02 - Murder at Dareswick Hall Read online

  ‘Cheer up, my dear. You’ll need to put a brave face on it, if only to convince your darling siblings that this is what you want. I don’t really want to be forced to run your brother through with a sword.’ Lord Sneddon laughed, as if he were attempting a joke, but the sound was not pleasant.

  ‘So you see,’ Hallam was saying as he paused to take a particularly difficult shot, ‘why I’m far from keen that Isabella should marry that scoundrel. He did nothing but bring scandal on this household last time he was here, to say nothing of breaking poor Josephine’s heart. She really fell for him, you know, and to see them together you’d have thought that he was just as keen on her when all the time…’ His voice faltered as he thought over again what Sneddon had done.

  ‘I can see why you feel as you do towards him,’ said Cedric, ‘but are you sure that Josephine was as fond of him as you imagine? I grant you she looked rather shocked when he turned up last night, but I wouldn’t have gone so far as to say she looked devastated.’

  ‘Well, it did happen about a year ago,’ admitted Hallam, ‘but even so she took it very badly at the time. She’s become very secretive and withdrawn. There was a time when we told each other everything, but now she hardly says a word about how she’s really feeling. She always puts on a bit of an act for Father, you know, pretends everything’s fine, but sometimes when she thinks no one is looking at her she has such a sad look on her face.’

  ‘And you think that’s to do with Sneddon?’

  ‘Yes, I’m sure of it. The man’s an absolute rotter. I mean, pretending on the one hand that he’s mad about her when all the while he’s cavorting with one of the …Oh, bother!’ Hallam broke off as he missed his shot and Cedric took his go.

  ‘I take it that Isabella knew all about this?’

  ‘Yes she did and that’s why I can’t understand it. She was in London at the time, but she knew what effect Sneddon’s behaviour had on Josephine, she saw it for herself when she came back at weekends. Why, we even stayed up half the night talking about it once.’ Hallam suddenly looked dejected. ‘That’s what I don’t understand, Cedric. I know Isabella’s never been the sympathetic kind, but she was genuinely upset for Josephine and then when we found out that awful business with the maid, why, I’m surprised she even spoke to Sneddon in London let alone became engaged to him.’

  ‘Well, I’ve just told you what happened at Ashgrove, so what you’ve told me hardly surprises me, although the situation with the maid is very tragic. But I’m afraid you’ve got to face up to it, old chap. Whether you like it or not, Isabella’s set on marrying the man.’

  ‘That’s just it, Cedric. Although I can’t stand the chap after everything he’s done, I suppose I could have made a bit of an effort to get along with him, if only for Isabella’s sake. But it’s just that I don’t think she’s very happy about it all; I don’t think it’s what she really wants.’

  ‘I think you may be right,’ Cedric admitted slowly and reluctantly, knowing as he did so that his saying so would only act to encourage Hallam in his speculation. ‘She certainly looked pretty miserable about it all last night. Of course, it could have been because of your outburst.’

  ‘Yes, but why didn’t she tell me just to be quiet? It wasn’t like her at all just to stand there and say nothing. You know what she’s like. I would have expected her to be over the moon at the prospect of marrying a man who’ll inherit a dukedom one day. Don’t get me wrong, she would have been sad about how Josephine might take the news, but she would have been pretty delighted about the prospect all the same.’

  ‘Yes, and their arrival at the last minute before dinner was rather strange,’ said Cedric thinking. ‘I say, Hallam, concentrate a bit on the game, won’t you, that was a very easy shot, you could have won.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Hallam said, sheepishly. ‘I can understand though why Isabella was elusive about who her guest was going to be. She knew I’d kick up a fuss about it. And I’m not surprised Sneddon insisted on seeing Father straightaway; he knew that Father would have been minded to have him thrown out. Of course, Sneddon knew that dangling the fact that he had asked Isabella to marry him was enough to get Father’s support behind him. Father’s always been desperate for at least one of his daughters to marry well and he’s always been rather worried about Isabella.’

  ‘Hallam,’ began Cedric, slowly, choosing his words carefully, ‘you don’t think Isabella’s being coerced into accepting Sneddon’s proposal, do you?’

  ‘You mean being blackmailed?’ Hallam dropped his cue with a thud on the floor. ‘Why, that would explain everything! That’s why Isabella looked so miserable last night and didn’t seem to care a jot when the footman dropped boiling hot soup over Sneddon at dinner. I say, I could have cheered when he did. Father was jolly rotten to give Robert his marching orders.’

  ‘If Isabella’s being coerced into this marriage, we’re going to have to do something about it, Hallam.’

  ‘Too right, we are,’ agreed Hallam gleefully. ‘I’ve a good mind to challenge the man to a duel. I’m jolly good at fencing, you know. Although knowing Sneddon, I bet he’d insist that we use pistols.’

  ‘Do talk sense, Hallam. What I’m proposing is that we try and talk to Isabella, find out exactly what’s going on.’

  ‘Oh, I am talking sense, Cedric. If I find out that Sneddon’s been blackmailing my sister into marrying him, I’m going to kill him.’ There was a certain look of determination on his face and bitterness in his voice which suggested to Cedric that he was being serious. It occurred to Cedric then that he might be forced to take matters into his own hands.

  Rose heard the door open and the sound of movement as both Sneddon and Isabella walked through it and shut the door behind them.

  As soon as the door had closed and she knew that she was alone again, Rose uncurled her legs from under her and stood up trembling slightly. It was not so much because of what she had heard for, if she were truthful, it hardly surprised her given the way Isabella had behaved towards Sneddon the previous evening. No, it was more the distraught state that Isabella had been in, and Sneddon’s coldness towards her and total disregard of her feelings. She knew that both parties would have been appalled had they known that their conversation had been overheard, yet she felt that she must do something. She could not let Isabella go through with a marriage to Lord Sneddon, not when it was so obviously against her wishes. She hardly knew Isabella, but even so she resolved there and then that she would do whatever it took to ensure that Isabella did not have to go through with her side of the bargain.

  Chapter Eight

  Rose wandered out into the hall, still in a bit of a daze, going over and over in her mind what she had just heard.

  ‘Oh, there you are, Rose, I’ve been looking for you everywhere,’ said Josephine, suddenly appearing. ‘Shall we go for our walk now? It’s pretty warm outside. I thought we might wander down to the lake.’

  The two girls set off, Rose still deep in her own thoughts. Josephine did not appear to notice because she chatted on endlessly, apparently without expectation of any response. It was only afterwards that Rose wondered whether her incessant chatter had been contrived, hiding other deeper emotions.

  ‘I expect I’d better tell you all about it, this business with Hugh. As I said earlier, I’m afraid it’s all rather unpleasant, but it’ll help explain why Hallam is acting the way he is. He is behaving rather childishly, but justifiably, I would say. It’s a great pity Hugh’s here. Hallam had great plans for all the things we were going to do together this weekend, but now I expect most of the time will be taken in keeping him and Hugh apart.’

  ‘I got the impression last night that he thought you’d be very upset by Lord Sneddon’s unexpected arrival,’ began Rose, tentatively.

  ‘Yes, well, I was of course.’ Josephine stopped abruptly. ‘I might as well tell you, Rose. It’s all rather embarrassing but there was a time when I thought Hugh was rather keen on me. It was about this time last year; perha
ps a month or two later. He made an awful fuss of me and I was rather taken by him, myself. He is awfully handsome and can be quite charming when he wants to be. And of course Father was delighted, as you can imagine. He’s always wanted either Isabella or myself to marry well. Everyone thought it would be Isabella, of course, what with her being much prettier than me and loving high society. Father just assumed that I’d be content staying here at Dareswick and of course I would have been if only …’

  ‘…it hadn’t been for Hugh.’ Rose finished Josephine’s sentence for her because the girl seemed to hesitate.

  ‘Hugh? Yes, of course, Hugh.’ Josephine’s hand went sharply up to the side of her face. At the same moment a breath of wind happened to sweep a strand of hair aside and Rose could not help herself from letting out a gasp. For, not far from her left eye was an ugly scar the length of a lipstick, quite white as if it had been made years before.

  ‘Oh, my scar,’ said Josephine, looking at the horror on Rose’s face and covering her scar instinctively with her hand. ‘I’m afraid I’m rather sensitive about anyone seeing it, it’s usually covered by my hair.

  ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stare at it.’

  ‘It’s alright, really it is. I know I’m silly about it. Hallam is always telling me that it doesn’t look that awful. It’s just the result of a silly little sibling argument that got out of hand when we were children.’

  ‘Hallam gave you that scar?’

  Josephine hesitated slightly before nodding. ‘Yes, but don’t say anything about noticing it to him, will you? He’s awfully ashamed about it, poor dear. It’s one of the reasons I keep it covered up by my hair so as not to remind him of it. We were both only young children when it happened, she didn’t mean anything by it.’

  Rose wasn’t so sure. It seemed to her that it would have taken some considerable effort to cause such a wound, which led her to think that it might have been deliberate rather than an accident. She thought of Hallam’s outburst the night before, how he had worked himself up into such a state. She shivered slightly despite the warmth of the day. For the first time that morning she was glad that Cedric was keeping him occupied and wondered whether Hallam was seriously intending to do Lord Sneddon harm. In her mind’s eye, she could see him raising his hand and slashing Hugh’s face with a knife as he must have done all those years before to Josephine’s.

  ‘Anyway, what was I saying?’ continued Josephine hurriedly, her hair safely put back in place with a realigned hairpin. ‘Oh yes, Hugh’s behaviour. Well, unbeknown to us all, at the same time that he was supposedly courting me, he was also paying his respects to one of the housemaids. The under housemaid at the time, a young girl called Mabel. A pretty little thing she was but very naive, I’m afraid, certainly insofar as men were concerned.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘Well, perhaps not surprisingly, he got her into trouble. The whole household knew Lord Sneddon was responsible, but somehow word went around the village that Hallam was to blame, when anyone who knows him at all would know that he wouldn’t have dreamed of doing such a thing.’

  ‘How awful.’

  ‘Yes, thankfully our own servants knew he wasn’t at fault, but I’m afraid that’s not all. I’m afraid it was much worse than that you see –.’

  ‘Lord Sneddon’s blackmailing Isabella to marry him!’ Rose blurted out suddenly, before she even had time to reconsider her words. Afterwards she realised things may have turned out differently if only she had kept quiet. But all the while Josephine had been talking, alluding to sordid and unsavoury acts on Sneddon’s part, Rose had felt the need to confide in her the awful course Sneddon had chosen to adopt with regard to her sister’s future. She heard again in her mind Isabella’s pleading voice and Sneddon’s merciless response. She had felt she must tell someone, she must. She had imagined that the person she would tell would be Cedric, but here was Isabella’s sister, kind and sensible Josephine, standing with her in the gardens far from the house and the possibility of being overheard. Who better to tell but Isabella’s older sister? Who better to rescue Isabella from her fate? Even so, as the words tumbled from her mouth, she wondered even then whether she had made a mistake. Even then it occurred to her that she should have kept silent until she had had the opportunity to speak things over with Cedric. But it was too late; the words were out now and could not be retracted.

  ‘What!’ Josephine was aghast. ‘Whatever do you mean? How do you know he’s blackmailing her? Did Isabella tell you he was?’

  ‘No, she didn’t have to. You see…’ Rose hesitated. She was beginning to regret her outburst, not least because she would have to admit that she had listened in, however unintentionally, to a conversation not meant for others’ ears. ‘I was in the library this morning after breakfast, sitting in one of those great wing chairs by the fireplace, reading a book. I was trying to kill time before meeting up with you to go for this walk.’ Rose could feel her face burning. ‘There didn’t seem much point–.’

  ‘Yes?’ interrupted Josephine impatiently.

  ‘I must have fallen asleep for a couple of minutes because I didn’t hear the door open. Lord Sneddon and your sister came in. They couldn’t have seen me sitting by the fireplace. I was hidden by the chair back. Anyway, before I knew what was happening, they were having an argument. I didn’t know what to do. Whether I should make my presence known or not. So I’m afraid I just sat there and listened until they left.’

  ‘I see.’ Josephine said slowly. ‘That would explain Isabella’s mood last night. It’s funny but I’m almost glad in a way. Not that she’s being blackmailed, of course, but that she isn’t intentionally hurting Hallam and me. But what I don’t understand is what could Hugh possibly have to blackmail her over? I daresay she’s a bit reckless when she’s in London, probably drinks a little too much and that sort of thing, but I can’t imagine that he could have such a hold over her as to force her into marrying him against her will.’

  ‘He’s got hold of some letters somehow.’

  ‘Letters? What sort of letters?’

  ‘About a love affair, I think. With someone unsuitable. And I’m afraid they were rather incriminating.’

  ‘In what way?’ Josephine’s eyes had gone wide. She was staring at Rose so intently that Rose began to squirm under such scrutiny.

  ‘“I cannot wait until I am in your arms again and your lips are on mine”, that sort of thing,’ Rose said looking at the ground, embarrassed.

  ‘Oh, my God!’ said Josephine sitting down slowly on a nearby bench. ‘And do you know who these letters were addressed to, who Isabella’s lover was?’

  ‘Yes, Lord Sneddon mentioned his name,’ said Rose, racking her brains. ‘Claude something, I think. I don’t remember his surname, I’m afraid. I’m not even sure he mentioned it, but he said something about him having been Isabella’s French tutor.’

  ‘Claude Lambert,’ said Josephine slowly. ‘So I was right all along. Oh my God, I was right!’ She covered her face with her hands.

  ‘You knew about it?’

  ‘I had my suspicions, yes. I just hoped that they would prove unfounded.’

  ‘Did you ever meet him?’

  ‘Yes, I met him a few times when I was up visiting Isabella in London.’ She groaned. ‘How could she have been so stupid?’

  Rose studied Josephine closely. She had expected her to be upset by the news, but the girl appeared absolutely distraught; she was positively shaking.

  ‘Would it be so disastrous if those letters became public?’

  ‘What? Oh….yes, it would. My father has quite a temper as you have seen first-hand by the way he treated the poor footman last night for spilling the soup on Lord Sneddon. If he found out about those letters I’ve no doubt he’d disinherit her. And if the content of those letters became public, it would be even worse. Any chance Isabella had of a good marriage would be gone.’

  ‘But we can’t let Lord Sneddon get away with it,’ pleaded Rose. ‘We c
an’t let him force your sister into marrying him. You should have heard Isabella this morning. She was desperate and he didn’t care one bit; he was completely heartless.’

  ‘No, we can’t let him blackmail her into marrying him,’ agreed Josephine slowly. She looked preoccupied as if she was trying to work out the best course of action. ‘Rose, I want you to leave this with me. I don’t want you to tell anyone else about this, not even Cedric. Will you promise me that you won’t tell anyone, nobody at all?’ There was an urgency in Josephine’s manner that Rose found unnerving. She felt a sense of foreboding, as if something was very wrong, worse even than Isabella being blackmailed.

  ‘Yes, alright,’ Rose agreed reluctantly for now more than ever she desperately wanted to tell Cedric, ‘if that’s what you want. But what are you going to do? Are you going to reason with him? Do you think he will listen to you?’

  ‘Leave it with me, Rose,’ Josephine said firmly. ‘Now, I’m going back to my room to think what to do.’ For the first time she seemed aware of the concern on Rose’s face. ‘You needn’t look so worried, Rose, it’ll be all right, I’ll think of something. But you must promise me that you won’t breathe a word about this to anyone.’ With that, Josephine walked quickly back to the house; indeed, she was almost running.

  Rose looked after the retreating figure feeling anything but reassured. She had made a mistake, she was sure of it now. If only she could take back her words. She and Josephine could still be talking now about the scandal involving Lord Sneddon that had taken place at Dareswick earlier in the year. He had got one of the servant girls into trouble, Josephine had said, but she had hinted also that that was not the worst thing that he had done. What could be worse, Rose wondered, than ruining a young girl’s life? And it was only now after Josephine was gone and Rose was left to wander the gardens alone, to survey the work beginning to be done by the gardeners in preparation for the winter to come, that it occurred to her that not once had Josephine asked why Lord Sneddon should wish to marry her sister.