He was right there. I leaned against the desk. The anger had gone. I felt flat and tired. 'I guess you're right,' I said. The thought of Kitty, who had only once been as far as Penzance, giving evidence from the witness box at a murder trial — it was unthinkable. 'Okay,' I said. 'I'll let him be.' And I went towards the door. Then I stopped. 'But see he's locked up safe. I'm not working down in the Mermaid if he's loose — not with all that water standing over us in Come Lucky.'
'Don't worry about that,' he answered. 'I don't trust him any more than you do.'
I hesitated. I wanted to tell him I was clearing out — leaving the place — getting right away from the whole rotten business. But he sat there watching me, the gun in his hand and his eyes narrowed. He wouldn't let me go. I knew that. He'd too much to lose. He'd kill me rather than let me get clear of the place.
I went out and closed the door behind me. Now that my anger was gone I felt adrift. I had no purpose. Disgust for the whole rotten business filled my mind. I felt the way Hamlet must have felt. The manner of my mother's death called for vengeance. And yet I could not do it. I could not just kill the old man in cold blood. He was mad. And disgust, not anger, filled me. I'd go away. I'd get clear of it all.
Then I saw the kitchen door facing me. And through it came the sound of a girl sobbing. It was a wild, uncontrolled sound. I opened the door and went in. Kitty was alone. She was sitting by the fire, her shoulders racked by sobs so violent that it seemed impossible for her body to stand it. Her face was white even in the ruddy glow of the flames. She didn't see me. She was staring into the fire and her eyes were dry.
'Kitty!' I said.
She didn't hear me.
I went over to her and took her by the shoulders. She looked up then and saw me. The sobbing stopped. She seemed to be holding her breath. Then suddenly she bent her head against my body and the tears came. Her body trembled and shook in my hands. 'Don't cry,' I said. 'It's past now. It couldn't be helped.'
'It could,' she cried out wildly. 'It could. Oh, Jim — how can you forgive me? She was so good to me. And I believed him. I believed what he said of her. I should have known she didn't do it. I couldn't have saved my mother. But I could have saved her.' She looked up at me wildly. 'Say you forgive me, Jim. Say you forgive me. I couldn't have known, could I?'
'Of course not,' I said, stroking her hair. The poor kid was beside herself.
'Oh God!' she breathed. 'It's so horrible. All that year. She was in that room a year. And she believed she'd done it. She believed she was mad. Oh, if I'd only known,' she sobbed. 'It's my fault. I shouldn't have believed it of her. If I hadn't believed it, then she wouldn't have.'
'Then he'd have killed her a different way,' I said gently. 'Don't worry, Kitty. It wasn't your fault.'
She clutched at my hand and held it tight against her wet cheek. 'She used to tell me fairy stories when I was a little girl with pigtails,' she said in a stifled voice. 'She loved me. I should have known. Her face looking at me through the hatch… Oh, God!'
The door opened and Captain Manack came in. 'The old man's not in his room,' he said. He came up and caught hold of Kitty. 'Did you hear my father come out?'
She gulped and then nodded.
'Which way did he go — upstairs?'
She shook her head. 'He went out the front door,' she said slowly.
He let her go then and turned to me. 'He's down the mine. You come down with us.' He turned quickly and went out through the scullery. I heard him shouting for Friar and Slim.
'Listen, Kitty,' I said, seizing her by the shoulders and forcing her to look at me. 'You can't stay here. Do you understand? You must go away.'
She nodded slowly. And then she said in a small, lost voice, 'But where? I've nowhere to go. I hate this place. But I've never been anywhere else.'
'You're coming away with me.' I said it without thinking, my mind suddenly made up.
She stared at me. Voices sounded through the open scullery door. They were coming nearer. 'Meet me down at the mine at three o'clock in the morning. There's no time to talk about it,' I said quickly as footsteps sounded on the cobbles of the stables. 'Meet me at three o'clock. Understand?'
She nodded slowly. She was too dazed to think it out. She would have agreed to anything I said at that moment. 'Promise?' I said.
'I promise,' she answered.
I heard Friar's voice saying, 'Ruddy lark, this is — I don't fink. We bin on the job since six this mornin', yer know, Capting. I didn't aim ter spend the night playin' tag wiv your old man down that bleedin' mine.' They stopped in the scullery.
'We've gotto find him,' Captain Manack answered sharply. Then he came through into the kitchen. 'Come on, Pryce,' he said.
'I'll stay up here for a bit,' I said. 'The girl's had a shock.'
'To hell with the girl,' he snapped. 'Come on now.'
'I'm staying with the girl,' I told him.
'You're coming down the mine with us.' There was an implied threat in the quietness of his voice. 'Don't start any trouble up here,' he added, and glanced towards Kitty.
I had half a mind to defy him. But it wouldn't do any good. He'd got his gun. I could see the shape of it bulging in his pocket. 'All right,' I said. Then I turned to Kitty. 'Promise?' I asked her again.
She nodded slowly. 'I promise,' she said as though repeating something she'd been taught.
I left her then and went out with Manack. As he shut the door behind us, I saw her sitting just as she had been when I had come in, her eyes staring straight in front of her without seeing anything. I think it must have been then that I realised that I loved her. I know it suddenly seemed quite natural that I'd decided to take her with me when I left in the morning. And the sight of her suffering tore at me as though it were myself that was suffering.
Outside, I was surprised to see that the moon was still shining. It seemed such a long time back that Kitty and I had gone into the house.
We walked hurriedly and in silence, Manack beside me. Slim and Friar behind. We reached the mine buildings. They went into the store shed and got helmets and lamps and clothes. Then we went into the hoist. 'Suppose 'e's wanderin' aba't the cliffs?' Friar said. "E might be anywhere. Don't yer fink one of us better stay on top?'
'No,' Manack answered and we got into the gig. 'He's down the mine. It's the place he'd naturally go.' He flung the lever over and we began to descend. But he stopped at the store room gallery. 'This is where you get off, Pryce,' he said.
'You don't want me down the mine?' I said.
'No.' He stepped out beside me. 'I'm not taking any chances with you, my lad — not after what's happened. Dave!' he shouted. 'Dave! Where is that damned Welshman? Dave!'
The light of a torch flickered. 'Yes. Yes, what is it?' Dave Tanner's voice sounded agitated as he suddenly appeared in the gallery.
'Oh, there you are. Have you got a gun?'
'Indeed I have, Captain. I always — "
'Then keep an eye on your chum, Pryce. You're not to leave him — understand? If he tries to get away use your gun. I hold you responsible for him.' He turned to me. 'Don't take this amiss, Pryce. I don't mean you any harm, but I'm taking no chances. A couple of days and you'll be through. Then you can go.'
His action had taken me so completely by surprise that I said nothing for a moment. Dave had reached us now. The whites of his eyes showed in his swarthy face. 'What is the trouble, Captain?' he asked.
'There's no trouble,' Manack replied sharply. 'Just see that he's here in the morning, that's all.' His voice dropped. 'If he's not — well, you won't get your passage to Italy.'
The menace in his voice brought sudden suspicion to my mind. 'When I've done this job for you,' I said, 'what guarantee have I that you'll let me go then?'