It was a few days later in the early afternoon, a time when the household was usually quiet. Mrs. Emery returned to her room to—as she said—put her feet up for five minutes. I don’t know what Mr. Emery did—probably took a nap in the Emery bedroom. The house had a somnolent air.
I was going upstairs and as I passed the locked room, I thought I heard a sound. I went quietly to the door and stood there for a few moments … listening.
I felt a tingling sensation in my back. Benedict was in London. Mrs. Emery was in her room, and I knew that someone was behind that locked door.
It was so much my mother’s room … her brushes, her mirror … her clothes … just as she had left it. I must be mistaken. I stood very still … listening. And then came the faint rustling sound.
I was trembling. Did the dead really return? Once I had had the feeling that my mother came back to me. That was when I had fancied that she had wanted me to take in Lucie. Fancy? Imagination? I had always had a vivid one. I had been intrigued by the story of Lady Flamstead who had returned to comfort the child whom she had never seen. Perhaps if people left especially loved ones behind they had to come back. My mother had left Benedict and she had left me. I knew how deeply she had loved him and I had been the center of her life until she married him.
These thoughts flashed into my mind as I stood there, tingling with excitement and apprehension.
I took the handle of the door and turned it very quietly. The door was locked. Yet … someone was in there.
I stood for a few more seconds and then I went very quietly along to Mrs. Emery’s room.
I knocked. There was no answer for a few moments and then she said sleepily: “Who’s there?”
I went in. She was dozing by the fire and was startled to see me.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, Mrs. Emery, but I think there is someone in the locked room.”
She continued to look bemused and was clearly not yet awakened from her doze.
“Locked room …” she repeated.
“Yes. I distinctly heard someone there.”
She was recovering herself. “Oh no, Miss Rebecca. You must have fancied it. Unless Mr. Lansdon’s come home unexpectedly and none of us heard he had.”
“I can hardly believe that. Have you got your key?”
She jumped up, looked alarmed, and went to a drawer, opened it and held up the key in triumph.
“Then it must be Mr. Lansdon. But I tried the door and it was locked.”
“You didn’t speak to him, did you? He wouldn’t have liked that. He wouldn’t have wanted to be disturbed.”
“No, I did not. I was very quiet. I can’t believe he was in there.”
“I’ll go up to his room and see if his things are there. But we should have heard him if he’d come from London. There would have been the carriage from the station and all that bustle. There always is.”
“Let’s go at once, Mrs. Emery. Bring the key. Let’s go into the room. Someone may have broken in.”
She nodded grimly. But first we went to Benedict’s room. There was no sign of his arrival.
Mrs. Emery was looking uneasy.
“I must assure myself that there is no one there, Mrs. Emery,” I said.
“All right then, Miss Rebecca.”
We went to the room and she unlocked the door. I caught my breath in amazement. Oliver Gerson was sitting at a little bureau near the window. There was a tin box at his feet and it looked as though he were going through some papers.
He stood up and stared at us.
“So …” I stammered. “It was you …”
“Miss Rebecca …” He looked a little startled for the moment. I fancied he had paled beneath his bronzed skin.
I said: “What are you doing here? No one is supposed to come here. How did you get in?”
He smiled at me and then he was the charming easy-going Oliver Gerson. He put his hand in his pocket and held up a key.
“But there are only two. Mrs. Emery has one.”
“This is the other,” he said.
“Mr. Lansdon’s? So he gave it to you.”
“I came to get some papers and take them back to him.”
“Papers?” I said. “But this was my mother’s room.”
“He keeps some papers here … rather special papers. He wanted me to find them and take them to him.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling deflated.
Mrs. Emery looked very relieved.
“You look really scared,” he said. “Did you think I was a ghost?”
Mrs. Emery said: “Mr. Lansdon always wanted the room locked. He was the only one who went in … bar me to clear. I wonder he didn’t say.”
“Oh, he didn’t think it was important. He knew my coming would not excite much curiosity. As a matter of fact I have nearly finished.”
“Did you bring any luggage, Mr. Gerson?” asked Mrs. Emery. “I’ll see about a room …”
“No … please. It is just a day visit … to get the papers and get back with them. They are wanted urgently.”
“Well, I expect you’ll want something to eat before you go back to London.”
“I dropped in at an inn for some ale and a sandwich. I was in rather a hurry.”
“How did you get into the house?”
“The back door was open and as everyone seemed to be out of the way I got on with the business. I knew where to find everything.”
“Well, you’d like something, I daresay. A cup of tea … or that sort of thing?”
“How very good of you, Mrs. Emery; always so thoughtful for our creature comforts. I was saying to Mr. Lansdon what a treasure you are. But I can’t stop. I’m in rather a hurry. I have to get back to London.”
He was putting some papers into a case.
“You found what you wanted?” I asked.
“Oh yes. Everything.”
“So you will be leaving immediately?”
“I regret that I must. Mr. Lansdon can be a very impatient man.”
“Belinda will be disappointed.”
He put his fingers to his lips. “Sh. Not a word to her or I shall be severely castigated when I next see her which I hope will be soon.”
He smiled at me warmly. “Well, much as I regret it, I must be off. Sorry I gave you a bit of a scare.”
“It wouldn’t take me long to brew a cup of tea,” said Mrs. Emery. “The kettle’s on the hob in my room.”
“Mrs. Emery; you are an angel of mercy as well as a treasure, but duty calls.”
He closed the case and we went out of the room. He locked the door and put the key back into his pocket.
“Au revoir,” he said and was gone.
Mrs. Emery said: “Well, I could certainly do with a nice cup of tea after that. You really had me scared, Miss Rebecca.”
“It was a bit hair-raising to hear someone there.”
“I’d say. It was a good thing it wasn’t one of those girls. They would have had hysterics … you can bet your life.”
“I’m glad we found the explanation.”
We went to her room. “What a nice young man he is,” said Mrs. Emery, looking intently at me. “Always a smile and a cheery word. He’s as friendly to the tweeny as he is to the rest of us. And the children just love him.”
“Yes,” I agreed, “particularly Belinda.”
“Poor mite. She looked really seedy when she came back.” She looked at me intently and added: “I think he’s sweet on you.”
There was a little smirk about her lips. I guessed she was thinking he might provide the solution to my troubles.
It was about a week after that incident that Benedict came to Manorleigh. Oliver Gerson came with him.
They had not been in the house more than twenty minutes when the trouble started.
Benedict was in his study and the children at their lessons in the schoolroom. Belinda was very excited because Oliver Gerson was in the house and she guessed that we should all go riding together as we did when he was here.