The first time Lydia encountered Marcus Langstone, he had been with his family, but she had only the vaguest recollection of his parents and his older brother. Marcus she remembered very clearly because of what he had done.
She had been five years old, which meant he had been eleven, almost twelve, and his brother practically grown-up. It must have been quite soon after Lord Cassington had taken the lease on Monkshill Park. Lydia remembered how big everything had seemed that first summer, not just the house but the gardens and the park. To a five-year-old, it was a place without limits, more like an entire country than a home.
The Langstones arrived in the afternoon. Lydia did not meet them until teatime. Nurse scrubbed her face and hands and brushed her hair so hard it hurt. She was introduced to the visitors and sat by her mother. Adult conversation crashed and roared above her head. She drank her milk, ate her bread and butter and wanted to escape. She avoided looking at anyone so there was less chance of their noticing her. Once or twice, though, she glanced up and caught Marcus looking at her. He was a tall, handsome boy, with blonde hair and regular features. He reminded her of a picture of the young Hereward the Wake which Lydia had seen in the Book Of Epic Heroes in the nursery bookcase. She thought him very handsome.
Her mother said to her, ‘I’m sure Marcus would like to see the gardens and the park. Why don’t you show him round, darling?’
The prospect of being alone with a strange boy filled her with fear. There was nothing to be done about it, however, and a few minutes later the two of them were walking along the path that led from the house towards the monument and the lake. On their right was the high, sun-warmed wall of the kitchen gardens, pierced at intervals by doors. They walked in silence, with Marcus in the lead. At the far end, where the wall ended, there was a belt of trees. Marcus stopped, so suddenly that Lydia almost cannoned into him. Hands on hips, he stared down at her.
‘What’s that?’
He nodded at a small shed which leant against the outer wall of the kitchen garden at right angles to the main path. It was almost completely shrouded in trees.
‘I don’t know,’ Lydia said.
Marcus thrust his hands into his pockets. ‘I’m going to find out.’
He swaggered into the trees without looking back to see if she was following. She padded after him, feeling that, as his hostess, she had a duty to look after him. There were nettles here and they reached her bare legs. She ran into a spider’s web hanging from a branch of a tree and screamed. Marcus glanced back.
‘Don’t be such a baby,’ he said, and carried on.
At the end of the path, the tiled roof of the shed sagged and rippled. It was muddy underfoot, and the air felt damp, which was strange because it was a sunny afternoon. In memory, at least, it seemed to Lydia that the little spinney tucked against the north wall of the kitchen gardens had its own climate, its own atmosphere.
Marcus kicked over a fragment of rotten plank lying across the path. Woodlice scurried frantically. There were grey, slimy things, too. Lydia assumed they were leaves, or roots, or even a special sort of stone. Marcus picked up a twig and prodded one of them. To Lydia’s horror, the shiny object slowly curled itself around the tip of the stick. The thing was alive. Lydia opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out.
‘Slugs,’ Marcus said, and trod on it. ‘Do you know what they like to eat?’
She stared wide-eyed at him and shook her head.
‘Human flesh,’ he whispered. ‘Children for choice. The younger the better, because they taste nicer.’
Lydia screamed. She couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t move. Her mind had no room for anything except a terrifying image of her own naked body covered with those grey, shiny things, browsing on her, nibbling at her, just as the sheep and the Highland cattle browsed and nibbled at the grass of the park. One of the slugs was moving towards her, and another, and soon they would be climbing up her legs and—
Marcus snatched her up, lifting her under the armpits. In an instant she was high in the air and her face was level with his. He held her for a moment at arm’s length.
‘They’ll eat me,’ she whispered. ‘The slugs will eat me.’
He stared at her, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Then he hefted her over his shoulder as if she were a sack of potatoes and walked towards the shed. He kicked open the door. Lydia could see down the back of his Norfolk jacket and the line of his long legs to his boots. It was such a long way to the ground. She was safe up here. The slugs couldn’t get her.
Marcus lifted her from his shoulders. She shrieked with joy and fear as her head turned through 180 degrees. He set her down on a broad and dusty shelf fixed to the brick wall at the back of the shed. There was a sieve on one side of her and a pile of flowerpots on the other. In the gloom below, Lydia made out the outlines of the machines the gardeners used for mowing the grass. There were wheel-barrows, too, and rusting machinery whose purpose she did not know.
‘Don’t move,’ Marcus told her. His face was level with her chest now. ‘I won’t be a moment.’
She couldn’t have moved even if she had wanted to. She was far too high above the floor. If she jumped off, she knew she’d break every bone in her body, and probably kill herself, and get her dress filthy as well so that Nurse would smack her too.
Marcus returned, his body almost filling the low doorway. He held out his hands to her, the fingers curled into fists.
‘Look,’ he said gently.
Lydia stared at his big handsome face. He was smiling at her. He turned his hands over and uncurled the fingers. On each palm was a glistening slug. They looked even larger than the others, and they were moving.
‘I can feel their mouths,’ he said. ‘I think they’re hungry.’
She began to cry.
‘It’s all right. Don’t worry.’ One by one, he flicked the slugs onto the caked mud floor of the shed. He wiped his palms on his trousers and showed them, pink and empty, to her. ‘I’m going to make sure you’re all right,’ he said as gently as before. ‘I’ll look after you.’
His kindness made her cry even harder.
‘We have to make sure that none of them climbed up you while we weren’t looking.’
At the time, the logic of this had seemed impeccable. She screwed her eyes shut. She felt his hands on her legs. He gripped her knees and held them apart. She whimpered as he pushed up her skirt.
‘We have to look very carefully,’ he said in a voice that was suddenly hoarse, and almost a whisper. ‘They like it especially here, you see, that’s where they really like to eat. So we’d better see if they’ve got underneath.’
It was sheer bad luck that Malcolm Fimberry chose that moment to open the door. Lydia was standing on the doorstep, a latchkey in her hand, and in another moment she might have escaped from Marcus. Her husband was standing there, bareheaded in the rain, and he looked all wrong in Bleeding Heart Square, like an elephant at the North Pole or a racehorse pulling a plough. Nothing in his life had prepared him for this situation and he didn’t know what to do.
Fimberry didn’t see Marcus at first. ‘Mrs Langstone!’ he cried. ‘Been shopping, I see. Let me help you with that basket.’
Marcus lost his paralysis. Here at last was something he understood. ‘No need for that, thank you.’ His arm shot out and he scooped up the shopping basket. ‘After you, my dear.’
Lydia allowed herself to be herded into the house. Fimberry flattened himself against the wall to allow them to pass. He was wearing a raincoat and carrying his hat and umbrella so he had obviously been on the verge of going out. Nevertheless he shut the door and pretended to be examining the circulars on the hall table. Marcus towered over him – indeed he towered over everything – and the hall shrank because he was inside it. He sniffed, and Lydia wondered whether there was still a trace of Mr Serridge’s rotten heart in the air.
She climbed the stairs, conscious that Fimberry was watching and listening and that Marcus’s heavy footsteps we
re ascending behind her. She led the way into the sitting room. He put the basket on the table and pushed the door shut with his foot.
‘You can’t live here,’ he said in a voice that sounded more surprised than anything else. ‘It’s no better than a slum.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with it,’ Lydia said. ‘This is where my father lives. How did you find me?’
He dropped his hat on the table and peeled off his gloves. ‘You’ve no idea how worried we’ve been. How could you, Lydia?’
‘We?’
‘Your mother and I. No one else knows about this … this escapade of yours. We’ve told the servants you were suddenly called away. That a friend was very ill and had summoned you.’
Lydia burst out laughing. ‘It sounds like something out of a penny novelette. Anyway, the servants won’t believe you. Servants always know. I don’t know how, but they do.’
Marcus took out his cigarette case. ‘I don’t find this very amusing.’
‘Nor do I.’
‘And then there’s Pamela – she tried to phone you and was quite put out when I said you were away.’
‘You should tell her the truth.’ She paused but Marcus said nothing. ‘You still haven’t said how you knew.’
‘About your news, or about where you were?’ He held out the cigarette case to her, and she shook her head. ‘There was a letter from that chap in Harley Street. Enclosing his bill, of course.’
‘You opened my letters?’
‘What else could I do? I was worried. Your quack wanted to recommend some diet or other that is good for pregnant women, so it was damned obvious what was in the wind. I just wish you’d told me.’
‘I tried. But you wouldn’t let me. You remember?’
Marcus turned away to light a cigarette. ‘All right – I’m sorry. It’s just that you came in at an awkward time, and I didn’t want to queer my pitch with Rex Fisher.’ His face reddened. ‘But let’s forget that now. The important thing is the baby. It changes everything.’
‘Everything?’ she said quietly.
He waved his cigarette. ‘Of course. The main thing is, of course, it will mean an heir. Even these days, that’s important.’
‘An heir to what?’ she snapped. ‘Nine hundred acres in darkest Gloucestershire? A house you can’t afford to live in that leaks like a sieve when there is the slightest drop of rain? And the lease on Frogmore Place only has another twenty years to run, and you’ll probably have to let it in any case because you’ve already spent all my money trying to hang on to everything. What’s it all for, Marcus? I wish you’d tell me.’
For a moment she thought he was going to hit her again. ‘I happen to believe that some things are worth hanging on to,’ he said. ‘People like us, we’ve a duty to maintain standards. If we don’t, nobody else will. The landed classes are the backbone of this country, any fool can see that. This socialist rot is all very well – I know some of those chaps are well-meaning enough – but it’s leading this country down the road to ruin. Ramsay MacDonald couldn’t run a butcher’s shop. He’s completely out of his depth.’
‘And my having a baby would somehow drag the country back from the brink?’
‘Don’t be stupid,’ he said coldly. ‘The point is, families like ours stand for continuity. You should listen to Sir Oswald on the subject.’
‘I don’t want to, thank you. Anyway, I’m not having a baby.’
‘What? But your quack said—’
‘You’ve added two and two and made five. The gynaecologist said he could see no reason why I shouldn’t conceive. He promised he’d send me details of a diet that’s meant to be good for women’s fertility and when you’re pregnant. That was my good news. I was happy, Marcus, because it means I’m probably not infertile after all. Except I no longer want to get pregnant. But I do want to know how you found out where I am.’
Marcus sighed. ‘I went through your bureau.’
‘It was locked.’
‘I had to force it.’
‘First you open my letters, then you break into my bureau.’
He ignored this. ‘I found a letter from your father, written from this address. I thought he was in America.’
‘He came back last year.’
Marcus raised his eyebrows. ‘And you didn’t see fit to mention it?’
‘I didn’t think it would interest you. You hadn’t shown any signs of interest in him before. Or I thought you’d get angry. Just as you are now.’
‘Have you been seeing him all this time behind my back?’
Suddenly she felt weary. ‘Until two days ago I hadn’t seen him since I was a toddler.’
‘But you wrote to him?’
‘Yes. I sent him a little money.’ She hesitated. ‘That was what he wanted. If you’ve read the letter, you’ll know that. Does my mother know?’
‘I told her everything. It was she who advised me to come here. She is as shocked as I am. You must understand – you must come home. Lydia, I—’
Marcus broke off. There were footsteps on the stairs and on the landing. The door opened, and Captain Ingleby-Lewis came in.
He stared at Marcus. ‘Who’s this?’ he demanded.
‘My husband,’ Lydia said. ‘Marcus Langstone. Marcus, this is my father.’
Marcus held out his hand. ‘How do you do, sir.’
Ingleby-Lewis shook his son-in-law’s hand vigorously. ‘Delighted to meet you, dear boy.’ His bloodshot eyes slid from Marcus to Lydia and then back again. ‘Not quite sure why we haven’t managed it before. Still, better late than never, eh?’
‘Marcus was just leaving,’ Lydia said.
‘The thing is, sir, there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding,’ Marcus said. ‘I came here to smooth things over and take Lydia back home.’
‘Splendid,’ Ingleby-Lewis said.
‘I’ve a taxi waiting outside.’
‘I don’t want to go back with you,’ Lydia said. ‘I’m staying here.’
‘Darling, be reasonable. You can’t stay here. It’s not fair to anyone.’
‘I want to stay here.’
Marcus took a step towards her. ‘Now look here, Lydia – you must see sense.’
Ingleby-Lewis cleared his throat.
Marcus turned to him. ‘I’m sure you agree, sir. A woman’s place is with her husband, and all that.’
‘I must admit, it’s not something I’ve noticed from personal experience.’
‘Father, please. I’d prefer to stay here. Anyway, I’m not going with Marcus.’
For a moment, no one spoke. Ingleby-Lewis shuffled over to the sofa, sat down heavily and closed his eyes. He sighed and said slowly, ‘If Lydia wants to stay here for a few days, it’s up to her.’
Marcus glared at her. ‘This is ridiculous.’
‘Go away,’ she said. ‘Just go away. Please.’
‘We’ll discuss this later. You’re making a great mistake.’
Her temper flared. ‘Has it occurred to you that if it’s not me who’s infertile, then perhaps it’s you who should see a doctor?’
His lips were bloodless. He turned on his heel and left the room, leaving the door open. She listened to his footsteps on the stairs. The front door banged. Her father’s eyes were still closed and he was breathing heavily. The air smelled of whisky and tobacco.
She went to the window and looked down on Bleeding Heart Square. It was quite absurd, so Victorian. Her fate had apparently been in the hands of two men, her husband and her father, a young bully and an old drunk. Marcus was walking across the cobbles to the taxi. From this angle he looked like a dwarf.
The following day, Friday, Lydia sold the first piece of jewellery. Captain Ingleby-Lewis said that it made sense to sell outright rather than to pawn: you received more money, and of course you didn’t have the bother of redeeming it. She chose a small brooch, a ruby set round with diamonds which had once belonged to a great-aunt. The setting was too ornate for modern taste but she thought the stones were good.
Her father took her to a poky little shop in Hatton Garden and negotiated on her behalf with a tall, hunched man who would not offer them more than twenty-three pounds.
Ingleby-Lewis lit a cigarette. ‘Dash it all, Goldman, you strike a hard bargain. Still, I don’t choose to haggle over it. But you’ll do the business at once, eh? I don’t want to be kept hanging around.’
Mr Goldman inclined his head. ‘Is that agreeable to you, madam?’
Lydia nodded. She had not expected to feel so humiliated.
‘One moment, sir.’ Goldman opened a door behind the counter and retired into a room beyond.
‘We’ll not get a better price elsewhere,’ Ingleby-Lewis confided in a hoarse whisper. ‘Goldman knows he can’t pull the wool over my eyes. And he’s not going to keep us waiting either. That’s what some of these sheenies do – they give you a price and then take their time paying it. But Goldman’s all right as these people go. Serridge uses him a good deal.’
‘Mr Serridge sells jewellery for a living?’
Her father glanced sharply at her. ‘No, no. But he occasionally has pieces he wants to dispose of.’
Lydia wondered whether she had imagined a furtive expression on his face. ‘What does Mr Serridge do? Is there a Mrs Serridge?’
‘Ah – no. I believe not.’ He turned aside to blow his nose. Then he rapped the counter with his knuckles and called out, ‘Come along, Goldman. We haven’t got all day.’
Afterwards, outside in the chilly bustle of Hatton Garden, Ingleby-Lewis laid his hand on Lydia’s arm.
‘Ah … perhaps you would like me to look after the money for you. It’s a lot for a girl to carry around in her handbag.’
‘I think I’ll keep it, Father. There are things I need to buy.’ She glimpsed the gloom descending on his face like mist. ‘But I ought to give you something. I ought to pay my way.’
He beamed at her. ‘I won’t pretend that money isn’t a little tight at present. A temporary embarrassment, as they say.’ He watched her open her handbag and find her purse. She took out a five-pound note, which he almost snatched from her gloved fingers. ‘I have a business appointment a little later this morning,’ he went on. ‘First, though, I’ll introduce you to Howlett.’
Bleeding Heart Square Page 6