‘… nerve of them,’ mumbled Irvine.
‘Then we offloaded the creaking servants and sat back to enjoy the rest of our lives,’ said Vashti. ‘We must have been mad.’
I managed not to look around, not to glance at the windows where on this wintry morning no sunlight whatsoever penetrated the rather dusty, rippled old glass, but I could only agree.
‘I can tire of country life at times too,’ I said sympathetically, feeling myself warm to these kindred spirits a little.
‘Hindsight is one of the cruellest curses,’ said Vashti. ‘How were we to know?’
‘To know…?’ I prompted. Vashti gazed blankly at me for a while and then sniffed.
‘Oh, just how much everything was going to change,’ she said. ‘Money, chiefly.’
‘But it’s not just money,’ said Nicolette. ‘You must know what we mean, Dandy. Nothing’s the same as it was.’ I did, of course, know exactly what they meant and while it was refreshing to hear it talked about in this way, for proud shabbiness is far more of a social minefield than plain old shabbiness any day, I felt a little impatience with them too, with the paraffin heaters, and the ennui. They should really… I caught myself short. My thoughts had just been turning towards a brisk walk in the fresh air and an order to the girl to wash the windows. Hugh has a great deal for which to answer.
‘Now Lorna darling,’ said Vashti, rousing herself far enough to light another cigarette, ‘tell us the news.’ She waved her cigarettes in my direction and when I nodded lobbed her case to me over the low table.
‘None of it is good news, I’m afraid,’ said Lorna. ‘I’m sorry to say that last night there was another attack. Mrs Gilver and Father were called in to help.’
‘Blood-curdling scream,’ said Nicolette with great relish. ‘Tell all.’
‘And then,’ said Vashti, ‘we’ll tell you.’
‘Tell us?’ said Lorna. ‘Tell us what?’
‘No, no, no,’ said Vashti. ‘You first.’
‘Well,’ said Lorna, ‘it’s much the same tale as before. He did no real harm and she didn’t recognise him. Just the same as always.’
‘And was there a search?’ said Nicolette. I was aware that some of the conversation had penetrated the newspapers again and the Howie men were listening in.
‘She didn’t want one,’ I said. ‘She didn’t want anyone to know. In fact, she seemed very reluctant even to admit that it had taken place.’
‘Who was it?’ said Johnny Howie.
‘Oh, yes of course,’ Vashti chimed in. ‘You must tell us who it was. Don’t be bores and say it’s a secret.’
‘It was Mrs Hemingborough,’ I said, then I caught my lip. I should have kept that to myself and not blurted it out to avoid being called a bore.
‘And she’s one who wants it kept quiet?’ said Nicolette. ‘Well, well, well. She never seemed an imaginative sort to me.’
‘Before you think we’ve all gone mad, Dandy,’ said Vashti, ‘perhaps I should explain. There are quite a few souls in the village and surrounding farms who don’t quite believe in this dark stranger.’
‘So I gather,’ I said. ‘But I wouldn’t have said that Mrs Hemingborough didn’t believe in him. Not exactly.’
‘Let me put it another way,’ said Vashti. ‘There are those who believe that our dark stranger is not the sort of stranger who can be caught by the police and clapped in irons.’
‘Vashti, really,’ said Lorna. ‘I’m surprised at you. Miss Lindsay and Miss McCallum are sure…’
‘Oh yes,’ said Nicolette. ‘Miss Lindsay and Miss McCallum are perfectly sure. No nonsense about them. But, Lorna darling, we’re not saying we think that. We’re just passing it on.’
Lorna smiled uncertainly.
‘You’re such teases,’ she said. ‘I never know what you think.’
‘Well,’ said Vashti, ‘our minds are made up now, Lorna, I can tell you that. Because…’ She paused dramatically. ‘… last night, we saw him.’
The effect she produced was surely exactly what she was expecting: a stunned silence which lasted until Nicolette broke it.
‘Speak for yourself, darling. I saw nothing. I was concentrating on the road.’
‘All right then, I saw him,’ said Vashti. ‘Running across the field that goes around behind the manse. Just as we were driving down the lane. I was sure it was him. And now that you’ve told me about Mrs Hemingborough, I know I’m right. He was headed straight for her farm.’
I considered the story for a moment and I could see that it made sense. The timing was a little odd, mind you – Vashti and Nicolette had swept past us practically at the schoolyard gate, so if they had seen the stranger crossing the field a moment later and yet he had not set upon Mrs Hemingborough until she was almost home, he must have lain in wait for quite some time.
‘Can you describe him?’ I said, eager for more to add to young Jessie’s rather sparse description.
Vashti hummed a little tune under her breath, clearly enjoying herself. Nicolette was still looking rather annoyed. One presumed that her sister had been attempting to convince her of this sighting since the moment it had happened, that Nicolette had been standing firm and saying ‘Tush!’, and that she was none too pleased to be proved wrong at last.
‘Very hard to say,’ said Vashti. ‘He was extremely fast across the ground and he was in shadow most of the time, but my overall impression was one of… Oh Niccy, I do wish you had seen him too. I can’t think how to describe it. He was…’
I could not help myself.
‘Snaky?’
Lorna flinched and Nicolette and Vashti turned round eyes upon me.
‘Now why on earth would you say that?’ Vashti said.
I was thinking furiously. I could not claim that Mrs Hemingborough both denied his existence and described his appearance, and I could not in all conscience tell tales on Jessie Holland to this pair. I did not doubt for a moment that Mrs Hemingborough would put the young family out of their cottage if it got back to her ears and the Howie ladies were quite clearly gossips of the first order.
‘I was at my window,’ I said. ‘Upstairs in the manse.’
‘You saw him?’ said Vashti, looking thunderstruck. ‘You actually saw him?’
I was aware of Lorna’s troubled look at my side; she knew very well that I had been downstairs in the library when the knock came at the door.
‘Why shouldn’t Dandy see him too?’ said Nicolette.
‘And he struck you as snaky?’ said Vashti, looking highly diverted. She repeated the word again softly to herself. ‘Yes, you’re right,’ she said at last. ‘That’s exactly what he was. That’s exactly the word I was looking for.’
‘You must think me quite appalling,’ I said to Lorna as we made our way back to the manse a little later. ‘Cheerfully telling whopping fibs like that. Only I didn’t want to drop poor Jessie Holland in it.’ Lorna still looked far from happy. ‘I know the Howies are friends of yours,’ I went on, ‘and so you might be sure that they wouldn’t breathe a word, but I promised Jessie and there was no other way to explain how I hit on just the right way to describe him.’
‘Jessie said he was snaky?’ Lorna asked.
‘She did.’
Lorna shuddered briefly. Then with a smile she squeezed my arm.
‘Please don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I’m sure you did the right thing. After all, a promise is a promise and I’m not entirely blinded by affection. I do see that Nicolette and Vashti are…’ She stopped; I waited and then we burst into peals of laughter.
‘Oh, I shouldn’t,’ said Lorna eventually. ‘They’re so kind to me and such fun. And they’ve as much right to be at the Rural as anyone, even though Miss Lindsay and Miss McCallum would love to find a way to amend the constitution and keep them out. Miss McCallum has been in a terrible sulk since they started coming.’