Mistress of the Moor: A gripping gothic romance mystery

by Abigail Clements

  ‘Please try and remember me, Honey,’ I pleaded. ‘Honeybunch, come on, boy.’

  It was going to be all right. He tossed his head and gave a little whinny of pleasure and almost pushed me off my feet as he nosed his soft muzzle into my shoulder. I climbed the gate, sat on the top bar, produced the apples, and fed them to him. In the paddock, we walked and talked, his head over my shoulder, as we had done so often before, so many years ago. I think for the first time since I had arrived I felt the thrill of real pleasure.

  Soon, too soon it seemed, our pleasant little sojourn was over. It was time to go back to the house and keep my appointment with Uncle Josh. I said goodbye to Honey and turned to go. On the way back I felt the indignation rising within me as I skirted the big barn. I glared at it and heaped mental maledictions on the offensive Mr. Roger who was within. I got back to the house and took my wellingtons off in the hall. It was a rule we had followed as children ‒ always to return a borrowed article to its place of origin. I ran upstairs, took off my coat and muffler, and, after a quick glance in the mirror to make sure that I was presentable, made my way toward the west wing.

  A tiny feeling of apprehension came over me when I found myself once more outside Uncle Josh’s room, but I disregarded it. Just as the clock chimed the half hour, I tapped on the door, feeling quite proud of my punctuality.

  ‘Enter.’

  Uncle Josh was sitting in one of the armchairs beside the fire. I was quite relieved to see that he was alone, wearing a brown skullcap and a patch over his right eye. I think he must have noticed my reaction to this, for he said, ‘I suppose that I look a little like a pirate, but I’m sure that you’ll find it much easier to work with.’

  ‘I don’t mind, Uncle, honestly I don’t.’ On impulse, I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

  He raised his hand to the spot my lips had touched. ‘It’s a long time since anyone did that to me. Thank you, my dear.’

  ‘But I love you, Uncle, I always have. You have had an awful time, but you are still Uncle Josh.’

  ‘I hope so, Emma, anyway I shall try to be. My dear, I want you to be happy at Goathlands, and you are to feel quite free to come and see me at any time. I have given instructions to Dr. Harrison to this effect. She’s a bit of a watchdog, you know, but she does look after me. Anyway, she is now aware of your position in the household. Well, Emma,’ he said, his tone changing and becoming more businesslike, ‘I suppose that you are wondering what all of this is about, eh?’

  ‘As a matter of fact, I am,’ I replied, my mind going back to the incident in the big barn.

  ‘Then my first task is to explain, and insofar as I am able, to put you in the picture. First, as I have already explained, I want you to regard yourself as mistress here. This is, after all, no more than your rightful position, at least as long as Henry remains unmarried. Now, far be it from me to even attempt to explain your duties in that department. As a mere man, I have little or no knowledge of how to run a house.’

  I smiled, for did he but know it, his knowledge must have been at least as great as mine; I had never run any establishment larger than my two-roomed flat in London.

  ‘Dr. Harrison has been very helpful in that department,’ he continued, ‘and between her, Barton, and Cook, I am quite sure that you will be able to deal with any problems which may arise.’ He paused for a moment and then went on. ‘The other part of your duties does, however, concern me directly, and the first thing I must make clear is that they are most secret and are not to be discussed with anyone other than myself or Mr. Attwood.’

  ‘Mr. Attwood?’ I asked.

  ‘Yes, I think that you had better meet him right away. Perhaps you would be kind enough to ring.’

  I pulled the tapestry bell rope and Dr. Harrison came in.

  ‘Doctor,’ said my uncle, ‘would you send a message to Mr. Attwood and ask him to step over here for a moment.’

  Dr. Harrison, thin-lipped and unsmiling, nodded and left.

  ‘Please do not think that I treat Dr. Harrison as a servant,’ explained Uncle Joshua. ‘It is her own wish that she should wait upon me. She feels that rather than have someone call her when I need her urgently in her medical capacity, she would prefer to answer all my calls herself.’

  I could not help wondering whether those really were the lady’s motives, or whether there was something more sinister. Perhaps it was her intention to make Uncle Josh so dependent on her that she did in fact control him.

  ‘Well, now, where were we?’

  ‘You were about to explain my duties apart from the running of the house,’ I replied.

  ‘Oh, yes, and while it is on my mind, there will be a dinner party on Tuesday next. There will be four guests. That will make your table eight.’

  ‘Oh dear, not eight,’ I said. Even I knew that it was impossible to seat eight for dinner in the correct order. You just had to have two gentlemen and two ladies sitting together.

  ‘Don’t you worry about the eight,’ said Uncle Josh. ‘Your four guests are all men. Just as soon as Mr. Attwood gets here we’ll explain to you about Kittiwake.’

  There was a tap at the door.

  ‘Enter,’ said Uncle Josh.

  The door opened and a man walked into the room. As our eyes met he glared at me.

  ‘Great Scott! You again!’ he roared.

  Chapter Four

  It was Roger. The revolting Roger, though I must say that he did not look revolting; far from it. He must have been all of six feet tall. He had sandy hair that looked as if it had a mind of its own, for as he stopped and stared at me, a lock fell across his brow and he brushed it back with his hand, only to have it return immediately to its former position. His eyes were light blue, almost grey, and they seemed to look through you with an intensity which was really quite unnerving. I particularly noticed his hands. They were big and strong, a peasant’s hands like Ormerod’s. But when he spoke it was with the cultured tones of a gentleman. Altogether, though I was loath to admit it, he was a most attractive looking man. What a pity, I thought, that apart from his greasy overalls, his manners did not match his appearance.

  ‘What’s this?’ said Uncle Josh. ‘Have you two already met?’

  ‘We have,’ replied Roger grimly.

  ‘I have never been introduced to this,’ I paused deliberately before saying the word, ‘gentleman.’

  ‘Like that, is it,’ said Uncle Josh knowingly. ‘Well, I’d better introduce you now. Emma, this is my associate, Mr. Roger Attwood. Roger, this is my niece, Miss Emma Waldron.’

  ‘How do you do,’ said Mr. Attwood with a formality that was quite insulting.

  ‘I am very well, thank you,’ I replied, taking his tone. ‘I am, however, none the better for my experience this morning, for which I trust that you will now have the grace to apologize.’

  ‘No, Miss Waldron, I shall not apologize.’ The beast had the impertinence to smile at me. ‘No one is allowed in the big barn, and in removing you I was simply doing my job, and I am sorry to have to say that even had I known at the time who you are, I should still have ejected you.’ The man really was insufferable.

  ‘Now then, what is all this?’ Uncle Josh demanded.

  ‘I am sorry, Sir Joshua,’ explained Mr. Attwood. ‘Miss Waldron came into the big barn this morning, I suppose it was about an hour ago, and to put it in a nutshell, I threw her out.’

  ‘Physically,’ I snapped.

  ‘I doubt if there was any other way in which I could have persuaded you to leave.’

  ‘You are no gentleman,’ I said. ‘You manhandled me.’

  ‘True,’ he replied. ‘But was there any other way to get rid of you?’

  I remained silent.

  ‘Now listen, you two,’ said Uncle Josh. ‘There’s no point in starting off with a flaming row. You’re going to be working together a lot, whether you like it or not. You might just as well be pleasant to one another, and for a start, I suggest that, however uncalled for, you, Roger
, apologize, and you, Emma, accept that apology with good grace.’ We both hesitated. ‘Come now, I insist.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Roger, without conviction.

  ‘I accept your apology, Mr. Attwood,’ I replied formally.

  ‘Well, if that’s the best you can do, I don’t think much of it,’ said Uncle Josh. ‘But I suppose that it will have to do for now. Now, sit down, the pair of you, and listen to me.’

  ‘I think I’d better take these off first, sir, hadn’t I?’ said Roger, indicating his grease-smeared white overalls.

  ‘Pull up a chair and sit down as you are,’ said Uncle Josh. ‘A touch of grease around the place will make me feel more at home. Now then, Roger, how are things going in your department?’

  ‘Not too badly, sir,’ he replied. ‘I’m still having a bit of trouble with the control wires for the ailerons.’

  ‘I thought you might,’ said Uncle Josh. ‘I might have to change their geometry. Bring the drawings over this afternoon and I’ll see what I can work out.’

  ‘What about?’ asked Roger, giving a significant glance in my direction.

  ‘And what, pray, do you mean by that remark, sir?’ I bridled.

  ‘All right, all right,’ said Uncle Josh. ‘You need have no worries about Emma. From now on she is one of us and privy to all our secrets. This is the reason I sent for you. I thought that you two ought to meet and I felt that it would be a good thing if you, Roger, were present during this conversation. Now, Emma, I suppose that you would like to hear about Kittiwake?’

  ‘Kittiwake?’ I asked, somewhat puzzled. I knew, of course, what a kittiwake was. Kittiwakes are among the most common of the sea gulls which are found on our part of the North Sea coast. ‘Is this to do with birds?’

  ‘Yes, my dear, very special birds,’ replied Uncle Josh. ‘Birds that men can ride upon. We are building a flying machine.’

  I could not but be thrilled at the idea. There was a great deal of talk in those days about flying machines. Only last summer, Monsieur Blériot had surprised the whole world when he flew his flying machine across the English Channel in, I believe, little more than half an hour. On the other hand, I was not really surprised to discover that Uncle Josh was interested in this sort of adventure. After all, he had always been much taken by all things mechanical, and it was not to be wondered at that he had turned his attentions to this latest sport.

  ‘A flying machine,’ I said. ‘This is truly exciting.’

  ‘We started some time ago,’ Uncle Josh continued. ‘I have incorporated in the design of Kittiwake some rather revolutionary new ideas, and I am sure that these will provide a basis for a great step forward in the evolution of powered flight. Roger here has helped a great deal, quite apart from actually building her, and, of course, he will be the one to fly her. I hope that she will be ready for her maiden flight next Wednesday.’

  ‘Uncle Josh,’ I said as he paused. ‘All of this is wonderful news, but I cannot for the life of me see what need you can have for a woman. All this strikes me as very much a male reserve.’

  ‘Ah, but we do need you, Emma,’ replied Uncle Josh. ‘You will no doubt recall that I told you that there would be four guests at dinner on Tuesday. Well, these gentlemen are all important, high ranking officers from the army. You see, my dear, we are no longer convinced that the flying machine is merely a sport. If we are right, it has great military potential. Balloons are already in constant use, and just think how much more efficient a free ranging machine would be as it soared high above the field of battle where nothing could be hidden from the eyes of the aeronaut. I’m sorry, I’m digressing, and when I do that I tend to wax lyrical.

  ‘On Tuesday, when these gentlemen arrive, I want each of them to have a copy of the specifications of Kittiwake, and, in addition, a copy of a rather lengthy paper which I have prepared concerning the potential of the machine. These documents will be studied by them on the Tuesday night, and on Wednesday, weather permitting, they will be able to observe the maiden flight.

  ‘What I want you to do, Emma, is to typewrite all of these documents so that they can be presented in an orderly and legible manner. There are about forty-five pages altogether and, as I do not want them to receive copies, they will have to be typewritten out four times with absolute accuracy. I have recently taken delivery of a typewriting machine from the United States of America. I am assured that the model which I have secured is the finest available. This will be placed in your sitting room this morning. Now, do you think that you will be able to complete this on time? I would like to have the completed work not later than noon on Tuesday.’

  It was a lot, but I knew that I could manage. ‘I’m sure I can, Uncle,’ I replied. ‘I’ll make a start immediately after lunch.’

  ‘Good girl,’ he said. ‘Now, Roger, if you would kindly get the papers from my bureau, we can let Emma have them.’

  ‘As you say, sir,’ replied Roger. ‘By the way, Miss Waldron, it is important that these papers be kept under lock and key. By this time next week they could be subject to the Official Secrets Act.’

  ‘I am sure that no one will come prying into my rooms,’ I retorted. ‘But I will do as you request.’

  I spoke with more conviction than I felt. Official Secrets had an ominous ring to it, and I could not help thinking of the mysterious disappearance of Nana. I was on the point of telling them about this, but, realizing that it might sound silly and trivial, I held my counsel.

  ‘Don’t be too sure about anything,’ said Roger. ‘Your uncle is not unknown as an inventor, and there could be more than a few unscrupulous persons who would be more than happy to steal his secrets.’

  ‘Apart from anything else, Emma,’ said Uncle Josh, ‘this could be a matter of importance to the security of England. Roger is quite right, we must take no unnecessary risks.’

  Roger handed me a large bundle of papers tied up with white tape.

  ‘Here you are, Miss Waldron. You will find that all the technical terms have been written out in block letters, so you should have no queries. But, if you do and don’t want to disturb Sir Joshua, you will find me in the barn. If you should have cause to come there, please knock. I’d hate to have Basil think you were his supper.’ He grinned.

  I turned to Uncle Joshua. ‘Is there anything else?’ I asked, ignoring Roger’s remarks.

  ‘No, I think that is all,’ replied my uncle. ‘I suppose you’ll want to be getting along now?’

  As I rose to go I heard him ask Roger to stay with him a while and discuss the problem of the ailerons. I took my leave of them and left the room.

  ‘Miss Waldron?’

  The corridor outside Uncle Joshua’s room was very dimly lit, and for a moment I could not see where the whispered remark had come from. Then I made out a shadowy figure standing just to the left of Uncle Joshua’s door. It was Dr. Harrison.

  ‘Miss Waldron, I should like to have a word with you, if that would be convenient.’

  I was really quite startled. I got the feeling that she had been there for some time. Doing what? I asked myself. All this talk about official secrets, and here was someone who had been standing right outside the door. For how long? She might well have been eavesdropping on our conversation.

  ‘Is it important?’ I asked.

  ‘In my opinion it is,’ replied Dr. Harrison. ‘If you would step into my room for a moment, there is something I want to tell you. My room is just here across the corridor from Sir Joshua.’

  I could not very well refuse her request She opened a door and ushered me into a large, well-lighted room, one part of which had been equipped with the usual paraphernalia and furnishings which one would expect to find in a doctor’s surgery. I also noticed a fairly large glass-fronted cabinet containing various bottles labelled with Latin names, which I assumed to be her stock of medicines and drugs.

  ‘Do sit down, Miss Waldron.’ It was a command rather than a request. ‘If there is anything you have to be getting on with, pl
ease do not worry. I shall not detain you for long.’

  ‘What is it you want, doctor?’ I inquired, sitting down and clutching my bundle of papers.

  ‘I considered it necessary to have a word with you about Sir Joshua. You are fond of your uncle. This is true, is it not?’

  ‘I love him very dearly, I always have done, ever since I was a little girl. He has always been a great favourite of mine,’ I replied.

  ‘In that case, I am quite sure that you will take heed of what I have to say to you. I know a great deal about your uncle, probably more than anyone since his wife died. There is, however, one aspect of his life which is a closed book to me. That part of his life which concerns his work, he keeps completely secret from me. Now I am going to be perfectly frank with you. I have, in spite of his prohibition, attempted to find out about his work; not because I am interested in it per se, but because I know that it excites him and I also know that excitement is not good for him.

  ‘The tragedy of two years ago left him a very sick man. Quite apart from the disfigurement that he suffered, he has been left with a weak heart. Now, and I want you to understand this, it is my job to look after him. He pays me well, treats me as one of the family, and though he is my patient, I feel both friendship and admiration for him. I must insure that he is subject to no undue stress or excitement, and in this it has become quite obvious that I shall need your help.

  ‘I have no intention of asking you to betray any confidences, though as a doctor, I am not unaccustomed to receiving confidences and respecting them. I am, however, going to ask you to try not to worry him, and if ever you are in doubt, be it ever so small, I want you to consult me. It would be better if you could manage to see me before visiting him. He does have his off periods when I would prefer him to be left quite alone.’

  As she spoke, she fingered the cameo on her dress. I must have been staring at it, for she continued, ‘I see that you recognize this brooch.’

  ‘Yes, I do,’ I replied. ‘It used to belong to my aunt.’

  ‘That is quite true. Your uncle gave it to me and asked me to wear it whenever I was attending him. I believe that his wife wore it constantly, and he had a desire to see it frequently. I did not approve of the idea, but he is an emotional man, so under the circumstances, and because he insisted, I agreed to do as he asked.’