one, or, at the most, two of the flanking-towers. This sketch he has left with you exaggerates the scope of my dig.’
‘He seemed greatly concerned.’
‘A bit of a dog in the manger, I am afraid. I cannot allow him to override me. I am engaged upon an important piece of archaeological research which I hope to record, along with other such projects, in a book which I have in preparation. I cannot allow my work to be truncated because of some fantastic objections on his part.’
‘I see the difficulty, yes, but I don’t see how I can help either of you. I will get in touch with my cousin, if you like, and find out whether he has anything to suggest. It does seem to me, though, that you are in a stronger position than Mr Saltergate is. You are in a position to undermine his work; he can hardly retaliate by damaging yours.’
‘Well, I don’t know so much,’ said Malpas, knitting his brows and then giving a rueful smile. ‘He has a determined wife and four feckless undergraduates on his side. I would trust Saltergate himself not to step outside the bounds of fair play and civilised behaviour, but I would hesitate to go bail for the others.’
‘
‘Certainly. There are the two boys, Hassocks and Monkswood, and Saltergate has brought along two girls. There is also the woman lecturer from the girls’ college, but, of course, I am sure
‘But what mischief could the others do?’
‘They could rough up my excavation and, in doing so, destroy all sorts of most valuable evidence.’
‘But you don’t believe Mr Saltergate would be a party to anything of that sort?’
‘No, I don’t, but he is in a very angry mood and I think this might inflame the others in his party, particularly his wife.’
‘Well, I can only suggest you keep an eye on them, Professor. Meanwhile I will get in touch with my cousin. Is it possible for me to come along at some time and see how the work is progressing?’
‘Oh, by all means. I shall be delighted to take you round and explain what we are doing.’
‘Well,’ said Veryan, joining Tynant in the car, ‘he says there is nothing he can do.’
‘What did you ask him to do? After all, to be perfectly fair, we are more of a menace to Saltergate’s towers and walls than ever he is to our excavation. Couldn’t we—’
‘No, we couldn’t. My work is all-important. His is mere play by comparison. If my trench impinges upon his walls, well, that is just too bad, but it cannot be helped, and I shall have to tell him so.’
‘What kind of fellow is this bailiff?’
‘He is a cousin of the owner and, I should guess, a poor relation at that. The servants are all on board wages except (he told me) one gamekeeper who has had to remain at work because of the young pheasants, and—’
‘I thought a big chap in a green baize apron let you in. That wasn’t this cousin, was it?’
‘No. That’s a manservant called Wicklow. The other reason I have for thinking that the cousin is a poor relation is not his clothes, threadbare though his jacket was. Half the population goes about looking like tramps and nobody thinks anything of it nowadays—’
‘I thought that was only the young. How old is this fellow?’
‘Forty, perhaps. Anyhow, what struck me most forcibly was that manservant’s attitude towards Sandgate.’
‘He needed a good setting-down and he did not get it? Obviously he has no respect for his master’s poor relation, which is what you take Sandgate to be.’
‘The man behaved to Sandgate as though he recognised no difference in their social standing.’
‘Perhaps he is resentful at being left on duty while the other servants are absent.’
‘I suppose that could be so. All the same, although Jack may be as good as his master and, in some cases, very much better, I am a stickler for the old values and I think that dependants should pay lip-service to their employer and not attempt to bridge the gap which custom and usage have placed between them. It is better and more convenient for both sides to have it so.’
‘But this Wicklow chap probably sees the two of them as fellow workers in the same vineyard.’
‘But even in a vineyard there are the supervisor and the supervised.’
‘I am sorry you went, as you obtained no satisfaction from the visit,’ said Lilian Saltergate, ‘and I am sorrier still that your car passed Malpas’s on the road back and so he knows you went. What kind of man is the bailiff?’
‘I did not care for him. I received the impression that he has some axe of his own to grind and that the rift between Malpas and myself fits in with his plans.’
‘It would be interesting to know whether Malpas got any more satisfaction from him than you did.’
‘Tynant was in the car with Malpas, but I don’t know whether he went into the house with him.’
‘Probably not. Malpas prefers to play a lone hand unless he is in need of help. Do you think there is anything between him and Susannah?’
‘Between Malpas and Susannah? I thought she and Tynant—’
‘I am not so sure. I have seen glances exchanged and a hand brushed against another hand.’
‘You scandal-mongering woman!’
‘It’s all very well to laugh, but Susannah is very lovely; very intelligent, too.’
