“I do hope she is all right,” I said uneasily.
“So do I. I think it is a very good thing that we are leaving. It will take you right away from all this. You’ll settle in England, Kate. We shall be together. I’ll do everything I can to help.”
“What of Kendal?”
“He’ll be all right. He’s lived through some very strange times. It’s bound to have had an effect on him. He’ll settle though. A year from now we’ll all be happy together. This will be like a forgotten dream I promised your father that I would look after you.”
“Dear Clare, I’m so thankful for you.” I went to the window.
“I wish we could hear that Marie-Claude was safely back. She might have had an accident. I don’t think she is a very good horsewoman.”
“Oh, she’ll be all right on old Fidele. He’d never bestir himself to anything violent.”
As I stood there looking out, I heard noises. Voices . shouting . and the sounds of activity.
“Something’s happening at the castle,” I said.
“I’m going to find out what.”
“I’ll come with you,” said Clare.
There was consternation in the castle. The Baron was shouting orders.
I gathered that the Princesse was missing and that Fidele had returned to the stables alone. He had been found patiently waiting there for how long no one knew.
One of the grooms said that he had saddled the horse for the Princesse in the mid-afternoon and she had gone off on him.
That must have been several hours before.
The Baron said there must have been an accident, and, as he had done when Kendal was lost so recently, he was arranging for search parties to go off in various directions.
He was in perfect command of the situation as he had been a few nights earlier.
I raised my horror-stricken eyes to his and said: “Can I be of any help?”
He returned my gaze steadily, and I could not guess what was in his eyes. Then he said: “You go back to the Logo. When there is news I shall see that you get it without delay.”
He glanced at Clare.
“Take her back,” he said; and added:
“And stay with her.”
Clare nodded and slipped her arm through mine. We went back to the Loge.
Time seemed as though it would never pass. A terrible fear had come to me. Rollo’s face kept flashing in and out of my mind. I remembered words he had said: Something would be done. He was not going to lose us . myself or Kendal.
And Marie-Claude stood in his way.
I am imagining impossibilities, I told myself. But he always says that nothing is impossible. He is ruthless . determined to get his own way. I kept seeing him as he had been in the turret room. Implacable.
Bent on domination. What happened to those who impeded him? He swept them aside.
Oh Marie-Claude, I thought. Where are you? You must be alive and well, you must. And I must leave this place. I must forget my dreams. I have to get away and make a different life for myself. I have to forget the past. forget the excitement, the sort of love I had glimpsed lately. I must settle down to a humdrum life . but one of peace.
Peace? But would there ever be peace again?
Kendal went to bed. I was glad he had not noticed that anything was wrong. He was so obsessed by his own problem that he was not aware of anything else.
Jeanne came and sat with us. We talked in whispers and waited . and waited.
It was nearly midnight when there was a knock on the door. It was the housekeeper from the castle.
“They’ve found her,” she said. She looked at us with wide eyes, the expression of which was half horror, half excitement.
“Where?” whispered Clare.
The housekeeper bit her lips. I noticed that she avoided looking at me.
“They searched the woods. They thought the horse had thrown her.
They couldn’t see down the ravine. It was too dark. They had to go down . And that’s where they found her. She had been dead some hours. ”
I felt dizzy. Clare came to me and put her arm round me.
“Poor soul,” she murmured.
“Poor, poor lady.”
“I was sent to tell you,” said the housekeeper.
“Thank you,” answered Clare.
When she went out, Jeanne looked from me to Clare.
“It’s terrible,” she began.
Clare nodded.
“It’s a great shock. She must have done it … deliberately. She had talked of doing it… and now she has.”
I noticed that Jeanne did not now look at either of us. I could guess what thoughts were in her mind.
Clare said briskly: “There is nothing we can do. We should really try and get some rest. This is a terrible shock. I’ll make a little drink for us. We need it. Go to your rooms. I’ll bring it up to you.”
We were all glad to be alone, I think. I wanted to try to work out how it could have happened. I could not shut out of my mind the thought of her standing on that spot with the steep drop before her. And in my thoughts there was someone else standing close to her.
And then I remembered that occasion when I had gone there with Fidele and he had come up and been surprised to find me there. He had been expecting to come upon her.
“No, no,” I whispered.
“Not that. I couldn’t bear that. Not murder.”
I know he was capable of drastic action. I knew that he took bold steps. But not murder. That would stand between us far more strongly than ever Marie-Claude could have done.
The father of my son . a murderer!
I could not accept that. I would not listen to the voices in my mind . the voices of reason and logical deduction. If I believed them, it was over . over forever, and that was something I could not bear.
This night had brought no new solution for me. Unless it had shown me the only possible path I could take.
Clare came in stirring something.
“It will make you sleep,” she said.
She sat down on the bed and looked at me.
“This changes everything,” she said.
“I don’t know. It’s too soon yet. I can’t think clearly.”
“You’re shocked.”
“Clare, do you think that he …”
“No,” she said emphatically.
“How could you suggest such a thing? It’s obvious that she killed herself. , . unless it was an accident. She was a hypochondriac. She had often talked of killing herself. The more you think of it, the more simple the answer seems.”
“I wish I could be sure.”
“Do you really think that he murdered his wife?”
I was silent.
“My dear, dear Kate, he wouldn’t do it. I know he wouldn’t. To murder for gain … that’s the coward’s way. It means you can’t fight for what you want by any other means … and that another person is too strong for you. No, that’s not the Baron’s way. I’ve been thinking that we ought to go away … for a while. Then all this will blow over. We could live quietly at Collison House and in a few months … or after a suitable time has elapsed … he can come over for you and you can be married.”
“Oh Clare, you work everything out so very precisely.”
“It’s because lam of a practical nature. The poor Princesse has gone.
Poor woman. I was so sorry for her. She hadn’t much to live for, had she? I think it was the best way. It may be that she saw this, and realized it would make it easier for everyone. You see it was just her unhappiness against you, him, Kendal . and her own child too. How do you think young William would have felt if you and Kendal had gone away? You’ve done wonders for him between you you, Jeanne and Kendal. He would be a wretchedly lonely little boy again. Perhaps she knew this. Perhaps she weighed it up and saw the best solution . the noble way out. “
“I don’t think the Princesse would have thought like that.”