Sir Tristan came into the room as though on a cue. It amused me to think he had been called in to add his praise to that of his wife.
Kate must have plagued them a good deal.
The thought crossed my mind that it was odd that a man who could murder his brother should be nonplussed by a wayward child. I pulled myself
up sharply. It was nonsensical to have settled on Sir Tristan as the murderer, just because of his saturnine looks. Though, of course, he had inherited the title, the estates . and Mirabel.
His shrewd dark eyes were assessing me. I felt guilty. I wondered what he would say if he could read my thoughts.
“I hear you are managing Kate,” he said, and added, with a little laugh, “Quite a feat. It’s very clever of you. Miss Cranleigh, to do what your predecessors so lamentably failed to.”
“She’s not an easy child,” I said.
“We are well aware of that, aren’t we?” he replied, looking at his wife.
She nodded ruefully.
“I think she needs a great deal of understanding,” I told them. I was wondering what Kate’s relationship was with these two. She had not given me an inkling. What of her father? What had happened to him? How did she feel about her mother’s engagement to Cosmo, and then, very soon after his death, the marriage to Tristan? These were matters I should like to know about. I believed they might help me solve the mystery.
“And you seem to be able to supply that.”
“As I have explained, I have never been a governess before.”
“You are too young, of course,” he said, smiling at me warmly.
“And too modest… is she not, my dear?”
“Far too modest,” added Lady Perrivale.
“Miss Cranleigh, I hope you will not be bored here.” She looked at her husband.
“We were going to say that perhaps … now and then … when we have a dinner party . you might care to join us. As a matter of fact, your friends are quite close neighbours of ours.”
“You mean the Lorimers?”
“Yes. So sad about the accident. I dare say they would not be in the
mood for visiting just yet. But perhaps later we might ask them … and then, of course, you must be among the guests.”
“That would be very pleasant.”
“We don’t want you to feel… isolated.”
I was thinking: This is what happens to some governesses when they are short of a guest and want to make up numbers, and if the governess is fairly presentable she is called in to fill the gap. On the other hand, they were clearly very anxious to keep me. How strange it was that I was the only one who had found a way to make this recalcitrant child less objectionable.
I said: “You are very kind. There is one thing …”
They were eager to know what.
“If I could occasionally have a free afternoon. I should like to visit the Lorimers. You see, there are children there. I was with them at the time of the accident. I stayed on a while after the friends with whom I was travelling left.”
I was amused to see the light of alarm in Lady Perrivale’s eyes.
Children? Might they be needing a governess? Really, I thought, I shall get a very high opinion of myself . and all because I had for a time found a way of making Kate behave mildly reasonably.
“Of course,” said Sir Tristan quickly.
“Certainly you must take the time to visit your friends. How will you travel? It is quite a few miles to Trecorn Manor, is it not? You are a rider, are you?”
“Oh yes.”
“Well, that’s settled. Ask Mason down at the stables to find a suitable mount for you.”
“You are most kind. Kate has mentioned riding and I think she would like us to do it together.”
“Excellent. I believe she is quite good on a horse.”
“I am sure she is. I look forward to outings with her.”
It was a most satisfactory interview.
The next day Kate and I went for a ride. She had a small white horse of whom she was very fond. It pleased me to see the care she lavished on him an indication that there was some capacity for affection in her nature.
The head groom. Mason, had found a chestnut mare for me. Her name was Goldie, he told me.
“She’s a good little thing. Treat her right and she’ll treat you right. Good-tempered … easygoing … make a bit of fuss of her .. and she likes a lump of sugar after the ride.
Give her that and she’ll be your slave. “
Kate was a good little horsewoman, inclined to show off at first, but when I told her I knew she was aware of how to manage a horse, and in any case she would not have been allowed to go without a groom if she did not, she stopped doing so.
I was wondering how I could pose tactful questions about her home life, for I knew I had to be very careful. She was extremely observant; and she was watching me as closely as I was watching her.
She announced that she was going to take me to Bindon Boys.
“You know,” she said, ‘the old farmhouse where the murder took place.”
“I remember.”
“You’ll like that. Cranny. You know how you love any thing about that old murder.”
I felt uneasy. I had betrayed my interest and she had noticed.
“It’s an awful old place. People won’t go there after dark … I mean they won’t even go near it. I reckon quite a lot would want to go in daylight… but never alone.”
“Bricks and mortar can’t hurt anyone.”
“No. It’s what’s inside. Once it was a real farmhouse. I can remember it before … before that happened …”
“Can you?”
“Well, of course I can. I wasn’t all that much of a baby.”
“And you lived near … when you came from London.”
“That’s right. The cottage we lived in was close to Bindon Boys. It was the nearest cottage to it. And the sea was just down the slope.
I’ll show you when we get there. “
“Is it far?”
“No, about a mile.”
“That’s easy.”
“Come on. I’ll race you.”
We galloped across a meadow and when we emerged we were very close to the sea. I took deep breaths of the invigorating air. Kate came up close to me.
“There,” she said.
“You can see it just down there. That’s the old farmhouse and there, not very far off … Seashell Cottage. Seashell. what a silly name! Someone had done the name on the soil outside the door in seashells. Seashell Cottage … all in shells. I used to pull them up. I took off the Seas and made it Hell Cottage.”
I laughed.
“Just what I would expect of you.”
“Gramps thought it was funny. I tell you what. After you’ve seen the farmhouse I might take you to see Gramps. He’d like to meet you. He likes meeting people.”
“I shall find it all most interesting, I am sure.”
“Come on. The farmhouse first.”
We rode down the slight incline, and there it was. It was in a state of dilapidation. The roof looked as though it were falling in. The heavy door was slightly ajar. The bolt had evidently gone.
“It looks as if it is on the point of collapse,” I said.
