Oh if only Joe was here! He’d put a stop to this! He’d get that broom and he’d push the Shadow Man out the gate. But Joe can’t be here. He’s dead.
‘Wolf, Wolf, Wolf!’
Naughty girl! Maggie has gone out!
Matty heard the back door click and saw her by the vegetable patch. In her big red cape with the hood pulled over she looks like Lady Christmas. Maggie’s naughty and always doing naughty things! She’s going to meet her sweetheart, the pot-boy, at the Big House. She’ll get into trouble one day, says Oldie, and there will be hell to pay.
‘Wolf, Wolf, Wolf!’
Mister Wolf is out tonight with Albert. It’s called a Stag Do, Nanny Roberts said. ‘Be careful at that Stag Do, Albert. It’s a free bar but don’t be lettin’ every Tom, Dick, and Harry drink us dry. America or not we have to get on with our lives.’ Mumma and the Wolf are to go to Bostonia, Maggie read it in a letter. Matty is invited. It’s a long way from black crows so he thinks he might go.
Kaiser won’t be going. He’s staying here with the Seed Lady. Tuesday after their piano lesson, when Matty was napping, the Lady came and stroked him. ‘Such a good dog,’ she said. ‘I shall be happy to receive you.’
Kaiser licked the Lady’s hand and Matty’s cheek and said ‘don’t cry.’
Matty didn’t cry, but later when he was held against Mumma’s soft breast he did cry. It’s what mother’s are for.
They’re at the table now, twelve new sitters Julia and Daniel among them. They have been sitting in virtual silence for a good half an hour. Glass tumbler and paper letters are tidied away. They sit with hands linked. Julia is next to Squire Humphreys who is overweight and nervous, his hands moist with sweat. He is also very loud. He keeps asking ‘is the spirit among us.’
Callie snaps at him. ‘Please be quiet. We are trying to concentrate.’
Madame Leonora sits with them. She is not happy and sighs a great deal.
Callie too is unhappy. Things are not going according to plan. ‘Are you sure there’s nothing, Madame?’ she says sharply. ‘Ought we to go back to the glass and letters? At least we had some communication with that.’
Madame stirs. ‘There is a friend trying to get through but I find myself incredibly blocked. Someone among us doesn’t believe. While that person sits at the table it’s doubtful any real contact can be made.’
Callie poked Daniel in the ribs. ‘That’s you,’ she hissed. ‘You ought to leave. You’re blocking the vibrations.’
Daniel pushed the chair back. ‘God forbid I should block vibrations! Excuse me while I relieve you of the problem. I am more than happy to sit out.’
‘No!’ said Madame. ‘It’s not you, Mr Masson. It is a female who doubts.’
There was quick glance about the table every lady suspected.
Feeling as she did so outside of it all Julia wondered if it was her and hoped she’d be pointed out as Doubting Thomas and asked to leave. It’s getting late. It’s as well Dorothy’s fiancé is at the cottage. What with things the way they are, the late night trying of door-handles, and broken panes in the green house, one must be wary.
‘Yes, Mrs Dryden.’ Madame looked up. ‘One must.’
‘What?’
‘Excuse me?’ said Callie. ‘Is someone coming through?’
Madame stared into nothing. ‘So much noise tonight.’
‘Noise?’
‘The earth is shrieking.’
Callie yawned. ‘Why would it be doing that?’
‘It is the sound of anger and of voices calling out.’
‘What are these voices saying?’ asked Squire Humphreys.
‘They demand the right to be free, to love and be loved and not be confined.’
‘So much noise!’ Madame dropped her head into her hands talking to herself more than those at the table. ‘I cannot be free as I used to. I find it so difficult these days. Everyone doubting even of God! I fight through a fog. People are so unforgiving. They think I am a tap to be turned on and if I don’t immediately bring what they want they shout fake. They have no idea how I suffer, or for that matter how others suffer wanting to be heard.’
There was silence about the table.
Daniel coughed. ‘Ladies and gentleman, I think perhaps it’s time to draw the meeting to an end. Madame is tired and needs to go home.’
‘Daniel, do not interfere!’ Callie banged on the table. ‘I didn’t go to the trouble of bringing people together and watching my good Madeira disappear down unappreciative throats to be disappointed. I am here for a reason. I want to know what I did wrong all those years ago and until I get an answer I am staying and so is everyone else; as for Madame being tired, she is to bide here tonight in the Blue Bedroom and so other than the stairs hasn’t far to travel.’
Daniel opened his mouth to speak but Madame laid her hand on his arm.
‘Hush, Danny Greville Masson,’ she said so very softly, ‘this poor fellow at my elbow doesn’t need to die twice to be heard.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Your newspaper friend? He says thanks for the rabbit’s foot.’
‘Rabbit’s foot?’
‘You sent it to his boy. He says thanks too for the money. It made a difference. You’re not to think of Jack anymore. You’re to get on with your life. He is in a place of comfort. He’s says you know it, a warm church, a blessing from the Lord, a ham sandwich and a jug of cider.’
‘Good God!’
‘What?’ Callie rounded on Daniel. ‘What is it? What did she say?’
Daniel shook his head.
‘Tell me!’ Callie tugged his arm. ‘What did she say?’
Black Holes for eyes Madame smiled. ‘You were ever a noisy girl, Callie-Anne Greville,’ she said. ‘You could never be still, especially that tongue of yours. I was always saying think before you speak. It makes for less damage.’
‘Oh!’ Callie’s hands flew to her mouth.
‘Such noise!’ Madame’s head dropped. ‘Why did you bring this? All the flowers and gilt, I don’t want it. I’d sooner eat of a wooden board than this costly perfection. I told you not to do it. I said I was not for you. But you had to buy it, didn’t you, you had to weigh me down and count me among your possessions.’
‘What is this?’ said Squire Humphreys. ‘Who is she talking to? Is this making sense to anybody because it surely isn’t making sense to me?’
‘Be quiet!’ Callie held up her hand. ‘I know what this is. And I know who is speaking. She’s talking about the dinner service Henry bought back from Germany. It was supposed to be mine, a wedding present, but he gave it to her. She came home one night to find it on the shelves all perfect and shining. So what did she do? She took a hammer to it and smashed every piece.’
‘Oh Callie!’ Julia couldn’t help but speak. ‘I thought that was you.’
‘I know you did. I saw it in your face. It wasn’t me. She did it. She said she didn’t want anything of his. I was there. I saw it happen. I watched through the spy glass and I didn’t lift a finger to stop her. Why would I when it should have been mine. But I beg you all to remain silent! My life depends on it.’
‘No it doesn’t!’ Madame laughed her voice soft with an Irish lilt. ‘You were always a theatrical girl and by the sound of it still are! Everything always up and down and sideways! You were never at peace with yourself. Why we couldn’t sit five minutes and read without you pledging your soul to one idyll or another.’
‘Justine!’
‘No! Be quiet, you silly girl! Forty years have passed and how many days within those years did you live? Your life doesn’t depend on yesterday’s heartache, it depends on the things that matter. It depends on birds that sing and the sweet scent of flowers. Life looks to the joy of spring and the blessing of winter’s sleep. Now in your old age it depends on a warm quilt, a sensible diet, and a decent
cup of coffee in the morning.’
‘Tell me where I went wrong!’ Callie was weeping tears tracking the runnels in her cheeks. ‘What did I do that you didn’t love me?’
‘I did love you. I still do. You didn’t go wrong, you grew up. We were friends. I gave you everything I could give. I was your tutor, not your lover. Why couldn’t you settle for that instead of bringing the village to my door? One way or another, Missy, you robbed us all of sleep. Our poor little cottage, our Needed and Necessary, you made a prison of it for the living and the dead. It’s time to let go, and leave us, and you, in peace.’
The table was in uproar, the sitters scattering. Callie was trembling. Daniel drew her into his arms. ‘Come mother! It’s done now so let go of it.’
‘Oh do let go!’ Madame sighed. ‘For God’s sake rest then I too can rest! It is over. It’s done. And to all of you here tonight with the ears to listen I say the past needs you but you don’t need it! If it haunts you, if it wears you down, take a hammer to it and beat it until it is dead. It’s what we did, Clarry and me. We killed it and put it where it should be in with the dirty linen. You never loved me, Callie. You were a little girl who wanted to play.’
‘Justine!’
‘It’s over. Henry died and you moved away. You had a husband. Now you have a son.’ Madame patted Daniel’s arm. ‘He is a gift from God. I could not have given you half a love as sweet. Cherish him, dear heart, and be at peace. The stars will fall. You’ll see them streak across the sky. And when the Wall falls so shall I.’
Luke isn’t feeling so well. Maybe it’s bad beer. They changed the barrels yesterday so it can’t be that. But he feels really bad. His legs twitch and his skin crawls as though an army of ants fight to break through. The last time he felt like this he had the ‘flu. He got to his feet. ‘I’m going, Ma.’
Nan nodded. ‘You don’t look right. Maybe you’re comin’ down with a cold.’
She accompanied him to the door. Nobody noticed him going, all so drunk they couldn’t find their arses with both hands.
Nan looked at him. ‘So when were you goin’ to tell me?’
‘What?’
‘You’re thinkin’ of goin’ to America.’
‘Oh that. Well we are only thinking. Who told you about it?’
‘Nobody told me, certainly not my son.’
‘From whom did you hear?’
‘Maggie Jeffers, the Town Crier, who else.’
‘Oh for Christ sake, Ma! ’
‘I know. Still it would’ve been nice to be told.’
‘I’ll tell you when there’s anything worth telling. Right now all I can say is step aside or I’ll be chucking up all over you.’
Out of the fug, the smoke and beer fumes, the cold air hit him like a square fist. It cleared his head but the antsy feeling remained.
It’s been with him all day. Busy running about trying to fasten loose ends he should have ate better. The business is alright. He has three good foremen on whom he can depend. They’ll get jobs done with minimum fuss. Outdoor work this time of the year is quiet. Cold weather, temperatures below zero, you can prepare but you can’t build. It’s all indoors and thanks to the Scholtz Hotel contract there’s plenty of that.
Luke has written to Daniel Masson declining their business. Some other firm can do the roof. It’s a conscience thing. And anyway, a new year and a new refurbishing job is promised. A big job! It’s still in the negotiating stage but if it comes off it’ll knock Bakers End, and Ma, sideways. It is suggested by Hugh Beresford Fitzwilliam and concerns the home of Lady Charlotte Walbrooke, a beautiful old Georgian house in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. So far he’s only agreed to look at the plans. So much going on he needs to haul back a bit. Yesterday he only need of himself, tomorrow he has a family.
It’s cold and starting to snow. Luke planned to go to Fairy Common and check his gear for tomorrow make sure he looks okay. The coat is fine. He bought it at Ede and Ravenscroft in Savile Row, the chap there remembered him and kitted him out in good black broadcloth. Other than that he’s asked no one what he should wear or do or say tomorrow. At times like this he feels lonely and wishes Freddie nearby. As it is he will stand at the altar alone.
Of course his best man for the job is a dead man. Jacky would be coming up twenty-eight now and perfect for the job. It’s strange that he dreams of Italy and all that but never of him. It’s as though the link between the brothers was severed that day never to be healed. Doctor’s reckon Jacky was unconscious before he drowned. A great gash in his head they said he must have hit something diving in. ‘If it’s any consolation,’ said one, ‘he wouldn’t have suffered.’ Poor sod! Luke went for him. ‘How do you know that? How can you be sure what he felt?’
He was a fool that day yelling. All these years and he’s still yelling.
Midway to the Common Luke changed direction. The scratching at his nerves and unease has become a roar. Betty stabled at the cottage this week he didn’t bring a trap. He walked. If he was going to get drunk, which he wasn’t, it’s best the old horse stays in the warm. So he changed direction thinking to take a look at her to see if she need rubbing down. He won’t knock on the cottage door. Julianna will be home now and you’re not supposed to see the bride the night before the wedding. It’s bad luck.
People ask if he’s nervous. Until now he wasn’t. He is as sure of his love for Julianna as he is sure the sun rises. Now his stomach is whirling and every hair on his head is upright like a bee’s antennae, an early warning system.
Hands in his pockets he trudged across country. He hadn’t gone a few yards when he quickened his step, making a diversion, saving time by cutting through Wentworths’ farm. Then, his hand on the gate, he heard it.
‘Wolf, wolf, wolf!’
It came through snowflakes blown there by winter.
It brought him up sharp.
It came again. ‘Wolf, wolf, wolf!’
It was like a dog barking but no dog.
It was Matty!
Matty is calling him.
Miles away but Luke hears him clear as a bell!
He started to run.
Thirty Two
A Soul Saved
Julia sat putting on her galoshes. An odd night and Callie in such distress she stayed to see if she could help. Everyone else has gone carriages pulling away down the Rise the lamplight bobbing through the darkness.
Daniel was coming back down the stairs. He rolled his eyes. ‘What can I say to you after that?’
‘I think it best we say nothing.’
‘I agree. Talk about one’s soiled linen washed in public! I won’t dare venture a post-mortem of this evening’s events. I’d hate to think what else might float to the surface. ’
‘Are you surprised by what you have heard?’
‘You mean my mother’s feelings for her tutor? Not a bit. I used to think the Grevilles Massons a stoic kind of person. Lately I have begun to see we are creatures of passion. We love hard and I’m sorry to say clumsily, Callie’s school-girl crush a case in point.
‘Is she much distressed?’
‘She’s more surprised than wounded. It’s my guess she cobbled this evening together more in curiosity than hope.’
‘How is she now?’
‘She’s with Dulce being petted before being packed off to bed.’
‘I hope she may recover.’
‘Oh she will. She’s made of durable stock. All the Aunts lived well into their nineties. They bend rather than break. Trust me, she’ll do the same. Tonight’s revelation, the smashing of Meissen china, Henry Lansdowne and the rest, will have taken the wind out of her sails but she’ll recover.’ He pushed his hands through his hair. ‘Whether I shall do as well is debatable.’
‘And Madame Leonora?’
‘She’s another in desperate need of recuperation. Whatever it is
she does, and speaking for myself the jury will always be out, it knocks her seven days from Sunday.’
‘I don’t think it helps any of us to go where we’re not wanted.’
‘No and should not be repeated.’
‘I must get back.’ Julia bent to put on her galoshes but her hands were so shaky she couldn’t manage.
Daniel knelt to help. ‘Let me help and then I’ll escort you down. You can’t go home alone.’
They were thus when there was the sudden clatter of running feet and a shout. ‘Madam, I say, madam!’
‘Oh!’ Julia started up out of the chair knocking Daniel backward.
‘Madam!’ Gown in disarray Madame Leonora stood at the top of the stairs.
‘For God’s sake!’ Daniel got to his feet. ‘What is it now?’
It came again, a voice Julia knew. ‘Madam! I say, madam, hark at that noise!’
‘Noise?’ She gazed up the flight of stairs to the figure standing back of the shadows. What noise?’
‘Listen!’
Julia listened. Then she heard it, Kaiser howling.
She turned and fled, the voice she knew so well, Old Joe Carmody’s voice, calling after her. ‘He’s there, madam! The nasty sod that hides in the wash-shed! He’s after our little lad!’
‘Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!’
The Shadow Man is inside the house! Maggie left the back door unlocked!
It happened as Dorothy’s sweetheart was leaving. She was sitting beside Reg seeing the cart down the lane to down to the main road. That’s when the Man slipped inside.
Kaiser heard and whining, his fur blown up like a Porcupine, scratched at the bedroom door. There was nothing else for it, Matty must go downstairs and get a cigar and give it to the Man, hopefully then he’ll go away.
Matty put on his boots and the warm woolly hat Oldie Hubbard knitted and tied his dressing gown very, very tight. Trying not to cry he knelt down. ‘Now listen, Kaiser. We’re going to play hide and seek. I’m to hide and you’re to close your eyes and count to a hundred and then look for me.’
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