Time for Silence

by Philippa Carr

  “Would you believe it?” said Mrs. Cherry. “Some people are clever. Five and all.”

  “It is not clever,” Edward told her rather scornfully. “Everybody is five after they’re four.”

  “My word, here’s a sharp one.”

  Edward looked a little dignified. I could see he was determined to make them understand that he was no longer a baby and must not be treated as one. Mrs. Cherry made the mistake of calling him “Eddy-Peddy” which aroused his indignation.

  “It is an Edward,” he told her. “Not an Eddy-Peddy.”

  How they laughed at his “old-fashioned ways”!

  “He’s a real caution,” said Meg. And they enjoyed having him in the house, as I knew they would.

  In the evening I dined with my father. I said the mystery had deepened for me since I came to the house, for I was certain that none of the people here could possibly be concerned with the leakage of information.

  “I am coming more and more to the conclusion that it must be some workman. But it has happened fairly consistently, so be on your guard,” he said.

  I assured him I would be.

  Three days after my arrival, Annabelinda came to the house. She was quite exuberant and seemed very happy.

  “Oh, Lucinda!” she cried. “It is wonderful to see you. I’m glad you’re going to be in London for a while. We’ll be able to see something of each other. How are you?”

  “Very well. No need to ask how you are.”

  “Everything is perfect. I am so happy, Lucinda. Marcus is just marvelous. I’m meeting lots of people, too…interesting people. Army and all that. The trouble is we can’t entertain as we would like to. This place we’re in…well, it is only temporary, and when Marcus was there just alone it was all right. But it’s different now.”

  “Now that he has a dazzling wife to show off to his friends.”

  She smiled. “I’ve made him see that we have to get a house.”

  “What, now? With everything so uncertain?”

  “We have to have a place in London!”

  “What about this ancestral home we have heard so much about?”

  “Very grand…oh, yes, very grand indeed. But to tell the truth, it’s too close for my liking.”

  “To close to what?”

  “My feudal in-laws.”

  “Are they so bad?”

  “Worse.” She grimaced. “So stiff and formal. My mama-in-law is determined to make me into a model Merrivale…one of the family. An insurmountable task, I am sure, and it is more than I can endure.”

  “So you are all for the London life.”

  “Yes, I shall see that visits to the ancestral home are few and far between.”

  “Sounds like a good basis for a happy married life.”

  “Why do you always spar with me, Lucinda?”

  “If I do, it is because it seems the natural thing to do.”

  “Are you just a little bit jealous?”

  “Not the tiniest little bit.”

  “Then you ought to be. I suppose you are going to marry Rob.”

  “Nothing has been arranged.”

  “It will be. Poor darling. They don’t like it much…our parents, I mean…Robert’s having to go out there again. There is this course, though. It could be extended for a week or two, and then I suppose he’ll be properly equipped to go out and do what he has been trained for.”

  “I do wish they would stop this fighting.”

  “Don’t we all? I’m lucky that Marcus is at the War Office.”

  “How does he feel about that?”

  “You know how he is about everything! He laughs it off. It’s no life for a soldier, he says, but I think he had enough of fighting at Gallipoli.”

  “You must be delighted to have him home.”

  “But of course. I’m going to have lots of fun when we get this house. I’m searching for it now. I want something rather like this one. I love the staircase. Can’t you just see Marcus standing up there, with me beside him, receiving the guests?”

  “Quite clearly.”

  “Oh, this wretched war, surely it can’t last much longer? Just imagine when it is all over.”

  “It will be wonderful,” I said, thinking of Robert’s homecoming. “Andrée is here…with Edward.”

  “Oh, really?” She looked faintly hurt, and gave me a suspicious look, which she often did when I mentioned Edward.

  “Why have you brought them?” she asked.

  I replied sharply, “I expect you will be surprised to hear that I hate parting from Edward; and, do you know, I think he misses me, too, when I am away. And as I shall be up here for some little time—though we shall be going to Marchlands for the weekends—I thought he should come with me. Why don’t you come and see him?”

  She hesitated, and I went on. “Andrée is always so interested in you. She thinks you are very attractive and she admires you so much.”

  She brightened a little and allowed me to take her to the nursery where Andrée was sitting at a table writing and Edward was on the floor with a jigsaw puzzle.

  “Mrs. Merrivale has called,” I announced.

  Andrée sprang up. “How nice to see you, Mrs. Merrivale.”

  “Brings back old times, doesn’t it?” said Annabelinda. “We shall never forget…any of us…that trip across France.”

  “That’s true,” replied Andrée, taking in every detail of Annabelinda’s appearance and clearly expressing her admiration.

  “It seems ages ago.”

  “It does indeed,” agreed Andrée. “A great deal has happened since then…you and the major marrying…”

  “It all turned out wonderfully for me,” said Annabelinda.

  “I think I was lucky, too,” added Andrée.

  “Edward wants to say ‘how do you do,’ ” I said to Annabelinda.

  “Hello, Edward,” she said.

  He looked at her with curiosity and replied, “Hello,” and added, “Why do you wear that funny hat?”

  “Edward’s appreciation of haute couture is not fully developed,” I said.

  “It’s not funny, Edward,” chided Andrée. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” said Annabelinda. And to Edward, “I’m sorry you don’t like my hat.”

  “I do like it,” he insisted. “I like it because it’s funny.”

  “What are you making with your puzzle, Edward?” I asked.

  “It’s a cat. His whiskers are on this one…and this is the start of his tail.” He turned to Annabelinda. “At the bottom,” he went on, “it spells cat.”

  “So clever,” she murmured.

  Edward turned away and said, “Shall I do the elephant?”

  “Well, he is your favorite,” I said.

  He was not really interested in Annabelinda beyond her hat. I thought how strange it was that he should not know her for his mother. It occurred to me that there might have been some instinct which would show itself; but there was not.

  I squatted on the floor and we completed the cat and started on the elephant while Annabelinda chatted with Andrée.

  Annabelinda talked mainly about herself, and Andrée seemed quite content to listen. She was explaining that she was going house hunting. “Always such fun.” The major would be giving her a free hand. As long as it was somewhere suitable, that was all he would care about; and she knew exactly what he wanted.

  They were deep in conversation about houses while Edward and I finished the elephant and started on the giraffe.

  The first week at the house passed very quickly, though fruitlessly as far as any discovery was concerned. I was beginning to be certain that the spy could only have been some visitor to the house.

  Mrs. Cherry was friendly with the housekeeper of one of my father’s friends and she occasionally came in to take a cup of tea. I could not believe that the portly Mrs. Jordan, who complained a great deal about her rheumatics, could possibly creep about the house searching for vital information without Mrs. Cherry�
�s being aware of it.

  The, mystery deepened. It could only have been some casual workman who had called at intervals perhaps, as it had happened more than once. It was a pity my father could not question Mrs. Cherry, but the one thing he did not want was to call attention to his suspicions.

  I was watchful. Sometimes I would wake in the night and sit up listening. One night I even went down to the study. The door was firmly locked and everything was in darkness.

  We went to Marchlands on Friday afternoon. Edward was joyfully reunited with his pony, Billy Boy, and enjoyed the animal even more because of the short separation. And on Monday we were on the move again.

  During the second week Robert called.

  I was delighted to see him, yet fearful because I knew what this meant. The course was now completed and he would be going away.

  I was right. He was to leave at the end of the week.

  “Oh, Robert,” I said. “How I wish…”

  He gripped my hand and said, “I’ll be back soon, you’ll see. I’ll tell you what I’d like to do. I’d like to take a walk in the park…just like we used to. Just go over the old ground to remind myself while I’m away. Not that I shall need reminding.”

  “Let’s do it.”

  We walked through the trees and down to watch the ducks, which years ago we used to feed.

  “Everything looks the same as it always did,” said Robert. “We’re lucky not to have the enemy invading this country.”

  “Oh, how I wish it could all be over…and that you had not to go away.”

  “It can’t go on much longer. Things are moving in the right direction. It just means hanging on a little.”

  “It will be four years in August,” I reminded him. “People keep saying it will be over soon, but it goes on.”

  He put his hand over mine. “The end is coming. I am sure of it,” he said.

  “But you are going out there again. You’re so calm about it…almost as though you don’t mind.”

  He was silent for a moment, then he said, “I suppose I am one of those people who don’t always show what they are feeling. At the moment, I am wishing I could sit on this seat forever…with you.”

  “I do love you, Robert.”

  “I know. Do they say ‘like a sister or brother’…as the case may be.”

  “No, more than that. It’s true I have always thought of you as part of the family, because your mother and mine were brought up together for much of their childhood. No, it is more than that. Especially with you. I could not bear it if you did not come back.”

  “I’ll come back,” he said. “I’ll come back to you.”

  “You asked me to marry you. Is the offer still open?”

  “It will be open until you accept it…or marry someone else.”

  “It is time,” I said, “that we were thinking about the future.”

  “Do you mean…?”

  “I mean that I am getting older and wiser. I’m beginning to understand myself. The thought of your going away has made me realize how much you mean to me. Robert, you must come back to me.”

  “I’ll have everything I want to come back to now.”

  “I should have told you before…”

  “We could have had a hasty wedding before I went. Perhaps this is best. I never wanted to hurry you. I could see how you felt. You’ve known me all your life. There was no sudden realization. Love did not have to be implanted by Cupid’s arrow in one exciting second. It was always there for me. It started when I first saw you nibbling the edge of your blanket in your pram in this very park. All the tricks of romance were missing. We didn’t have to go through the preliminary stages. It made it difficult to realize.”

  “For you, too, Robert?”

  “Oh, no…no. I could see it more clearly. When you were seven years old I decided I wanted to marry you. I was a little put out by the difference in our ages at that stage, but thank Heaven when you get older the gaps don’t seem so wide.”

  “Wise old Robert!”

  “Not very bright in some things, I fear, but in this I know exactly what I want, and what is right for me and—I hope—for you.”

  “I know it is right.”

  “Then we are engaged to be married. Is that so?”

  “It is.”

  “How wonderful it is sitting here with you. Look at that small boy feeding the ducks. You see that greedy one….Oh, good, he’s been pushed aside and the little one’s got the piece of cake, or whatever it is. Oh, it is wonderful to sit on this seat and become engaged!”

  I slipped my arm through his. I sensed his contentment and shared it until I reminded myself that in a few days’ time he would be in the midst of danger.

  “I wish we were still at Marchlands,” I said. “I wish your leg was so bad you couldn’t go. I’d wish anything to keep you here.”

  “This is the happiest moment of my life. I just want to enjoy it.”

  “How can I enjoy it when you are going away, when I don’t know when I shall see you again?”

  “I will come back.”

  “How can you be sure? How can anyone be sure of anything in this fearful world?”

  “I shall come back. We shall sit on this seat and there will be nothing to fear.”

  “If only that can be! I am sorry to be so uncertain, Robert. We have wasted so much time because I was foolish. But at last I have had time to see things as they really are. What I want more than anything in the world is for you to come back safely to me.”

  “I shall. I promise you. Dearest Lucinda, I shall come back.”

  I had to believe him, for I could not bear to contemplate a future without him.

  I spent the next day with Robert. I was catching his mood of optimism. We made plans for the future as though it were certain to come.

  Then I said good-bye to him and he went off. I guessed it would not be long before he was on the battlefield. I tried not to think of it. I forced myself to plan for the future, to believe in it as he had.

  Over dinner I told my father about my engagement.

  He was delighted. “We—your mother and I—could not be more pleased,” he said. “It is what we have always hoped for. Robert is a wonderful young man. Not appreciated by some, because he is so modest. Such people are often taken at their own estimation, which can be a great mistake. Robert’s family will be pleased also. Perhaps Belinda would have liked a duke’s daughter for her son, but at least she is gratified by her daughter’s elevation to the aristocracy. At one time, your mother and I thought that you and Marcus…”

  “Oh, no, it was Annabelinda for him.”

  “I’m glad. There is no one we would rather see you marry than Robert Denver.”

  “I know…but I’m afraid because he’ll be out there…in the thick of it.”

  My father nodded his head gravely. “Robert has always struck me as a survivor, in his calm, quiet way,” he said.

  I could not bear to think of Robert’s being in danger and my father changed the subject quickly. He said, “By the way…you haven’t seen anything…?”

  I knew what he meant and replied, “No, and I can’t imagine who could possibly get in there.”

  “I think it is certain that someone has been in there.”

  “When?”

  “Within the last few days.”

  “I have been watchful.”

  “You can’t be everywhere at once. The essence of this is secrecy. You must not let anyone see you are on the alert. I don’t like that key being in Mrs. Cherry’s possession. Not that I suspect her. But of course she doesn’t realize the importance of that key, and I can’t tell her. It’s a pity the room has to be cleaned.”

  “I wonder if I could get the key?”

  “How?”

  “I mean, ask Mrs. Cherry to give it to me. Suppose I offered to clean the room?”

  “Wouldn’t that be rather unusual?”

  “Well, everything about it is unusual. Your study’s having to be kept locked,
for one thing…no one but Mrs. Cherry having the key. I don’t see why I shouldn’t clean the room. If I had the key we could be sure no one could get in.”

  “I think it would arouse too much suspicion if you asked Mrs. Cherry for it.”

  “I’ll think of something.”

  “Lucinda, be careful. You do realize how important this is, and if there is someone in this household…someone who is working for the enemy…well, such people could be dangerous.”

  “I do know, but I am sure I can make it all seem natural.”

  “I certainly don’t like the idea of there being a key that is not in my possession. I don’t like the thought of Mrs. Cherry’s going in. While she is working, the door will be open. She could be called away suddenly….I am certain that someone is getting into that room.”

  “Well, I am going to find out, and the first step is to get the key, without which no one can get into the room, unless they come through the window, which is always locked; and as the room is on the second floor, an intruder would need the agility of a cat to get in. There’s not so much for me to do here as there was at Marchlands. Walk in the park…and play with Edward. I really don’t see why I should not clean that room. After all, there are not many servants in the house now. I could make that excuse. Leave it to me. I’ll get the key and that will set our minds at rest on that score.”

  It was not so difficult to manage. I had always been on good terms with Mrs. Cherry, and Edward had made a special bond between us. She had thought the story of my bringing him from France was very “beautiful.” It was heartwarming, she said, like something in a novelette.

  “Some would have left him behind. I mean to say…a young girl bringing home a baby like that. Well, of course, there was Mrs. Greenham. She’d never turn anyone away from her door, let alone a little baby. So I reckon it’s a beautiful story. And there he is, the little mite, as cocky as they come. What would have happened to him if he’d been left to those terrible Germans?”

  She had always been fond of my mother, and now I had become almost a war heroine in her eyes, so I was on especially good terms with her.

  I began by asking her for the key to my father’s study as there were some papers he wanted me to look out for him.

  “Oh, that key,” she said. “It worries me a bit. Your father says I am never to let it out of my sight.”