“Magnificent!” I cried.
“Well, you in that dress and me in my doublet and hose … what impression do you think we’d make?”
“They’re different periods for one thing.”
“What does that matter? They’d never know. I thought that in the shadows … in the minstrels’ gallery, we’d make a good pair of ghosts.”
I stared at him, understanding dawning. Of course, the Arkwrights were coming to view the house this afternoon.
“Jago,” I said, “what wild scheme have you in mind just now?”
“I’m going to stop those people buying our house.”
“You mean you’re going to frighten them?”
“The ghosts are,” he said. “You and I will make a jolly good pair of ghosts. I’ve got it all planned. They’re in the hall. You and I stand in the shadows in the minstrels’ gallery. We’ll appear and then … disappear. But not before Gwennie Arkwright has seen us. She’ll be so scared that Mr. A. for all his brass will have to give way to entreaties.”
I laughed. It was typical of him.
“Full marks for imagination,” I said.
“I’ll have them for strategy as well. How could it fail? I want your help.”
“I don’t like it. I think that girl would be really scared.”
“Of course she will be. That’s the object of the exercise. She’ll insist that Pa does not buy the place and they’ll go off somewhere else.”
“It only postpones the evil day. Or do you propose that when the next prospective buyer comes along we perform our little ghostly charade again? You forget. I shan’t be here to help you.”
“By that time I’m going to find something of real value in the attics. All I want is time. I’m also working on some way of keeping you here.”
“I’m afraid you’d never frighten Miss Bell away with ghosts.”
“My dear Caroline, I have so many ideas going round and round in my head. I shall think of something. There is still time. What we have to concentrate on now is the Arkwrights. You are going to help me, aren’t you?”
“Wouldn’t one ghost do?”
“Two’s better. Male and female. Come on. Don’t be a spoil-sport, Caroline. Put on the dress. Just see how you look.”
I couldn’t help falling in with the plan. The dress was too big for me but it did look effective. There was an old mirror in the attic. It was mottled and gave back a shadowy vision. Reflected in it we certainly did look like two ghosts from the past.
We rolled about, laughing at each other. I was sober suddenly, wondering how we could give way to such merriment with disaster hanging over both our heads. He was about to lose his beloved home and I was soon to leave a life which had become interesting and exciting to go back to one of dreary confined routine. Yet there could be these moments of sheer enjoyment. I was grateful to him for making me forget even for such a short while.
I said: “I’ll help.”
“All we have to do is stand there. We want to catch Gwennie on her own if we can. Perhaps while Pa is examining the panelling and calculating how much brass will be required to put it in order. There is a movement from the gallery. Gwennie looks up and sees standing there, glaring down at her, two figures from the past. Perhaps we shake our heads at her dismally … warningly … menacingly … but clearly indicating that she should not bring her father to Landower.”
“You make the wildest schemes.”
“What’s wild about this? It’s sheer logic.”
“Like keeping me in the dungeons with rats for company?”
“That was a figure of speech. I hadn’t worked that out properly. This is all carefully thought out.”
“When do they arrive?”
“Any time now. Paul will show them round … or my father will. We’ll choose our moment. We must be prepared.”
“What about my hair?”
“How did they wear it in those days?”
“Frizzy fringes, as far as I know.”
“Just tie it right back. But perhaps if you have it piled up …”
“I’ve no pins. I wonder if there is anything in the trunk. A comb or something.”
We looked. There were no combs but there were some ribbons. I tied my hair with a bow of ribbon, so that it stuck out like a tail at the top of my head. The ribbon didn’t match the dress but it was quite effective.
“Splendid!” cried Jago. “Now we’ll take up our places in the gallery so that we are all ready for the great moment.”
I giggled at myself wearing the elaborate dress with my riding boots protruding incongruously from the skirt.
“They won’t see your feet,” said Jago consolingly. “Now we reach the gallery by way of a side door. It’s the door through which the musicians enter. It’s concealed by a curtain. When we leave we can cut through a corridor to the stone staircase and up to the attics. Couldn’t be better.”
I knew afterwards that I should never have agreed to this mad adventure. But who cannot be wise after the event?
Trying to suppress our laughter we came down the stone staircase. I had to tread cautiously for such medieval staircases were dangerous at the best of times, but with a long skirt which was far too big for me trailing at my feet, I had to watch every step.
Jago, ahead of me, impatiently urged me on, through the corridor to the side door. He drew aside the curtain and we walked in. For a fraction of a second, which seemed at least like ten, we stood there. Jago had miscalculated. Our intended victim was not in the hall as he had planned; she was actually in the gallery. I saw her face freeze into an expression of absolute fear and horror. She screamed. She stepped backwards and caught the rail of the balustrade. It came away in her hands and she fell forward, and down into the hall below.
We stood there for a few seconds staring at her. There was a shout. Mr. Arkwright ran to her. I saw him bending over her. Paul was running towards them.
Jago had turned pale. He drew me back hastily behind the curtain. I could hear Paul shouting orders.
“Come … quickly,” said Jago; and grasping my hand he pulled me out of the gallery.
We stood in the attic, the open trunk before us.
“Do you think she was badly hurt?” I whispered.
Jago shook his head. “No … no … Just a fall … nothing more.”
“It was a long way to fall,” I said.
“They were all there to look after her.”
“Oh, Jago … what if she dies?”
“Of course she won’t die.”
“If she dies … we’ve killed her.”
“No … no. She killed herself. She shouldn’t have been so scared … just at two people dressed up.”
“But she didn’t know we were dressed up. She thought we were ghosts. That’s what we intended.”
“She’ll be all right,” he said. But I was not sure that I thought so.
“We ought to go and see what’s happened.”
“What good would that do? They’re doing all that can be done.”
“But it was our fault.”
He took me by the arm and shook me. “Look! What good can it do? Let’s get out of these clothes. No one will ever know that we wore them. What we’ve got to do now is slip out. We’ll go the way we came. Get that dress off quickly.” He had already stripped off his doublet and was getting into his riding coat.
With trembling fingers I took off the gown. In a few moments we were completely dressed and the trunk was shut. He took my hand and pulled me out of the attic.
We went out the way we had come in and reached the stables without being seen.
We mounted our horses and rode away.
I had said not a word. I was deeply shocked and filled with a terrible remorse.
He said goodbye to me and I rode home to Tressidor. I stayed in my room until dinner time.
I wanted to be alone to think.