“But Lady Allenby, she must have been quite devastated. The thought of her daughter taking the veil might have given her some comfort. At least, the comfort of knowing you were safe and happy.”
“Oh, Redwall would not have cared about that. He was angry with Mother because she would not give him the funds to go to Egypt. It was before he attained control of the estate, under the terms of Father’s will. He was dependent upon Mother for everything then, and I think it galled him to have to ask for every last farthing. He was angry with her, angry with me. It was a rather efficient little revenge really.”
“And has Lady Allenby never learned the truth? Even now?”
Sister Bridget shrugged. “I do not know. If Redwall confided in anyone, it would have been Ailith, and she would never have gone against his authority, even after his death.”
“Why did you never tell Lady Allenby yourself? You might have written.”
She gave a short, unpleasant little laugh. “My dear lady, you clearly did not know Redwall. He collected the post himself. He wrote to me once, and only once, to tell me what he had done and to assure me that it was futile to think of writing to Mother because she wanted nothing to do with me.” She gave me an apologetic look. “I was younger then, and I believed him. I went to the head of my order for guidance, and she counselled me not to write, as thinking on my temporal family would only serve to interfere with my conventual life. For the most part I obeyed,” she said with a wry little twist of the lips. “But once or twice I did send a letter, appealing to Redwall’s better nature. Unfortunately, he did not have one.”
I thought of the note in his diary about correspondence from SB. Sister Bridget, the sister who had renounced all material wealth and the legacy of the Allenby name.
“What a beastly young man,” I said, forgetting for a moment that he had been her brother.
She smiled. “He had his moments. But you must recollect I intended to leave the world behind in any event. The convent was my home, and that was where attention must be paid.”
I must have seemed dubious, for she touched my arm lightly.
“I would not have you think entirely ill of my brother. Redwall could be quite charming as well. And so generous. I remember once when I found a bird, a young pheasant with a broken wing, Redwall helped me to bring it home and care for it. When it died, I sobbed over it for days and Redwall promised to bury it for me, so that I should not have to do it myself. He saved me one beautiful feather from its plumage. And another time, when I was sent to bed without supper for some childish transgression, Redwall threw his own supper out the window, and Ailith’s as well, and said if I did not eat, neither would they.”
She leaned toward me, her tone conspiratorial. “I would have preferred if he had just shared his, but that was Redwall. He always liked a grand gesture, and Ailith was always so content to play the consort, pretty and docile and standing in the shadows. And poor little Hilda, always overlooked.”
She sank into a reverie for a moment, and the silence stretched between us, comfortable and peaceful. After several minutes, she collected herself and smoothed her habit.
“I am sorry. I am unaccustomed to talking so much. It fatigues me, in a way I did not expect. I am responsible for the gardens at the abbey, and I often spend whole days in silent contemplation.”
“What a lovely thought,” I told her. “I will leave you now. Is there anything I can do to make you comfortable while you wait?”
She shook her head. “No, thank you. I would like only a little solitude, if that could be arranged. A few moments of contemplation would be most useful.”
I nodded and went to the door. I lingered a moment as I pulled it closed, watching Sister Bridget, the prodigal daughter come home. She slid to her knees, but did not cross herself, and unlike her mother, she did not finger her rosary. Instead her eyes were fixed on the tapestry where her name had been so carefully unpicked until only a single golden thread remained to show she had ever been born.
I went to the kitchen to find Portia and Mrs. Butters chatting soberly over cups of tea. Ailith was nowhere to be found, and I took the opportunity to apprise the others of Sister Bridget’s identity.
“Bless my soul,” said Mrs. Butters, her face alight. She had been sunk in gloom since Lady Allenby’s confession, but the prospect of seeing Sister Bridget roused her like the arrival of the prodigal son. “Miss Wilfreda come home. ’Tis like she were raised from the dead, like tha’ fellow, oh, what were his name?” She frowned, drumming her fingers on the table.
“Lazarus?” Portia hazarded.
“Tha’ is the one!” Mrs. Butters beamed. “You are clever, my lady. Yes, indeed. I had thought her dead, I did, for many a year. What a turn it will give the mistress to see her alive again. And to go and live with her in the convent, I cannot imagine it.”
“Yes, quite the coincidence,” Portia remarked, arching a brow at me significantly. I gave a quick, sharp shake of the head to silence her, but I might not have bothered. Mrs. Butters was off again.
“Always loved my plum cakes, did Miss Wilfreda. I have just one put by in the larder. Oh, I must go and see to it. I left it a few days past now, and I do hope the moths have not got at it.”
She hurried away and Portia blinked at me. “Moths? Isn’t it too early for moths?”
“Portia, never mind about the moths.” I darted a glance at the door. “You must meet her before she leaves. She is quite something. I spent quarter of an hour in her company and felt so peaceful, I think I might well join an order on the way back to London.”
“I shall forward your post and adopt your pets, shall I?” my sister asked.
“Yes, and you may have all of my clothes,” I told her generously.
Portia snorted. “Your clothes? I would sooner give them to Florence to use as birthing cloths.”
“They were all made by your dressmakers,” I reminded her, but she waved a hand and I lapsed into a sulky silence.
Just then Brisbane entered, fully dressed in a fine black coat and a black silk neckcloth wound tidily about his throat. His shirt was neatly buttoned, and although his hair would never be orderly, it was less tumbled than usual. He was paler than I would have liked, and there were new hollows carved beneath his cheekbones. He had lost weight through his ordeal, although I noticed his coat still tugged across the width of his shoulders.
“Where is she?” he asked without preamble.
“The old great hall, as you asked. She wanted a few moments of solitude, to pray I think. Brisbane, you ought to know, Sister Bridget was Wilfreda Allenby. She is Lady Allenby’s eldest daughter.”
“I know,” he said, shooting his cuffs.
I stared at him, and Portia merely sipped at her tea, looking from me to Brisbane with avid interest. I think she smelled a quarrel brewing between us.
“Kindly explain,” I directed him.
“I know Sister Bridget is Wilfreda Allenby,” he said slowly. “I have known it for months. I traced her whereabouts some time ago and was already in communication with the abbess in Dublin. When it became necessary to remove Lady Allenby, it was a simple matter to arrange it.”
My mouth was agape and he huffed an impatient sigh. “For God’s sake, Julia, how do you think I managed to arrange this so quickly from a sickbed? I am a competent man, but I am no conjurer.”
“How very clever you are,” I said sweetly. “And how stupid of me not to have known, but then you take great delight in amusing yourself with my silliness, don’t you, Brisbane?”
His lips tightened. “Julia Grey, I have no intention of quarrelling with you now. Nothing I have done was with the thought of making you feel foolish. In fact, nothing I have done has anything to do with you. Now I am telling you, leave it be.”
He turned on his heel and stalked out. I turned to Portia, fairly sputtering in my rage.
“That is why I gave up men,” she said ruefully. “They can be so very difficult.”
“I was packing t
o leave when he fell ill,” I confessed. “I was through with him, with his tricks and games, with all of it. I was quite shattered when I thought he would die. I thought it would change things. Clearly, it has not. I suppose I ought to leave now.”
Portia tipped her head quizzically. “I thought there were mysteries afoot here? Questions unanswered? Puzzles undetected? You cannot really expect me to believe you would rather leave here, not knowing the truth.”
I recognised the tone. She was cajoling, the way she had always done when she wanted something of me and suspected bullying would not work.
“Stop it, Portia. Don’t you want to go back to London, too?”
She went white to the lips, but when she spoke, her voice was steady. “Not now. Jane is gone, Julia. Forever. I have nothing to hold me in London, and in fact, I rather think a diversion might be quite welcome at present.”
“Portia,” I murmured, reaching for her hand. She let me pet her a moment, then drew herself up briskly, tucking her emotions away.
“So, what is it to be? Shall we endeavour to sleuth about and lay some of the ghosts of Grimsgrave Hall, or shall we slink back to London like whipped dogs?” She thrust out her hand.
I pulled a face, but clasped her hand in mine to seal the bargain. “Very well. We will stay until it is finished,” I told her, not entirely happy about the arrangement. God only knew what fresh humiliations Brisbane could conjure for me. But knowing that I had meant to leave him gave me a little more power than I had had before. I made a mental note to keep my trunk packed in any event.
THE TWENTIETH CHAPTER
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea, and one on shore.
—William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing
The departure of Lady Allenby was accomplished with a great deal less excitement than I would have expected. Godwin had told Ailith and Hilda of their sister’s arrival, and the ladies met in the entry hall where we had all assembled to bid farewell to Lady Allenby. Ailith embraced her sister with warmth, but Hilda greeted Bridget awkwardly, and I realised that they had not seen one another since Hilda was a young girl. It was a sober moment.
Valerius came to stand in the shadows next to Portia, and I took the place next to them. Mrs. Butters was weeping softly into her apron as her mistress descended the great carved staircase for the last time. Lady Allenby was dressed in one of her usual wide gowns of deepest black, a rosary at her belt. Ailith had packed for her, the smallest bag imaginable, with the few things she would need for the journey. Once at the convent, God and the good sisters would supply her needs.
To my astonishment, Brisbane himself had gone to fetch Lady Allenby from her room. I do not know what words they may have exchanged, only that she leaned heavily upon him as they moved down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, she turned to him, her impressive height bringing her very nearly eye-to-eye with him.
“You have shown me more compassion than I deserve, Nicholas Brisbane,” she said, her imperious voice softened by something that sounded like gratitude. “One day, when you have need of it the most, and deserve it the least, God will repay you.”
He gave her a short, sharp nod and in that instant she raised one gnarled hand to make a quick sign of the cross over his bent head.
She turned instantly, lifting her chin and surveying the rest of the assembled company. “Of the dark deeds done in this house, I say only this, that I am responsible, and I will spend the rest of my life atoning for them, and begging God’s benevolent mercy upon my poor sinner’s heart. And although God has no cause to listen to a transgressor whose failings are legion, I will pray for each of you in the long dark evening of my life.”
The words were purest melodrama, but they seemed heartfelt, and oddly touching as well. As she passed, Lady Allenby gave each of us a brief nod, as if committing our faces to memory. It felt strange then, to know I would never see her again. In spite of what horrors she had perpetrated, I felt a surge of pity for her, and I hoped that her convent would be a place of refuge and repentance for her.
She said nothing to her daughters. There was a sigh of recognition when she looked upon the plain, placid features of Sister Bridget, and I suspected Brisbane had told her of Wilfreda’s return. She lingered a moment before Ailith and Hilda, her expression as sorrowful as the Christ before which she knelt each day, and I knew she must be grieving for how thoroughly she had failed them. She was leaving them adrift in the world whilst she found a safe haven in her Irish convent, and I wondered if she would ever forgive herself for that. And more to the point, if her daughters would.
Sister Bridget took charge of her then, and it was Ailith who shut the door behind them. Hilda, her complexion reddened from wind and emotion, dashed angry tears from her cheeks and turned to me as if to speak. But she turned instead and fled to the garden, slamming the door as she went. Valerius followed hard upon her heels, and I hoped she would take some comfort in his company. He was seldom tactful, but his intentions were always good.
Ailith said nothing. She merely shook her head sorrowfully and looked neither to the left nor right as she slowly ascended the stairs.
“Those poor girls,” Portia breathed. “Whatever will become of them now?”
I shrugged. “They will go to live in the Bear’s Hut with Mrs. Butters, and that will be the end of them.”
That afternoon I walked across the moor to Rosalie’s cottage. Portia stayed behind, pleading a headache, and I was secretly glad of it. I was eager for some fresh air and I wanted to talk to Rosalie alone. She opened the door before I even put my hand to the little gate in the stone wall, as if she had been expecting me.
“Good afternoon, lady,” she said, stepping aside. The cottage was as tidy and cosy as ever, but I noticed her hearthrug was empty. I mentioned it to her.
She gave a shrug. “Rook prefers Brisbane’s company, so I let him go where he pleases. He may return, he may stay at the Hall. It is no matter.”
I was glad she introduced the subject of Brisbane, for I had not yet fixed how to go about learning what I wanted to know.
“You were marvellous when he was ill,” I told her. She gave me a fathomless, familiar look.
“I think we will need something stronger than tea for this chat, eh, lady?” She went to the beautifully painted cupboard and took out two tiny glasses, thin as paper and decorated with a design of Venetian gilt. She took out a bottle as well, dark green and felted with dust. When she had poured us each a glass of thick, amber liquid, she lifted hers to me in silent salute. I returned the gesture and sipped, gasping a little as the liquid slipped down like molten glass.
“What is this?” I asked when I recovered my breath.
“A mixture of my own making. Brandy, and a few other special things.”
“Very tasty,” I remarked, taking another sip, this one smaller and I took the time to roll it over my tongue, tasting honey and something more elusive.
She drained her glass and poured another for each of us, then sat forward, resting her elbows on the gaily-printed tablecloth. “You’ve questions in your eyes. Ask them.”
“I hardly know where to begin.”
“At the beginning, child.”
I took another sip, feeling its warm Dutch courage suffusing my bones. “When Brisbane was poisoned, Minna came to fetch me and I thought of the different means by which he may have come to harm. I thought of the mushrooms of Lady Allenby and Godwin’s arsenic for dipping the sheep. And I thought of your poppy-red syrup, and I had no way of knowing which of the three of you might have wanted him dead.”
“You took a chance,” Rosalie said. “You are bold, Lady Julia.”
“I was not bold,” I confessed. “I was terrified. I knew if I made the wrong choice, he would die. It was that simple. And I chose you, without even knowing why. Until later, when I had long hours full of dreamless sleep, and I woke knowing what I ought to have pieced t
ogether before.”
I paused and she looked at me expectantly, her mouth curved into a faint smile.
“I chose you because I knew you would never harm your own kin. Brisbane is your nephew, isn’t he?”
The smile deepened. “He is. My poor little chavvo. Not quite a Gypsy, not quite a gorgio. When he was a child it made him very bitter. He used to say he would never fit into either man’s world, neither the Gypsy’s nor the gorgio’s. And I always told him it was because neither of those worlds was big enough to hold him. I taught him that he carried what was best of both inside him, and to be proud of what he was. Or I tried,” she finished with a sigh. “His mother, she was not so kind to him. I have never known another woman so beautiful as my sister. But neither was there a woman as cruel as Mariah Young. She was many years older than I was, the eldest of our mother’s children, while I was the youngest. I was fifteen when he was born, and his mother wept and cursed him for being the son of a faithless man. Do you know about Black Jack Brisbane?”
“Good Lord, he sounds like a pirate.”
“He was no better. He took what did not belong to him, usually women. They came willingly, make no mistake, for he was the handsomest man I have ever known. Quite a match in looks for Mariah, and in temper. They were a tempestuous couple. They never lived together for more than two months running. Always the fighting, the screaming, the throwing of dishes and breaking of chairs. Always Mariah ran away and Jack would bring her back. Her brothers and cousins learned not to interfere. My own husband, John-the-Baptist, still carries a scar upon his neck from coming between them.”
“Jack stabbed him?” I breathed.
“Mariah,” she corrected with a grim nod. “Jack had been choking her, and John-the-Baptist thought to impress me with his bravery. We were not married then, but he thought I was pretty,” she recounted with a tiny smile. “He jumped into the fray and pulled Jack off of her. And quick as a cat, Mariah went for him, cutting him with the blade she carried in her skirt.”
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