Hester came to a stop on the stair behind him.
"It"s very fine, isn"t it," she said, intending it as a form of agreement.
"Fine?" he said bitterly and without turning to look at her. "Oh yes, very fine. Very handsome, was Hamish. Thought himself quite a fellow." His expression did not change, nor did he move, but stood clinging to the banister rail and leaning half over it.
"I meant it was a fine portrait," Hester corrected. "Of course I didn"t know the gentleman to comment upon him."
"Hamish? My brother Hamish. Of course you didn"t. Been dead these last eight years, although with that thing hanging there, I don"t feel that he"s dead at all-just mummified and still with us. I should build a pyramid and pile it on top of him-that"s a good idea. A million tons of granite. A mountain of a tomb!" Very slowly he slid down until he was sitting on the tread, his legs sprawled across the stair, blocking her way. He smiled. "Two million! What does a million tons of rock look like, Miss-Miss-" He looked at her with wide, unfocused eyes.
"Latterly," she offered.
He shook his head. "What do you mean, girl, latterly? A million tons is a million tons! It"s always the same. Latterly-formerly-anytime!" He blinked.
"My name is Hester Latterly," she said slowly.
"How do you do. Hector Farraline." He made as if to bow, and slid down another step, b.u.mping against her ankles.
She retreated. "How do you do, Mr. Farraline."
"Ever seen the great pyramids of Egypt?" he asked innocently.
"No. I have never been to Egypt."
"Should go. Very interesting." He nodded several times and she was afraid he was going to slide down ever farther.
"I will do, if I should ever have the opportunity," she a.s.sured him.
"Thought Oonagh said you"d been there." He concentrated fiercely, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up his face. "Oonagh"s never wrong, never. Most unnerving woman. Never argue with Oonagh. Read your thoughts as another man might read a book."
"I"ve been to the Crimea." Hester retreated another step. She did not want him to knock her over if he should lose his balance again, which he looked to be in imminent danger of doing.
"Crimea? Whatever for?"
"The war."
"Oh."
"I wonder..." She was about to ask him if she might pa.s.s, when she heard the discreet steps of the butler, McTeer, coming up behind her.
"Why would you go to a war?" Hector refused to let go of the puzzle. "You"re a woman. You can"t fight!" He began to laugh, as if the idea amused him.
"Now Mr. Farraline, sir," McTeer said firmly. "You go up to your room and lie down a while. You can"t sit here all afternoon. People need the stairs."
Hector shook him off impatiently. "Go away, man. You"ve got a face like a chief mourner at a funeral. You couldn"t look worse if it were your own."
"I"m sorry, miss." McTeer looked apologetically at Hester. "He"s a bit of a nuisance, but he"s no harm. He"ll no bother ye, except for prattlin" on." He took hold of Hector under the arms and hauled him to his feet. "Come on now, ye don"t want Miss Mary to see you behaving like a fool, do ye?"
The mention of Mary"s name sobered Hector dramatically. He gave one more venomous glance at the portrait across the hall, then allowed McTeer to a.s.sist him properly to his feet and together they made their way slowly up the stairs, leaving room for Hester to follow unhindered.
Hester slept, although she had not intended to, and woke with a start to find that it was time to prepare herself for an early dinner and bring her bag down to the hall, along with her cape, ready for departure to the railway station.
Dinner was served in the dining room, but this time the table was set for ten, and it was Alastair Farraline who sat at the head. He was an imposing-looking man and Hester knew instantly who he was because the family resemblance was startling. He had the same long face with fair hair, thinning considerably towards the front, a long nose, definitely aquiline, and a broad mouth. The shape of his bones favored Mary rather than the man in the portrait, and when he spoke his voice was deep and rich, quite his most remarkable feature.
"How do you do, Miss Latterly. Please be seated." He indicated the last remaining empty chair. "I am delighted you accepted our offer to accompany Mother to London. It will set all our minds at rest concerning her welfare."
"Thank you, Mr. Farraline. I shall do my best to see she has an easy journey." She sat down, smiling at the others around the table. Mary sat at the foot, and to her left a man possibly approaching forty, who looked as utterly different from the Farralines as did Deirdra. His head was deep through from front to back, and his heavy hair, almost black, swept thickly across it with barely a wave. His eyes were set deep under dark brows, his jutting nose was straight and strong and his mouth betrayed both pa.s.sion and will. It was an interesting face, unlike any other Hester could recall.
Mary caught her glance.
She introduced him with a smile of affection. "My son-in-law, Baird McIvor." Then she turned to the younger man at her left, beyond Oonagh. He was obviously a family member; his coloring was too like the others", his face had the same uncertainty, the shadow of humor and vulnerability in it. "My son Kenneth," she said. "And my other son-in-law, Quinlan Fyffe." She looked opposite to the remaining person Hester did not already know. He was also fair, but his hair was flaxen, almost silver in color, and cropped close to his head in tight curls. His face was long, his nose very straight and a trifle large for the rest of his features, his mouth small and chiseled in shape. It was a clever, meticulous face, that of a man who concealed as much as he told.
"How do you do," Hester said punctiliously. They each replied, and conversation was stilted and sporadic while the first course was served. They inquired after her journey up from London, and she replied that it had been excellent, and thanked them for their concern.
Alastair frowned and looked across at his younger brother, who seemed to be eating with remarkable haste.
"We have plenty of time, Kenneth. The train does not leave until a quarter past nine."
Kenneth continued eating and did not turn his head to look at Alastair. "I am not coming to the station. I shall say good-bye to Mother here." There was a moment"s silence. Oonagh also stopped eating and turned towards him. "I am going out," he said, his voice taking on a defiant tone.
Alastair was not satisfied. "Where are you going to, that you dine here first and cannot come to the station with us to wish Mother farewell?"
"What difference does it make if I wish to say good-bye here or at the station?" Kenneth demanded. "And I am dining here so that I can see her off properly, rather than go before dinner." He smiled as if that were a most satisfactory answer.
Alastair pursed his lips, but said no more. Kenneth continued eating, still rapidly.
The next course was served, and while they were eating, Hester discreetly studied their faces. Kenneth was obviously intent upon his engagement, whatever it was. He looked neither right nor left, but ate steadily, and then sat with impatience plain in his face while he waited for the maid to clear his plate and the main course to be served. Twice he looked up sharply as if to speak, and Hester felt he would have asked for his portion to be served separately, ahead of the others, had he dared.
Hector ate very little, but emptied his winegla.s.s twice. Before filling it the third time, McTeer glanced up and met Oonagh"s eyes. She shook her head minutely, and it was only because Hester was looking directly at her that she saw it at all. McTeer removed the bottle in its basket, and Hector said nothing.
Deirdra made some mention of an important dinner which was to be held and she wished to attend.
"For which, no doubt, you will need a new gown?" Alastair said dryly.
"It would be nice," she agreed. "I only wish to do you justice, my dear. I should not like people to think that the Fiscal"s wife made do from one event to another."
"Little chance of that," Quinlan remarked with a smile. "You have had at least six this year...that I know of." But there was no rancor in his voice, only amus.e.m.e.nt.
"As Fiscal"s wife, she goes to far more of those events than most of us," Mary said soothingly. Then added, "Thank goodness," under her breath.
Baird McIvor looked at her with a smile. "You don"t care for civic dinners, Mother-in-law?" He spoke as if he already knew the answer, his dark face conveyed both amus.e.m.e.nt and considerable affection.
"I do not," she agreed, her eyes bright. "A lot of people only too aware of their own importance, sitting around eating too well, and giving portentous opinions upon everything and everyone. I often have the feeling that anyone caught making a joke would be fined immediately and then dismissed."
"You exaggerate, Mother." Alastair shook his head. "Judge Campbell is a bit dour, his wife is more than a little self-important, Judge Ross tends to fall asleep, but most of them are well enough."
"Mrs. Campbell?" Mary raised silver eyebrows and her expression a.s.sumed a sour severity. "Ayv"e never heeard anything layke it in all may born days!" she said in heavily affected accent. "When aye was a geerl, we didn"t ..."
Eilish giggled and glanced at Hester. It was apparently something of a family joke.
"When she was a girl, her grandfather was selling fish on the Leith docks and her mother was running errands for old McVeigh," Hector said with a twist of his lips.
"Never!" Oonagh was incredulous. "Mrs. Campbell?"
"Aye-Jeannie Robertson, as she was then," he a.s.sured her. "Two brown pigtails down her back, she had, and holes in her boots."
Deirdra looked at him with new appreciation. "I shall remember that, next time she looks me up and down with a sneer on her face."
"The old man was drowned," Hector went on, enjoying his audience. "Took a dram too much, and fell off the docks one night in December. Twenty-seven, I think it was. Yes, eighteen twenty-seven."
Kenneth"s impatience finally overcame his caution and he told McTeer to bring his dessert ahead of the others. Mary frowned; Alastair opened his mouth as if to say something, then caught Mary"s eye and changed his mind.
Oonagh made some remark about a play that was on in the city. Quinlan agreed with her, and Baird immediately contradicted him. The matter was totally trivial, and yet Hester was startled to hear in their voices an animosity which sounded acutely personal, as if the subject were one of intense importance. She glanced at Quinlan"s face and saw his eyes hard, his lips tight as he stared across the table. Opposite him Baird was brooding, his brows drawn down, his hands clenched. He looked as if he nursed within himself some deep pain.
Eilish did not look at either of them, but down at her plate, her fork idle, food ignored.
No one else appeared to notice anything unusual.
Mary turned to Alastair. "Deirdra says they are going to reopen the Galbraith case. Is that true?"
Alastair raised his head very slowly, his face set in a hard, wary expression. "Gossip," he said between his teeth. He looked down the table at his wife. "It is repeating such things that gives ignorant people to start speculating, and reputations are ruined. I"m sorry you did not know better than to do such a thing."
Mary"s face darkened at the insult, but she did not speak.
The color rushed up Deirdra"s cheeks and the muscles in her throat tightened. "I mentioned it to no one outside this room," she said angrily. "Miss Latterly is hardly going to rush out around London telling people. They"ve never heard of Galbraith! Anyway, is it true? Are they going to reopen it?"
"No, of course not," Alastair said angrily. "There is no evidence. If there had been, I would not have dismissed it in the first place."
"There is no new evidence?" Mary pressed.
"There is no evidence at all, old or new," Alastair replied, meeting her gaze squarely, finality in his voice.
Kenneth rose from the table. "Excuse me. I must go, or I shall be late." He bent over and kissed his mother lightly on the cheek. "Have a good journey, Mother, and give Griselda my love. I"ll come to meet you at the station when you get home again." He looked across at Hester. "Good-bye, Miss Latterly. I"m happy to have made your acquaintance, and that Mother will be in such able hands. Good night." And with a wave he went out of the room and closed the door.
"Where is he going?" Alastair said irritably. He looked around the table. "Oonagh?"
"I"ve no idea," Oonagh said.
"A woman, I imagine," Quinlan suggested with a shadow of a smile. "It is to be expected."
"Well why don"t we know about her?" Alastair asked. "If he is courting her, we should know who she is!" He glared at his brother-in-law. "Do you know, Quin?"
Quinlan"s eyes widened in surprise.
"No. Certainly not! It is merely an educated guess. Maybe I am wrong. Perhaps he is gambling, or going to a theater?"
"It"s late for a theater," Baird said quickly.
"He said he was late!" Quinlan said.
"He didn"t. He said he would be late if he waited for us to finish," Baird contradicted him.
"It is only ten minutes before eight," Oonagh put in. "Perhaps it is a theater close by."
"Alone?" Alastair said doubtfully.
"He may be meeting people there. Really, does it matter so much?" Eilish asked. "If he is courting someone, he"d have told us-if he is having any success."
"I want to know who it is before there is any "success"!" Alastair glared at her. "By that time it would be too late!"
"Stop making yourself angry over something that has not happened yet," Mary said briskly. "Now-McTeer, bring in the dessert and let us have a pleasant end to the meal, before you take Miss Latterly and me to the station. It is a fine night, and we shall have an agreeable journey. Hector, my dear, would you be good enough to pa.s.s me the cream. I am sure I should like cream on it, whatever it is."
With a smile Hector obliged, and the rest of the meal was spent in inconsequential chatter, until it was eventually time to rise, bid farewell, and gather coats, baggage, and make their way out to the waiting carriage.
.2.
"COME ON, Mother." Alastair took Mary by the arm and guided her through the throng towards the London train, huge and gleaming beside its platform, the bra.s.s-k.n.o.bbed doors open, the carriages with polished sides seeming to tower over them as they approached it. The engine let out another billow of steam. "Don"t worry, we"ve half an hour yet," Alastair said quickly. "Where"s Oonagh?"
"Gone to see if it is leaving on time, I think," Deirdra replied, moving a little closer to him as a porter with five cases on a trolley pushed past her.
"Evenin", miss." He made a gesture to tip his cap. "Evenin", sir, ma"am."
"Evening," they replied absently. They expected the courtesy, and yet it was an intrusion into their party. Hector stood with his coat collar turned up, as if he felt the cold, his eyes on Mary"s face, even though she was half turned away from him. Eilish was walking towards the open carriage door, full of curiosity. Baird stood guarding Mary"s three cases, and Quinlan was shifting from foot to foot, as if impatient to have the matter over with.
Oonagh returned, stood undecided for an instant, looking at Alastair, then at her mother, then, as if reaching some resolve, she took Mary"s arm and together they moved along the platform until they reached the carriage where Mary had a reservation. Hester followed a couple of yards behind. Mary was going to be absent only a week, but even so this was not a time when a stranger, and an employee, should allow her presence to be felt. Her duties had not yet begun.
Inside, the coach was utterly different from the second-cla.s.s carriage in which Hester had ridden up. It was not a large open s.p.a.ce with hard upright seats, but a series of separate compartments, each with two single upholstered seats facing each other, either of which would quite comfortably have allowed three people to sit side by side, or, wonderful thought, one person to curl up and tuck her feet under her skirts and go to sleep in something like comfort. It would be quite private enough to feel safe from intrusion, since a glance told that it was reserved for Mrs. Mary Farraline and companion. Hester"s spirits were lifted already. It would be so different from the long, exhausting journey up, during which she had managed only brief and disturbed catnaps. She found herself smiling in antic.i.p.ation.
Mary merely glanced around her as she stepped in. Presumably she had been in first-cla.s.s carriages before, and this one held no interest for her.
"The luggage is in the guard"s van," Baird said from the doorway, his eyes on Mary"s face with a directness which did not seem to be there when he spoke to anyone else. "They will unload it for you in London. You may forget about it until then." He lifted the small overnight case with toiletries and the medicine chest onto the luggage rack for her.
Alastair glanced at him irritably, then did not bother to say anything, as though it all had been said before, and had been no use then, or now, or perhaps in these circ.u.mstances was too trivial to bother with. His attention was on his mother. He looked troubled and short-tempered.
"I think you have everything you need, Mother. I hope your journey will be uneventful." He did not look at Hester, but his meaning was obvious. He bent as if to kiss Mary on the cheek, then apparently changed his mind and straightened up again. "Griselda will meet you, of course."
"We"ll be here to meet you on your return, Mother," Eilish said with a quick smile.
"Hardly, my dear." Quinlan"s expression indicated his feelings profoundly. "It will be half past eight in the morning. When were you ever up at that hour?"
"I can be-if someone wakes me," Eilish said defensively.
Baird opened his mouth, and closed it again without speaking.