I knew now that Lawrence could never be anything but a good friend. Of course, some people married good friends and were very happy. There was my mother and Harriman Blakemore -and now Kitty and Jefferson Craig. A marriage of convenience, if ever there was one. But for what motive? Not financial gain, but genuine desire to help on one side and on the other an over-riding need for support. My mother and Harriman.
Kitty and Jefferson Craig. There was no pretence between them.
I was thinking of telling Lucian what I had told Gertie. That I was going to see a friend from the past. Well, I was . but there was more to it than that.
Then the thought came to me. If I were not frank with Lucian, why should I expect him to be with me?
I decided then that I must tell him that I had seen Kitty Carson, that I was going to stay with her and that I was becoming more and more caught up in what had happened at Commonwood House during that fatal time when it had become part of a cause celebre.
I met him at our now familiar table at Logan’s.
When we had ordered, he said: “Something has happened. Tell me.”
I hardly knew where to begin, so I said: “You know I have always been interested in the Marline case.”
His face changed. He frowned slightly.
“Oh, it is so long ago. It’s all over. What good could anyone do now?”
“I don’t know. But I have seen Kitty Carson.”
“What?”
“Let me explain. You know I stayed with my mother. I told you how she had married Harriman Blakemore and how they would like to see you one day. I am going to arrange that. When I was there, we talked a lot about the Marline case. You see, my mother was interested in Commonwood, for obvious reasons, and we talked about the old days.
Harriman suggested that, as a man called Jefferson Craig had campaigned for Kitty, he might know something of her whereabouts. “
“What made you go to all this trouble?”
“I suppose it was due to knowing them all so well and my conviction of the doctor’s innocence.”
“If he were innocent, who killed Mrs. Marline?”
“That is the mystery. Suicide possibly, but I can’t believe that.
However, Harriman had this idea, and Dorothy Emmerson had once written to Jefferson Craig and had an address. So I wrote to Kitty care of him, and she got the letter right away because she had married him.
The out come of all this was that we met in Kensington Gardens.
It was easy to talk there. I had found a quiet spot and there are not many people about at ten o’clock in the morning. “
He stared at me unbelievingly and I added: “There it is. And that is where I am going.”
“I can’t see …”
“You think I should not have done this?”
“Perhaps, when something like this has happened, it would be better not to become involved. I think it is something you should put out of your mind and forget.”
“There are some things one cannot forget, however much one tries.”
“What did she tell you?”
“How she suffered. She has a daughter now. Jefferson Craig married Kitty so that the child should have the name of Craig. He seems to be a wonderful man. Harriman is too. How lucky both Kitty and my mother are! Poor Kitty, she suffered so much.”
He was staring ahead of him.
“Yes. Both of them seem to have found very good men.”
“Kitty admits how fortunate she has been in that respect. Her great fear is that, although her little girl has the name of Craig, some day someone might discover that she is the daughter of Edward Marline. She says that will hang over her for ever.”
“It is very remote,” he said.
“Yes, she knows that, but it is there. And, Lucian, it is possible.”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
“So I am going to her. I shall meet Jefferson Craig. Dorothy Emmerson is most impressed. She says he is a very clever man.”
He was silent and I guessed he was thinking that my preoccupation with this unsavoury event was unhealthy and rather foolish. Yet, at the same time, he had looked rather disturbed when I had spoken of the shadow which Kitty had said would hang over her daughter.
He changed the subject and we talked of other matters, of Gertie’s return and my next visit to the Grange, which would be after my return from seeing Kitty. Then my mother wanted me to go to Castle Folly, and she had said that it would be very pleasant if Lucian accompanied me.
But some pleasure had gone out of this meeting, and I felt the barrier between us was stronger than ever.
I was very surprised that evening to find that a note addressed to me had been delivered at the house. It had been pushed through the letter box and I was surprised to see that it was in Lucian’s handwriting.
I opened it with eagerness and read:
My dear Carmel, I must see you tomorrow. It is very important. I have something to tell you without delay. We must go somewhere where we can be undisturbed. You told me you had met Kitty Carson in Kensington Gardens and there was hardly anyone there at ten in the mornings.
Could you possibly meet me there tomorrow at that time? I will wait for you at the Memorial. I shall be there in any case.
My dearest, this is very important. I love you.
Lucian.
I read and re-read the note. He had called me ‘dearest’ and he had said “I love you.” That gladdened me, but the mysterious urgency of it faintly alarmed me.
I scarcely slept that night and in the morning at ten o’clock I was at the Memorial, to find Lucian already there.
“Lucian!” I cried.
“What has happened?”
He took my arm.
“Let’s sit down in that quiet spot you mentioned.”
We hurried there. His face was stern and very solemn.
As soon as we were seated, he said: “It is about the Marline case.”
I was astonished.
“Yes, yes?” I said eagerly.
“You are convinced that Edward Marline did not commit that murder. I think I know who did.”
“Lucian! Who?”
He was staring straight ahead. He hesitated, as though he found it difficult to speak, then he said slowly: “I think … I did.”
“You! What do you mean?”
“I mean that I fear I may have been responsible for Grace Marline’s death.”
That’s impossible! You weren’t there. “
“Carmel, I think I may have been responsible,” he repeated.
“I mean her death may have been due to me. It has haunted me for a long time.
I try not to think of it, but sometimes I wake in the night with a horrible sense of guilt, and I think of that man who hanged for something which could have been due to me. I think of the governess . and now her daughter . who have this hanging over them for the rest of their lives . because of what I did. “
“How could you have had anything to do with it? You hardly saw the woman. You weren’t there.”
“I was there,” he said.
“Do you remember the day before she died? I shall never forget it.”
“I remember,” I said.
“You and Camilla came to tea.”
“Yes. We were in the drawing-room downstairs because Mrs. Marline was in the garden and it wouldn’t matter if we made a noise. We talked of opals. You remember that?”
I nodded.
“Camilla said our mother had had some fine ones, and Estella, or it might have been Henry, replied that their mother had an opal ring. He wanted to show it to me.”