Voices in a Haunted Room

“Sometimes I think I hate you,” I said. “You are so-uncaring. Even if he had to be killed ... even if he is responsible for the deaths of others ... you seemed to enjoy killing him.”

He said coolly: “I enjoy seeing a mission satisfactorily concluded.”

I looked out to sea. “I can see the red tinge still there.”

“He’s dead, all right. I want to wait awhile. I wouldn’t want him to be washed ashore and nursed back to health by well-meaning little girls.” I turned away but he caught me and held me to him for a few moments.

“You’re learning about life and the times we live in, Claudine,” he said. “Not very pleasant sometimes, I have to admit. We have to keep this country prosperous. We have to serve our country’s needs and when the snakes appear we scent them out and kill them. That’s how it is, Claudine. It was the greatest good luck that you happened to be in Benbow’s. You were sharp to recognize Blanchard. That has been a great help to us, to know that he is in London. But when Alberic came in, that was sheer good fortune.”

“For you,” I said. “For him ... death.”

“Oh dear, you are determined to be melodramatic and sentimental with it. Alberic was playing with death. He knew that and he wouldn’t be so very surprised that it has caught up with him. There.” He kissed me gently. “We’ve got Alberic. Now we have to be careful. The fishes will finish him off.”

“Oh, please don’t talk like that about a human being.”

“Poor little Claudine, you keep rough company, I’m afraid. Never mind. You were one of us for a day or so. You did very well on the journey. I was proud of you. Now let us think what shall be done- We shall go back to the house. I doubt Grafter will be there. I imagine Alberic warned him. I wonder what papers he was taking with him.

They are at the bottom of the ocean by now. This is to be a secret matter, Claudine.

You don’t know what happened to Alberic, remember. He’ll be missing and maybe presumed drowned. As for Billy Grafter, if we’ve missed him and he’s disappeared, it will be thought he was with Alberic. But let’s hope he was not warned and is still at the house. There must be no shouting the truth from the housetops. The less that is known, the better.”

“I’ll say nothing,” I said.

“That’s right. I shall have to go back to London.”

“At once?”

“Yes, the fact that Blanchard is known to be in London will cause a flutter. He is one of the founders of the French revolution. You can guess what he is trying to do here.”

But the revolution is over now. The Republic is being accepted by some states.”

“The French would still like to see us behave as madly as they did.

We’re enemies, remember. We’re actually at war with them. I shall leave for London early tomorrow morning. They’ll still be searching for Alberic. Claudine, you must pull yourself together. You must not betray anything. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“You have to put aside all those sentimental notions of yours. Alberic might have been a very pretty boy but he was a spy working against this country and he got his deserts. Remember that. He would have done the same to me if he had had the chance.

It’s all the luck of the game.”

“I understand,” I repeated.

“Good. I’m now sure he’s dead. We can safely leave him. I can’t see any sign of the boat now. Oh ... is that broken spar right out there ... part of it? Yes, I think it is. Now, Claudine, are you calm? Are you ready? We shall go back to Eversleigh and I shall leave tomorrow. You will resume life as though nothing extraordinary has happened. You can tell everyone about the excitement of the royal wedding and how the Prince had to be held up at the ceremony because he was drunk. That’ll make them laugh. And you’ll not betray you know where Alberic is ... because he is going to be thought missing ... possibly drowned. That’s the best way for us all.”

I mounted my horse and he was beside me.

“Now, are you ready? Back to Eversleigh.”

I explained to the servants that my mother was staying on with Dickon and that Mr. Jonathan would be returning to London the next day.

They accepted this as normal, for the comings and goings of both Dickon and Jonathan had always been erratic.

We were disturbed-but not entirely surprised-to find that Billy Grafter was not in the house. “Clearly he was warned,” said Jonathan. “But we’ll get him.”

I was glad that David was still at Clavering. It would have been difficult to behave normally with him.

I slept heavily that night and when I arose Jonathan had already left for London.

During the morning one of the servants from Enderby came over with a message from Aunt Sophie. She had heard that I was back and would like to see me.

I went over to Enderby in the afternoon. Jeanne greeted me. “Mademoiselle d’Aubigne is in bed. She has had a bad night. She is rather worried about Alberic. He returned from London yesterday and went straight out.

He hasn’t been back all night.”

I heard myself say in a distant voice: “Oh ... what has happened to him then?”

And I despised myself for my falseness.