Laura Possessed

by Anthea Fraser

  ‘Laurie! All right, honey? You don’t look all that good.’

  ‘I’m all right. It’s lovely to see you again. And Gilly.’ She smiled across at the slight, red haired girl. Really, Caroline thought in exasperation, where does he find them? Gillian was wearing a curious full-length dress in browns and oranges and a selection of beads and bangles. Her hair gave the impression of having been absent-mindedly chewed by a succession of hairdressers, since it was layered all the way down the back of her head, finishing in a wispy straggle below her shoulders. The fact that the whole incongruous mixture added up to an effective and attractive whole Caroline could hardly deny, but she resented the casualness of the girl, which made her own tailored linen seem ultra-smart and sophisticated, as though she and not Gillian were striving to make an impression.

  Richard had his arm across Laura’s shoulders and was leading her to the sofa. ‘Come and sit down and tell me what you’ve been doing. Are you sure you’re resting enough? Did you go to the doctor with Banstead’s note?’

  Caroline watched him resignedly. He was, without doubt, the best-looking of the three brothers, with wide candid eyes beneath straight brows and a firm, sensitive mouth. His toffee-coloured hair was midway between the dark brown of Edward and the light honey colour of Toby and Laura, but his attractiveness was in his manner as much as his appearance. It was his gift to make every woman, even his sister, feel she was the only one in the world that he cared about. Every woman except Caroline herself. Whether this was out of some idea of loyalty to Edward, she had never fathomed, but she always felt a little piqued that he had never, by so much as a flicker of an eye, betrayed any appreciation of her own charms.

  He had been a boy of seventeen when she first met the family, two years younger than herself, but the fresh-faced charm that made women love him had been apparent even then. Caroline would willingly have entered into the half-bantering, half-flirtatious relationship which could be enjoyed innocently enough between brother and sister-in-law, but to her secret chagrin Richard had shown no inclination other than to accept her as Edward’s fiancée and then wife. He had treated her from the first with an off-hand politeness which baffled and needled her.

  ‘I’m afraid we really must go and eat now,’ she said. ‘The meal has been ready since half-past seven. I hope it will be all right.’

  ‘Oh, we’re used to eating cinders!’ Richard remarked casually from the sofa. ‘Gilly doesn’t profess to be a cook, do you, love? Everything’s either burnt or half-raw. I’ve always said I must have a cast-iron stomach!’

  ‘Well, for those of us who haven’t,’ said Caroline tightly, ‘let’s go in to dinner.’

  Mrs. Baines had had a word or two to say to Caroline about the result of the delay on her carefully prepared meal, and Caroline feared that her displeasure, always inescapable once incurred, might create an uncomfortable atmosphere when she brought in the dinner. She had reckoned without her brother-in-law.

  ‘Hello, Bainsy! You’re not going to be cross with us for being late, are you?’

  ‘It’s not my place to be cross, Mr. Richard,’ she replied severely, but her eyes were beginning to twinkle.

  ‘That’s my girl!’ and the preposterous Richard leant forward and kissed her soundly on her smooth round cheek.

  ‘Really, Mr. Richard! Away with you!’

  But Caroline had seen the genuine affection in the glance which followed him as he laughingly joined them at the table.

  Laura, whose usually pale cheeks were flushed with pleasure, was only picking at her food and Caroline noted both the guests watching her anxiously. She felt unaccountably criticized, as though she personally should have seen to it that Laura’s appetite had improved before this.

  ‘We’ll have coffee in the sitting-room; it’s more comfortable,’ she remarked at the end of the meal.

  ‘If you don’t mind,’ Laura murmured, ‘I think I’ll go straight upstairs. I’m feeling a little tired.’

  ‘May I come up in a few minutes and sit with you for a while?’ Gillian asked. ‘I won’t stay long, but we’ve not had a chance for a chat yet.’

  Laura smiled at her. ‘Do—I’d love that.’

  Edward led the way across the hall. ‘I thought it might be an idea to drive out to the Inchcape for lunch tomorrow and spend the afternoon in that area. It’s a long time since we’ve had a day out.’

  ‘I won’t be free in the morning,’ Caroline said, her voice a fraction higher than usual. Why the hell did he—?

  ‘Oh? Why? What’s on?’

  ‘Well, the shopping, for one thing.’

  ‘I thought you said you’d been into Ledbrook today?’

  ‘I did, but there are still a few things—’

  ‘A few things are no problem. We can pick them up before we go or on the way back. Don’t be a spoil-sport, Caro. I thought you’d be glad to have one less meal to worry about.’

  ‘Well, personally, I think it sounds a marvellous idea,’ Richard said lazily, settling himself in an easy chair. ‘I’m all for short, concentrated doses of country air, provided they’re not too frequent!’

  Fuming inwardly, Caroline took the coffee tray from Mrs. Baines. Something always seemed to come up to prevent her going to the cottage, almost as though the family knew about her obsession with Lewis and was determined to keep her from him. Like a continuation of her fancy, Richard leant back in his chair, crossed one leg high over the other, and said without preamble, ‘Now tell me—who the devil is Lewis Castleton?’

  It was so apposite that Caroline’s hand shook involuntarily as she poured the coffee and it spilt on the silver tray. She bent forward hastily to mop it up with her handkerchief, screening her burning cheeks.

  Edward was saying easily, ‘A chap I know. Why?’

  ‘Apparently Laura’s set her heart on writing his biography.’

  ‘No! Caro, did you know about this?’

  She wasn’t to be trapped a second time. ‘She did mention it, over breakfast,’ she murmured truthfully.

  ‘What’s he like?’ Richard pursued.

  ‘Oh, pleasant enough, I think. Restless kind of a chap—never seems able to relax. I don’t know much about him, except that he used to live in this house.’

  ‘Really? What an extraordinary coincidence! You don’t think Laura’s going to fall for him or anything, do you?’

  Caroline tasted the spurt of warm blood on her tongue.

  ‘My God, I hope not! Whatever gave you that idea?’

  ‘Just something about the way she speaks of him—it’s not easy to pinpoint.’

  ‘For one thing, he’s far too old for her. I must say this has all come as a complete surprise. I had the distinct impression that she didn’t like him. In fact, I almost fancied she was afraid of him at one time.’

  ‘Afraid?’

  ‘It sounds idiotic, doesn’t it, and obviously I was wrong or she wouldn’t be contemplating doing his life story.’

  Richard was frowning as he stirred his coffee. ‘She told me she hadn’t liked him at first, but then she added that since he agreed to let her write the book, she’s felt happier than she’s ever been before. You know, Edward, there’s something about this whole business that I don’t much care for. I can’t put my finger on it, but she’s—different, somehow.’

  ‘If you ask me,’ Caroline put in jerkily, ‘I think she’s psychic or something. That night Lewis came for dinner—’

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake, Caroline!’ Edward exclaimed impatiently. ‘Don’t bring up all that rigmarole again!’

  Richard leant forward. ‘What rigmarole? I’d like to hear.’ He fixed his clear, impersonal gaze on Caroline and even then, confused and upset as she was, a part of her registered and resented his indifference. In as few words as possible she told him, almost sulkily, about Laura’s conviction that she’d seen a child upstairs and the conversation which followed at dinner. Then, with a defiant glance at Edward, she mentioned the episode about the trees in the garden. />
  Richard sat motionless for some time after she’d finished, staring down into his empty coffee cup. At last he said, ‘Doesn’t it strike you that there may be some odd kind of link between them?’

  ‘Link?’ Caroline repeated sharply.

  Edward said, ‘Now for heaven’s sake, Richard, don’t start working out one of your complicated plots round all this. Young Denver had a perfectly reasonable theory to explain the tree bit, though I can’t for the moment remember what it was, and as for the rest—well, she’s tired and run-down and she overreacts, that’s all.’

  ‘And what is it she overreacts to?’

  ‘Hell, I don’t know! Atmosphere, attitudes—’

  ‘Let’s get it straight. According to Laura, the boy had actually done what this Lewis bloke had himself done on the same night thirty years before. J. B. Priestley, here we come!’

  ‘It does sound a bit odd, put like that, but—’

  ‘And the fact that he lived in this house, I think, is very relevant.’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Well, he actually remembered the trees. Therefore that part could have been unconscious telepathy. In the other instance, it is more as though—and I admit this sounds way out—as though she reminded him about it.’

  ‘That’s ridiculous!’ Edward said, but there was a note of hesitancy in his voice. ‘And I don’t see how it could have been telepathy, either, since at that stage they hadn’t even met.’

  ‘Yes, I’d forgotten that point. Look, Edward, one thing’s obvious. We must get her away from this house. For some reason it seems to be harmful to her.’

  ‘My God!’ Edward said abruptly.

  ‘Now what?’

  ‘I’d forgotten all about it—I only put it down to weakness at the time, but the day she came. I had a hell of a job to get her inside the house at all.’

  The other two stared at him. Caroline said slowly, ‘I remember now, you did say something about it.’

  ‘Tell me exactly what happened,’ Richard demanded.

  ‘Well, she was all right in the car, right up to the time we got out. I took her arm and opened the front door, and suddenly without any warning she went rigid. Then she started to gasp and struggle and fight to shake me off, for all the world as though I were trying to inflict some ghastly injury on her. I could hardly control her. After a minute she simply went slack and I carried her in.’

  ‘And that was all?’

  ‘Isn’t it enough?’

  ‘It certainly is. That settles it. We’ll take her back with us. She certainly mustn’t stay here.’

  Edward said slowly, ‘I doubt if she’d go. If you’d come a week ago, she’d probably have leapt at the idea, but now that she’s got her head full of this book—’

  ‘At least I can try. I must admit I’m consumed with curiosity about this man. Is there any chance of meeting him while I’m down? I’d like to watch their behavior towards each other, for one thing. Quite apart from anything else, she’s in a vulnerable condition emotionally and I feel we should vet anyone she comes into regular contact with.’

  Caroline said evenly, ‘Then you’d better vet that obnoxious young schoolmaster, too.’

  ‘And who’s he?’

  Edward started to explain and Caroline stood up abruptly. ‘If Richard’s really set on meeting them, we’d better have them in for drinks on Sunday, and a few other people too or it will seem rather odd.’

  ‘Right, fix it, will you, Caro?’

  She went into the hall, closing the door behind her and leaning against it for a moment. Of all the ridiculous nonsense—but at least it would give her a chance to phone Lewis and warn him that she wouldn’t be able to see him the next day. She hesitated by the phone in the hall and then ran lightly up the stairs to the bedroom and closed the door. Her fingers were trembling as she started to dial. ‘Lewis?’

  ‘Hello, there.’

  ‘Look, I’m terribly sorry, tomorrow is out.’

  ‘Caroline—what are you trying to do to me?’

  The receiver was wet and slippery in her hand. ‘I’m sorry, I just can’t help it. Edward’s brother and his girlfriend have arrived almost out of the blue. I thought I could still get away for a while, but Edward’s decided we should all go out for the day tomorrow, so there’s no chance.’

  ‘How most inconsiderate of him!’

  ‘Yes. However, we are having a few friends in for drinks at lunchtime on Sunday. Will you be able to come?’

  ‘And gaze on you from afar like forbidden fruit? I’d hoped we were past that stage.’

  ‘Please, Lewis,’ she said with difficulty.

  ‘All right, I’ll be there. I must go. Harry’s standing here with his tongue hanging out and it’s nearly closing time! See you.’

  He rang off and she was left wondering rather uneasily just how much of the conversation Harry had overheard. Hurriedly she phoned Paul Denver, Tom and Patty Howard and two other couples. As she emerged from her room, Gillian was coming out on the landing, closing Laura’s door behind her, and they went down the stairs together.

  ‘They can all come,’ Caroline told them as she and Gillian rejoined the two brothers. ‘Lewis, Paul Denver, the Howards, the Freemans and the Lakes.’

  ‘Fine.’

  Richard reached out a hand to Gillian. ‘Come here, moon of my delight, and convince me that all is not lost!’

  ‘And what does that mean?’ she asked with a laugh, but she went across and he pulled her down onto his knee, twining the fingers of one hand into her shining, tattered hair. Caroline carefully looked away. She was convinced that this open display of affection was designed solely to embarrass her and she was determined not to let Richard know that it had succeeded.

  ‘I rather think, if you’ll excuse me, that I’ll follow Laura’s example and go up too. I didn’t sleep well last night.’

  Edward looked up and she knew he was remembering, perhaps guiltily, the strained atmosphere that had been between them.

  ‘I won’t be long, darling. I’ll be up just as soon as I’ve packed off these two lovebirds.’

  ‘Don’t let us keep you. We’re quite happy!’ Richard said lazily, and with deliberation he turned Gillian’s face toward him with one finger and began to kiss her with unhurried thoroughness.

  Edward gave a snort of amusement.

  ‘Good night,’ Caroline said stiffly, to no one in particular, and thankfully left them to it.

  * * *

  Everyone except Caroline seemed to enjoy the day out. At last the long, cool spring was warming into summer and Laura’s sleeveless dress pitilessly exposed the thinness of her arms. Even Gillian had forsaken her brown shroud in favour of an ultra-brief, exotically coloured shift which had the effect of making her look like a precocious twelve-year-old. Caroline wondered how old she really was. With all that carefully understated but skilfully applied makeup it was impossible to guess. She could have been twenty as easily as thirty.

  Richard, in brilliant pink shirt, skin-tight trousers and open sandals, looked impossibly handsome and Bohemian and set off amiably along the country lanes with Laura on one arm and Gillian on the other, leaving Caroline to bring up the rear with Edward and Peter. It was a warm, balmy day and the meadows were lush with late lambs and buttercups, but she refused to let them delight her. She should have been spending these hours of drugged sweetness with Lewis, and her longing for him had materialized into a dull, dragging ache inside her. She replied to the comments of husband and son with scant attention and longed impatiently for the day to be over.

  Sunday dawned even hotter and Edward carried out the garden furniture, arranging small tables and chairs in groups along the terrace which ran down the side of the house outside the sitting-room’s French windows.

  Caroline listened to the joyful pealing of the church bells as she prepared the canapés beside Mrs. Baines, and was aware of a rising tide of excitement. Perhaps after all they might manage a moment or two alone. Laura, humming ga
ily, had already laid out crisps and dishes of nuts. There was a quiet, contented expectancy about her which helped to soothe away the extraordinary doubts that had been expressed on Friday evening. Her day out yesterday had washed her pale skin with its first touch of gold and her cheeks were flushed. She looks almost pretty again, Caroline thought with surprise.

  Richard and Gillian didn’t appear downstairs till after eleven. Caroline said briefly over her shoulder, ‘I’m afraid you’re out of luck if you’re looking for breakfast, but you can make some coffee if you like. I haven’t time to stop now.’

  ‘Dear Caroline,’ Richard remarked in tones of mock-sadness. ‘So transparently disapproving!’

  ‘Does it worry you?’ she snapped.

  ‘Not at all, fair sister; not at all!’

  Mrs. Baines came back into the room. ‘Ready for your breakfast now, are you, Mr. Richard?’

  Richard threw Caroline a glance of malicious delight. ‘I’ve just been told I’m not to have any, Bainsy, as a punishment for getting up late. But I’d love some coffee.’

  ‘The tray’s ready for you to take in, Mrs. Baines,’ Caroline said rather loudly.

  ‘It’s all right.’ Gillian’s quiet voice was in marked contrast. ‘I’ve already put the kettle on. I’ll do it.’

  Furiously, Caroline felt they were all treating her like a spoilt, spiteful child. She maintained an angry silence while Gillian opened various cupboard doors in search of cups and saucers and Richard perched himself on a corner of the table and opened the Sunday paper. Then, the last of her preparations completed, she left the room and went to change.

  After the first couple had arrived, the later arrivals, seeing the groups in the garden, walked along the terrace to join them without ringing at the front door. Consequently, Caroline was not aware that Lewis had arrived until she came out of the French windows to find him talking to Laura and Richard.

  ‘Hello, Lewis,’ she said lightly. ‘I see I’m too late to introduce you to my brother-in-law.’

  ‘Yes, we sorted ourselves out. How are you, Caroline? You look very cool and elegant.’

  ‘Caroline’s always cool and elegant!’ Richard remarked, managing to rob the compliment of its value.