The Legacy

by Lynda La Plante

  The room was vast, and the ornate four-poster bed had a frilled and flounced canopy with more flounces round the base. A huge tallboy with a mirror on top flanked by carved angels dominated the room. A dressing-table swathed in the same fabric as the bed was covered in little silver pots, brushes, a hand-mirror, and shaving equipment in a silver rack. There were clothes draped across the back of a velvet chair, and a large tray of half-eaten food rested on a stand.

  David lay back on a mound of pillows, the embroidered frills matching those on the sheet. He was wearing monogrammed silk pyjamas, and he looked as handsome as ever, just a fraction paler.

  ‘Well, hello, Flame, come in and sit down. Have you had some tea?’

  Unaware that Evelyne could see him in the mirror, David raised his eyebrows questioningly at Freddy.

  ‘S’all right, old man, I’ve briefed her, she won’t let the cat out of the bag … be back in about ten minutes, toodleoo.’

  He closed the door, and Evelyne was left standing awkwardly in the centre of the room.

  ‘Well sit down, girl, here, next to me, but gently, the leg’s really painful.’

  Evelyne perched on the end of the bed and took a deep breath, hardly able to meet his smiling blue eyes.

  ‘Suppose you met his wife? Dreadful-looking, isn’t she? But then poor Freddy had to take what was available, needed the cash. They run a chocolate factory you know, absolutely loaded. Still, I must say I’m eternally grateful, got me back here in no time …’

  He had the grace to blush slightly, aware that they must have abandoned her at the boxing match. He reached over and poured himself a glass of whisky from a cut-glass decanter.

  Evelyne blurted out, ‘You didn’t remember me at all, did you? What did Mrs Darwin tell you about me?’

  David downed the drink in one and shrugged, then he told her Mrs Darwin was a drunkard, she’d just said that there was a beautiful girl waiting at the house. He gazed at the ceiling, frowned. ‘They tell you about me? They treat me rather like a loony you know, because I can’t remember my past. Well, my father did. If it weren’t for Freddy I’d probably have been put into some kind of home. I’m all right, though, and maybe it’s for the best. God knows what’s hidden in the recesses of my mind, God knows.’

  Evelyne twisted her hands and mumbled that she was the girl Doris had brought to the house. She bit hard on her lip, but couldn’t stop the tears. David picked up her hand and pulled, making her move closer until she could smell his lavender perfume, then drew her fingers to his lips and kissed them. She moaned softly, then withdrew her hand.

  ‘You’re married, you should have told me.’

  David cocked his head to one side and asked, ‘Why?’ He wanted to know what on earth it had to do with her. She moved off and paced the room, and slowly, bit by bit, she told him everything, even down to buying her outfit, hiring the chauffeur-driven car. He listened, put a cigarette into a holder and lit it, breathing out the smoke. He was staring into space, and suddenly, out of the blue, he spoke, not to Evelyne but to the wall, ‘Did you know that the average life expectancy of a subaltern on arrival in the trenches was little more than three weeks?’

  His face crumpled, like a child’s, a puzzled furrow on his brow. He touched his forehead with one finger, pressing hard, and then took another drift of smoke into his lungs and turned his clear, ice-blue eyes to her. ‘I’m sorry, what did you say?’

  ‘I love you, and I’ve been in love with you since I was fourteen years of age.’

  There, it was out, she’d said it, said everything she had intended to say, and at the finish she felt drained, empty.

  ‘I’m very flattered, sweet girl, but tell me what did you intend me to do with this love of yours? Oh Christ, did I make a play for you yesterday? I was drunk, you know that, surely?’

  Evelyne stared at him. He flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette and looked enquiringly at her. She couldn’t meet his gaze. He vaguely remembered what had happened last night, and he remembered Evelyne. But he had been drunk, he excused himself. Looking at her now he couldn’t believe he had made a pass at her, and all she had just told him meant nothing to him. He had absolutely no idea who this woman Doris was. His eyes narrowed, he leaned back and stared. After a moment he asked in a clipped, cold tone, ‘What do you want? Well, what do you want?’

  Evelyne twisted her hands, swallowed hard, and said, ‘Half of your father’s house is mine, Mrs Darwin said her wages have not been paid.’

  ‘She’s a liar, absolute lies, pay her every month, ask Freddy.’

  ‘She says neither she nor Muriel has been paid. Now, maybe they have or they haven’t, I don’t know, but I need to know what you want to do with the house. It’s in an appalling condition. Are you going to sell it? If so, then do you need my signature?’

  David yawned and said that he had not the slightest idea. Evelyne’s temper was rising, her fists were clenched at her sides.

  ‘Well, maybe the money is of no interest to you, it is to me, and I could well do with it. How much is the house worth?’

  ‘Is that what you’ve come here for, money? Christ, you are all the same, money, money … do what you like with the house, sell it, live in it, I don’t care … I don’t care.’

  Evelyne sprang to her feet.

  ‘Maybe you don’t care, but I spent money on my clothes, they were ruined, I spent money on a train ticket, my handbag, all lost at the fair you took me to. I own half that house, now it may mean nothing to you, but… I want to be paid, no more than is my right.’

  David’s mouth turned down like a child’s. He reached for his jacket and took out his wallet, throwing it across the room.

  ‘Take whatever you want … money is all your kind ever think of.’

  That was it. Evelyne turned to face him, eyes blazing.

  ‘What do you mean by that? What do you mean by “my kind”? What is my kind? Poor, is that my kind, poor?’

  She frightened him, confused him, and he sat back in the bed, pressing himself against the pillows. He was as helpless as a child, and she knew it. She opened his wallet. There were three five-pound notes and two ten-pound notes. She held each one up as she took it out, showing him exactly what she was taking.

  ‘Two five-pound notes, David, and one ten-pound note, I’ve taken twenty pounds.’

  He turned away, staring out of the window. His voice was soft, hardly audible.

  ‘Please go away, you make my head ache … take anything you want, I don’t know what you are talking about, I really don’t.’

  Evelyne folded the money and told David that if he needed any papers signed he could send them to her. He turned to her, his eyes wide, frightened, childlike. He held up his arms, his beautiful face pleading. She sat down on the bed, gently so as not to hurt his legs, and he wrapped his arms around her. His silky head was close to hers, she could feel his soft skin, his sweet perfume was in her nostrils. She thought he whispered, ‘Sorry’, but she couldn’t tell. She didn’t want to hold him, but her arms lifted and she hugged him. His warm mouth kissed her innocently, then his arms tightened and his kiss became sexual, forceful.

  The door opened and Freddy stood there. ‘I think you had better leave … Come along … David, straighten the bed, your wife’s arrived. I’ll show her out.’

  He stood there impatient, then stepped forward and picked up David’s wallet where it had fallen. He opened it, checked inside and then looked at Evelyne. She flushed, knowing he didn’t understand, and tried to explain.

  ‘I own part of David’s house, his Aunt Doris …’

  Freddy paid no attention, he was straightening David’s bed. Then he hurried to the door, pulling her by the arm.

  As they reached the landing, Evelyne heard the soft, laughing voice of Lady Primrose as she caught her son in her arms.

  ‘Clarence, yes, it’s Mummy … it’s Mummy … Oh, what a big boy you are, shall we go and say hello to Daddy? Yes? Come on, you show me the way.’

&nbs
p; Freddy pushed Evelyne along the corridor towards the back staircase. Lady Primrose, beautiful as ever, appeared at the top of the stairs, Clarence pulling at her hand. She was swathed in furs and wearing a pale pink suit.

  ‘Hello, Freddy, I got here sooner than I expected … all right, Clarence, Mummy is coming.’

  Standing behind Freddy, Evelyne knew she had been seen. Lady Primrose gave her a cold stare, her blue eyes flickered.

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had company. Is David alone?’

  Freddy murmured that David was waiting, and that he himself would be back in a moment. Primrose called out to David as she headed for his room.

  ‘My darling, are you all right, I drove down as soon as I got Freddy’s call.’

  She entered the room and shut the door behind her. Evelyne stood with Freddy in the dark little corridor and shook, her teeth chattering in her head.

  ‘It’s all right, she didn’t know you, not that she would have minded, I’m sure. I’ll see you out.’

  He moved quickly ahead of her, guiding her down the stairs.

  Lady Primrose fussed and patted the bedclothes down around David. She’d seen the girl leaving, thought maybe she was a housemaid, but she knew there would be more to it than that, there always was. She poured David’s usual measure of laudanum into a glass and topped it up with water. She held it out to him, and he drank it like a good boy. Clarence sat on the end of the bed, kept on asking what she had brought him from London, until he got a sharp smack. He started to howl, so Primrose had to kiss and cuddle him.

  David held up his arm for her to go to him and she sat beside him and kissed his neck and his brow, petting him just like she had Clarence.

  ‘There, there, darling, shusssh now, you get some sleep and in the morning we’ll all go home … Oh, who was that girl I saw a moment ago?’

  David shrugged and said that Mrs Darwin had done her usual trick, told him that his aunt had brought the girl to the house before the war. She was the poor little orphan girl he’d brought to the dance when they’d first met. Primrose nodded, she remembered her vaguely, a strange, tall girl with red hair, the girl who danced with Lloyd George. She recalled that dance very clearly because it was there she had met David. They were married on his next leave, and she later became pregnant on their three-day honeymoon. A year later she had David home for good, but he wasn’t the same and they said he never would be. Basically, Primrose had two children on her hands, little Clarence and her husband. Sometimes, most times, she wished she’d married Freddy, never left him for David.

  ‘Did you remember her, darling? Did you remember the poor little orphan girl at all?’

  David’s eyes dropped and he shook his head, he hardly seemed to notice Primrose take Clarence’s hand and lead him out of the room. As the doors closed behind them, he began to drift into a drugged sleep and all he could see in front of his eyes was an old pair of boots with newspaper sticking out of them. Suddenly, in brilliant, flashing colours he saw the dining room, Doris sitting upright with a teacup in her hand, and then a clear picture of Evelyne.

  ‘Primmy? Primmy?’

  The panic started, the terrible feeling of being on fire, the boom, boom of guns was deafening. The nightmare began again and he put his hands over his ears, began to shout, ‘No … no … No, no, no!’

  Evelyne tried hard to explain to Freddy about the house, but he was so concerned with getting rid of her that he didn’t listen. He instructed a housemaid to take Evelyne out through the kitchens and the servants’ entrance. In a way he felt sorry for the big, awkward girl, but then he heard the awful screams echoing down from David’s room. He knew he would have to go to him, and he blamed Evelyne.

  ‘Don’t come back, this is your doing, listen to him … I think you got what you came for, didn’t you? Go on, get out.’

  Lady Primrose rushed into the drawing room. Heather and Lady Sybil could hear David’s screams. Heather shut the door and put her arms around Primrose.

  ‘It’s all right, dearest, Freddy will see to him, really it’s all right.’

  Lady Sybil, eating tea and crumpets, muttered. ‘Should be in a home, not right in the head.’

  Heather gave her mother a stern look and tossed her the evening paper to read, then sat Primrose down and poured tea. The shouts and screams from David’s room slowly subsided.

  Freddy returned to the drawing room, giving Primrose an intimate smile. He said David was sleeping, the laudanum had taken effect.

  ‘That girl, Freddy, apparently Mrs Darwin suggested she visit David. I think, as it obviously upsets him so, that we really should watch out for him, don’t you think?’

  Freddy blushed. Just meeting her eyes made him want her. He nodded.

  ‘Perhaps we shouldn’t try any more, I’m sorry.’

  Primrose gave him a sad, helpless look. Freddy made no mention of David’s wallet or the night spent at the gypsy fair. He nearly dropped his teacup when Lady Sybil read aloud from the evening newspaper.

  ‘“Riot at boxing match” … have you read this, Freddy? Says here a gypsy fighter nearly killed his opponent, a miner. Look, read for yourself. Says the man was almost murdered. Caused a riot, tent burnt down, dreadful to-do. Riff-raff shouldn’t be allowed in the country, none of them fought in the war. If Reggie were alive he would take his twelve-bore and shoot them down.’

  Freddy took the paper and agreed with Lady Sybil that they were riff-raff, he couldn’t understand why anyone would want to watch them fight, he most certainly wouldn’t. Heather smiled at him and patted his knee. He left the room, and no one noticed that he took the paper with him.

  Evelyne never went back to Mrs Pugh’s, not because she didn’t want to pay but because she couldn’t face her. The few belongings she had left there she could do without. All she wanted was to go home and forget everything that had happened. All the way home, above the noise of the steam engine chug-chug-chugging, she could hear the strains of those high-pitched voices, those posh, upper-crust voices, their secret looks and nudges, their self-satisfaction, their money. She opened her bag and counted out the notes she had taken from David’s wallet, then sat back against the seat and closed her eyes. Even after everything he had done, if he wanted her she would go to him she knew it, and she was angry with herself. ‘You are a bloody fool, Evelyne Jones, forget him, take the money and forget him, he’s not worth it. They treated you like dirt, you only took what was rightly yours. He owed you that money, it was yours to take.’

  Her heartache slowly turned to anger. She twisted her hands in her lap, folded and refolded the money. All her love slowly turned to bitterness, turned sour, and her mouth took on a thin, hard line, her face tight. By the time the train stopped at her station she was composed, her anger and pain under control. At least, she said to herself, she hadn’t lost any money on this trip, in fact she’d made it.

  Chapter 10

  Evelyne let herself into the house and changed her clothes, bundling up the ones she had been wearing and burning them. ‘Well, how did it go, lovey?’

  ‘It didn’t work out, Da … Now, I’d best hurry and get to the school.’

  Hugh said nothing, saddened for a moment that she didn’t confide in him, but he had become so busy of late that he soon forgot all about it.

  Evelyne was stunned to be told at the school that a new teacher with proper qualifications would be coming for the next term. The school governors had visited during her absence and, although they appreciated the work she had done in the past, they had to have someone with proper qualifications. There was no work to be had at the brick factory, or at the coal face. Come Easter she would be unemployed, but that was Easter, and until then she would continue at the school. Her heart was no longer in it, though, and the children noticed and called her ‘Miss Stick’.

  Hugh was going from strength to strength within the union. Twice he travelled to other mines to give talks to the men, and returned jubilant that they were solidly on his side, and if th
e mine owners didn’t bow to their demands for better wages and safety regulations, they would strike. The small house was full every evening with groups of men who would bring their problems to Hugh. Evelyne had once been pleased to be part of this, but now she withdrew upstairs to her mother’s old room, where she would read until her eyes hurt.

  Hugh was in good spirits. Dai Thomas had brought the local newspaper and on page three there was Hugh, wearing his cloth cap, standing rigidly straight and glaring into the camera.

  As he went up the stairs, he saw the gas lamp still glowing in Evelyne’s room. He tapped, and popped his head round the door. Evelyne was lying on top of her bed, wearing just a white shift, her waist-length hair brushed and gleaming. ‘My God,’ thought Hugh, ‘if any of those buggers was to see her now they wouldn’t be calling her “Miss Stick”.’ She looked like a mermaid. ‘I got a few copies, see … it’s me in the main photo, not a bad likeness, gel, wouldn’t you say? Told me not to smile, see, so I’d look fierce, look like I know what I’m talking about.’

  ‘It’s good, Da, and you look no more than thirty, real fit and strong.’

  Hugh laughed and twisted his cap round on his head, pulling a funny face. She handed the paper back to him, but he whipped out another two copies from his pocket. ‘Keep it, Dai’s gonna bring us a frame.’

  He wanted to talk, but she put the paper down and picked up the book she was reading. He went out, then came back again.

  ‘Now don’t start, just let me say something to you, I love you more than my own life, an’ I can’t stand to see you wastin’ yourself, sitting up here every night, goin’ up to the school every day, gettin’ more an’ more like an old maid, like Doris.’

  Evelyne shrugged, tossed her hair and said, tight-lipped, that he had no need to worry, she wouldn’t be going up to the school much longer, they were replacing her with a proper teacher. As soon as he had left Evelyne felt dreadful. She loved him so much. Why hadn’t she talked with him like they used to, why had she shut him out lately? She picked up the paper and looked at the photograph, his stern face glaring into the camera. She kissed the photo and took some scissors out of a drawer.