Voices in a Haunted Room

She whispered to me: “I’m so glad. Fiona is such a charming girl. And we like the family. There was one time when I was very much afraid ...”

“Afraid?”

She came a little closer. “Oh, you remember, there was that girl he rather liked.

She was most unsuitable. She had that dreadful grandmother.”

“You mean Evie Mather.”

“That’s right. John and I were afraid ... but then Harry’s not the sort to rush into anything, you know.”

“Yes, I know.”

“Well, that was all a long time ago, but we did have some qualms, I can tell you.

However, all’s well that ends well.”

Millicent joined us. “What are you two whispering about?”

“We were talking of weddings,” I said.

“Seeing how happy you and Jonathan are has had its effect on Harry,” said Gwen.

“Sent him flying into an engagement, I see,” said Millicent. “It’s very satisfactory.

The Brownings are the right sort.”

“Absolutely. John and I are delighted ... just like your parents.”

“And now all we have to do is live happily ever after,” commented Millicent.

I could not sleep that night. Tomorrow was the wedding day. I kept thinking of Jonathan and wondering whether anything would happen at the last minute to stop his marriage to Millicent.

What nonsense! As if it would! He wanted this marriage as much as the Pettigrews did. Dickon wanted it. It was the way they managed their affairs. That night I said to David: “I’m surprised your father allowed you to marry me.”

“What?” cried David.

“I brought you nothing. Everything we had was lost in France. How strange that he should raise no objections to our marriage.”

David laughed. “If he had, it would have happened just the same.”

“What if you had been cut off with a shilling!”

“I’d rather have you and a shilling than Eversleigh.”

“That’s a pleasant note to retire on,” I said. But I kept thinking about Jonathan, who would be Millicent’s husband tomorrow-and I could not entirely forget Evie Mather.

Jonathan and Millicent were married on the following day. The ceremony passed without a hitch. Millicent looked beautiful in her white satin gown with the Pettigrew pearls about her neck and Jonathan was a very handsome bridegroom.

We went back for the reception and during it Lord Pettigrew made a speech in which be formally announced the engagement of Harry Farringdon to Fiona Browning.

Toasts were drunk, more speeches made, and Jonathan and Millicent left for London. The guests who had come for the day began to leave and only those staying in the house remained.

It had been a wonderful wedding, everyone proclaimed; and now that the bride and groom had disappeared, there seemed little reason to continue the rejoicing. My mother said we should go the next day. She hated to leave Jessica long, and I certainly felt the same about Amaryllis.

When I went to my room I found Mary Lee putting things together; she told me my mother had sent her to do what she could for me.

“There’s very little, Mary,” I said. “I can manage.”

She went on folding my things.

“I shall be glad to get back,” I said.

“Yes, Madam. To see the little babies.”

“They’ll soon be old enough to travel with us.”

“The wedding was beautiful, wasn’t it, Madam?”

I nodded. I could not bring myself to speak of it. Beautiful! Jonathan so cynical ... realistic, he would say; and Millicent, was she the same? I think there was a little more to it for Millicent. In spite of her rather worldly approach and an attitude which might have indicated indifference, I had caught a gleam in her eyes as they rested on Jonathan. He was an extremely attractive man. Was it possible that he had found a way to Millicent’s heart which I had thought must be a replica of her mother’s, only to be softened by conquest and material advantage? “And what a surprise about Mr. Harry and Miss Fiona.”

“Yes, it was.”

“They talk downstairs,” she said. “They say Mr. Harry was one for shilly-shallying.

He never seemed to be able to make up his mind.”

“Well, he has now, Mary.”

“Madam, I was wondering ...”

“Yes?”

“Well, it’s about Miss Mather at Grasslands. At one tune we thought ... well, we all thought something was coming of that.”

“Well, we were wrong, Mary.”

“I wonder ... what Miss Mather will think ...”

It was what I had been wondering about. However, I changed the subject and said that I could well manage the rest, which was dismissal, and Mary was too well trained a maid not to realize that.

We returned to Eversleigh the day after the wedding.

My mother and I went straight to the nursery, where we were delighted to find that all was well in the good hands of Grace Soper.

We played with the babies and marvelled at the manner in which they had grown, and delighted in their intelligence, which we were sure was more than that of normal children.

Yes, it was good to be home, and I wished, as I had so many times, that my life was less complicated-as it would have been if Jonathan had never intruded into it.