not far away. But the story goes that they hadn’t been robbed. If true, it would seem to have been a motiveless killing. But before anything could be discovered concerning the murders, the plague arrived in Upper Brockhurst and, within weeks, everyone, including the Martins, was dead. But that was all a hundred and something years ago. It has nothing to do with Eris Lilywhite. Has it?’