Diana stared up at the path. “I don’t want to go back,” she murmured. I suspected she was thinking of Arabella.
“I have monopolized you shamelessly,” Michelle said. “Mr. Selton has earned a few minutes with you. Henry and I will start back. You two may take your time. There is no rush.”
Adam gave her a grateful smile. “I could walk some more.”
Diana nodded. “So could I.”
He started forward, and Diana slipped her hand lightly around his arm just above the elbow. Michelle and I watched them for a while. Her hand also touched my arm lightly, and I felt a muted shiver of content work its way along my spine.
“It is so beautiful here,” Michelle said.
“Yes.”
“They are a handsome couple. But they are so very young. She has no doubts about him, none. She does seem to know his weaknesses. She says something happened two years ago. Something changed with him.”
I told her my theory about a bad experience with a prostitute, which his father had basically confirmed.
She shook her head. “How stupid. But surely he must understand that it would be different with someone he loves. And he does love her, doesn’t he?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then what is the matter with him?”
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me. But I intend to find out. Sherlock has taken on the case of the White Worm, but he has entrusted me—and you—with solving the riddle of Adam and Diana.”
“Has he!” She laughed. “How like him. Well, you have deduced the business with the prostitute. I am sure you will discover some strange dirt on his coat which will completely unravel the mystery.”
I laughed. “Certainly.”
She took my hand, and we started up the path to the grove. We were nearly at the top when we saw a tall, thin figure standing with his arms folded. I was struck by how much better my cousin looked after a week in Yorkshire. His face had browned and lost a certain weary edge. After a brief greeting, I asked if he had found anything in the woods.
“No. The park is large. A proper search might take days. There is probably a hut where the paraphernalia is stored by a clearing where the production is staged.”
“You make it sound like the theater,” I said.
“And so it is, exactly. I believe they used something akin to a balloon, a sort of enormous white sleeve of canvas which they filled with hot air, causing it to rise. They probably manipulated it with ropes, making it bob up and down. And the eyes were lanterns with green lenses.”
Michelle shook her head. “Why on earth would someone go to all that trouble?”
“Oh, they had their reasons. Believe me, it is no idle jest.”
“Sherlock,” I asked, “can you make any sense of this whole business?”
His smile had a cold hard edge. “Oh yes, Henry. I have it, nearly all. But there remain a few details. One very glaring detail indeed.”
“What is that?”
“A missing person, Henry. To be precise, a missing lover.”
“The lover of Lady Verr—the man her husband was so jealous about.”
“Exactly.”
“How do you know…?” Michelle let her voice die away. Her brows had come together, and she briefly pursed her lips, lost in thought.
“Michelle?” I said. “Know what?”
Her blue eyes stared at me, her forehead creased. “Oh, nothing. Nothing, I think.”
Holmes looked at her. “And what do you make of young Selton and Miss Marsh, Michelle?”
“They are a beautiful young couple who would seem to have almost every advantage, and yet…”
“But Selton’s father disapproves,” Holmes said.
“That makes it all the more enticing,” she said.
I laughed. “You may be right. That’s not what is holding Adam back. They obviously love one another, and each is obsessed with the other.”
Michelle nodded. “She is certainly obsessed with him.”
“It is mutual,” I said. “But something truly has him worried.”
Holmes shrugged. “Perhaps it is only his natural timidity, as well as these ominous letters. Then too, there was the discovery of Evans’s corpse, someone he considered almost a friend. Little wonder he is troubled.”
“Yes, and the prostitute has left him unsure and fearful. All the same, they do not explain his… despair. There is something else involved, something more he will not yet tell me.”
Michelle shook her head. “Men can be such idiots, especially when it comes to women—it always comes back to that. I only hope… I want to like him, but I shall not forgive him if he breaks Diana’s heart.”
* * *
After lunch, Michelle was dragged away for the grand tour of the reptiles, but I was allowed to excuse myself. Later she joined me in the library.
She shook her head, her brow creased. “She is simply a very odd woman. I have never met anyone like her.”
“Odd in a good way, or odd in…?”
“In a peculiar way—most peculiar. But ‘good’? No, I don’t think so.”
“And did you see the rabbit swallowed?”
“Yes. Poor dumb creature. She was watching me closely the whole time.”
“The rabbit?”
She laughed. “No, no! Arabella, of course. It seemed to be almost some examination, and I believe I passed. She talked incessantly for over an hour, and finally I felt as if I could bear it no longer. Something, too, about her eyes staring at me through those odd green spectacles. I managed to tear myself away, even though I could tell she wanted me to stay. I was so weary of her!”
She was standing beside me, and I reached over and took her hand, then kissed her knuckles. “My poor darling.” Her skin was almost white, and I could see the network of blue veins underneath.
She caressed my cheek lightly with her other hand, then touched my mustache, feeling the bristly ends. I opened my mouth to kiss her fingertips. “She seems so determined that we are to be friends. She acts as if… we are already intimate acquaintances. But I do not want to be her friend.”
“And you needn’t be.”
She seemed to realize her fingers had just been in my mouth, and she leaned over to kiss me. It lasted a while but lacked the hungry passion of the night before. “Oh Henry, I do love you.” She sighed. “I’m afraid I tire rather easily of women, especially women like her. I hope we don’t have to stay here too long. I hope Sherlock figures it all out so we can be done with Diana’s Grove and Lady Verr.”
“I hope so too. I’m sorry you find her so tiresome. All the same, I am so glad you are here.”
“So am I.” She took my hand and pulled me to my feet. “Let’s go out and walk somewhere, anywhere—just the two of us. Let’s escape from everyone for a while and pretend we are alone on a holiday together.”
“That is a wonderful idea.”
* * *
Dinner that night reached another new culinary height, local lobsters with melted butter being the main course accompanied by chilled champagne of an outstanding vintage, and Michelle had noticeably become the latest object of Arabella’s charm offensive.
Angela must have labored long over Diana and Arabella’s dress and coiffure. Arabella wore a spectacular ivory silk embroidered with gold thread and with gold lace at the neck and cuffs. Gone was the usual necklace with its three smaller stones, replaced by an elaborate golden one with a single enormous green emerald surrounded by a few diamonds. Her red hair was all pinned up, setting off her long thin neck, and a tiny green stone shone in the center of each white earlobe. No one could deny her beauty and splendor, but the spectacles with the octagonal green lenses somewhat spoiled the effect.
Diana wore a green silk which brought out the color of her eyes. Her hair had been elaborately done up, curled and pinned, and someone had put a dab of rouge or powder on each cheek. One wayward brown-orange strand had escaped and fell in a curve across her broad smooth forehead. She and her aunt superficially resembled eac
h other, and their narrow upturned noses were clearly a family trait. However, the two women also seemed fundamentally dissimilar, very unlike, and it was not merely the difference in age or the sophistication of one versus the innocence of the other. I was somehow absolutely certain Diana would be nothing like her aunt when she was near forty. I was, of course, prejudiced, but I thought Michelle in her simple electric-blue silk with her hair loosely bound up and no jewels, was by far the most beautiful woman at the table.
Arabella wished to talk about the Continent. She told of her adventures there, but she also wanted to discover more about Holmes’s European cases and Michelle’s and my time in France. The fact that Michelle and I each had a French father and an English mother fascinated her. All our efforts to direct the conversation elsewhere were turned aside. This meant that Diana, who had spent her entire life in Yorkshire, was left with little to say. Still, Michelle and I struggled to include her in the conversation.
Dessert was a spectacular chocolate cake of four layers. Hamswell’s enormous hands in the white gloves set an elegant china plate before each of us. I chewed thoughtfully. “Delicious.”
Arabella nodded. “It is good to know one can teach an old dog new tricks. The recipe is a French one for gâteau au chocolat which I insisted the cook try. This was not, of course, its maiden voyage, but her third attempt. The results are finally acceptable.”
Michelle nodded. “More than acceptable.”
Diana had taken a single bite, then set her fork down.
Arabella shook her head. “Oh Diana, you must try more than one bite.”
“You know I have never cared for chocolate cake, and this is even more… sour.”
Arabella sighed wearily. “What is to be done?” She cut off a small triangle of cake, toyed at it with her silver fork. “We simply must take you abroad, once and for all. The art, the architecture, the food, the music—it is human civilization at its best.” She waited for a response, but Diana said nothing. “We have delayed long enough. Perhaps this summer…”
Diana looked up, the tension showing in her forehead and the small muscles around her mouth. “I don’t want to go anywhere, and certainly not in the summer.”
Arabella again shook her head and looked round the table. “As I said, what is to be done?”
Michelle smiled. “Summertime does seem brief and precious in England. There are advantages to going to Europe in the autumn or even winter.”
Diana shrugged. “That would make more sense, but…”
“But what?” Arabella asked.
“I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to be here. I… I want to be near Adam.”
“Adam,” Arabella said. “Oh my dear, I am certain he will not run away if you are gone for a month or two. You have had so little formal education. A tour of the Continent would be just the thing. Very broadening.”
“You said we needed to save our money, to watch our expenses.”
I could see that for once Diana was not going to simply yield to her aunt.
“We need not spend a fortune. Besides, I still have some hopes for Edgar. If they materialize, money will be no problem.”
Diana went pale and clutched the handle of her fork tightly. “I’ll not go anywhere with him—I’ll not be near him! Never—do you understand?”
“I know he is eccentric, Diana, but really, he…”
Diana dropped her fork, stood up and clenched her fists. “Do you understand!”
Arabella sat up very straight. “I suppose I do.”
“I am not a child—I am not—and it is time you learned that. My… my patience is not unlimited.” Diana sat down, her mouth twisting as she struggled to compose herself. I wanted to applaud.
Michelle reached over and touched her gently on the wrist. “Perhaps if things work out as you wish, you might go with Mr. Selton in the autumn or winter.”
Diana stared at her, and you could tell that had not occurred to her before. “Oh I hope so.” She gave Michelle that same look of gratitude she had given me. “I—I am very tired, and I have something of a headache coming on. Would you please excuse me?”
We all said our good nights. After Diana had left, Arabella seemed momentarily subdued, but then she turned to Michelle and rolled her eyes upward. “I’ll wager that you never languished after some young man when you were her age! You must have already been hard at work with your medical training.”
Michelle’s lips pulled outward in a characteristic smile. “I had begun my education by then, but you would lose that wager.”
“But I thought you and Henry have only been married two or three years?”
“Oh, this was long before Henry.” She set her hand on mine. “He was well worth the wait. His predecessors—especially the first one—were all wretched disappointments.”
Arabella shook her head. “Adam is a nice enough young man, but I do wish something could be done about this hopeless infatuation with him.”
Holmes had been listening carefully, pausing between each mouthful of cake and seeming to savor every bite. “What does it matter, madam? After all, if your dearest hope comes true and you are united in wedded bliss with the inestimable Mr. Caswall, Diana’s Grove may be left behind, and you may go your own way.” He was smiling, but I could see the restrained anger in his gray eyes. That was rather caustic for him—again I wanted to applaud!
Arabella smiled back. “That may be so, Mr. Holmes, but I do have a sense of familial obligation.” She turned to Michelle, and her smile became radiant. “I think you are right about the best time to travel. I had already forgotten how beastly hot August in Italy can be!”
Ten
The next morning, incredibly, Lady Verr appeared before nine a.m.! She already had on her emerald necklace, a white silk dress and a long green coat. She was going to see Edgar Caswall. Hamswell would take her in the dog-cart.
“Things must be settled with Edgar once and for all. I know you can amuse yourselves without my company. I should be back by afternoon. And Diana, I apologize if I seemed rather overbearing last night. You must know that it is only because of my concern, because of my wishes for your well-being. You do understand, don’t you?”
Diana smiled weakly and nodded.
“Oh, I hope you do. Good day, then: Mr. Holmes, Henry, Michelle.” Three quick nods—her smile seemed to linger on Michelle—and then she was gone.
I shook my head. “I would not have believed it, if I had not seen it.”
Diana gave a relieved sigh. “Thank heavens she didn’t ask me to come. I think finally she understands.”
Michelle and Diana decided to walk along the beach and go to Adam’s house, while Holmes and I remained behind. I would have liked to come, but I wanted Michelle to have some time alone with the girl. Michelle paused before the tall doors of the great hall. “We shall bring Mr. Selton back with us,” she said.
Diana smiled. “Oh, yes! He can join us for lunch.”
I nodded. “Have a pleasant walk.”
I stepped back. Angela closed the doors behind them. She wore her well-made black maid’s dress, and her black hair was bound up in a tight bun. Her dark eyes caught mine, flashed a sort of brief, hard anger, and then she strode away. I frowned, reflecting that she had seemed curiously out of sorts for the last day or two.
She passed Mrs. Troughton on her way out, and I walked over to the older woman. “What do you make of her?” I asked. “She obviously doesn’t like to show her emotions.”
Mrs. Troughton nodded. She was so different, her complexion all pink and white, her face full and slightly worn, not olive and slender like Angela’s. “She’s an odd duck, all right. I don’t trust her any more than Lady Verr. The two of them…” She shook her head. “Not like any lady’s maid I’ve ever seen.”
“You can hardly fault her for being Italian.”
“She puts on airs. She acts as if she was a lady herself, a queen even. She keeps to herself. Can’t be bothered with the likes of us commoners. Can’t ev
en eat with the rest of us.” She shook her head. “I pray to God she and her mistress will go off to crazy Mr. Caswall’s and leave us in peace. Do you think that might happen, Dr. Vernier?”
I shrugged. “It would certainly be ideal, but…” I remembered again Caswall’s last visit, his curses and fury. “I don’t think so.”
“Pity—what a pity.”
Holmes had settled in the library smoking his pipe, one of the large volumes on British marine life open before him. I sat in a large leather chair with a medical journal on my lap and promptly fell asleep. I had had more nightmares the night before.
Adam returned with the ladies later that morning. We had a long leisurely lunch. I was afraid Lady Verr would return and spoil things, but she was gone until two o’clock. By then Adam had left.
We were all in the library, and she appeared with a triumphant smile on her face, her cheeks flushed. “It went well,” she said, “very well.” She turned to Diana. “You may not have to put up with me forever, after all.” She laughed, then asked if Michelle would join her in attending to her reptile menagerie. I knew this was the last thing Michelle wanted to do, but she was too polite to refuse. Arabella grasped her arm just above the elbow as she guided her toward the door. “Delilah, of course, will not eat again for several days.”
The morning fog had lifted, and Holmes and I decided to walk into the woods. We had just stepped outside and advanced a few paces when Selton appeared on the path. He was practically running, his face flushed, but he came to a stop when he saw us, swayed slightly, then came forward.
“Thank God!” he exclaimed. “Mr. Holmes, you must—you must come with me. Please, can you?”
“Certainly, Mr. Selton. But what is wrong?”
Adam turned about and started forward, his long legs taking such strides it was work to keep up with him. “My room,” he said. “My room.”
“Your bedroom?” Holmes asked.
“Yes. I went there just now, when I got back. The window was open.”
“Had you left the window open?”
“No. And there was a note on my desk.”
Holmes nodded. “Ah yes, another note. And what did it say?”
The White Worm Page 21