The House on Vesper Sands

by Paraic O?Donnell

  ‘She all right, the young lady? She may take her ease in the day room if she’s feeling poorly.’

  Gideon rose from his chair at this, but the inspector intervened before he could speak.

  ‘You need not trouble yourself,’ he said, crossing the room and placing himself in front of Miss Tatton. ‘We are obliged to you, Mrs Cornish.’

  In the event, they had waited for hardly more than an hour when Mrs Cornish returned to announce her mistress, a lady of striking appearance who strode immediately to the centre of the room, planting her cane before her and scrutinising each of her guests in turn.

  ‘We will take some sherry, Mrs Cornish, and some fruit cake, since you can subject that to no further indignity. Be pleased to bring me a dish of sardines also. I am conscious of some diminishment in my constitution.’

  When the housekeeper had withdrawn, Lady Ada turned again to the company. She might have been above fifty, but was vigorously erect in her posture. She wore a splendid cape of some exotic ivory-coloured fur over jodhpurs and a weathered pair of riding boots.

  ‘I haven’t the slightest need for a cane,’ she remarked, as if in response to some inquiry. ‘I play at tennis every day of the week, you know, even if it is quite dark when I come to think of it. The housekeeper’s boy can scarcely return a ball, but I pelt them at him all the same. And when I am not holding a racquet, I keep my stick about me. It was impressed upon me at an early age that one ought never to be without some sturdy implement.’

  Gideon drew out his notebook, in case Lady Ada’s remarks proved to be of interest, but Cutter rebuked him. ‘Put that away, Bliss. We are here as Lady Ada’s guests.’

  ‘Nonsense,’ Lady Ada said. ‘I am never without a notebook myself, especially in the field. Let the boy take his notes, if it keeps him from fidgeting.’

  Cutter adjusted his stance as he absorbed this. ‘As you wish, madam. Pardon the interruption.’

  Lady Ada took a cigar from an imposing silver box. She struck a match, and let loose a startling profanity when it sputtered out. ‘You interrupted me by coming here, yet you have done so without compunction. Why did you come, Inspector?’

  ‘I am anxious to speak to your brother, madam.’

  ‘You don’t look at all anxious, Inspector. What do you want to speak to him about?’

  ‘An unfortunate incident, madam. He was not at home when we looked for him, but we had reason to believe we might find him here.’

  ‘But you have not found him here, have you? And yet you have dragged me from my bed.’

  Cutter cleared his throat. ‘I regret the disturbance, madam, but you may be able to assist us. We will not keep you long.’

  Lady Ada gave him a sceptical look. ‘What about these companions of yours?’ she said, gesturing with her cigar. ‘You yourself could not be mistaken for anything but a thief-taker, but your understudy was not made for such things, if I am any judge. As for the little miss who has so enraptured him, and who is at this moment lost in the contemplation of those cloud formations – they are nimbostratus, child. I have a splendid cloud atlas somewhere about the place. What is her purpose, would you say? And how does a policeman come by such an uncommon creature?’

  Cutter looked troubled at this. Miss Tatton wore her gloves still, and her appearance – leaving aside her pallor – ought not to have seemed remarkable. ‘The girl has come to us in unhappy circumstances, madam. I will not trouble you with the particulars.’

  Lady Ada made no reply to this, choosing instead to join Miss Tatton at the window. Stowing her cane in the crook of her arm, she unscrewed the lens cap from a brass telescope and stooped to adjust its focus.

  ‘Come, child,’ she said. ‘Clouds are all very well, but I have something better for you. Come, look at this.’

  Gideon rose from his chair in alarm. ‘If I may, madam,’ he said. ‘You may find that she—’

  ‘Hush, will you,’ Lady Ada said. ‘What is the girl’s name?’

  ‘Angela Tatton, madam, but I believe she is commonly known as Angie.’

  ‘Angie, indeed. I do not hold with diminutives. It is bad enough that so many young girls must be named after blossoms and virtues – after pretty trifles of no consequence in human affairs – all that is bad enough without lopping off the extremities of those few poor names we are granted. Angela was the name she was given, and Angela she shall be called. Come, Angela.’

  Gideon looked on, clutching the arms of his chair, but in a moment his apprehension gave way to wonder. Miss Tatton turned slowly, hearing herself addressed. She glanced at the telescope, her expression uncertain, but made no move to touch it.

  ‘Come, child,’ said Lady Ada. ‘There is no great mystery to it. Simply put your eye to it here, as I do now. It is already in view. If you disturb nothing, you will see it directly.’

  Angie crouched above the instrument, clutching herself as if she feared it might injure her. For a moment she was silent and motionless, then she let out a gentle gasp. ‘Up she rises,’ she said softly. ‘Up she rises.’

  ‘You see her, then?’ said Lady Ada in triumph. ‘But she does not rise, alas, and never will again. The mast you see, and the spar that clings to it, are the only visible remnants of the Persephone, which was lost in fifty-two.’

  ‘Lost,’ Angie repeated.

  ‘Just so. She has been claimed by the sands now, save for what you see, but she foundered in open water. She belonged to a clockmaker named Hartnell, if memory serves, who bankrupted himself in pursuit of a perpetual timepiece. He sank her for the insurance money, I gather, but drowned in the attempt. It was all done for love, of course, like the greater part of the foolishness that has been visited upon the world.’

  Lady Ada directed this last observation to Gideon, who shifted uneasily in his seat. Miss Tatton gave no sign that she had understood. She had seemed to pay attention, but it was difficult to tell. She blinked after a moment, setting her head to one side in slow consideration.

  ‘Tick-tock?’ she said. ‘Tick-tock?’

  ‘Yes, my dear,’ said Lady Ada. ‘You understand more than you let on, I believe. You know about clocks, don’t you? And about time?’

  Here the inspector gave a discreet cough. ‘Speaking of time, my lady, I wonder if we might return to the matter at hand? You are anxious to be rid of us, I’m sure.’

  Lady Ada turned to him distractedly, as if she had forgotten he was present. ‘Oh, there will be plenty of time for that, Inspector. Angela is to be my guest, I have decided. I seldom have visitors, and it has been a long time since I encountered someone – well, someone quite of her kind. You might as well stay too, since she has you in tow.’

  The inspector cleared his throat gravely. ‘It is very civil of you, Lady Ada, but our business is rather pressing. Since Lord Strythe is not here, we must return to London as soon as possible.’

  ‘What is it you are investigating?’ Lady Ada turned from the window, taking her stick from under her arm and planting it before her. ‘You have given me no satisfactory account of it, you know.

  What is it you want with my brother? And with me, for that matter?’

  Cutter knotted his brow, as if he felt an unfamiliar discomfort. ‘It is a delicate matter, madam. I hoped to spare your feelings.’

  Lady Ada laced her fingers about the pommel of her cane. ‘I have known rather more unpleasantness than you may credit,’ she said. ‘I will thank you to proceed, and no more of this mimsy circumlocution.’

  ‘Mimsy?’ The inspector’s expression grew even more congested. ‘Very well, then, madam, let me be direct. A woman was found dead at your brother’s home in Half Moon-street. When we were called to the scene, we found that His Lordship was not at home. We were given to understand that he may have travelled to Vesper Sands. Believing the matter to be of some urgency, we followed him here, so as to interview him at his earliest convenience.’

  ‘What woman?’ Lady Ada spoke more quietly now, though she was no less intent. ‘How did she die?�
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  ‘A Miss Esther Tull, madam. She was employed in Lord Strythe’s household, we gather, as some manner of seamstress. She fell to her death from an upstairs window.’

  ‘Fell to her death?’ Lady Ada drew her lips taut. ‘It can hardly be common for people to fall from windows to their deaths. They either leap from them, I should have thought, or they are pushed.’

  Cutter’s unblinking gaze met hers. ‘That is very much the way of it, in my experience.’

  ‘And what do you make of the present case, Inspector, given your experience? Did she jump, this Miss Tull, or was she pushed? Do you wish to charge the fourteenth Earl of Maundley in a murder? Is that the urgent matter?’

  ‘The case is unusual, madam, that is all I may say, but I have reached no conclusion. I am aware of His Lordship’s position, you may be sure. He was Miss Tull’s employer, and as such he may know something of her circumstances, of what may have brought her to this. I am informed that he was not present at the time of her death, and that he was expected later that night but did not return. We should like to establish that he is safe and well, in the first place, and we should like to speak to him so that he may give us his own account of all this and send us on our way. That is the position, my lady, as plainly as I can lay it out. I hope I have given you some satisfaction.’

  Lady Ada looked away for a time, as if in contemplation. ‘Indeed,’ she said at length. ‘Indeed you have, after a fashion.’

  She bowed her head, standing for a moment in thought before returning to the window. Angie had perched on the window seat, having tired of the telescope. She looked up as Lady Ada approached, her gaze unusually intent, and seemed to wait for her to speak again.

  ‘You have given me satisfaction, Inspector,’ Lady Ada resumed, keeping her back to the room. ‘And if what you tell me is true – if it betokens what I believe it does – then I believe I may do the same for you. Young man, will you be good enough to ring the bell for Mrs Cornish? I will ask her to prepare your rooms.’

  ‘Forgive me, Lady Ada,’ said Cutter. ‘Did I not make it plain that we must return to London?’

  ‘Why, yes, Inspector. I am quite unimpaired, you know. You wish to return to London to seek my brother there, but you may spare yourself the journey. I know little enough of my brother’s affairs, goodness knows, but I have made certain observations. He is a creature of habit, whatever else he may be, and has only ever had a single recourse when he finds that the world cannot be bent to his will. It is a spectacle I am always made to witness. You need not seek my brother in London, Inspector. My brother, unless I am much mistaken, is on his way here.’

  XX

  When Georgie knocked to announce a visitor, Octavia assumed at first that she had simply misheard. She turned from her dressing table as he put his head around the door.

  ‘I’m sorry, darling, who’s downstairs?’

  ‘That Lord Hartington. I’d hardly have known him, mind you. Not a frill or a carnation in sight.’

  ‘Honestly, Georgie. How old-fashioned you are. Elf is a little flamboyant, that’s all. It’s the fashion. It can’t be him, though. It’s only half past eight in the morning.’

  He nodded, indicating the window. ‘See for yourself. Won’t even come indoors to wait. Urgent business, he says.’

  On social occasions, Elf was driven in his town coach, a grand affair bedecked with armorial bearings and attended by at least two footmen. The carriage waiting below was no more than a common growler, drawn by a tired and mismatched pair. Elf was pacing the footway alongside it, with an idleness that seemed affected. He wore a sombre and unremarkable coat, and his hat might have belonged to a commercial traveller. When Octavia emerged, perhaps half an hour later, he greeted her with faint embarrassment.

  ‘Why, Elf,’ she said. ‘I should hardly have known you. What on earth brings you out at this hour?’

  He said nothing until he had shown her aboard, signalling to the driver with a rap on the roof. ‘You see me in my official capacity, my darling, which calls for a certain restraint. Still, it is not all bleakness. Here, have a swig of this against the chill.’

  He held out a pocket-flask, which she declined, looking on as he took a decorous swig. ‘There is no disgrace in drinking from a flask,’ he said, ‘as long as one’s entire person is aboard a moving vehicle. I have it on Her Majesty’s own authority.’

  ‘What’s this about, Elf? It’s lovely to see you, of course, but I’d quite like to know. Where are we going?’

  He smiled at this, looking away out the window as they turned into Millbank-street. The glass was imperfect, and had the ochre taint of tobacco smoke. In the street outside the office workers shuffled towards Whitehall, and against their dark umbrellas she saw the hesitant smudges of returning snow.

  ‘How dreary it must be,’ he said. ‘Simply making one’s way every day. Trudging to the same stool before the same counting desk. Improving one’s lot by sheer dint of industry.’

  ‘Elf,’ she said again. ‘Why are you here?’

  ‘I’ve been thinking, Wavy, about your chosen profession. And you have chosen it, haven’t you? You don’t have to work for a living, goodness knows.’

  ‘Grandfather always felt that one ought to.’ Something in her flinched at this. The words did not seem entirely her own. ‘I feel that one ought to. I wasn’t born to this, as you know. Things might have been different.’

  ‘Yes, well. Sterling chap, old Felix. Such a shame about his …’ He gave a perfunctory grimace. ‘How is he, these days?’

  ‘Elf.’

  ‘I’m sorry, darling. I’ll come to the point. I’ve been thinking, you see, since my conversation with Mr Healy at the Gazette – he really is quite unpleasant, isn’t he? I’m afraid I’ve neglected you rather. I mean, I’ve fed you titbits of gossip, but you can get those from dozens of people. And besides, it’s not what you really want, is it? You want to turn your mind to serious subjects, to matters of public importance. Which I applaud, by the way.’

  She waited, regarding him evenly.

  ‘Yes, I’ve been a poor friend to you, I’m afraid.’ He looked out as they turned into Parliament-square, gesturing negligently in the direction of Whitehall. ‘These scurrying labyrinths, Wavy. You really can’t imagine. They found an assistant secretary dead, you know, in an attic at the India Office. He’d been gone three years, and the vague impression had been formed that he’d popped out to Bengal to modernise the post offices. And yet it creaks on, the entire cumbrous and dilatory apparatus of Empire – someone said that, I can’t remember who. Somehow the defence of the realm is sustained. And when one enjoys a certain proximity, one comes to detect certain currents, and – well, there is a tide in the affairs of men, and what have you.’

  ‘Which affairs in particular?’

  ‘Well, I am somewhat constrained, as I’ve mentioned. One has a duty of discretion. And this new Official Secrets Act, goodness me. A chap can be broken on the wheel for divulging the shipping forecast. But there are other duties, aren’t there?’ He gave a soft cough. ‘The bonds of affection, and that sort of thing.’

  She offered him a brief smile and brushed something from her cuff. It had been over a year since his strange little declaration. He’d been terribly embarrassed, at the time. He had taken too much champagne, that was all. She had thought it kinder not to mention it again.

  ‘At any rate,’ Elf resumed. ‘The thing is, I’ve come to believe I can help you, my darling. I can direct your steps, as it were, in certain matters of public interest. Matters whose significance even Mr Healy can’t fail to recognise.’

  ‘This Spiriters business, you mean?’

  ‘There’s that, yes.’ He looked out again. ‘Birdcage-walk, wavy. You could do worse than start here, you know, if it’s secrets you’re after. The fellows who have undone themselves, keeping assignations behind these trees.’

  ‘There are certain things I won’t stoop to, Elf. Besides, I know most of those secrets already.’
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  ‘Of course, dear heart, and I wouldn’t dream of insulting you with tattle of that kind. I meant only that one must look in high places as well as low.’

  ‘Which high places, exactly?’

  ‘Oh, you don’t need my help with that, Wavy. I rather suspect you already know.’

  ‘Honestly, Elf. Must you be so infuriatingly cryptic?’

  ‘Forgive me. A habit of my profession. When we spoke last night, after that ridiculous seance, you mentioned that you’d gone to Whitechapel quite late the day before, and only after first dispatching your redoubtable brother on a mission of reconnaissance.’

  ‘Did I really say all that? I knew I oughtn’t to have had a second glass of madeira.’

  He smiled, stroking one arched eyebrow. ‘Oh, you were admirably guarded otherwise. Wouldn’t say a word about where you’d been that morning. As it happens, though, I wasn’t relying entirely on your confidence. I’d been making certain inquiries of my own. You weren’t the only one who was curious about where Lord Strythe had got to.’

  She stared at him in silence for a moment. ‘How did you know?’

  He spread his hands, mockingly aggrieved. ‘Why, Wavy, darling. You haven’t forgotten, surely? You had already confessed to a certain curiosity at Lady Ashenden’s. And when he failed to make an appearance, I was the one you sent to find out why. And off I went in unquestioning gallantry, doing your bidding behind enemy lines.’

  ‘Except that there aren’t any enemy lines, not where you’re concerned. You can be sure of safe passage anywhere in London, can’t you?’ She looked away, drumming at her reticule in irritation. ‘And of finding anything out, it seems. Yes, I went to Strythe House on the morning after the ball, as you seem to have been informed already. Shall I just assume, from now on, that you can account for my every waking hour?’

  ‘Dear me,’ said Elf. ‘I’m afraid I’m making rather a hash of all this. I wasn’t informed, old thing, I simply guessed. I was curious, yes, but I haven’t had you followed by footpads. Goodness, how sinister you must think me.’