She had been sitting round to face him. She turned now and looked straight ahead through the driving screen. The long green verge stretched away before eyes that were clouded by an angry mist. She said in a small cold voice,
‘I think we had better go back.’
He took hold of her and pulled her round again.
‘Don’t be a fool! I want you to listen to me! You don’t care for Derek, and he doesn’t care for you. He’s got a girl in the town – everyone knows that except the Miss Benevents. But that is their plan. When they find out about Derek things aren’t going to be so good for him, or for you. They may find out any day, and when they do there’ll be a blow-up. Look here, Candida, you know that your grandmother was the middle one of the three sisters – you told me about finding a photograph with their names and ages. Well, my old cousin Louisa Arnold knew them all very well, and she says your grandmother or her descendants come in for the greater part of the estate if Miss Cara dies unmarried.’
‘Yes, I knew that. Aunt Cara told me.’
Stephen said bluntly,
‘Well, that cuts Miss Olivia out. Do you suppose she likes it?’
In her mind Candida heard Miss Cara’s little trembling voice – ‘Oh, my dear, she said dreadful things… Our sister Candida died before Papa, and Olivia said she hoped Candida’s children would die too, and then she would come into her own… It was a dreadful thing to say.’ She spoke to drown the sound of it.
‘No – no – of course she doesn’t like it. But there isn’t anything she can do. I mean even if I married Derek it wouldn’t really help.’
He said grimly,
‘She might think it would. He’s an easy-going chap and pretty well under her thumb. But if the plan broke down – ’
There was something there between them.
She said, ‘No!’ But he was putting it into words. He said,
‘Why did she tell you that the tide wasn’t high until eleven?’
It was as if she had known what was coming. The shock of saying it was his, the shock of hearing it was hers. The two shocks came together and were one. Everything else went before the impact. She put out her hands, and he took them. The strong clasp hurt her, but she clung to it. She heard herself say,
‘No – no – it wasn’t.’
‘If you mean it wasn’t the Miss Benevents at the hotel in Eastcliff, you must know perfectly well that it was. I went round there next day, and you had gone, but they hadn’t. Their names were in the visitors’ book, and they passed through the hall whilst I was looking at it. They were there, and because they told you the tide wouldn’t be high until eleven you went walking on the beach and you were nearly drowned.’ And they knew who you were when they told you that, because they had just seen you write your name. You told me all about it when we were stuck up there on the cliff. They saw you write your name – Candida Sayle – and they remarked on it. And right on top of that they told you what a nice walk there was along the beach, and that the tide would not be high until eleven.’
The outer wall of Candida’s defence fell down with a crash. He knew too much, he remembered too well. She said on a quick breath,
‘It wasn’t Aunt Cara – I’m sure it wasn’t Aunt Cara.’
‘She was there when it was said.’
Candida tried to pull away her hands, but he held them.
‘She would think anything Aunt Olivia said was right. She is like that – you know she is.’
He nodded briefly.
‘All right, that goes for her. But it doesn’t go for Miss Olivia, does it? What was in her mind when she told you a lie about the tide?’
Candida said in a desperate voice,
‘She couldn’t have known that it was a lie.’
He let go of her and sat back.
‘Can you make yourself believe that? You can’t make me believe it.’
‘Stephen!’
‘I want you to leave Underhill.’
‘Stephen, I can’t.’
‘Why can’t you?’
‘I said I would stay and do this job with Derek.’
‘You can say you have got to go back and see about a job, or about your Aunt Barbara’s business, or anything that comes into your head.’
‘I won’t tell lies just because – just because – And there’s Aunt Cara – she’s got fond of me. Stephen, she’s pathetic. Olivia bullies her, and she’s grateful if anyone is kind.
He said in a masterful voice,
‘I want you to leave Underhill.’
Chapter Eleven
Back at his hotel, he rang up his cousin Louisa Arnold. When she answered, there were the sort of preliminaries in which he had learned to participate.
‘You are well, my dear boy?’
‘Oh, yes. And you, Cousin Louisa?’
There was some dalliance with Miss Arnold’s suspicion, contracted last night, that she might have taken a slight chill. This had, of course, to be explained in detail, together with the reassuring fact that by breakfast-time this morning the faint premonitory symptoms had subsided. She would therefore be able to attend a committee meeting of the Hospital Flower Guild to which she was pledged.
‘I really do not like to miss it unless I am absolutely obliged to do so, and dear Maud says she will not mind being left. I should be back by six o’clock. The meeting is at four, but it would be considered rude if I did not stay to tea. Mrs. Lowry who is our chairman is always so hospitable…’
The conversation ended in his being pressed to drop in at any time.
Miss Silver was enjoying a comfortable cup of tea in the drawing-room when he was announced.
‘I am so sorry, Mr. Eversley, I am afraid that Louisa is out.’
He made sure that Eliza Peck had closed the door behind her before he replied.
‘Yes, she told me she had a meeting. As a matter of fact, I wondered whether you would allow me to have a talk with you. I understand that you do take cases and give advice professionally.’
Miss Silver inclined her head.
‘Yes, Mr. Eversley.’
‘Then will you let me talk to you? I – well I’m a good deal worried – ’
‘About Miss Candida Sayle?’
‘How did you know?’
She smiled.
‘You were speaking of her the other night. Your concern was evident.’
He remembered that he had talked a good deal about Candida. He had not realised that his interest had been so obvious.
Before he could speak the door opened to admit Eliza Peck, bearing a small tray with a second teacup and a supply of hot water. She was a thin, upright old woman with a daunting air of severity. Her eye softened slightly as it rested upon Stephen. She liked to see a young man coming about the house again. Time was when there had been enough of them and to spare, but that was when she and Miss Louisa were young. She put down the teacup and the water-jug and went away with the empty tray.
Stephen heard Miss Silver assure him that the tea had only just been made. He accepted the cup she poured out for him, but almost immediately put it down again upon the edge of the table.
‘I don’t like her being at Underhill,’ he said.
‘No, Mr. Eversley?’
The lift in her voice made a question of it. He said with emphasis,
‘I don’t like it at all. I want to get her away.’
‘And she wishes to stay?’
‘I don’t believe she does really. Part of the trouble is that she hasn’t got anywhere to go. The aunt who brought her up has just died. She has been nursing her for the last three years, so she isn’t trained for anything, and there’s practically no money, and no relations except the Miss Benevents.’
Miss Silver commented mildly,
‘An awkward situation.’
‘Yes, it is. And there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about it. My parents are dead – the uncle with whom I work is a bachelor – ’ He broke off with a sound of anger. ‘Even if I had rows of female relations, I don’t suppose it would be of the slightest use. Miss Olivia has got Candida pegged down to a history of the Benevent family, and she is letting herself get fond of Miss Cara. She is sorry for her.’