The Hellfire Club

Margaret was staring at her. 'Mountain Glade, Monty's Glen. My Lord. It's true. Why, this is wonderful. Think of all the people devoted to that book. Norman, help yourself to more of that wine. Your wife has earned it for you. Marian, get the bottle of Beaujolais you opened before dinner, and bring it up with the champagne in the refrigerator. We were going to have a Georgina Weatherall celebration, and by God, we shall.'

Marian stood up. 'You see what I mean about the Driver conference?'

'I see more than that. I see a Driver week. I see Hugo Driver T-shirts flying out of the gift shop. What cottage did that noble man stay in when he was here?'

'Rapunzel.'

Lily mumbled something Nora could not catch.

'Give me three weeks, and I can turn Rapunzel into a shrine to Hugo Driver. We'll make Rapunzel the Driver center of the universe.'

'He wasn't noble,' Lily muttered.

'He is now. Lily, this is a great opportunity. Here you are, one of the few people living actually to have known the great Hugo Driver. Every single thing you can remember about him is worth its weight in gold. Was he untidy? We can drop some socks and balled-up typing paper around the room. Did he drink too much? We put a bottle of bourbon on the desk.' Lily took a sullen gulp of wine. 'Come on, tell me. What was wrong with him?'

'Everything.'

'That can't be true.'

'You weren't here.' She looked at Margaret with a touch of defiance. 'He was sneaky. He was nasty to the staff, and he stole things.'

Marian appeared, laden with bottles and a second ice bucket. 'Who stole things?'

'We may have to rehabilitate Mr Driver a bit more than our usual luminaries,' Margaret said.

'You knew he was a thief,' Nora said.

'Of course I knew. Stole silver from this room. Stole a marble ashtray from the lounge. Stole two pillowcases and a pair of sheets from Rapunzel. Books from the library. Stole from the other guests, too. Mr Favor lost a brand- new fountain pen. The man was a plague, that's what he was.'

The cork came out of the Veuve Clicquot with a soft, satisfying pop. 'Maybe we should rethink our position on Mr Driver,' Marian said.

'Are you serious? We're going to polish this fellow up until he shines like gold, and if you're not willing to try, Lily, we'll let Agnes do it.'

'She won't.' Lily drank the rest of her wine. 'Agnes was the one who told me half of what I just said. I want some champagne, too, Marian.'

'What else did he steal, Lily?' Nora asked.

The old woman looked at a spot on the wall above Nora's head, then pushed her champagne flute toward Marian.

'He stole that drawing, didn't he? The missing Redon. The one you never liked.'

Lily glanced unhappily at Nora. 'I didn't tell you. I wasn't supposed to, and I didn't.'

Margaret took a sip of champagne and looked back and forth from Nora to Lily in great perplexity. 'Lily, two minutes ago you said that the Mannheim girl stole the drawing.'

'That's what I was supposed to say.'

'Who told you to say that?'

Lily swallowed more champagne and closed her mouth.

'The mistress, of course,' said Nora.

Dart chuckled happily and helped himself to rabbit pie.

Lily was gazing almost fearfully at Nora.

'She knew because she saw the drawing in Rapunzel the night Miss Mannheim disappeared,' Nora said.

Lily nodded.

'When did she tell you about this? And why? You must have asked the mistress if it was really Hugo Driver and not Miss Mannheim who had stolen the drawing,' Nora said.

Lily nodded again. 'It was when she was sick.'

'When there were no more guests, and she almost never left her room. Agnes Brotherhood spent a lot of time with her.'

'It was unfair,' Lily said. 'Agnes never loved her the way I did. Agnes's sister Emma used to be her maid, and then Emma died, and the mistress wanted Agnes next to her. She didn't know the real Agnes, it was only that the sisters looked alike. I would have taken better care of her. I tried to watch out for her, but by that time it was Agnes, Agnes, Agnes.'

'So it was Agnes who told you about the drawing first.'

Margaret put her chin on her hand and followed the questions and answers like a spectator at a tennis match.

'She came out of the mistress's bedroom, and I looked at her face, and I said, 'What's wrong, Agnes?' because anyone could see she was upset, and she told me to go away, but I asked was something wrong with the mistress, and Agnes said, 'Nothing we can fix,' and I kept after her and after her, and finally she put her hand over her eyes and she said, 'I was right about Miss Mannheim. All this time, and I was right.' That trampy little thing, I said, she made fun of the mistress, and besides she stole that picture. 'No, she didn't,' Agnes says, 'it was Mr Hugo Driver who did that.' She started laughing, but it wasn't like real laughing, and she said I should go upstairs and ask the mistress if I didn't believe her.'

'So you did,' Nora said.

Lily finished her glass and shuddered 'I went in and sat down beside her and touched her hair. 'I suppose Agnes couldn't keep quiet,' she said, and it was like before she got sick, with her eyes alive. I said, 'Agnes lied to me,' and I told her what she said, and she calmed right down and said, 'No, Agnes told you the truth. Mr Driver took that picture,' and she knew because she saw it in his room at Rapunzel. 'Why would you go to his room?' I asked, and she said, 'I was being my father's daughter. You could even say I was being Lincoln Chancel.' So I said, 'You shouldn't have let him take it,' and she told me, 'Mr Chancel paid for that ugly drawing a hundred times over. Send Agnes back to me.' So I sent Agnes back to her room. The next day, the mistress told me that she couldn't afford my wages anymore, and she would have to let me go, but I was never to tell anyone about who stole that picture, and I never did, not even now.'

'You didn't tell,' Nora said. 'I guessed.'

'My goodness,' said Margaret. 'What a strange tale. But I don't see anything that should trouble us, do you, Marian?'

'Mr Chancel bought the drawing,' Marian said. 'Hugo Driver borrowed it before payment had been arranged, that's all.'

'Love it,' Dart said.

'If we could arrange for the loan of the drawing from the Driver estate, we could hang it in Rapunzel and weave it into the whole Night Journey story.' Margaret sent a look of steely kindness toward Lily. 'I know you didn't like the man, Lily, but we've dealt with this problem before. Together, you, Marian, and I can work up any number of sympathetic stories about Mr Driver. This is going to be a windfall for the Shorelands Trust. More champagne, Norman? And we do have, as a special treat, some petits vacherins. Delicious little meringues rilled with ice cream and topped with fruit sauces. Mr Baxter, our baker in Lenox, had some fresh meringue cases today, wonder of wonders, and Miss Weatherall loved vacherins.'

'Count me in,' Dart said.

'Marian, would you be so kind?'

Marian once again left the room, this time patting Dart on the back as she went past him. As soon as she had closed the door, Lily said, 'I don't feel well.'

'It's been a long day,' Margaret said. 'We'll save you some dessert.'

Lily got unsteadily to her feet, and Dart leaped out of his chair to open the door and kiss her cheek as she left the room. When he took his chair again, Margaret smiled at him. 'Lily had some difficulties tonight, but she'll do her