Marie-Christine asked several questions and there was nothing that delighted Fiona more, as I knew from the past, than other people’s interest in the work she was doing. This was a trait she shared with her husband.
Enthusiastically they showed Marie-Christine some of the artifacts, explaining how they were attempting to restore them. And after a while Fiona said we must see the temple.
My memories were stirred as we descended a slight incline. A few steps had been dug out of the earth to make the descent easy, and there we were standing on the stone floor on which I had once sat with Lady Constance, wondering whether our last moments were at hand.
The floor was tessellated in places, and some of the colours were quite beautiful. Fiona said they were in the process of being cleaned and she thought the result would be fantastic. We were confronted by a large figure with enough remaining to indicate that it was Neptune. The distinguishing trident was almost intact, and the bearded face was very little damaged. One of the legs was broken, but Fiona said one could imagine it as it had undoubtedly been.
Marie-Christine was eager to see the baths, and Fiona suggested that Jack take her right away to see them while she and I returned to the cottage to chat over old times while we waited for their return.
I was delighted at the prospect, for I thought Fiona might be able to tell me something about the situation at Leverson Manor.
“I’ll give you some coffee when you come back,” Fiona promised Jack and Marie-Christine.
Marie-Christine was enjoying this, and I was delighted by her interest in everything.
On the way back to the cottage, I explained to Fiona why Marie-Christine was with me, and I told her a little about my stay in France.
She listened with great interest and expressed her deep sorrow, which I knew was sincere.
I said: “And you, Fiona, how have you been since I left?”
“Well, I married, of course.”
“And you are happy?”
“Sublimely so. We are both so wrapped up in all this … and for years my grandmother was a great anxiety to me.”
“She is still in that nursing home?”
“Yes. She is happy enough there. She lives in a dream world. She is very popular with the others there … telling their fortunes, predicting the future. I daresay it makes their lives a little more interesting.”
“Does she mind being there?”
“I think she is only just aware of reality. She likes to be surrounded by people whom she can dominate in a way … which she has done through what she calls her ‘powers.’ “
“Does she remember about the warning notice she took away?”
“Oh, what a terrible thing that was! You might have been killed … both you and Lady Constance. She forgets all that. She is now immersed in the lives of her fellow companions. Sometimes she seems to have forgotten who I am. It has lifted a great strain from me. And now that Jack and I are together, everything is quite different. I am so lucky. Of course, removing the warning sign was the last straw. That was when I knew she had to be put away. It is strange how something really frightful like that can result in something good.”
I thought of Lady Constance and myself down there, and how barriers had been swept away, and we had come to an understanding of each other.
“Discovering the temple,” Fiona was saying. “What a wonderful thing that was! And that brought Jack down here and, well … it just went on from there.”
“I am glad some good came out of it.”
“And when I think of what the result might have been!”
“But it disclosed the temple,” I said with a smile. “And it brought Jack down here. It also brought home the fact that your grandmother should be under supervision. Fiona, what is it like at Leverson Manor? You go there, don’t you?”
“Yes, occasionally I go to see poor Lisa. What a terrible tragedy that is!”
“The accident ruined her career, but because of it she married Roderick.”
Fiona shook her head. She looked at me intently and said: “It is a sad household.”
“It seems so.”
“You went so suddenly. I thought that Roderick and you …”
“Have you heard nothing, then?”
“One hears rumours. One never is sure what to believe. Lady Constance never liked me, but she is mildly friendly now. She thought I was after Roderick because he was interested in the site. She did not like that.” She smiled. “Well, that little matter is settled now. I go to see Lisa. She came here once or twice before she became so incapacitated. She was always so interested. I take things over to show her sometimes. I think she looks forward to the visits.”
“Do you know why I went away so suddenly?”
“Well, I did hear that you were the result of an indiscretion of Charlie Claverham’s; you were going to marry Roderick and you found you were brother and sister.”
“That was why I went, Fiona.”
“So it was true?”
“No. We thought so … and that was why I went. But now I have proof that I am not Charlie’s daughter.”
“And so … you have come back …”
“Lisa asked me to. I don’t know what will happen.”
“I see. I know Roderick is not happy. Nor is Lisa. She does not tell me a great deal, but she has mentioned how wonderful Roderick is … how sympathetic and how she did not know which way to turn, and it was like the ending to a fairy tale when Roderick asked her to marry him and brought her to the luxury of Leverson Manor.”
“I shall not stay here long,” I said. “I only came because Lisa asked me to. I was given a very warm welcome.”
“Lady Constance has taken to you. That’s rare. She likes so few.”
“We had that adventure together.”
“What is going to happen now, Noelle?”
“I don’t know.”
“Poor Lisa. She suffers great pain. I often think of her lying there. She has told me she had dreams … of greatness. She talks a lot about your mother. She seems to have an obsession about her. She has said more than once that her ambition was to be another Desiree. She said she could have done it if fate had not been so cruel to her. But at least now she does not have to worry about the future. It is secure, and that means a lot to her.”
“Poor … poor Lisa.”
“And you and Roderick, too.”
“I shall have to go away,” I said.
“What shall you do?”
“So far I have made no plans.”
“You should throw yourself into some work.”
“As you do,” I said.
“It’s the best thing, Noelle. Sometimes we need crutches in our lives.”
I heard steps outside the cottage. Jack and Marie-Christine were coming back.
Marie-Christine’s interest had been captured by the Roman relics, which produced that irrepressible enthusiasm so typical of her.
At the same time, she was anxious about my future.
She needed something to happen all the time. I supposed it took her mind off her loss. It was not that she had been especially close to any of her family, but they had been part of the life from which she had been roughly torn.
I understood and wondered if I had been wise to let her into so many secrets; but at the time it had seemed essential to tell her these things, as she was indeed sharing my life. Young as she was, she had a certain worldliness which was combined with the innocence of the inexperienced, and this showed itself now and then.
She wanted events to move and expected them to. She marvelled that we had solved what we had set out to do in Cornwall.
She had been exhilarated by the adventure. Now she was expecting further action.
She said to me: “Is Lisa going to divorce him? I do hope she does. Then we shall come and live here. I love this house. It is so exciting. A bit scary at times, when you think of all those ghosts. But I like that. It makes it interesting. Then there are the Roman bits, and Fiona and Jack. I’d love to live here.”