Write to me at the above address.
Thank you, Carmel, for thinking of me.
Kitty. By the way, address me as Mrs. Craig.
I read and re-read the letter. Then I wrote to her. I should be at the Albert Memorial next Wednesday.
It was clear that Kitty was anxious that no one should know of this meeting. I could well understand her desire for absolute anonymity.
But I had to tell Dorothy. I owed it to her. Had she not been instrumental in making the connection, and I knew I could trust her completely.
“How exciting!” she cried when I showed her the letter.
“I wish I could come with you.”
“That’s entirely out of the question,” I said at once.
“If she saw I was not alone, she might go away.”
Dorothy realized that.
“And she is Mrs. Craig,” she said.
“Could Jefferson Craig have married her? Good heavens! Who would have thought of that?”
We agreed to say nothing to Lawrence about it, and I was glad that she saw the necessity for that. I was also relieved that Gertie had not yet returned from her honeymoon. I knew she would have guessed something had happened and made an effort to learn what it was.
I was at the Albert Memorial at exactly ten o’clock. It was easy for me. I only had to walk there. She had not arrived, but I was not alarmed, for I knew she would find it difficult to judge exactly the time the journey would take. Eight minutes passed before I saw her hurrying to our rendezvous.
I went towards her and, for a few seconds we stood looking at each other. Then she held out her hands and I |j took them both in mine.
She had changed considerably. There were signs of grey in her golden hair; she had lost that air of serenity which had once been a feature of her personality. Even if I had not known her history, I should have realized that she was a woman who had suffered much tragedy.
“Carmel!” she said in that well-remembered voice.
“I am so pleased to see you.”
“And I you. I have thought about you so much and have wondered where you were.”
Her lips trembled and there were tears in her eyes. She seemed suddenly her old self. But we must not have an emotional scene in public.
“Let us find a seat and sit down,” she said.
“I know just where,” I said.
We walked away from the Memorial and into the Gardens.
She said: “I’m sorry I kept you waiting. It is difficult when one relies on trains.”
“Yes,” I said.
Then we were silent, for making light conversation seemed banal and we knew that when we were seated there would be so much to say.
I had selected the seat for our purpose some days before. There was a stretch of ground just behind the flower walk and one isolated seat looking over it.
We sat down and she said: “Well, Carmel?”
“Oh, Miss Carson …” I began.
“You should call me Kitty now that I am no longer your governess.”
“Kitty, tell me what you are doing now.”
“I live very quietly.”
“You are Mrs. Craig. Have you a husband?”
“Yes.”
“Can you bear to talk of it?”
“It is what I have come to do.”
I braced myself. I said: “I want you to know that I only recently heard what happened. I went away with my father.”
“I know Captain Sinclair took you away when the others went to their aunt.”
“I was with him in Australia. He was shipwrecked. That was not very long ago. And then I came to England and that was when I learned”
“So, all those years, you did not know.”
“No. I thought you would all have been at Commonwood House.”
“It must have been a shock to learn the truth.”
“Yes. I was devastated. Perhaps it was impertinent of me to try to find you. It was through a friend who was interested in such cases. I knew that Mr. Craig had helped you and it was a shot in the dark. She had written to him through his publishers and she thought they might forward a letter to him. “
“That explains it. Oh, Carmel, it was …”
“Don’t. Don’t. It must be terrible for you to talk of it, even now.”
“I must not be foolish. I have come to talk … to tell you. And, Carmel, I want you to know. I could not bear that you should believe as so many people believed. I am going to tell you … so that you know how it really happened. You already know what they did to Edward to the doctor …”
I nodded. She could not speak for a moment.
Then anger burst forth.
“It was false. It was wicked. And they did that to him. He was innocent, Carmel. I know he was.”
I took her hand and pressed it.
“It was what I felt,” I said.
“That is why I was so anxious to hear from you.”
“Who could believe such a thing of him? He was the gentlest man who ever lived.” Her voice broke again.
“I must be calm. We were always friends, you and I, weren’t we? I know that he was innocent. You will believe me?”
“Yes,” I said fervently, “I will.”
“There is only his word.”
That is enough,” I said.
“Carmel, how glad I am that I came to you! But what use is it? It is done. But I shall not rest until the world knows he was innocent and all I can say is that I know because he told me. That is all I can say. When he knew they were going to arrest him, he said to me, ” Kitty, my dearest, they are going to accuse me of murdering Grace.
Everything points to me, and there is no way of proving that I am innocent of that crime. I was not in her room. I did not touch those pills. I know nothing about them. And I want you to know, and to believe I speak the truth. I shall forget all else. ” And the next day we were arrested … both of us.”
We were silent. I did not know what to say to her, but my own belief in his innocence was confirmed.
It was some time before we could speak. Then I said: “I am glad I came. I have always been sure that he was innocent, and now I am absolutely certain.”
“He would have told me,” she said.
“He would never have lied to me.”
She was calmer after that and I think I conveyed to her the sincerity of my belief.
“I was on trial with him,” she said.
“Those days are not very clear to me now, for which, I suppose, I must be thankful. Not many people stand on trial for their lives. He had his enemies. That pernicious old woman. How she revelled in it!”
“You mean Nanny Gilroy?” I said.
“I always disliked her.”
“Mrs. Barton was influenced by her … and there was the district nurse, too. They all knew how difficult Grace Marline was to live with. That could not be denied. It was evidence against him. But, of course, it was his feelings for me that convinced them. Oh, Carmel, think of it! Those letters he wrote to me, read in court … those intimate, loving, damning letters! What a fool I was to keep them!
They searched my room and found them. They had been such a comfort to me . and how was I to know? You must not condemn us. “
“Condemn you! How I wish there was something I could have done to help you!”
“You must forgive me. I become emotional. I was so angry with that wicked woman … with her innuendoes. She hated me from the moment I came into the house. And to think she knew … and was tittering about us! I loved the doctor, Carmel. I want you to understand. It wasn’t as they made out. It was true love … which is never to be laughed at and sneered at… as they did. I hope, Carmel, that you will find a love as tender and true as mine for Edward Marline and his for me. It was worth living for . dying for . Oh no, not the way he did. “
“Please don’t distress yourself. Perhaps we had better not talk of it.”