He tried to soothe her. I had never witnessed such a harrowing scene.

His arm around his mother, Gordon led her away.

Nanny and I went over to Tristan’s cot. He had slept through it all.

“You were right then,” said Nanny. “Thank God you were here. She’s mad, that woman. I know madness when I see it, and I’ve seen it tonight. Her of all people. You look shaken, dear. And no wonder. You did well. To think of what might have been. He’s shook up, too. Seemed to me as if he knew what she might be up to. Do you think we ought to wake someone else…in case he comes back and kills us?”

“There’s only Mr. James Tregarland. We don’t want any of the servants in this. He could have attacked us already if he were going to. As a matter of fact, I think he is a very worried man. I have misjudged him. She has been the one…and there is madness there…”

Nanny was looking down on Tristan.

“And the little mite slept through it all.”

It seemed a long time before Gordon joined us. He looked pale and anxious. Nanny Crabtree brought a chair for him. He sat down and looked from one to the other of us almost pleadingly.

I thought: He loves his mother and he is afraid for her.

“I must make you understand,” he said. “I must tell you everything from the beginning in the hope that you will. Of course, there is no excuse. She has attempted to do this terrible thing. For some time she has had one aim in life. She is determined to see me master of Tregarland’s. It has become an obsession with her.

“James Tregarland is my father. He and my mother met long ago. There has been a relationship of long standing. My mother came from a poor but respectable family. She worked in one of the hotels in Plymouth as a chambermaid. My father stayed there now and then and that was how they met. He was attracted by her. He was married, of course, and when my mother was about to have me her parents were deeply shocked. She had disgraced them and they disowned her. My father set her up in a house where I was born. He continued to visit her. I remember, the days when he came. He was interested in me. He used to watch me with an amused look in his eyes, as though he found our situation amusing.

“It was not amusing to my mother. She had been brought up very strictly and was always uneasy about the situation. When my father’s wife died, she thought he might marry her. He did not do so. But it was arranged that she and I should come to Tregarland’s. I know my mother thought this was a beginning, a step in the right direction, and that eventually she would be mistress of the house. Before she had died, my father’s wife had given birth to Dermot.

“I remember the day my mother told me we were going to live in the big house. There was some story about my mother’s being a distant connection of the Tregarland family, in reduced circumstances, which was said to be the reason why she came to keep house. She did this very successfully. But she wanted two things: marriage for herself…and the estate for me. That became the aim of her life. My father knew this. The idea amused him. He liked to keep her on tenterhooks. Would he? Wouldn’t he? He used to tease my mother. I think he may have hinted that I should have had the estate if there had been no legitimate heirs. Well, of course, there was Dermot. Who would have thought that would happen to him? He was young and strong. True, he was not very interested in the place, but it went well enough with my management.

“That was the role my father had decided for me. It irked my mother. I was her son…and my father’s eldest. I had brought prosperity to the estate. Dermot would never have been able to do that, yet it was to be his because I was not legitimate. He could have married her but he would not. I don’t know why he was adamant about that. He was fond of her. I think he liked to keep her guessing. He liked to see how she would act—how we all acted. He was very conscious, too, of the family honor. Perhaps he did not think it would be fitting to marry an ex-chambermaid.

“Please understand. She has lived with this for years. Her hopes would be allowed to rise…and then be dashed. As I said, it had become an obsession. Perhaps if she had talked of it more—not tried to hide it—it might have helped. But she kept it shut away within herself. I alone knew the depth of her feeling, her suppressed bitterness. She would talk vehemently about my rights, but only to me. I have for some time feared for her.”

“You did not think she would attempt…murder,” I said.

He hesitated. Then he said: “Lately…I feared.”

“What of the first Mrs. Tregarland?”

“I know nothing of that. She went for a swim which was foolish in her condition.”

“And Dermot?”

He hesitated again. “I…I did not speak to her of that. I think I preferred to assure myself that he died by his own hand. He was very depressed and guessed he would never be able to walk properly again. There seemed reason for him to take his life.”

“And now…?”

“There is only the child left now.

Nanny Crabtree listened without speaking.

“What will happen now?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” said Gordon helplessly. “We shall have to wait. I will call the doctor to her first thing in the morning.”

“You will have to tell him what happened?”

“Yes, I think he will have to be told everything.”

“What do you think will happen to her?”

“They give people some sort of treatment. There have been lots of advances in dealing with it. I think she desperately needs psychiatric treatment.”

“So we must wait until the morning. I am so sorry for you, Gordon.”

He smiled at me mournfully. “It had to come. I was not altogether unprepared. I knew she would have to go away sooner or later. After tonight, I feel she will have to have some sort of care.”

The clock in Nanny’s room chimed two.

Nanny Crabtree said: “I think we ought to try and get some sleep. Miss Violetta, you go to that divan, and as for you…” She looked at Gordon as though he were one of her children. “You should try and get some sleep, too. You’re going to have a lot to do tomorrow.”

He gave us both a pathetic smile, but there was a certain gratitude in it.

“I know,” he said, “that you will both do all you can to help.”

He left us then.

Nanny said: “Poor man. I liked him better tonight. He’s very fond of his mother, I will say that for him. A man who’s fond of his mother can’t be all that bad. Now, I think I’ll make us a nice cup of tea and then we’ll see if we can get a bit of sleep. I was right when I said there’d be a lot to do tomorrow…or today, rather.”

I sat there thoughtfully. There was no hurry. I knew neither of us would sleep.

We took one last look at Tristan. The teddy bear had slipped from his grasp, but he was smiling in his sleep.

The next two days were indeed chaotic. Two doctors came to see Matilda.

She had awakened on that first morning in a bemused state. Gordon was with her at the time. He had sat by her bedside all through the rest of the night, to be sure to be there when she awoke.

She only half realized what had happened on the previous night. She wept bitterly and was in a state of complete mental disorder.

The family doctor came first. He said she needed immediate attention. Then he called another doctor, as was, I believed, usual in such cases; and at the end of the second day, she was taken away. They had to sedate her because she had shown a tendency to violence. Gordon was very sad, indeed, and I was touched because he turned to me for comfort.

He confided in me a good deal and told me that he had been very concerned for her for a long time. He had tried to make her understand that he accepted his position and, because he realized that it was unlikely that he would ever inherit the estate, he had come to terms with that fact.

He loved it and indeed he had complete control of it; and it would be years before Tristan could take it over. He would work with the boy, teach him what had to be taught. He had been content with that.

But it had not been good enough for his mother. She had set her heart on his being recognized as a Tregarland and master of the family home.

“Obsession,” he said. “It can ruin a life…as it has hers.”

“You will see her often,” I said.

“Yes. She will be at Bodmin. I shall go at least once a week. It may be that they will be able to help her. They have all sorts of wonderful treatment these days.”

“I do hope so, Gordon.”

“I shall always be grateful to you,” he replied. “If you had not been there she would have killed the child. I feel it would be something she would never have got over.”

I was thinking then of Annette, for I could not believe that she had deliberately chosen to go into the sea that morning.

I wondered whether there was at least one murder on Matilda’s mind, and whether that had helped her to go completely mad.

James Tregarland was very upset by what had happened. He stayed in his room, and after they had taken Matilda away he sent one of the servants to ask if I would come to his room as he would like to talk to me.

I went to him at once and there I found him like a different person. He seemed old and shrunken.

“Oh, Violetta,” he said. “You have come into a strange household. What are you thinking of us, eh? There has been nothing but trouble. It is strange, is it not? For years we went on peacefully—uneventfully—and then everything erupted like a volcano that has been inactive for years and once it starts cannot stop.”

“A great deal has certainly happened,” I said. “I think one thing has grown out of another.”

He nodded. “My poor Matty. I was fond of her, you know. She was always an interesting girl. That calm exterior hiding her explosive passions. I treated her badly. I have discovered I have a conscience. Not a pleasant discovery at my time of life, when it is too late to do anything about it. She wanted me to marry her. Why didn’t I? It would have given her peace of mind. Those parents of hers—it was the way they had brought her up. Poor Matty. Conventionality was their way of life, and hell fire was awaiting those who strayed. It was implanted in her and nothing could change that. I teased her, though I’m ashamed to say I enjoyed that. Well, I made a will…everything for my legitimate heirs, and if they were unable to inherit, it went to my natural son, Gordon Lewyth. That was when it started…once she had got that out of me. I enjoyed watching it, you see. I knew Matty pretty well. So prim she had been at first, and then not so prim. I didn’t think it would last very long when it started…I thought I’d give her something and say goodbye. But it did not work that way. It went on. There was the boy, you see. I liked him and he was damned useful on the estate when he grew up. He was a worker, different from some of the Tregarlands who’d gone before. I’m to blame for a lot of this, Violetta.”

“You had no idea how far she would go.”

“I should have had. And she tried to murder my grandson! Thank God you were sleeping in the room.”

“Yes. I found out that Gordon was your son. I misjudged him. I thought he might attempt to murder Tristan. There was talk about babies who died mysteriously and it had been mentioned in my hearing. Then Nanny Crabtree and I worked out what we would do.”

“I’m grateful to you both. He’s a bright little fellow, our Tristan. To think he might have been snuffed out like a candle. I’m grateful to you.”

“And to Nanny Crabtree.”

“Yes, indeed. She’s an old stalwart, she is. A real dragon, a battleaxe. I like that. I can’t see anyone getting the better of her.”

His chin started to wag and for a few seconds he looked like his old self.

“She loves those she calls her children dearly,” I said. “I am so pleased my mother arranged for her to come and look after Tristan.”

“Oh, yes, we have to be thankful for that. And most of all we are thankful to you, my dear. I like to feel my grandson is in your hands. And what will happen to my poor Matty?”

“Gordon thinks they may be able to help her.”

“Just now she won’t be aware of where she is and what she has done. It will be better for her to remain in ignorance of that.”

“And what she may already have done.”

“You are thinking of Dermot’s first wife…”

“Yes, Annette.”

“That was a strange affair. I was glad when Dermot brought your sister here. And then…”

“Do you have any idea what happened?”