'No,' Lee said slowly. 'No, I didn't.'
'Yes, she married him against her family's wishes, but she had been given the Chalet Alpenrose as her dowry in the will of Max von Reistoven's grandfather. She was only a cousin, of course, or some such, or the dowry would have been much more. However, they lived there comfortably enough until she died, but then, almost immediately after the funeral, Max von Reistoven told your uncle that he would have to leave, that the Alpenrose estate had been given only for his wife's lifetime, as was the annuity to help run it, and reverted to the von Reistovens on her death. But Howard Canning had always understood that the estate was his wife's to dispose of as she wished. He consulted lawyers and began a.legal battle that drained all his resources, leaving nothing with which to maintain the estate, and so giving Max von Reistoven another excuse for trying to take it from him.'
Herr Staffler thumped his stick angrily. 'But that wasn't all he tried to do to get Howard out. He refused to let motor-driven vehicles use the access road from the village so your uncle had to walk all the way whenever he wanted something—and that in the depths of winter! He even dammed the stream so that the chalet was without water. In the end Howard Canning's life became intolerable and he could not go on living there, but he never gave up—he was still fighting for his rights when he died.'
'But why?' Lee asked in perplexity. 'Why should Max von Reistoven want to turn an old man out of his home? He has so much, why should he want more?'
'Because that is the kind of people the Von Reistovens are,' the old man said vehemently. 'They will not part with an inch of their property. What they have, they hold!'
'But if he really believed that the chalet belonged to him, why should he offer to buy it from me?' Lee said reasonably.
'It is the easiest way to get it back, and cheaper than fighting more law-suits,' Herr Staffler told her grimly. 'He could pay you off and that would be the end of it.'
Pay her off! Lee sat back on the bench and felt a tide of revulsion sweep over her. Was that what Max had been doing? Showing her the chalet himself, taking her out, being attentive towards her, even paying her compliments, while telling her a lying version of the truth so that she would feel that she could trust,him? And she had trusted him, completely. Talking to him as a friend, as someone she liked. How he must have been laughing to himself at her gullibility! she thought bitterly. He had probably only taken her out to keep her away from Ausbach and such a meeting as this until he was sure of her. Sure that she would eagerly accept his offer and go happily back to England congratulating herself on her luck. And how she had played into his hands! Telling him what the money would mean to her, while all the time he had been determined to get the land into his own hands to keep his precious estate intact; had been so obsessed with getting it back that he had even hounded an old man to death to do so. A great surge of anger and bitterness formed like a cold, hard ball inside her and she resolved there and then that' Max von Reistoven would pay for what he had done to her uncle—and for what he had done to her, too, she vowed grimly.
Abruptly she stood up and said to Herr Staffler, 'I think I'd better go and talk to Herr Kreuz again. Will you come with me?'
'Of course, of course.' The old man scrambled agilely to his feet and hurried along beside her, a pleased expression in his eyes.
They passed Howard Canning's grave again and Lee paused to ask, 'Why wasn't he buried next to his wife?'
Her companion said sourly, 'She was a Von Reistoven; they buried her in the chapel in the castle. But they didn't Want Howard, even when he was dead he Wasn't good enough to join her!'
CHAPTER THREE
Once again Lee sat and looked at the Chalet Alpenrose, but in what different circumstances from the first time. Now she could feel the hard lump of the keys in the pocket of her jeans and knew that she faced the mammoth task of putting the house in good enough repair to attract an outside offer for it, for she was now just as determined as her great-uncle had been not to let Max von Reistoven get his hands on the estate. The previous day, after her meeting with Herr Staffler, they had had a long conference in the solicitor's office and the two men had promised to help her all they could. The Three Musketeers! Lee thought with irony—a feeble old man, an elderly solicitor and a twenty-one- year-old girl! But already things were happening. Herr Kreuz had made a deal with the farmer, Herr Schneider, and arranged for her to receive a small rent and the use of the chestnut gelding in exchange for grazing a herd of cows and the horse in her meadows. Her meadows! Lee smiled to herself; she still hadn't got used to the idea that the chalet was really hers. Perhaps that was why it had been so easy to agree to sell it.
There was no fear of the animals straying as they moved through the lush, long grass; the fences all bordered on to the von Reistoven estates and they had been Well maintained. Well, she had that to thank Max for if nothing else. Lee crossed to the house and this time ventured into the ground floor part, but the doors leading into it hadn't been opened for ages and she had to scrape away a build-up of soil and weeds with an old piece of metal she found before she could get the heavy doors open. Once inside she was relieved to find, not rotting hay and dank earth as she had expected, but a fairly clean stone floor with piles of cut logs stored against one wall and in another corner two lines of empty wine racks, their bottles used long since. A flight of stairs ran up from this large store room to a trapdoor in what must be the floor of the kitchen and which she hadn't noticed on her first visit here with Max. Probably because the floor was too filthy, she thought with distaste, knowing that one of her first tasks would be to clean it.
The sound of a car engine brought her out into the open again and she went forward to meet Herr Kreuz and a builder he had brought with him to give an estimate for repairing the roof. Lee showed them round and then went to stand on the balcony with Herr Kreuz while the builder measured up arid made notes on an ever-growing list of repairs.
'It is very beautiful here,' the solicitor commented. "This is one of the best views in the area, and we are not short of wonderful views in Austria.'
Lee smiled. 'Perhaps someone will buy the place for the view, then.'
Herr Kreuz turned to look at her Intently. 'You realise that you are taking on more than the repair of the chalet? You are also taking on Max von Reistoven, and he can be a formidable adversary.'
'Yes, I know. But if what Herr Staffler told me is true then he is also a liar and a cheat and ought to be shown up for what he is.'
'My dear Fraulein Summers, please don't do anything hasty,' he said hurriedly. 'You have only Herr Staffler's word that these things happened. True, he and your great-uncle also told me and I tried to help them, but old men can be inclined to exaggerate, you know. You must make no accusations without evidence to support them, or you might find yourself in serious trouble. The von Reistovens are very powerful.'
'Then all the more reason for showing them up for what they are!' Lee exclaimed angrily.
Herr Kreuz looked at her worriedly. 'Fraulein, please promise me that you won't do anything rash.'
Lee appreciated his concern for her and made the promise rather unwillingly; she would dearly have loved to tell Max von Reistoven just what she thought of him. It was unlikely, however, that she would ever see him again, for Herr Kreuz had written to his solicitors telling them that she had decided not to accept his offer after all. It gave her immense satisfaction to imagine his reaction when he heard that piece of news.
'How angry he would be that all the time he had spent buttering her up had been wasted, and now he was further than he had ever been from getting the Alpenrose estate.
The builder had finished his inspection and was able to give a rough figure there and then, but to Lee's dismay the insurance money that Howard Canning had left wasn't enough to cover it. There followed a session of hard bargaining between the three of them and at the end of that time Lee found that she had committed herself to redecorating the chalet and to helping as much as she could, s
o cutting the builder's costs to a price she could afford. Just how she had agreed to this she didn't quite know, and it wasn't until she was back in her hotel room that the full import of what she had done hit her. The builder had promised to start work straightaway, but even so it might take them a couple of weeks to finish and she wouldn't be able to complete her part until after they had gone. But she had only taken two weeks' leave from her office!
Slumping down on the bed, Lee tried to think of ways and means round the problem and at length came to the only sensible conclusion; she would just have to write to her firm and tell them that she had resigned and wouldn't be coming back. That way she wouldn't have to worry if the builders took longer than anticipated and she would be able to work in her own time without having to rush. Just what Richard was going to say to this when only two days ago she had told him all was going well, she hated to think, and it was with some trepidation that she rang him after dinner that evening.
'Hallo, darling.' His voice sounded tinny and far away. 'How are things going? Have you signed the contract yet?'
'Well, no, I haven't. You see, Richard, I…'
'Then tell your solicitor chappie to hurry up. I'm missing you.'
'Richard, are you really?'
'Of course. I wish you could have been in court today. I cross-examined one of the minor witnesses and the chief counsel actually said he was pleased with the way I handled it.'
'Why, Richard, that's marvellous! But there's something I want to tell you,' Lee said urgently. 'I've decided not to sell to Herr von Reistoven after all. In fact I—I've decided to give up my job and stay here while the house is being repaired.'
'What did you say, Lee? I don't think I could have heard you properly. It sounded as if you were going to give up your job.'
'Yes, that's right. You see, lots of things have cropped up and I just have to stay here to sort them out,' she added rather desperately, knowing exactly what Richard was thinking. 'I'll write and tell you all about it, but it might be several weeks before I come home.'
'You can't possibly give up your job. It's madness,' he rejoined angrily. 'Lee, I won't let you.'
'Well, I'm afraid you can't stop me, Richard, because I've already sent my/resignation,' she retorted. Then, more gently, 'Look, darling, I do know what I'm doing and you'll understand when you get my letter. And we'll probably get more for the property this way than by selling to Herr von Reistoven.'
There was an ominous silence on the line and then Richard said coldly, 'Very well, Lee, if you've made up your mind without waiting to consult me there's nothing I can do about it, but I think you're being very foolish. Giving up your job just to make sure some repairs are carried out properly—it's absurd!'
He refused to be placated and told her again that she was being ridiculous, until Lee said rather abruptly that she would write and put the phone down.
She could understand how Richard felt, she supposed she would feel the same if it had been the other way round, but he might at least have waited to pass judgment until he had received her letter. But what a hard letter it was to write, as she found when she sat down to do it. How could she make Richard see that she must take up her great-uncle's cause, with all that .might entail? At length she finished, but reading it through she had doubts that Richard would ever really understand why she hadn't just sold the chalet and come home again. He would have told her to let old feuds die and to leave well alone. Lee sighed; a very practical man was Richard—she doubted if he had ever hated anyone in his life.
On Sunday mornings everything came to a halt in Ausbach as the villagers dressed in their best and made their way to the little church. Along with Herr Gruber and several other guests from the hotel, Lee joined the throng, taking her place in a pew on the left-hand side of the church. For a moment she glanced across towards the front pews on the other side of the aisle and found herself staring straight into Max von Reistoven's cold blue eyes. He stood head and shoulders above everyone else in the church and Lee instantly recognised the look on his face; he was furiously angry!
The service in the small but elaborately decorated church, alive with superb baroque architecture and magnificent woodcarving on screen arid pulpit, was not a long one, but Lee found that she was hardly listening, merely standing up or kneeling when everyone else did so. She could see little of Max, but whenever she did catch a glimpse of him he was always looking, stony-faced, towards the front of the church. Eyes seemed to bore into her back and she could hear whispering behind her under cover of the organ music. She had dressed carefully in a grey suit and coral-coloured blouse, but there were several women in brighter clothes, so she knew that it couldn't be her appearance that was causing so much comment. She could only suppose that the village grapevine had been busy and that everyone knew who she was and that she had refused to sell the chalet to Max. A juicy bit of news for all the village gossips, she thought wryly.
At last the service was over and everyone trooped outside again, but Lee didn't join the rest of the guests in their saunter back to the hotel, instead standing to one side to let the worshippers pass. Among the last, Max at length came through the arched doorway with an elegant middle-aged woman who stopped to talk to the parson. He stepped aside to wait, but then he saw Lee and strode purposefully towards her. Lee awaited him with cold defiance. She had a score to settle with Max von Reistoven!
'Why have you turned down my offer?' he demanded at once.
Lee looked up at him artlessly. 'Oh, didn't the solicitor tell you? I've changed my mind.'
'But why, Fraulein? You were perfectly happy with my offer the last time I saw you. Have people been telling you things, because if so…'
'Things?' Lee said innocently, opening her eyes wide. 'What things?'
He stopped, eyeing her suspiciously. 'Just why have you decided not to sell to me, Fraulein? If it's more money…'
'Good heavens, it isn't that. I've decided to turn the place into a camping site, with a special area set aside for caravans, and I'm having cabins built in the woods especially for honeymoon couples. So romantic, don't you think? Oh, yes, I almost forgot, there's going to be a disco in the ground floor of the house and a jazz festival every Saturday,' she finished with malicious enjoyment at the look on Max's face.
His jaw tightened. 'Do you think I believe a word of that? You promised to listen to Herr Kreuz with an open mind, but obviously you prefer to believe him rather than me.'
'And Herr Staffler,' Lee broke in coldly. 'Don't forget that there's someone else who knows what you did to my great-uncle. Trying to take his home away from him, hounding him until he died!'
Max lunged forward and caught hold of her wrist so tightly that it hurt. 'Gott in himmel! You little idiot!' His eyes were as cold as steel as he glared at her. 'How can you listen to that old fool? He's as twisted and bitter as your great-uncle was. Don't be blinded by what he tells you. I tried to help Herr Canning, offered to let him live at the Schloss…'
'Oh, don't go on lying,' Lee said in disgust. 'I'm not naive and trusting any longer. I've learnt the truth about you now and I think you're utterly despicable! So greedy that you can't even let an old man live out his days in peace. You're not fit to…'
But suddenly Max had pulled her towards him, the grip on her wrist tightening so that she winced with pain. His eyes blazed so furiously that she thought he was going to shake her, but he said savagely, 'Mein Gott, if you were a man I'd knock you down for saying that!'
'Yes, you'd like that, wouldn't you?' Lee taunted. 'Brute force is all your kind understand. Trample the weak underfoot just so that you get your precious bit of land back and…' She stopped abruptly as she saw a look in his eyes that was far more dangerous than anger or rage. She had gone too far, and heaven knows what
Max would have done to her if a puzzled voice behind him hadn't said his name at that moment. Immediately he let go of her wrist and turned to place his broad back between Lee and the middle-aged woman with whom he had come out of th
e church. The woman asked him a question, obviously referring to Lee.
'Niemand bedevtend,' he replied. 'Nur ein Tourist.'
Lee's face was rather pale except for two spots of colour high on her cheekbones when she got back to the hotel. The proprietor was seated at the reception desk and Lee went across to him.
'Herr Gruber, what does Niemand bedevtend. Nur ein Tourist mean?' she asked him, repeating the phrase Max had used.
'It means, No one of importance. Merely a tourist,' he told her, and was surprised to see the look of anger that came into her hazel eyes. So that was what Max von Reistoven thought of her, was it? Well, one day she was going to make him apologise for that—preferably grovelling on his knees!
Sounds of hammering and sawing filled the valley as the builder and his men started the repair work on the chalet. The smell of newly-cut timber filled Lee's nostrils as she watched them erect scaffolding to hold up the roof while the rotten wall timbers were replaced with new ones. The men seemed happy enough, laughing and whistling as they worked, and Lee wished she could understand their Austrian dialect, but then a general roar of laughter made her think that perhaps it was just as well she couldn't; a gang of men working together were the same the world overt She spent the day working against time to clear the ground floor of the house so that building materials and tools could be stored there and locked away at night. By the time the men left and she was able to lock up she was thoroughly dirty and had to scrub herself and wash her hair twice before she felt clean again.
During the course of the next morning a lorry load of timber arrived and was stacked at a convenient distance from the house as this was to be used to repair the balcony and the steps leading up to it. The men threw the broken and rotten wood down to the ground to be disposed of, and Lee somehow found herself with an unwieldy scythe in her hand and, after only a few minutes' demonstration, expected to clear a large area of long grass at the back of the house so that there wouldn't be any danger of catching the field alight when they lit a bonfire to burn the old wood. She started work rather nervously, half afraid of cutting her toes off, but got the hang of it with practice, although making slow progress.
Sally Wentworth - King of the Castle Page 5