‘You’ve got a one-track mind, Tabby,’ I complained. ‘I wish your humans would get you neutered. We might be able to have a serious conversation then, without the subject of females coming up every five minutes.’
We’d reached the gates of the Big House by now, and we both fell silent as we squeezed through the iron pattern and into the grounds.
‘Don’t be frightened, Ollie,’ Tabby said eventually as we walked stealthily down the drive – but I noticed his voice was shaking. ‘I’ll be right behind you.’
I’d have preferred him in front of me, as he was bigger, but there you go.
‘This is the room where the little sick human usually is,’ I told him quietly when we reached the glass doors. ‘We can see her if we look through here.’
‘There’s nobody in there,’ said Tabby, peering over my shoulder into the room.
‘No.’ How disappointing. ‘Perhaps she’s still in bed. We are quite early, I suppose.’
It’s hard to tell, in winter, you see, Charlie. It often still looks like the middle of the night in the morning, and then it looks like the middle of the night again halfway through the afternoon. And then, in the summer, you’ll find it’s just as tricky because night time doesn’t seem to come round all that often at all. We never know where we are – it’s quite tiring trying to fathom it out, which is why I find it best to simply sleep as much as possible, regardless.
‘So shall we just go home?’ Tabby said hopefully.
‘No. Not yet. Let’s have a quick check around the house. We might see her inside one of the other rooms.’
‘You’re one crazy cat,’ he muttered. ‘Lead on, then, if you know the way.’
I led him round the corner and past the steps where I’d jumped up on the windowsill that day to look at the huge empty room. There was no way Caroline would be in there.
‘I suppose she’ll be somewhere upstairs, if she’s still asleep in her bedroom,’ I said.
I gazed up at the great walls and high roof of the huge house. No chance. Even Tabby wouldn’t try to serenade anyone on that rooftop. And then I saw it – a little bit further, round a corner of the house and sticking out into the grounds, was one of those glass rooms humans call conservatories.
‘Let’s just have a quick look in there,’ I suggested, and I started to sneak forward along the wall of the house before Tabby could dissuade me. The bottom part of the conservatory was a low brick wall. I waited behind this for Tabby to catch up and then hopped up onto the window ledge and peered through the glass.
It was a cold, frosty morning again, but very sunny, and all the morning sunshine was on this side of the house, so I thought it was quite likely Laura and Caroline might be in here. What I definitely hadn’t expected was to see Caroline’s father instead. I nearly fell off the ledge with fright. What was he doing here? He was supposed to go to the London place today. Had I got the days wrong? He was standing with his back to me, holding his chin in his hand, staring out of one of the windows on the opposite side of the room – thank goodness!
‘Is she in there? Can you see her?’ Tabby hissed at me from the safety of the ground.
‘Ssh!’ I warned him.
The window ledge was narrow and I was having trouble keeping my balance. I was just about to jump back down and start running, when I heard a noise from inside. I pricked up my ears. It was him, the father, talking to himself. At first I couldn’t quite believe it. But a couple of the windows were a fraction open on my side of the conservatory, despite the cold – perhaps, with all that glass, the sun had made it warm inside – and with my excellent hearing, I was picking up every word. I was so surprised, I forgot to run away and stayed where I was, listening.
‘What an idiot,’ he was saying. ‘What a bloody stupid idiot. What’s the matter with me? There was no need to talk to her like that. Threatening to sack her! It’ll be my own stupid fault if she walks out now.’
Yes, it will, I thought crossly. And there was no need to be so horrible to me, either!
‘What’s going on?’ Tabby called up. ‘Are you all right up there?’
‘Ssh!’ I hissed again. ‘I’m listening. Be quiet!’
The man was sighing to himself. I could see his chest and shoulders going up and down.
‘I suppose it’s too late to apologise. She must already think I’m just an arrogant bully, and now I’ve made things even worse. I don’t know why I behave like this – taking out all my frustration on her. And she’s so good with Caroline – so kind, so patient. Not just with Caroline – with me too. Oh, God, what’s wrong with me? She’s the first woman I’ve felt like this about since you died, Susan—’
Susan? Who was this Susan, and how did she come into it? I put my ear closer to the glass.
‘—and there’s absolutely no chance she’ll forgive me this time. She must hate me, and I don’t blame her.’ He sighed again. ‘What should I do, Sue? Try to talk to her? Maybe just write her a note. That’d be better, wouldn’t it – a little note to say I’m sorry. At least then we could put that episode on Saturday behind us and I’ll try again to be better tempered.’
He was searching in a drawer now, and then, having found a pen and a pad of paper, to my horror he turned round and walked towards my side of the conservatory. Once again I nearly fell off the ledge on top of Tabby, but luckily, the man was looking down at the floor, and just sat down on a chair with his back against my window. His head was so close to mine, if I’d knocked against the glass with my collar he’d have jumped. I knew I was asking for trouble now. I should just go, and be grateful he hadn’t seen me. But he was still talking to himself, and if curiosity really did kill the cat, I was probably about to lose a life.
‘Dear Laura,’ he said out loud as he wrote quickly on his pad. ‘The way I spoke to you on Saturday was unforgiveable, so I won’t attempt to excuse it. You’re so understanding and sympathetic, I don’t have to tell you that it’s my overwhelming anxiety about Caroline, and the sleepless nights I have, worrying about her condition, that have made me so constantly on edge that I snap at the slightest thing. But there’s no excuse for taking it out on you, so I can only appeal to your kind and caring nature, to overlook my bad temper once again and accept my apology. If you only knew how much I actually care about you…’
He stopped, chewing his pen, staring out of the opposite window again. Then he suddenly got up, almost scaring me, yet again, into toppling off the ledge, and he ripped the page out of the pad. He screwed it up fiercely into a ball and lobbed it into a wastepaper basket.
‘What’s the point?’ he exclaimed crossly to himself. ‘She hates me and I deserve it. I’m wasting my time.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Oh, God – what am I doing still here? I’ve missed my train now. Where are my car keys? There’s probably no parking left at the station. Damn! I’m going to have to drive into the city, now.’
And with that he strode out of the room, and I threw myself off the window ledge.
‘Quick!’ I hissed at Tabby. ‘Hide!’
We belted across the grass and ducked behind a shrub. A few minutes later the door of a garage block on the corner opened and a big, sleek, shiny car purred out and disappeared round the side of the house.
‘He’s gone,’ I said with relief. ‘We’re safe.’
‘Was that him?’ Tabby squeaked. ‘He was here? Why didn’t you say? Why didn’t we run off straight away?’