Silent On The Moor Part 4

Her ruffled feathers settled themselves quickly. "No, bless you. Her ladyship always saw to her own stillroom. Comfits and preserves, a great one she was for those. Bottling fruits and mushrooms and brewing wines. Miss Ailith helps her with it, now she has grown frail. Ah, here is my lady."

She nodded toward the door where Ailith Allenby was following an elderly lady into the room. But Lady Allenby was unlike any elderly lady I had seen before. She was every inch as tall as her daughter, and even in old age her face bore traces of great beauty. She carried herself with the bearing of a queen, and I rose to my feet to greet her.

"Lady Allenby, I am Lady Julia Grey."

She smiled gravely as she approached the table. A single glance at her hands revealed why she had not offered one in greeting. They were gnarled like old vines with odd lumps and swellings, the marks of lingering rheumatism. There were lines etched by pain at her eyes, but those eyes were warm with welcome. "My dear, I am so pleased to make your acquaintance. Please sit. Do not allow your breakfast to get cold."

Miss Allenby and I exchanged nods and innocuous remarks about the weather. She looked a little embarra.s.sed as she accounted for her sister's absence.

"Hilda is tending the chickens, and G.o.dwin is out near Thorn Crag this morning. One of the rams has gone missing," she told me. She did not speak of Brisbane and I did not ask. I should see him soon enough, and I was buoyed by the thought that now I had ensconced myself at Grimsgrave Hall, I should have all the time in the world to settle matters between us. As far as Hilda was concerned, a girl who was more interested in her chickens than in visitors from London was not likely to offer much in the way of conversation, I mused. There would be plenty of opportunities yet to make her acquaintance.

Lady Allenby settled herself into a chair as Ailith plumped a cushion behind her. "You must forgive us for clinging to the old customs here, my lady. We are not so fashionable as you southerners. Here we eat in the kitchen, and do our needlework and reading by the fire. We must have our economies," she added with a solemn sort of dignity. A lesser woman would have apologised for her poverty, but not Lady Allenby.

I hastened to rea.s.sure her. "I am not fashionable in the least, I promise you, Lady Allenby. I do not dine with the Marlborough House set, and it is years since I went to Court."

She shook her head at the mention of the Prince of Wales' companions. "Disgraceful. A pack of German upstart prince-lings. They are not of the old blood. Not like your family," she said approvingly. "I had a peek in Debrett's before you awoke. A fine old English family, yours is."

I tried not to think of all the French and Irish scapegraces who had married into the Marches. "Yes, well, I suppose we have been here rather longer than some folk."

Lady Allenby smiled benevolently. "And not as long as others. There have been Allenbys here since the time of Edward the Confessor."

"Indeed? I shall be very interested to hear the history of this place."

She gave me a gracious nod. "Whatever you should like to know, you have only to ask. Of course, it is not my place to show you the house. You are Mr. Brisbane's guest, and the honour will fall to him."

It seemed an awkward patch in the conversation, and I hastened to smooth it over. "I am certain Mr. Brisbane cannot possibly do justice to its history compared to yourself, Lady Allenby."

She inclined her head again, putting me greatly in mind of a queen granting a boon to a serf.

"It is very nice for Mr. Brisbane to have visitors. One worries about the bachelors of the species, they are too often solitary creatures," Lady Allenby said with an effort at delicacy, I thought. Clearly she wondered about our presence, and I felt compelled to at least try to be forthright with her.

"I am afraid the situation is not quite as we thought," I began cautiously. I was not entirely certain how much to reveal. I was deeply conscious of Ailith Allenby hovering nearby as she prepared her mother's plate. I had no desire to make my private affairs fodder for Allenby family gossip, but we were living cheek-by-jowl with them as it were, and it seemed silly to ignore the situation altogether.

"My sister and I were rather precipitous. We thought that, as a bachelor, Brisbane was in need of some feminine a.s.sistance in ordering his household. We did not realise you and the Misses Allenby were in residence."

Lady Allenby spread her hands. The joints were thick and swollen, but still elegant, and on her left hand she wore a thick band of gold, braided with baroque pearls and old-fashioned, lumpy rubies.

"My dear lady, you must not think Ailith and I will be in your way, and Hilda is positively useless at domestic matters. We are simply guests of Mr. Brisbane's while he kindly oversees the refurbishment of one of the outbuildings for our use. He has been exceedingly generous to us. There was no provision under the terms of the sale of Grimsgrave Hall for my daughters or myself. What he does for us is solely out of his own sense of charity."

As there seemed no possible response to this, I did not attempt one.

While I finished my toast, I darted glances at Ailith, attempting to make out her character. I realised that in spite of her remarkable beauty, Ailith Allenby's life had likely not been an easy one. I felt ashamed of my first impulse to dislike her, and determined to make an effort to befriend her.

I smiled at her briefly, then turned to her mother. "I do hope you are quite recovered, Lady Allenby. Miss Allenby told us last night you were suffering from a rheumatism."

"The last year has been a trial," she said softly. "My rheumatism is grown much worse now. My hands, my hips. Some days I can scarcely rise from my bed. Still," she said forcefully, "we are given no trials over which we cannot triumph with the aid of the Divine." She touched the chain at her belt, and I realised it was a rosary. I suppressed a sigh. Between Lady Allenby's devoutness and Mrs. b.u.t.ters' fondness for Holy Scripture, I feared I would find their company a trifle tedious. My father had once famously stated in Parliament that religion was as intimate as lovemaking and ought to be as private. The thought was not original to him, but it reflected his views quite accurately. While we had attended church, it was seldom with any true regularity, and G.o.d was seldom discussed in our family except in a very distant sort of way, rather like our cousins in Canada.

Lady Allenby lifted a crooked hand to her daughter. "Ailith, dearest, I find I am in need of St. Hildegarde's ointment." Lady Allenby turned to me. "We are fortunate at Grimsgrave to have a Gypsy woman who lives in a cottage out on the moor. She is a skilful healer and a most interesting woman. Perhaps you would care to make her acquaintance?"

"I will go this morning and fetch more ointment," Ailith said. "If Lady Julia would care to accompany me, she would be most welcome." She darted a quick, birdlike glance at me from under her dark gold lashes. She spooned out some fruit for her mother and broke a piece of toast into manageable bits. "You must keep up your strength, Mama," she murmured.

Lady Allenby gave her daughter a fond look. "Thank you, child. Yes, I will eat it all, I promise."

They made a game of it, with Ailith filling her plate slowly with tempting morsels, and Lady Allenby finishing it a bit at a time until she had at last eaten a full breakfast. She managed quite well so long as she used both hands to steady her utensils. Ailith herself had merely nibbled a piece of dry toast, and I wondered if she cared for her mother at the expense of herself.

After I finished the last of the rather excellent fruit compote, we excused ourselves, and I went to look in on Portia. She was still slumbering peacefully, one arm thrown over her face as she slept. I did not bother to pause at Val's door; I could hear the snores reverberating through it well enough. The maids were making their way down to breakfast, Morag muttering all the while about the laxness of some establishments that did not even provide morning tea. I might have pointed out the laxness of maids who did not rise in time to attend their mistresses, but it was far simpler to ignore her and gather my things to meet Ailith in the hall as we had arranged.

Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs, Brisbane emerged from his rooms, impeccably dressed and carrying a small portmanteau, his greatcoat draped over his arm. He caught sight of me just as he pulled the door closed.

"Good morning," he said smoothly. He nodded toward the shawl in my hand. "You will want something warmer than that if you mean to venture out on the moor. The sun is out, but it is deceptively chilly."

I swallowed hard, my fine breakfast suddenly sitting like a stone in my stomach. "Don't let's talk about the weather when you are clearly leaving. Did you even mean to say goodbye?"

He shrugged. "I am bound for Scotland for a few days upon business."

"Business! I thought you had given up your inquiries."

"Never. I have merely closed my rooms in Half Moon Street for the present. I am conducting my investigations from Grimsgrave unless circ.u.mstances demand my presence. Such is the case I have undertaken in Edinburgh."

"Why cannot Monk look to this investigation?" Monk was the most capable of his a.s.sociates, acting as confidant, valet, and majordomo for Brisbane as circ.u.mstances demanded. He was also a skilled investigator in his own right, and I had wondered at his absence from Grimsgrave. As a former military man, he ought to have had the place wholly organised and functioning smoothly in a fortnight.

"Monk is already engaged upon a case, and I cannot spare him," he replied, tidying his already immaculate cuffs. "I must see to this myself."

"And you thought to creep away whilst I was upstairs," I observed coolly.

His nostrils flared slightly with impatience. "I thought it would be rather easier if I left without a formal leave-taking."

"Easier upon whom?" I asked, wincing at the touch of acid in my voice.

Brisbane noted it as well. "You're playing it quite wrong," he advised. "You ought to be disdainful and remote and tell me that you plan to go back to London and if I wish to see you, I will have to follow you there."

"I never manage to keep to a proper script," I admitted. "I've too little pride in this instance. Oh, you are a devil, Brisbane. You knew last night you were leaving, didn't you? That is why you did not pack me back to London by the first train. You thought you would slip out this morning and I would be so outraged at your behaviour I would leave of my own accord."

"Well, it was worth the attempt," he conceded. "You do have a rather spectacular temper when you are roused."

"I do not," I countered hotly. "I am the calmest, most collected-" I noted the gleam in his eye then and gave him a shove. He caught my hand and pressed it against his shirtfront. The linen was soft under my fingers, and just beneath it I could feel the slow, steady beating of his heart. I felt the heat rising in my face and pulled my hand away.

"Do not think to distract me. You have business here as well, Brisbane. There are things that must be settled between us," I said, sounding much more decisive than I felt.

He opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly, his gaze shifted to a point just over my head and he dropped my hand. "Ailith is coming," he murmured.

I turned to greet her. She had donned a warm cloak of fine blue wool and draped a shawl of the same over her head. She looked like a Madonna fit to grace any master's canvas.

"You are dressed better than I for the moor wind, I think," I told her. "Brisbane was just saying-" I turned, but the hall was empty, the door swinging wide upon its hinges. "Where the devil did he go?" I demanded.

Ailith dropped her eyes at my language, and I made a mental note to exercise a bit more decorum.

"I saw no one," she said. I did not doubt it. Brisbane had certainly heard her step upon the stair and seen the distinctive blue hem of her gown. All it had taken was a moment's misdirection on his part, skilful as any conjurer, and my attention was diverted long enough for him to make his escape.

"Blast him," I muttered. But I had no intention of discussing the matter with Ailith Allenby, and it occurred to me that Brisbane's absence might be a perfect opportunity for me to take the lay of the land. Brisbane had been terribly mysterious about his doings at Grimsgrave, and I was very keen to know the full extent of his troubles.

I looked at Ailith and realised I was still grumbling to myself, for she was looking at me with the gentle, quizzical glance that nurses reserve for mentally defective patients.

"Never mind," I said, forcing my voice to cheerfulness. "I believe I am poorly dressed for an excursion on the moor."

She looked at the tiny feathered hat perched atop my head and frowned. "I am afraid that will never do, my lady. The moor wind will whip it away, and your ears would be quite chilled. And that thin shawl will not keep out a bit of the wind. Let me find you a proper shawl."

She hastened off, returning a moment later with another heavy length of blue wool and a pair of alarmingly ugly rubber boots. I stood very still as she wrapped my head with the scarf, trying not to think about how trying blue was against my complexion and trying not to breathe too deeply. The shawl still smelled of the sheep it had been shorn from. She wrapped it tightly, unlike her own elegant drape, and tucked the ends firmly into my skirt, plumping my waist unbecomingly.

She clucked over my boots, insisting I remove them on the grounds they would be instantly ruined in the mud. Flat boots or pattens, she advised me, although rubber boots were by far the best. She fitted me with a pair that pinched a little-in spite of her height, Miss Allenby had tiny feet-and declared us ready. She looped a basket over her arm and we left the house by the kitchen door, and as we walked it suddenly occurred to me to wonder why Brisbane had referred to Ailith Allenby by her Christian name.

THE FIFTH CHAPTER.

My flocks feed not, my ewes breed not,

My rams speed not, all is amiss.

-William Shakespeare.

"The Pa.s.sionate Pilgrim XVII"

We pa.s.sed into a garden, or rather, what had once been a garden. Sheltered by high stone walls, it was a peaceful place that had clearly once been a productive one as well. Gnarled old fruit trees sprawled against the walls, but it was easy to see the bones of where they had once been espaliered. Beds, edged in crumbling brick, were thick with weeds and overgrown bushes, and just at the edge, sheltered in the recess of a wall, a set of beehives stood quiet and empty. A small plot was still in cultivation, but it had been planted with an eye to industry rather than beauty. It bore none of the traces of elegance that lingered yet in the rest of the garden.

Miss Allenby saw my interest and the faintest of blushes tinged her cheeks. "The gardens of Grimsgrave were once renowned for their beauty. Even the kitchen garden was lovely. It has been many years since we have had gardeners to tend them. G.o.dwin does what little he can with this plot, and Mama still has a tiny garden for her flowers." She gestured toward a sunny spot where a listless bunch of daffodils struggled limply out of the dark, peaty soil. "Most of our vegetables are delivered by folk who used to be our tenant farmers," she added, her tone edged with emotion-nostalgia perhaps?

She motioned toward the far end of the garden where a rotting wooden door sagged in the stone wall. I turned back, eager to see Grimsgrave Hall in the clear light of day. It was almost as forbidding as it had been by moonlight. The native gritstone, once handsome no doubt, had weathered to blackness, giving the entire faaade a gloomy cast. The ruined wing put me in mind of a skeleton, its flesh rotted away from the bones. But the structure itself, Jacobean in design, was elegant if old-fashioned. Properly rebuilt and with thoughtful landscaping, it might still be redeemed.

"It would take a miracle from G.o.d and more money than I will ever see in my lifetime to rebuild it," Miss Allenby commented, intuiting my thoughts.

"It is a handsome place," I offered, following slowly as she led the way to the wooden door.

"Handsome, but rotten through and through. I have a model of the house, as it used to be. It is a doll's house really, but it was built by an architect who came to make a study of the house. He presented it to my grandmama when she was still in the nursery, and eventually it was given to me to play with. It is a lovely thing, but it makes me quite sad sometimes to see how it used to be. Mind your step here, my lady. A bit of stone has come loose," she warned.

I followed her into a pleasure garden, this one derelict as well. It had been well-planned and probably well-executed, but little that was recognisable remained. Woody old vines choked a statue of an ancient king, and here and there a few scattered bits of stone spoke of ornaments long since destroyed.

"That is King Alfred," Miss Allenby informed me, gesturing toward the decrepit old king. "He is an ancestor of the Allenbys. We are of ancient Anglo-Saxon stock," she said proudly. Her chin was tipped high, and I could well see the resemblance to old royalty in her profile. I had read long before that the athelings, the children of Saxon royalty, had been reckoned by the conquering Normans to be the handsomest people they had ever seen. It was not so difficult to believe Miss Allenby was of this tribe. I said as much to her and she laughed, clearly pleased.

"There is an old tale that Pope Gregory once saw a group of Angle children for sale in the Roman slave market at Deira. He was so struck with their beauty, he asked who they were. He was told they were Angles, and he replied, *Non Angli, sed angeli.'"

"*Not Angles, but angels,'" I translated.

"Precisely."

We pa.s.sed through the pleasure garden and beyond another crumbling door. As soon as we crossed the threshold, I gasped, for stretching before me was the moor, vast and rolling, empty and endless as the sea. It was beautiful, and yet inhospitable as well.

Miss Allenby stood next to me. "When I was a little girl, I was frightened of the moor. The way the wind always rises, keening like a human voice. The local folk call it a speaking wind. One is never entirely alone on the moor. That wind always blows, and that voice is always there."

"I can well imagine it," I murmured.

"But it can be a great comfort as well," she said, turning aside. Her expression had not changed, but I noted the black of her gown and remembered the brother whose death had necessitated the loss of her home. Did she mourn him still?

A narrow path wound its way through the moor gra.s.ses, here quite straight, there bending a little to skirt a bit of rock or a boggy patch. There was just enough room to walk abreast and we did so. I had thought the moor empty, but as we moved farther from the Hall, I noticed the occasional bird, beating its wings to rise above the gra.s.ses, or heard the bleating of sheep carried on the wind.

She pointed out the dark, peaty waters that swirled and sucked in boggy places, ready to close over the unsuspecting. She warned me sternly against straying from the path, and lifted her arm to point out a shimmering expanse of black water in the distance.

"Grimswater. It is an ancient place, that lake-full of magic. They say the G.o.d who lives there gave this moor its name."

"Really? I should have thought the name Grimsgrave quite appropriate in any event."

Miss Allenby gave a quick, light laugh. "The moor is not so sinister as that. Grim was a Saxon G.o.d, and grave merely means pit or shaft. This moor was mined in ancient times, even through the Roman occupation. Silver and lead run deep under these lands."

She nodded toward the surging waters of Grimswater. "They say there was once a town there, where the waters now stand. It was a rich place, with fine houses and proud people. One day a poor man searched the town for shelter and food, but none would offer him succour. Only the poorest farmer would give him a crust and a bed. When he had taken the farmer's hospitality, the poor man, who was a G.o.d in disguise, raised his hand and cursed the town."

Miss Allenby paused a moment, her eyes closed. Then she opened them, spread her arms and intoned, "Grimswater rise, Grimswater sink, And swallow all the town save this little house Where they gave me food and drink."

Her voice was commanding as a priestess' and I shuddered a little. It was too easy to imagine her, clad in the robes of a pagan witch, conjuring spirits to do her bidding.

She smiled then, and the effect was lost. "It is atmospheric, isn't it? They say the waters rose at once and covered the town, drowning everyone. The Saxons used to throw sacrifices into the lake to keep the G.o.ds happy. Even now, when the wind is coming off the waters, you can hear a bell tolling under the lake. It is said to presage a death in my family," she finished softly.

"The moor is full of old legends, isn't it?" I asked faintly. There was something quite otherworldly and a little unsettling about Ailith Allenby. Talking to her was rather like conversing with a faery or a unicorn.

"Oh, yes. There are soft places where the souls of those who have been sucked into the bogs cry for help."

"Is that all?" I demanded. "They don't drag folk down into the bog with them or carry off one's children?"

"No," she said, her tone edged with peevishness. "I think you are making sport."

"Not a bit," I told her truthfully. "We have the most useless ghosts at my father's house. I always think if one is going to be haunted, it's rather nicer to be haunted by something useful, don't you think? Your tolling bell, for example. Quite helpful indeed. An Allenby would hear that and know he ought to change his ways or at the very least make a proper confession if he is to die soon."

She turned wordlessly and led the way across the moor. I realised my tongue had run away with me and thought to make amends, but the wind rose and rendered conversation impossible. We trudged along, here and there helping each other over the muddiest bits, until we reached a crossroads in the path. A direction board pointed out the proper way to the village, but Miss Allenby struck out toward the left, taking a smaller path that wound higher up on the moor. I followed now, struggling to catch my breath as Miss Allenby led the way, unruffled as ever. If my flippancy had offended her, she had decided to overlook it, and I relaxed a bit, enjoying the glorious fresh air and the spectacular views.

After a few minutes, we came over a rise and I saw, sheltered just below us, a cottage sitting beside another crossroads. It was a tumbledown little place of faery-tale proportions, with a high-peaked roof that sagged in the middle and a profusion of roses twining about the doorway, although the flowers themselves would not bloom for another two months. The cottage was set apart from the path by a low stone wall, and within its shelter lay the most enchanting garden I had ever seen.

In spite of the cold and the mud there was a profusion of green, a whole world yearning toward the sunlight and spring. Set into the stone wall was a little wicket gate, and Miss Allenby pushed through, scattering a few fat, speckled chickens as she walked. They clucked at her but continued to scratch at the ground contentedly. A fragrant plume of smoke issued from the chimney, and welcoming lights glowed at the leaded windows.

Before Miss Allenby even raised her hand to knock, the door was thrown back.