“Ah, but I have some very pleasant neighbors, I discover.”
“Oh … who are they?”
He stopped and, laying his hand on my arm, smiled at me. I could see the gleam of very white teeth and felt again that faint embarrassment.
“A delightful lady whom I shall always think of as my very own specter.”
“You mean me. Oh … well, we are scarcely neighbors. Birds of passage, shall we say?”
“That is a very interesting thing to be.”
“So you don’t know anyone at Eversleigh Court? Lord Eversleigh? The housekeeper … ?”
“I know no one. I am a stranger here.”
“How long have you been here?”
“A week.”
“You have beaten me. I shall have been here a day and night.”
“How fortunate that we met so soon.”
That remark disturbed me so I decided not to pursue it.
I was faintly relieved and yet disappointed to see that we had come to the edge of the Eversleigh gardens.
“I am back now,” I said. “Through the shrubbery and then across the lawns to the house. Thank you for escorting me … I do not know your name.”
“It is Gerard d’Aubigné.”
“Oh … you are … French?”
He bowed.
“You are thinking that perhaps in view of the relations between our countries I should not be here.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I know little of politics.”
“I am glad. Could you tell me your name?”
“Zipporah Ransome.”
“Zipporah! What a beautiful name.”
“Its only distinction is that Moses’ wife had it before me.”
“Zipporah,” he repeated.
“Good night.”
“Oh, I must take you through the shrubbery.”
“It’s perfectly safe.”
“I should feel happier.”
I was silent as we walked through the trees, and then we were onto the lawn.
I turned rather determinedly and firmly said “Good night” again. I wondered what would be said if I were seen bringing him across the lawn to the house.
“Au revoir,” he answered, taking my hand and kissing it.
I withdrew it quickly and ran across the lawn.
I was so disturbed that I had forgotten Uncle Carl’s will and it was sometime after I had been in my room that I thought of the papers. I immediately went to the cupboard to reassure myself that they were still there. They were.
What a strange encounter that had been! I couldn’t stop thinking of him. A Frenchman. Perhaps that accounted for the elegance and strangeness, yet the manner in which he had risen from nowhere was explained by the lost fob. But it had certainly given me a shock at the time and I supposed I hadn’t recovered from that during the entire encounter.
I undressed thoughtfully; I was wide awake. My walk had done little to induce sleep. Everything about me was taking on an unreality. I could hardly believe that I had not been two nights in this place yet. I felt a sudden desire to be home where everything was quiet, and strange things did not happen.
I locked my door and went to the window to draw back the curtains as I liked to wake to the full light of day. He was standing there on the lawn looking up at the house. He saw me at once and bowed. I felt unable to move for some seconds and stood still, staring at him. He put his fingers to his lips and then threw his hand outward.
For a few seconds we stood still looking at each other. Then I turned abruptly and moved away from the window.
I was trembling, which was foolish; but he had a strange effect on me.
It was, I told myself, because I could not forget the way he had risen before my eyes. It had seemed so uncanny because I suppose it was on that haunted ground that a man was said to have been buried after he was murdered.
I blew out the candle and got into bed. But sleep evaded me. I kept going over the events of the day. I thought of Uncle Carl and his instructions and told myself I must get to the lawyer on the following day. But my nocturnal adventure imposed itself on those early impressions and I found myself going over it detail by detail.
Finally I rose and went to the window. I don’t know if I was foolish enough to expect he would still be there. Of course he was not.
I went back to bed but it was nearly dawn before I finally slept.
Lovers’ Meetings
WHEN I AWOKE NEXT morning I had made up my mind how I would act. I would see my uncle at eleven o’clock, for if I failed to do that Jessie’s suspicions would be immediately aroused. So I had decided that I would choose the afternoon to go into the town and see Messrs. Rosen, Stead and Rosen. That would give me plenty of time, and when I saw Uncle Carl at eleven o’clock I could drop a hint to him as to when I should be going.
Jessie and Evalina had already breakfasted when I arrived downstairs, but that did not prevent Jessie’s coming in to talk to me as I ate and to help herself to a few more tasty morsels.
“You’ll be going along to see Lordy at eleven. I suppose.” she said.
I told her I would.
“He’ll be pleased, poor love. He’s so excited you came to visit. I do what I can to amuse him. …” I almost steeled myself for the nudge which was fortunately impossible because once more the table separated us, “but you know what it is. He’s tired sometimes. … Sometimes wanders in his mind a bit.”
I wasn’t sure of that and had a notion she was safeguarding herself in some way.
However, at eleven I was sitting at Uncle Carl’s bedside and I managed to let drop the information that I would explore the town that afternoon.
“It’s a good half an hour’s walk,” said Jessie. “Would you like them to take you in the carriage?”
“No,” I said quickly. I did not want any of the grooms reporting to her where I had been. “I would like to explore myself. It’s a voyage of remembrance for me. It’s like rediscovering my childhood.”
“Well, we want you to do just as you like … don’t we, Lordy?”
Uncle Carl pressed my hand understanding that that afternoon I should pay a call on the lawyers.
I felt I did not have to wait to see Jessie safely in the manager’s house for her afternoon rendezvous, but set out soon after one o’clock to walk into the town.
The road passed close to Enderby and I don’t think I was altogether surprised to come face to face with Gerard d’Aubigné In fact I had an idea that he had been watching for me.
He was as elegant in daylight as in twilight and he looked very much the same as he had last night except that his coat was of brown velvet but still in the swinging, almost flaunting, style which gave an impression of a charming aggressiveness.
He bowed and said: “I’ll confess I have waylaid you.”
“Oh … why?”
“Overcome by an urgent desire to see my charming ghost by the light of day. I had a horrible feeling that I might have imagined the encounter.”
“Even trespassing on our lawns?” I asked.
“What is a little trespass for a good cause? I had to see that you were safely home. Now where do you wish to go?”
“Actually I am on an errand for my uncle and am going into the town.”
“It is quite a long way.”
“Nothing much … half an hour’s walk.”
“I have an idea. My hosts have been so good to me. They have a most elegant little carriage … suitable for two or at most three including the driver. Two horses pull it along at a spanking pace. I suggest that I drive you into the town.”
“That’s kind of you but it really isn’t necessary.”
“Pleasant experiences do not have to be necessary. I should be desolate if you denied me this. I have used the carriage once or twice. It is an enchanting little vehicle. Come into the stables here and I will make it ready. We can be in town in less than half the time that it would take to walk and you will arrive fresh for your business.”