“You won’t be condemned without reason,” said my father, glaring at Jonathan. “But this is not the time.”
My mother got out of bed and put on her dressing gown.
“Come with me, Prue,” she said. “You should go to bed. We’ll hear all about it in the morning.”
“The girl’s a brazen liar,” said Jonathan.
“Hold your tongue!” cried my father. “And get out. Lottie, can you do something about this girl?”
I went over to her. “Come on, Prue,” I said. “You can tell me all about it.”
She lifted her face to mine. “I never… I swear I never.”
“All right,” I said, “all right. Which is your room?”
“I share with Dot and Emily.”
“Well, first of all we’ll tidy you up a little.”
My mother looked relieved. “Will you see to it, Jessica?”
“Yes,” I said.
Jonathan caught my arm.
“I swear, Jessica, she came to me.”
“Look, Jonathan,” I said. “It’s late. We don’t want to wake all the servants. Go to your room. It can all be sorted out in the morning.”
“It was a trick.”
“All right. But go now.”
I could see my father was getting more and more angry and that his anger was directed at Jonathan, and I felt I must put an end to the scene as soon as possible.
I managed to get Jonathan and the girl outside. Then I saw Tamarisk.
“What’s happened?” she cried.
“Nothing,” I said. “Go back to bed.”
She looked at Jonathan. “Are you all right?” she asked.
He nodded, smiling at her.
She ran to him and caught his arm. “You look funny.”
“Angry,” he said.
“Not with me?”
“Of course not.”
“With Jessica?”
He shook his head.
“Why is Prue’s blouse torn? Why is she crying?”
“Never mind now.”
She clung to his arm. “Are they trying to hurt you?”
“Yes, they are.”
“I won’t let them.”
“No, of course you won’t.”
“Jonathan,” I said. “Go to your room. You, too, Tamarisk. We’ll meet in the morning. Come along with me, Prue.”
I took her into my room and firmly shut the door.
I said: “We’ll wash your face and tidy you up a bit. Tell me exactly what happened.”
“It was my turn for late duty. I was just going to bed when the bell rang for Mr. Jonathan’s room.”
“Yes?”
“So I went up, Mrs. Barrington.”
“And what happened then?”
“He said. ‘Come in.’ He was in bed. He said, ‘Come over here, Prue.’ So I went to the bed. Then he got hold of me and pulled me down. I knew that I had to get away. I started screaming and fighting. He was very angry. But I got away and ran to Mr. and Mrs. Frenshaw’s room because I reckoned that was where I could be safe from him. They won’t believe me, Mrs. Barrington. They’ll believe him.”
“They’ll want to know the truth and that is what they’ll believe.”
“But I’m only the maid and he … and he … Oh, they won’t believe me. They’ll say I’m a bad girl… They’ll send me away and I won’t get a reference …”
“Now listen to me, Prue. In the morning there’ll be questions. If you answer up truthfully you will be believed.”
She shook her head. “They won’t…”
“Oh yes, they will. Now let us bathe your face.”
She stood still, her face full of misery. I bathed her eyes.
“There,” I said briskly. “That’s better. How badly torn your bodice is. Do you think you could slip into your room without the others noticing?”
She nodded.
“Well, do that. Go quietly. They’ll probably be asleep. And in the morning we’ll sort it all out.”
“It’s no good. What’s my voice against his … He’s one of the family …”
“That won’t make any difference with Mr. Frenshaw. He will find out the truth and see that justice is done.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Barrington,” she said quietly.
I took her to the corridor and watched her go upstairs.
Oh, Jonathan, I thought, how foolish you are!
Next morning there was consternation in the house. Prue had left.
Dot came to tell me, her eyes wide with that excited horror which some people betray when they are the bearers of bad news.
“She’s gone, Mrs. Barrington. Clean gone. Took all her things, she has. We never heard nothing … me and Emily. Her bed wasn’t slept in. I reckon she crept out like … so’s we shouldn’t hear.”
Poor Prue, I thought. She couldn’t face the shame of it. She was so convinced that she would not be believed.
My father was furious when he heard. “I’ve just about had enough of that young man,” he said.
“You haven’t heard the whole story yet,” I reminded him. “You’re jumping to conclusions.”
“A pretty clear conclusion, I would say.”
“On the face of it.”
“You’re standing up for him. Can’t you see he has been caught redhanded this time?”
The scene between him and Jonathan was violent. I thought they might have come to blows. Then my mother went in to intervene.
When Jonathan came out he looked quite unlike himself.
He said to me: “I suppose you share the general view?”
“What’s that?”
“That I tried to rape the girl.”
“Did you?”
“I swear I didn’t.”
“What was she doing in your bedroom?”
“Ask her. She came in. I didn’t send for her.”
“She said you did.”
“Then she’s a liar.”
“Do you mean she just walked in?”
“That’s it. I was half asleep.”
“And … she offered herself?”
“I suppose it was like that. I didn’t have time to think. I was half asleep, I tell you. Jessica, like the rest you won’t believe me, but I’m innocent of this.”
“If you tell me so I’ll believe you, Jonathan.”
“Well, I am telling you.”
“What did she do it for?”
“Ask me something simple.”
“A victim to your fatal charm? She seemed a quiet girl. Shy, they said.”
“They are sometimes the worst… or the best… it depends which way you look at it.”
“Jonathan, this is terrible. You know what my father is like.”
“Not my most devoted admirer at the best of times.”
“The trouble is you are too like him.”
“You would think that would make for understanding. I am sure he was not exactly a paragon of virtue in his young days. What is so maddening, Jessica, is to be blamed for something you haven’t done when I suppose there are so many things for which one could be blamed.”
“This will pass.”
“The wretched girl has gone. I wanted to have it out with her face to face.”
“I wonder why she ran away.”
“Too shy to face the enquiry, they said. Guilty, that’s what.”
“I don’t think they’ll see it like that.”
“You can bet they won’t. I shall be branded yet again.”
“Never mind. It will blow over. These things often do.”
“If I don’t get sent packing in the meantime.”
“Oh no …”
“The old man is in a fury. Just another little nail in the coffin of the heir of Eversleigh. I seem to have some evil spirit dogging me. When you think of that letter some snake sent about my gambling spree … it makes me wonder. And now this.”
“That girl can’t have anything to do with your gambling. And I daresay there are little peccadilloes which don’t always come to light.”
I had managed to produce a smile.
Tamarisk came running up. She seized Jonathan’s arm.
“What are they going to do to you?” she asked.