Strange… in these fields and lanes many years ago Carlotta had once walked when she was in her early teens. She used to go over to Enderby and there met her lover. They had carried on their passionate liaison there—and he was murdered in time… deservedly, and his body buried somewhere nearby.
I found my footsteps were leading me toward Enderby.
It was not very far. Ten minutes’ walk—perhaps even less. I would walk to the house and then back. The air might make me sleepy, and I should be back just when it was beginning to get really dark.
I could see the house in the distance… a shadowy building in declining light, for the sun had now disappeared below the horizon and the clouds were fast losing their rosy glow.
I had come to that stretch of land close by the house which had once been a rose garden. Some of the bushes still remained. They were tall and overgrown but the flowers still bloomed on them. Few people had gone there in the old days. It had been said to be haunted. It was somewhere in that patch that the remains of Carlotta’s murdered lover lay. It had been fenced in at one time when it had been a rose garden but the fence was now broken down in several places. I don’t know what prompted me to step over the broken pales, but I did so.
There was a hushed feeling in the air—no wind at all, just a silence so deep that I was immediately aware of it. I took a few steps among the overgrown trees and then I saw what I took to be an apparition.
So startled was I that I gasped in dismay and felt myself turn cold, as a shiver ran through me. A man was standing a few yards from me. It was as though he had risen from the ground.
He was splendid. I did not meet many elegant men in the country but my father had been noted for his attention to dress, and I recognized at once that this apparition must be attired in the height of fashion, although I had no idea what that was.
His coat was full, spreading round him: it was velvet in a shade of mulberry as far as I could see in the fading light; it had huge cuffs which turned back from the wrists almost to the elbows. Beneath the coat was a waistcoat heavily embroidered, fringed and laced, open to show a white cravat, a mass of frills. His wig was a profusion of white curls and on top of this he wore a cocked hat.
He took a few steps toward me. My impulse was to run but my limbs seemed numb and I was unable to move.
He spoke then. “Are you real?” he said. “Or one of the ghosts that are said to haunt this place?”
He took off his hat and bowed gracefully in a manner which was a little different from that to which I was accustomed. I noticed that he spoke with a faint accent which was not English.
I heard myself stammer: “I was thinking that of you. You seemed to rise out of the ground.”
He laughed. “I was kneeling searching for a fob I had dropped. See… my eyeglass is attached to it.” He waved the eyeglass before me. “It’s a cursed nuisance to be without a fob and I doubt I can get a new one here. On my knees I was and then suddenly… I perceived an apparition.”
“Oh.” I said with a laugh. “I am so pleased that there is a logical explanation.”
A faint odor of sandalwood wafted toward me. I could not explain what had happened but from the moment I met him I was possessed by an extraordinary excitement which was quite alien to me. It really was as though I had suddenly become some other than quiet, practical Zipporah.
“I’m afraid I shall have to give up the search for the time being,” he said. He looked up at the sky.
“It will shortly be too dark to see anything,” I agreed.
“A clear sky and there will be a crescent moon. But as you say. too dark to find anything in the grass.”
There was a brief silence between us and I said: “Good night. I must be getting home. Good luck with the fob. Perhaps in the morning …”
He had moved round me, almost as though he were barring my way.
“Home?” he asked. “Where is that?”
“I was referring to Eversleigh Court, where I am staying. Lord Eversleigh is a kinsman of mine. I am here on a visit.”
“Visitors both. I am here… en passant too.”
“Oh… where do you stay?”
He waved his hand. “Close by. The name of the house is Enderby.”
“Oh… Enderby!”
“Oh yes, a haunted house, they say. My hosts snap their fingers at ghostly legends. Do you?”
“I have had very little concern with them.”
“You have some way to go back.”
“It’s only a short walk.”
“You are allowed out… so late.”
I laughed, a little uneasily, for there was something about this encounter which was disturbing me a great deal. “I am not a young girl,” I said. “I’m a married woman.”
“And your husband allows… ?”
“My husband is at the moment a long way from here. I am just on a brief visit and shall return very soon. I imagine.”
“Then I think,” he said, “that you should allow me to escort you to Eversleigh Court.”
“Thank you,” I said.
He put out a hand to help me over the broken pales and gripped my arm tightly. “They could be dangerous in the dark,” he said.
“Very few people come here in the dark. They wouldn’t dare.”
“We are brave, eh?”
“When I saw you rise up so suddenly I felt far from brave.”
“And when I saw you I was overcome by excitement. At last a ghost, I said to myself. But I will tell you this: I am relieved that you are flesh and blood after all… which is so much more interesting, don’t you agree? than the stuff that ghosts must be made of.”
I agreed. “So you are visiting the owners of Enderby,” I went on. “I don’t know who they are. The place changes hands now and then, I believe.”
“My friends are not at the house now. They have allowed me to stay there—with their staff of servants—while I have to be in England.”
“It is only for a short time, you say?”
“A few weeks possibly. It is very convenient for me to have this house for my stay here.”
“You are here on… business?”
“Yes… on business.”
“Don’t you find Enderby isolated… for business?”
“I find it very much to my taste.”
“They say it’s gloomy… ghostly. …”
“Ah, but I have some very pleasant neighbors, I discover.”
“Oh… who are they?”
He stopped and, laying his hand on my arm, smiled at me. I could see the gleam of very white teeth and felt again that faint embarrassment.
“A delightful lady whom I shall always think of as my very own specter.”
“You mean me. Oh… well, we are scarcely neighbors. Birds of passage, shall we say?”
“That is a very interesting thing to be.”
“So you don’t know anyone at Eversleigh Court? Lord Eversleigh? The housekeeper… ?”
“I know no one. I am a stranger here.”
“How long have you been here?”
“A week.”
“You have beaten me. I shall have been here a day and night.”
“How fortunate that we met so soon.”
That remark disturbed me so I decided not to pursue it.
I was faintly relieved and yet disappointed to see that we had come to the edge of the Eversleigh gardens.
“I am back now,” I said. “Through the shrubbery and then across the lawns to the house. Thank you for escorting me… I do not know your name.”
“It is Gerard d’Aubigné.”
“Oh… you are… French?”
He bowed.
“You are thinking that perhaps in view of the relations between our countries I should not be here.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I know little of politics.”
“I am glad. Could you tell me your name?”
“Zipporah Ransome.”
“Zipporah! What a beautiful name.”
&
nbsp; “Its only distinction is that Moses’ wife had it before me.”
“Zipporah,” he repeated.
“Good night.”
“Oh, I must take you through the shrubbery.”
“It’s perfectly safe.”
“I should feel happier.”
I was silent as we walked through the trees, and then we were onto the lawn.
I turned rather determinedly and firmly said “Good night” again. I wondered what would be said if I were seen bringing him across the lawn to the house.
“Au revoir,” he answered, taking my hand and kissing it.
I withdrew it quickly and ran across the lawn.
I was so disturbed that I had forgotten Uncle Carl’s will and it was sometime after I had been in my room that I thought of the papers. I immediately went to the cupboard to reassure myself that they were still there. They were.
What a strange encounter that had been! I couldn’t stop thinking of him. A Frenchman. Perhaps that accounted for the elegance and strangeness, yet the manner in which he had risen from nowhere was explained by the lost fob. But it had certainly given me a shock at the time and I supposed I hadn’t recovered from that during the entire encounter.
I undressed thoughtfully; I was wide awake. My walk had done little to induce sleep. Everything about me was taking on an unreality. I could hardly believe that I had not been two nights in this place yet. I felt a sudden desire to be home where everything was quiet, and strange things did not happen.
I locked my door and went to the window to draw back the curtains as I liked to wake to the full light of day. He was standing there on the lawn looking up at the house. He saw me at once and bowed. I felt unable to move for some seconds and stood still, staring at him. He put his fingers to his lips and then threw his hand outward.
For a few seconds we stood still looking at each other. Then I turned abruptly and moved away from the window.
I was trembling, which was foolish; but he had a strange effect on me.
It was, I told myself, because I could not forget the way he had risen before my eyes. It had seemed so uncanny because I suppose it was on that haunted ground that a man was said to have been buried after he was murdered.
I blew out the candle and got into bed. But sleep evaded me. I kept going over the events of the day. I thought of Uncle Carl and his instructions and told myself I must get to the lawyer on the following day. But my nocturnal adventure imposed itself on those early impressions and I found myself going over it detail by detail.
Finally I rose and went to the window. I don’t know if I was foolish enough to expect he would still be there. Of course he was not.
I went back to bed but it was nearly dawn before I finally slept.
Lovers’ Meetings
WHEN I AWOKE NEXT morning I had made up my mind how I would act. I would see my uncle at eleven o’clock, for if I failed to do that Jessie’s suspicions would be immediately aroused. So I had decided that I would choose the afternoon to go into the town and see Messrs. Rosen, Stead and Rosen. That would give me plenty of time, and when I saw Uncle Carl at eleven o’clock I could drop a hint to him as to when I should be going.
Jessie and Evalina had already breakfasted when I arrived downstairs, but that did not prevent Jessie’s coming in to talk to me as I ate and to help herself to a few more tasty morsels.
“You’ll be going along to see Lordy at eleven. I suppose.” she said.
I told her I would.
“He’ll be pleased, poor love. He’s so excited you came to visit. I do what I can to amuse him. …” I almost steeled myself for the nudge which was fortunately impossible because once more the table separated us, “but you know what it is. He’s tired sometimes.… Sometimes wanders in his mind a bit.”
I wasn’t sure of that and had a notion she was safeguarding herself in some way.
However, at eleven I was sitting at Uncle Carl’s bedside and I managed to let drop the information that I would explore the town that afternoon.
“It’s a good half an hour’s walk,” said Jessie. “Would you like them to take you in the carriage?”
“No,” I said quickly. I did not want any of the grooms reporting to her where I had been. “I would like to explore myself. It’s a voyage of remembrance for me. It’s like rediscovering my childhood.”
“Well, we want you to do just as you like… don’t we, Lordy?”
Uncle Carl pressed my hand understanding that that afternoon I should pay a call on the lawyers.
I felt I did not have to wait to see Jessie safely in the manager’s house for her afternoon rendezvous, but set out soon after one o’clock to walk into the town.
The road passed close to Enderby and I don’t think I was altogether surprised to come face to face with Gerard d’Aubigné In fact I had an idea that he had been watching for me.
He was as elegant in daylight as in twilight and he looked very much the same as he had last night except that his coat was of brown velvet but still in the swinging, almost flaunting, style which gave an impression of a charming aggressiveness.
He bowed and said: “I’ll confess I have waylaid you.”
“Oh… why?”
“Overcome by an urgent desire to see my charming ghost by the light of day. I had a horrible feeling that I might have imagined the encounter.”
“Even trespassing on our lawns?” I asked.
“What is a little trespass for a good cause? I had to see that you were safely home. Now where do you wish to go?”
“Actually I am on an errand for my uncle and am going into the town.”
“It is quite a long way.”
“Nothing much… half an hour’s walk.”
“I have an idea. My hosts have been so good to me. They have a most elegant little carriage… suitable for two or at most three including the driver. Two horses pull it along at a spanking pace. I suggest that I drive you into the town.”
“That’s kind of you but it really isn’t necessary.”
“Pleasant experiences do not have to be necessary. I should be desolate if you denied me this. I have used the carriage once or twice. It is an enchanting little vehicle. Come into the stables here and I will make it ready. We can be in town in less than half the time that it would take to walk and you will arrive fresh for your business.”
I hesitated and he immediately placed his arm through mine and drew me toward the house.
The mystery of Enderby seemed to envelop me—or was it his presence? I had never felt quite like this before… this excitement, this feeling that something very unusual was going to happen to me.
Enderby looked gloomy even in afternoon sunshine. There was no one in the stables and I was amazed by the deftness with which he made the carriage ready.
The two bay mares pawed the ground as though impatient to be off. He patted first one and then the other.
“Yes, old girls,” he said, “you know this is a special occasion, don’t you?”
Then he turned to me and helped me into the carriage, himself taking the driver’s seat.
Side by side we rattled along at a good speed. I sat back feeling as though I were in a dream, listening to the clop clop of the mares’ hooves and putting a wary hand on the papers in my pocket to make sure that they were still there.
We pulled up at an inn and there we alighted. He asked me where I had to go and when I told him said he would take me there, leave me, and if I would come to the inn when I had finished my business he would drive me back to Eversleigh.
I agreed to this and, leaving the inn, walked along the main street until we came to the offices of Messrs. Rosen, Stead and Rosen.
An elderly clerk rose to greet me, and when I told him that I came on behalf of Lord Eversleigh and wished to see Mr. Rosen I immediately aroused his interest and was conducted into the reception room. He was sorry to say that Mr. Rosen senior was out of the office for a few days—away on urgent business, but he was sure either Mr. Stead or youn
g Mr. Rosen would be able to help me.
Young Mr. Rosen—who seemed anything but young to me, being a man in his middle forties—came in to greet me and when I explained why I had come, he took me into his private office and glanced at the instructions Uncle Carl had given me. He nodded. “I understand,” he said. “My father will be upset at not being here to meet you. He deals with all Lord Eversleigh’s business; but this seems to be a straightforward matter of the will so it will present no problems. I will call on him myself,” he went on. “I can bring one of the clerks with me to witness it. What is the best time?”
I felt embarrassed and said: “Oh… you cannot come to the house. That would not be a very good idea.”
He looked puzzled and I hurried on. “Lord Eversleigh does not want… people at the house… to know that he has made this will. It is for this reason that he invited me to come to Eversleigh and… er… arrange it for him.” I hurried on: “Are you aware of the state of affairs at Eversleigh Court?”
It was his turn to look faintly embarrassed. “I understand the estate is well managed and there is a housekeeper there.”
I decided that it was no time for veiled hints and said: “Do you know of the relationship between Lord Eversleigh and the housekeeper?”
He coughed and said: “Well …”
“The fact is,” I went on, “there is a very special friendship between them. I don’t know whether she has pretensions as to what will be left to her but Lord Eversleigh wishes the estate to remain in the family.”
“But naturally. It would be unthinkable …”
“At the same time he does not wish to offend his housekeeper. Apparently he relies on her.”
“I see… I see. So he does not wish it to be known that he is making this will.”
“Exactly.”
“And he is obviously not able to come into town to sign it.”
“I’m afraid not. It will have to be done at the house. I have not really thought how that can be brought about. It must be done in the housekeeper’s absence… that is Lord Eversleigh’s wish.”
“If you like to name a time …”
Drop of the Dice Page 44