Midsummer's Eve

by Philippa Carr

  “Thank you, Digory. I can’t let you stay here like this.”

  “I be all right.”

  “What is it you’ve got to do?”

  “I’ve got to make it up to me granny.”

  “Make it up to her?”

  “Him that killed her,” he said.

  “It wasn’t one. It was the mob.”

  “It was one who egged ’em on like. They’d have sport with her per’aps. But her could take that. She wasn’t afraid of ’em. It was him. I saw him clear. I’m going to kill him or make it so’s he won’t be as ’andsome as he was.”

  “This is madness, Digory. I’m going to take you back with me. I’m at Croft Cottage now. I’m not at Cador. It turned out it didn’t belong to me after all. It’s a long story. Perhaps you’ve heard.”

  “I ain’t heard nothing,” he said. “They’m all frightened of me. Makes me laugh it does. Anyone comes through these woods and I only have to make a little noise and they run for their lives. I’m frightening them, you see, like they frightened me granny … and me too. All this time it’s been with me. I used to say to myself, I’ll go back and frighten ’em all … all them that was there that night and none of them doing a hand’s turn to save her. But him … I’m going to get him because he was the one. He had a covering-up … a grey thing he was wearing that come right over his head, so he thought you couldn’t see his face. But I did. I saw. It was when they was dragging her to the river. The hood moved and I saw him as clear as I see you now. And he said, ‘Come on. She bain’t fit to live.’ And I said to myself, ‘And you bain’t fit to live and one day I’ll get you.’”

  I was trembling. I was not the only one whose life had been dominated by that terrifying night.

  I saw murder in Digory’s face and I thought, He plans to kill Rolf. He had never forgotten … never forgiven.

  I said: “Listen to me, Digory. If you carry out this plan you know what it will mean. The hangman’s noose at worst. At the best sent back for the rest of your life.”

  “I be past caring.”

  “It’s murder.”

  “It’s what they call justice and since the law won’t do it someone must.”

  “Don’t act rashly.”

  “I’ve planned this for years.”

  “Listen to me. You must be half starved.”

  “No. I have money. I bought things on my way here. I’ve got a little store. I’ve got tea and flour. I make a fire. I make dampers. Then I catch fish and rabbits, as I said. I know how to live in the outdoors. I can look after meself. I’ve planned this … for years. When I’ve done it, I’m going back. I worked me way over on a ship and I’ll work me way back. No one will know I’ve been here but …” He looked at me fearfully. “I shouldn’t be talking to you. You’ve made me tell you …”

  “There was always a special friendship between us, Digory. You remember that night. My brother and I looked after you, and my father did too. He gave you work.

  Everything would have been all right if you hadn’t stolen the pheasant.”

  “That wasn’t ordinary stealing. ’Tweren’t meant to be.”

  “It was stealing whichever way you look at it. I am not going to leave you here. I am going to take you back to my cottage. There’s a shed in my garden. You can sleep there. Remember how you used to sleep in the Dogs’ Home? I have a maid … just one … Kitty. She’ll know and no one else will, I promise you.”

  “You’re spoiling my plans.”

  He put his hands in his pocket and drew out a gun.

  “Digory! Put that away. Do you want to be caught with that in your possession? Do you want to be sent back to Australia?”

  He looked at me through narrowed eyes. “You’re spoiling my plans,” he repeated. “I don’t want nobody to know I’m here. I could do what I’ve got to do and be away. Nobody would know I’d been here … ’cept you.”

  “I see. So you think you can shoot me, bury my body and nothing will be said?”

  “You was always a bold one. I don’t think I could shoot you. You was good to me, you was … you and your brother … so was your father. But if you tell I’m here, it will spoil everything. And what am I doing, telling you what I plan?”

  “You are telling me because you are not sure that your plan will work. In fact you know it is very risky. Moreover I’m an old friend. I saved you once … and I’ll save you again.”

  “She was me granny,” he said. “I hadn’t got no one else.”

  “You stole, Digory. You were a thief. The first time I noticed you you were stealing fish on the quay.”

  “I wouldn’t have gone on being a thief. I didn’t mean to steal. The first time was the meat for your Devil Spot.” He looked at me sharply. “You’ve still got it.”

  I nodded.

  “And the second time was the pheasant. It was because of him. I wanted to take something from him because of what he had done to me granny.”

  “It was a foolish thing to do.”

  “I didn’t know then what I wanted. I’m not a boy any more. I’m a man and life ’as been cruel to me. But there’s one or two who ’as been kind and you be one of them.”

  “Then trust me again. Come to the shed. I promise I won’t say anything to anyone about this without telling you first. That place must be draughty at night. My shed has a proper roof. You’ll be comfortable there. I’ll give you some blankets and hot food. And, Digory, I want to talk to you. You must give up this plan. It can only lead to disaster for you.”

  “And for him. That’s what matters. For me … I don’t care. But I won’t get caught. I’ve had all those years to plan and I’ve worked it all out. I’m not a silly boy any more, you know. This is what I’ve planned for. I’m going to that Manor and I’m going there to wait for him. I’ve been there at night but he doesn’t come out. I’ve seen Bob Carter there. I don’t yet know what he be doing there. But I’ll get him one night, that I will, and then I’ll rest for I will ’ave avenged me granny.”

  “Digory,” I said, “do you remember how we used to sit on the bank and throw stones into the river?”

  “Yes.”

  “I used to talk to you a lot. You never listened.”

  “Oh yes I did. I remember the day you showed me your house. It was something I shall never forget … all them wonderful things. I used to think a lot about them when I was away. I thought I’d like to go back there. I’d like to work there like I did before.”

  “Oh, Digory, if only you hadn’t gone to the Manor woods that night. If only you had lived honestly.”

  “He killed me granny,” he said. “I knew him … and when he caught me with the pheasant, I said to him ‘You killed me granny,’ I said. ‘You was wearing a grey thing hiding your face, but it didn’t hide it from me and I saw you, Luke Tregern, and I don’t forget.’”

  “Luke Tregern!”

  “’Twas he. He couldn’t fool me. There he was urging them on. ‘Finish her off,’ he said. ‘Her sort shouldn’t be allowed to live.’ No more should his sort.”

  The realization hit me so forcibly that I could not listen to what Digory was saying.

  So it was Luke Tregern who had been there that night.

  Everything was becoming clear. He had been in the house often. He would have seen the robe. Rolf might have shown it to him. He was always showing people things he had discovered and he had had a respect for Luke Tregern’s intelligence.

  I heard myself say: “So it is Luke Tregern you have come back to kill … to take your revenge … I thought it was someone else.”

  “Who else?” he said. I did not answer and he went on: “I took the pheasant because it was his in a manner of speaking. He treated them birds like his own precious pets. So I took one. I was going to make a brew that would be a spell, so that everything would go against him. But he caught me. I said to him, ‘Luke Tregern, you killed me granny!’ He said, ‘Stop that talk or it will be the worse for you. If you as much as mention the old witch I’ll see y
ou hanged from a gibbet.’ And he gave evidence against me. He said I’d made a habit of stealing his pheasants and he’d lain in wait to catch me and he had, redhanded. And they listened to him and when I tried to speak they wouldn’t let me. So he got me sent away for seven years. And then I thought, I’ll come back, and I’ll make him pay for what he’s done to me granny … and to me.”

  It was as though a great burden had been lifted from my mind. I had misjudged Rolf. It was true that he had, as he told me, been in Bodmin on that night. I wondered how I could have doubted him. The explanation was simple. Rolf was away. Luke Tregern had gone to the drawer and taken out the robe. After that night was over he simply put it back. I had no doubt that wearing the robe had appealed to his sense of the dramatic. Perhaps he had wanted to appear anonymous. He had been deeply conscious of his position as agent and manager of a big estate and felt it undignified to mingle with the fishing and mining community as one of them.

  But there was one thought which was singing in my mind. All these years I had misjudged Rolf. My nature was suspicious and distrustful and I deserved so much of what had happened to me.

  My immediate concern was Digory.

  I had to stop his carrying out this plan for I could see that it would only bring him further trouble.

  “Digory, you are coming with me. I have to talk to you. There is so much to say. Promise me you’ll take no action until you have talked to me.”

  “I can’t promise that. Suppose I was to come on him … and we was alone?”

  “It isn’t the way. Do you think I don’t understand how you feel? A great deal has happened here since you’ve been away. I told you I was no longer at Cador. I want to talk to you. But first I want you to promise me that you will come after dark to Croft Cottage. I shall tell no one except my maid. She will have to know because she is there. But I will impress on her that she must be discreet and I know she will do as I say. Please listen to me. Remember we saved your life once. What would the mob have done to you if we hadn’t hidden you?”

  “They would have killed me most likely … like they did my granny.”

  I nodded. “Then trust me, Digory. Let me talk to you. Let us reason this out in comfort. You need care. You need food. You may have been able to live here in the woods for a while but …”

  “It won’t be for long. I’ll get him soon.”

  “Promise me you’ll come tonight. You’ll have the shed. We’ll keep you there. It’s better than here. Digory, listen to me. My brother and I saved you before. Remember that.”

  “I do believe you,” he said, “but I won’t come. I won’t have anyone else know I’m here. That maid ’ud have to know. I don’t trust nobody ’cept you. I’ll find him and when I can get him, I’ll take him. Then I’ll go. But I won’t come to you.”

  “You mean you’ll stay here in the woods? Someone might see you. Some say they have.”

  “They’ve seen ghosts. That’s good. It keeps them away. I’m safe here. I wouldn’t feel safe anywhere else. This is where I was … where she was. I feel she’s here sometimes … looking after me.”

  “Can I bring you anything? Are you warm enough at night? I’ll bring some food.”

  “No, don’t. People might see. I couldn’t have anyone knowing.”

  “I’ll help you all I can, but I’m going to try to stop you. I’m going to make you see that you’re playing a dangerous game. If you harm him and you’re caught that will be the end for you.”

  “I wouldn’t care as long as I got him.”

  “I have to go now,” I said. “I don’t want Kitty wondering where I am. People are getting uneasy about what is going on in the woods. Fires have been seen. They know someone is here.”

  “Ghosts,” he said again.

  “That’s what some think. Others might not. I came to see for myself, remember.”

  “I’ll take care. And you’ll tell no one.”

  “No. I’ll tell no one.”

  “You’ve done a lot for me.”

  I looked at him sadly and I thought: You have done a lot for me.

  I went back to the cottage thinking of my own folly for doubting Rolf.

  I wanted to go to him and tell him that that which I had been unable to get out of my mind for years had now been made clear to me. I wanted to try to make him understand about that night before the day when we were to have been married and how I had imagined the grey robe was my wedding dress. But I should have to tell him how it had been made clear to me and I had promised Digory that on no account would I tell anyone that he was here.

  But I must stop him in his mad design. If he attempted to kill Luke Tregern, the result would no doubt be death for him.

  I could imagine how he had cherished thoughts of revenge during those years of servitude. I knew from Matthew’s book that they would have been grim, that he would often have been filled with despair. And perhaps what had kept him able to endure his lot was the thought of revenge.

  I had to be careful.

  I had to save Digory.

  I smuggled food out to the woods. It was not easy, as it had been at Cador where there was so much in the larder that a little might not be missed.

  “I can’t see the remains of the chicken,” said Kitty, puzzled.

  I thought I should have to be careful. I took a blanket down with the chicken and some bread.

  He was glad of them.

  “I might have to tell Kitty,” I said, “because she is going to miss the food.”

  “I won’t have anyone told,” he retorted. “Don’t bring food. I’ll manage.”

  “Digory, have you thought any more about what I’ve said?”

  “What?” he asked.

  “That if you … harmed him … you would suffer just as much.”

  “I wouldn’t be caught.”

  Two days passed. I had not seen Rolf. I did not go to the stables because if I did I should surely see him and I should find it difficult not to tell him that Digory was in the woods. I longed to tell him that I knew the truth about that night now. But how could I explain without betraying Digory?

  I was constantly worried about him. I had seen the purpose in his face and I knew that he was plunging to certain disaster.

  I bought some cheese in the town.

  “I’ll tell Kitty you’ve taken the Cheddar,” said Mrs. Glenn who ran the shop.

  “Oh, that’s all right. I’ll tell her.”

  And I thought how difficult it was to do anything in such a place without being detected.

  What would Kitty say if she knew I had bought cheese?

  I cut a piece off and put it in the larder, so that I should be prepared.

  “Cheddar!” she would say. “Why did you buy that? I thought it wasn’t one of your favourites.”

  But when Kitty came in she was so full of the news that she did not notice the cheese.

  “What do you think? Luke Tregern has disappeared.”

  I felt sick. I stammered: “Disappeared?”

  “Yes. He left the house yesterday afternoon and he didn’t come back.”

  “What do they think has happened to him?”

  “That’s what they don’t know. Mrs. Tregern’s in a rare state, they say. They say she’s well nigh crazy. Annie, the maid there, says she thinks there was a big row.”

  “And that … he’s left her?”

  Kitty nodded. “You see, they both went out riding together yesterday afternoon … and when they come back she heard them shouting. She said … and Annie heard this with her own ears … ‘What are we going to do?’ just as though she was desperate like. Then after a while he went out … and he didn’t come back.”

  Oh, God help him I thought. He’s done it. And I thought I was making him see the folly of it and what it would do to him.

  “Do they think he has left her?”

  “What else? There was all this trouble when they come in. They say she was white as a sheet … half out of her wits. I reckon he’s gone off. Of cour
se they said he married her for Cador … he being only the manager of the Manor then. Well, I don’t know. You do see life in the country, after all.”

  “So the general feeling is that he has left her?”

  “Where’d he go, that’s what I wonder. They say he hasn’t taken anything with him. Just the clothes he’s standing up in. He just walked out … just like that … and he didn’t come back.”

  I wanted to be alone. I went into my bedroom and shut the door. Where was Digory now? He wouldn’t be in the woods surely. He would have gone by how. He wouldn’t hang about. He wouldn’t want to be caught. There would be a search for Luke Tregern. They would not suspect murder at first. They would think he had just walked out of the house, left his wife.

  Apparently they had quarrelled now and then, and yesterday there had been this big upset. They had been out together riding and when they had come back she had looked white as a sheet and half crazed; he was clearly disturbed. They had quarrelled and he had walked out. I was going over it as Kitty had told it.

  Yes, I thought, he walked out to the woods where Digory was waiting and there he met his death.

  I could not rest. I had to go to the woods.

  To my amazement Digory was there.

  I said: “You’ve done it then, Digory. You didn’t listen to me.”

  He looked bewildered and just stared at me.

  “I know,” I said. “The whole town knows he has disappeared. Where is he, Digory? What have you done with his body?”

  He continued to stare at me. Then he said: “I can’t believe it … There she was, on her horse. He was with her … I couldn’t understand. I didn’t expect to see her … She knew me. She just stared at me. She was so white I thought she was going to fall off her horse. And he was there with her … Him … If I’d had me gun I could have killed him.”

  “If you had your gun …” I stammered.

  “Then she said my name. She said to me, ‘It’s you … ’ I could see she thought she was dreaming. The last thing she thought was to see me here. She hadn’t seen me for two years. I left when my term was done. I heard someone had been looking for me … and I was sorry. I wanted to know who it was. It was a mate of mine who told me. I run across him in Sydney and he said someone had asked him where I was. He’d told him I was at Stillman’s. He didn’t know I’d gone, he was trying to find me, see how I was. A real gentleman who was going to offer me something back in England. He couldn’t remember the name. Sir Something Somebody he said.”