Виктория Холт - The Black Opal

“Mrs. Garfield was his secretary. She had been with him for many years and she was almost as old as he was. She understood him and his work as few could, but the work was getting too much for her. She needed an assistant; I could be that assistant, and that would be a great help to him.

“He was right, as he always was. Mrs. Garfield showed me what I had to do and I was soon finding it absorbingly interesting. She had been with Jefferson so long that she had grown a little like him. She was determined to do all she could to help him in this particular ” case”.

Well, they pulled me through, those two, and then the baby came. She is beautiful, Carmel. I have called her Edwina. Sometimes I fancy I see something of Edward in her, and I think how happy he would have been if he had known her. Oh, how different it might have been, Carmel! “

I took her hand and pressed it while she smiled sadly.

“It is no use, is it? Life doesn’t turn out as we plan it. I was lucky in so many ways. Jefferson has been wonderful to me. He made me talk. He always wanted to know what was in my mind.

He discovered that what worried me most was the future of my child.

She would be Edwina Carson. I could hear people say, “Carson? That name strikes a chord. Oh, it was that case, you know. The man was hanged and she got off…” I should fear that for ever. I could change my name, I supposed. I used to lie awake at night and think of it.

“It was a month before she was born. Jefferson came to me and said: ” I know what you have on your mind. It’s the baby to be born without a father. Now, we are going to put a stop to all that. I am going to marry you so that the child will be born in wedlock and who is to raise questions about Jefferson Craig’s child? ” It was very noble of him, but he is noble. He is a great man. I know I say that again and again, but I owe so much to him.”

She was too emotional to continue for a moment.

I said: “He is indeed a wonderful man, and I am so glad that he was there when you needed him.”

“It is often like that in life, Carmel. One is lost and lonely and then the miracle happens. So I became Kitty Craig and my baby was born; and from that time life was no longer so utterly wretched that I longed to escape from it. I had my baby and she enchanted me as she did Jefferson and Mrs. Garfield.

“Time passed quickly. We watched Edwina grow up … a baby, and then a little girl. She is nine years old now. Can it be all that time ago? I went on working with Mrs. Garfield. I found the work more and more exhilarating. Mrs. Garfield had been a wonderful teacher. Two years ago she retired and Jefferson was doing less work than he had previously, and I was able to take over. So your letter came direct to me from the publisher.”

“Oh, Kitty, I am so glad I wrote.”

“So am I. And there is something else I have to tell you. Adeline is with me.”

I was amazed.

“Yes,” she went on.

“It was soon after Edwina was born. I had a letter which came through Jefferson’s publishers … just as yours did. It was from a Mrs. Darrell. She was Adeline’s Aunt Florence.”

“Oh, I remember her from when she came to collect them from Commonwood.”

“She asked, most graciously, if she could come to see me. I was surprised. I had met her only briefly at that time when she had come to collect the children. I had thought her extremely haughty then, and I was surprised that she should be writing in such an ingratiating manner almost begging me-asking me to see her. Jefferson was most intrigued and she came to the house.

“She began by telling me that she was relieved that I had come through that distressing business and was now Mrs. Craig. She said she had always believed in my innocence. Then she came to the point. It was Adeline. She was extremely worried about the girl and so was Mr. Darrell. Adeline had been ill for a long time, but she was better now physically. She was obsessed by one thing; her desire to be with me. At first she had talked of nothing else. They had thought she would get over it, but alas, she had grown worse. There had been one or two violent scenes.

‘ “We tried to explain to her, but she would not understand why she could not be with you. We have had medical advice. She will have to go away, they said. The idea of sending her into a mental home is dreadful and we know that it would do her no good. There is only one thing that will. That is the only chance for her, if she could be with you. Would you be prepared to give it a trial? You would be well paid.

And, of course, if you found it too much, there would be that other alternative. Would you be prepared to give it a trial? The doctors think that, with a childlike mind like hers, there is a chance of her regaining her serenity. “

“Well, of course, I talked it over with Jefferson. Here was another ” case” for him. He was prepared to study Adeline and he was soon eager to know how she would respond to being with me. So we haughtily declined payment.”

“And she came to you?”

“Yes, she did. That was about seven years ago. It worked. She is now exactly like the old Adeline loving and gentle. She adores Edwina.

At first I was afraid to leave the child alone with her and contrived never to do so. But now all that is changed. They are the greatest of friends. It is a joy to hear Adeline singing about the house. Do you remember how she used to, when she was happy? “

“I am so glad that she came back to you. I know how distressed she was at that time when you went away and then when she went off with Aunt Florence. She loved you from the beginning. I remember how frightened she was when she heard there was to be a governess, and you became the most wonderful person in the world to her.”

“Poor Adeline! They didn’t know how to treat her. Her mother particularly frightened her and made her unhappy. She was very easily frightened and very easily made happy.”

After a brief pause, she went on: “Jefferson is, of course, very interested in Adeline. He is so good with her. He understands her. She is happy now.”

“Jefferson sounds a wonderful person.”

“He is indeed. He treats Edwina as his daughter and she looks on him as her father. They are very contented together. So, you see, Carmel, I have much to be thankful for. There is one thing I ask. Perhaps I shall never have it and must be content with what, miraculously, has been given me.”

“What is that?”

“To know what actually happened on that day in Commonwood House. Who killed Grace Marline? All I know is that it was not Edward. Then who?

I want to know most of all for my child’s sake. I know she has her name and she can go through life as Jefferson’s daughter. But there is a chance, fainter now, thanks to Jefferson, but it is there, that someone might discover who her father was . they might remember me. Jefferson was very anxious that there should be no publicity about the wedding.

Imagine what a field day the press would have had with that!

“Jefferson Craig marries Kitty Carson whom he saved from the gallows.”

It would have been unbearable, and you can be sure that, if some of them discovered this information, there would be no hesitation in using it to get a good story which would sell papers. “

“That would be dreadful.”

“You see, it is hanging over me. If only it could be cleared up. But there it remains. Perhaps one day … It seems unlikely, but one can hope. Carmel, you won’t lose touch now that we have found each other?

It has been good to talk to you. You must come and see us. We have a pleasant house in Kent. We used to be in London but when we were married, Jefferson bought this house and we retired to the country because he did not want to be too much in the public eye. You see what he did for me. “

“I do, but I could not admire him more than I do already.”

“So you will come?”

“I should very much like to.”

“Soon, please. Jefferson will be so eager to meet you, and he is very impatient. He does not like to wait.”

“I promise.”

“I want you to meet Edwina … and there is Adeline. She will be so excited.”

“Do you ever hear of Estella and Henry?”

She shook her head.

“No, I think they realized that the past was something best forgotten. Adeline does not seem to care about them.

You were the one of whom she was most fond. “

“I think all her love was for you.”

“Poor child. Life was not very good to her.”

“Until you came and it was clear then how much she loved you.”

“Well, I was saying how pleased she will be to see you. So when?”

“I could come at the end of next week.”

“Oh, could you?”

“Not too soon?”

She laughed at me.

“We shall look forward to it. Let me give you instructions.”

She took a piece of paper from her bag and wrote on it.

“I shall be at the station to meet you,” she said.

“Friday week,” she said, and we settled the time of the train I should catch.

She was smiling. She looked very like the Miss Carson who had come to Commonwood House all those years ago. Our meeting had cheered her. I was glad I had had the courage to step into the past.

Dorothy called that afternoon, eager to hear what had happened at the meeting. She was greatly excited, especially when she heard I was to pay a visit.

“How wonderfully it worked out! And he married her! He was always known as an eccentric. I can understand the worry about the child. It would be just the sort of titbit the press likes to get its teeth into. Just imagine if that came out! The object of the marriage would then be completely pointless. And she didn’t have any light to throw on the case?”

“Only that she confirmed my conviction that the doctor did not kill his wife.”

“Well, I suppose she would believe that, wouldn’t she?”

“I am absolutely convinced of it.”

“Unfortunately, that wouldn’t carry much weight in a court of law. And you are actually going to stay in Jefferson Craig’s house! Perhaps you’ll get an invitation for me, one day.”

“I should think that might be possible.”

“What’s the next plan of action?”

“I am to go down at the end of next week.”

“Wonderful. And in the meantime … secrecy.” I looked at her steadily.

“At this stage, I think so.” She nodded. She would agree with me that there could be no point in telling Lawrence at this time. We both knew that he would consider it unwise to become involved in something unsavoury that happened a long time ago.

Dorothy understood Lawrence absolutely. Had she not been looking after him for so many years?

I wrote to my mother and told her what had happened. I thought she would be interested, and it was Harriman who had suggested what I should do. I had not told the Hysons and Gertie would not be home until Saturday. So I would wait until after the visit before saying any thing specific about it to anyone else. Dorothy knew, of course, but then Dorothy was involved, as my mother and Harriman were.

One thing I must tell them was that Edward Marline had sworn to Kitty that he had not poisoned his wife. I knew they would say it was natural that he should do that, but I knew, and Kitty knew, that Edward would not have sworn that he was innocent if he were not. So I was v completely convinced that it was someone else who had administered the fatal dose. I had a letter from my mother wishing me luck and telling me how much she looked forward to being with me again and hearing the result.p>

Gertie and Bernard came home the following Saturday. They were in excessively high spirits. Aunt Beatrice, Uncle Harold and I went to the station to meet them. There were hugs and kisses and shrieks of delight. We drove to the house where everything had been prepared by Aunt Beatrice to give the newly married couple a suitable welcome home.

Bernard had not carried Gertie over the threshold and she insisted they go out and enter in the correct manner, so Bernard performed his duty to everyone’s satisfaction and we all went into the drawing-room where Uncle Harold produced champagne and we all drank to the return of the happy couple.

And they were happy. Gertie shrieked her pleasure at the well-stocked larder and demanded to know if Aunt Beatrice wanted to make her as fat as she was.

It was a wonderful homecoming and it was some time before Gertie turned her attention to me.