Page 31 of The Mistress of Ashmore Castle

‘He didn’t rush out of the house after Speen, as the police assumed. He went straight to see Tabby, to try to sort out the truth. He wanted her to be the innocent maiden of his dreams, but there was the unfortunate difficulty to get over, that she had told him human gestation takes six months, while someone else had told him it was nine months. Which was true? If it was nine months, the baby couldn’t have been his, and she’d been lying to him.’

Sebastian stirred. ‘Should you be talking about this sort of thing in front of Alice?’

‘I know about gestation from helping on the farms, Uncle,’ Alice said. ‘And I was the one who told Richard about Tabby’s baby. I promise I won’t be corrupted. Richard, please go on.’

‘All right, but for the Lord’s sake never repeat any of this to our mother or she’ll slay me,’ Richard said. ‘Well, William walked down to Warner’s Rents and asked Tabby the awkward question. I imagine the woman knew the game was up, because sooner or later William was going to find out from some irrefutable source that it was nine months – and, besides, she might have been banking on his meekness and his besmitten state. At any rate, she admitted the baby wasn’t his. But, apparently, William found some backbone, and said in that case the wedding was off. What else was said between them I can’t tell you, though I wish I’d been a fly on the wall – and, by the by, one more fly would not have been noticed in that cottage, I can tell you!’

‘Get on with it, boy,’ Sebastian said.

‘At all events, words were had, and Miss Tabby lost her temper and flew at William, making a very nasty scratch down his cheek. He got other scratches on his hands trying to defend himself, though it speaks well for him that he wouldn’t use any force on her, just tried to keep her away from him. Well, he grappled with her, and when she desisted he dropped his guard, and that was when she punched him, hard, right in the eye, and gave him that shiner. At that juncture he decided there was no point in continuing the conversation and legged it. He went the long way home, round Mop End, instead of straight up the hill, because he was still very upset about the whole thing – apparently he had really loved Miss Tabby, and to his disillusionment was added a broken heart – and he didn’t want to face anyone straight away.’

‘So if anyone in Mop End saw him, that will clear him completely, won’t it?’ Alice said eagerly.

‘You have an unnerving grasp of criminal procedure,’ Richard said.

She shrugged. ‘It’s just common sense.’

‘But why didn’t he tell the police all this in the first place?’ Kitty asked.

‘Because he was ashamed, the big loon. Ashamed of having fallen for her wiles – his mother, apparently, is very proper and would be horrified at his making the beast with two backs outside the bonds of marriage.’

‘He should be ashamed,’ Sebastian said. ‘Even if this Tabby was Helen of Troy herself, there’s no excuse.’

‘Quite,’ Richard said briefly. ‘And he was ashamed of his stupidity in being gulled, ashamed of leaving her in the lurch with the baby, even if it wasn’t his, and most of all ashamed of being beaten up by her. In all this wallow of shame, all he could think of to do was to make up a story and stick by it. Of course, he was horrified when he discovered he was suspected of murdering Speen but, like a rabbit frozen in front of a stoat, when facing the terror of the law he simply stuck to his story all the harder.’

‘So they’re letting him go?’ Kitty asked.

‘After they’ve checked the story with Tabby Mattock.’

‘But will she tell the truth to the police?’ Sebastian asked uncertainly.

‘I think she will,’ said Richard. He didn’t mention the five pounds – the fewer people who knew about that, the better. It was a large sum to come out of his allowance, and was William worth it? But he couldn’t have let him hang.

‘It leaves us with two problems,’ Sebastian said, after a pause. ‘The first is, what to do with William.’

‘We have to take him back,’ Richard said, but he looked at Kitty. It really was her decision, as mistress of the house.

Kitty was gratified to be consulted. ‘I think we have to, don’t we?’ she said diffidently. ‘Otherwise, it will look as though we don’t believe he’s innocent.’

‘But it will be very awkward below stairs – for him as much as anyone.’

‘Oh, well, we shall probably never know anything about that,’ Richard said. ‘Moss will sort it all out. A great household is like a swan. We upstairs only see the bird gliding along serenely. Downstairs they see the frantically paddling feet under the waterline.’

Alice laughed. ‘Clever, Richard!’

Kitty said, ‘What was the second problem? You said there were two.’

Sebastian looked down at his plate, where he was removing the last shreds from a mutton cutlet. ‘The problem, which I fear will haunt us for a long time, of who really did kill Speen.’

There was an awkward silence. Then Richard said lightly, ‘Oh, I expect it was some tramping man just passing through, and long gone now. Tried to rob him of his purse and hit him too hard by mistake.’

Actually, he had a different idea, but it was not one he wanted to share with anyone – or even, really, with himself. He changed the subject. ‘Who’s hunting on Saturday?’

‘I am,’ Alice said at once.

‘I think I’d like to go out, if there’s anything that will carry me,’ Sebastian said. ‘The fresh air and exercise will do me good. I’ve been feeling a bit jaded lately.’

‘I thought you didn’t seem in spirits,’ Richard said. ‘Giles’s two should be up to your weight, for half a day each. Archer can take one out, and you can swap over halfway. What about you, Kitty?’