Chapter 8
They drive up the hill to the Manor. There is a sign for the hotel and an entrance off the road, two smart new brick pillars framing the drive. The drive itself is a long arc with trees on one side, and gradually the old house is revealed, a formal rose garden around a fountain in front of it.
“Could you just stop here for a minute?”
Cathy looks at the old house, now smarter and extended at one side, and with a big new parking area screened from the house by a new hedge. She thought it would bring back strong memories, but she finds she feels nothing for it. There is no sadness, it is just somewhere she once knew.
“Come on, let’s go inside.”
They head to the reception to collect the key. Cathy stops a couple of times, to look at a vase and to run her hand along the back of a chair, and she smiles at the girl at the reception table, but she doesn’t say anything. Upstairs she walks slowly round the room, and looks out at the view from the window. “It was always gloomy in here, I like what they have done with the room.” Ollie had explained about moving the picture, so she isn’t surprised when he goes over to the wardrobe to fetch it. He brings it out, hangs it carefully on the wall and switches on the spotlight. They both stand back to look at it. It is just as it was when Ollie first saw it. Cathy walks up and looks closely at the two girls at the front. She reaches up, and touches first her own face, and then Alice next to her, her fingers stopping at the pearl necklace that Alice is wearing.
“Harry commissioned this after they got engaged. We didn’t all sit at the same time, the artist took his time and said it would be easier if we sat separately. So he did some sketches of us all together standing and sitting in different positions to get the lay out of the picture, and then we each sat, one at a time, for him. He wouldn’t let any of us see the work in progress, and although I know what the others were wearing, I didn’t know how he was going to pose them. I enjoyed being painted, he was friendly and chatty, wanted to know all about us. I remember him spending a long time standing and talking and looking at me, not so much time actually painting.
“When the paining was unveiled none of us know quite what to expect. We knew his style was modern, ”pop art” they call it now. He had left the painting in the drawing room on a stand covered in a cloth, and Harry called us all down. He had poured champagne, we were celebrating.”
Cathy pauses, steps back, and reaches into her handbag, bringing out a double string of pearls, the same pearls that Ollie recognises in the painting.
“Father had given them to Alice at her birthday party, only a few months earlier. She had put them away and I dont think she had worn them since. When the picture was revealed Mother was wearing them, not Alice.”
She goes back to the painting and runs her hand over it again. “That’s what’s wrong, they have been moved, they’ve been repainted. Mother must have taken them from Alice’s room and worn them while sitting for the painter. When she saw them Alice shouted at her, accused her of stealing them.”
“But why would she wear them? She must have known that Alice would see them when the picture was revealed.”
“I think that was the whole point,” Cathy says. “She didn’t just want to take them, she wanted Alice to know that she had taken them, she wanted to rub it in. I think she resented the fact that Father had given them to Alice in the first place, a valuable piece of family jewellery, she thought they should have been hers.”
Ollie turns back to the picture, and the pearls around Alice’s neck. Was Alice looking a bit smug? No, defiant. And Victoria looking out with a stone stare.
“Mother was screaming as well. Why did Harry have his hand on Alice’s shoulder? Why was Alice looking away like that, in her own thoughts. Was something going on? Harry was denying it, trying to pacify Mother, he said he didn’t know where the painter would put his hand, Alice in tears, shrieking at them both. I couldn’t stay then. I don’t know what else was said, I left them fighting and went back to my room. The celebration had backfired.
She turns to Ollie and holds out the necklace. “I want you to have the pearls. I tried to give them to Philip, but he wouldn’t take them. You will inherit the rest, although there isn’t much left. Most of the money went over the years looking after this place, but you will be pleased when you get it. But I want to give you these myself, to make sure that you understand.”
“Thank you, that’s great.” Ollie takes the pearls from her, holding them awkwardly, and looks at them carefully, not sure what to say. He puts them down on the table, and they both sit down.
“That was the last day I saw her. I had tea on my own in the kitchen, and when it was quiet I went back to look at the painting again. I liked it, I still do. I like the style, the colour. you can’t hide secrets in a painting like this. I was young then, I look happy. It all changed after this. Mother had the painting put away after what happened. I found it months later in the attic, but you couldn’t see it properly in the dark and I had forgotten about it until you mentioned it.
“That night we were going to eat together. We usually did separate things in the evening, often I ate earlier and then watched TV. Harry sometimes went to the pub, or back to his own house. We were going to eat together that night, properly. We still had the cook/housekeeper, and Harry liked to be old fashioned and have a drink before dinner was called. I had been in the drawing room with Harry earlier, and Alice came in, all dressed up. It was a warm evening, and we were standing by the open French doors. Alice was wearing a long yellow dress, and her hair was down, loose around her shoulders. She was smiling now, no trace that she had been crying earlier. It was all an act, but she was jolly, laughing, accepting a drink from Harry, flirting with him. She asked if I was getting changed, and gave me a very direct look. I took the hint and left them.
“When I came back down twenty minutes later I bumped into Mother on the stairs and followed her into the drawing room. There was a record playing, piano music, but I could hear raised voices over it. There was a crash, and as we went in Harry was looking embarrassed, moving away from Alice. A lamp had fallen from the table next to her. And Mother just screamed at her. ‘What’s going on? Get away from him.’ She walked across and slapped Alice hard across the face. Alice dropped her drink and stepped back, panting, her hand to her face; and then she looked straight at Mother, eyes fierce, defiant. ‘Bitch.’ She said just one word, but the whole house heard it.
“And then Mother was shouting again, accusing Alice of trying to take Harry away from her. Harry was standing to one side now, not saying anything. ‘You took your father from me, you’re not taking another husband. I know you have had your eye on Harry. Touching, giggling, I’m not blind. Wicked girl, you must think I am stupid, carrying on like this. I don’t want you in my house, you don’t belong here any more.’ Alice was very red-faced, close to tears, and she spoke very quietly now, but with no less force. I could smell sourness over her perfume. ‘If I am wicked where do you think I got it from?’ She spat the words out. ‘It’s just what I learned from you.’ ‘Your father was always too soft on you; you turned him away from me. You corrupted him like everything else you touch.’ Still Alice spoke quietly, but with increasing madness in her voice, and gradually getting louder. She was very close to Mother, threatening. ‘Daddy loved me, you never did.’
“Mother took a step back, but then grew taller, her hands tight fists. ‘I know what went on between you. When you came back from that school. Daddy’s girl. I should have stopped it.’ ‘Daddy loved me. Nothing went on. I was scared, he protected me.’ Alice was crying openly now, but it seemed to give her confidence. Her voice was louder, and she was moving closer to Mother, who started to back away. ‘Protected you?’ Mother said. ‘Rubbish. What did you need protecting from?’ ‘From you. From you. You were the monster we hid from. But you were always there, weren’t you, buying. Hurting me. You stood there with the kettle and you poured boiling water over my arm. Why would you do that to a child? I couldn’t get away. Even when I was alone you were in my dreams. I hated you. I still hate you.’
“Harry moved forward to try to separate the two women, and Alice was the one who flinched and backed away. But Mother had gone suddenly pale, didn’t move, fists still clenched, but looking now at Harry for support. Alice was still looking at her. ‘Daddy couldn’t bring himself to look at you. I wanted to leave home, but he persuaded me that I would be safe here. He loved me. And then he died.’ She was still sobbing. ‘He has gone, away from you at last. Free now.’ ‘This is all rubbish,’ Mother said. ‘You are a deranged girl, you’ve been sheltered here for too long. You need to grow up and find something to do with your life.’ ‘It’s OK,’ Alice spat back. ‘I won’t stay any longer.’
“And suddenly Alice turned and quietly slipped out into the garden through the French doors. For a moment I don’t think we realised what had happened, then Harry shouted and ran after her. Mother was in shock, and just stood there. I sat down; I think I was crying as well, and cold. It was dark outside and we couldn’t see where they went. Harry was gone for a long time; I don’t know how long. Mother went over to the garden doors a couple of times, unsure what to do, and then she closed them and came back in, poured herself a glass of sherry. She didn’t look at me, just at the door. The record had finished and the needle was bumping, so she switched it off. After a while she looked at me. ‘It isn’t true. Alice has always made things up. You must know that.’ It was all she said. I didn’t say anything, and we just sat there without speaking.
“Eventually Harry came back in. ‘I can’t find her, she just ran off. I’ll have to get the car out.’ ‘I’ll come with you,’ Mother said. ‘No, you and Cathy stay here. I’ll drive down to the village in case she went that way.’ And he left again. We waited. At some point we had something to eat, and later Mother told me to go up to bed, but I couldn’t sleep, the conversation from earlier repeating in my head. It was as if I was hearing it from different angles, hearing different things in their words each time. Something terrible had happened, and I didn’t know what to think, needed to let my mind sort out what had been said into some sort of sense. I heard voices later, and a door closing; Harry must have come back. But I didn’t go down, and I must have fallen asleep.
“The next morning the police were called and there was a hunt for her, but she was never found. Her shoes were found in the garden, and one person thought he had seen a figure up on the cliff, near the Tower, but there was no one there, no trace of her. They never found a body.
“I don’t know what Harry thought, but I don’t think he ever had any feelings for Alice. The strange thing is that I think he was genuinely in love with Mother, and I guess he believed her side of the story. They went ahead with the wedding, but it was a small subdued affair at the church in the village. There was a small party here afterwards. Mother and Harry were happy enough I think, Alice’s leaving exorcised something in Mother, as if she had taken a tranquilliser, and she was calmer and less angry with life.
“I left a couple of years later to go to university, and in my heart I didn’t really come back here until I brought your grandfather with me.” She looks at Ollie. “I don’t know what happened between them. Mother had always bullied Alice, but not me. She didn’t do anything to me. But do women deliberately injure their daughters? I didn’t believe it then, I didn’t understand what she was saying. Whether it was true or Alice made it up I just don’t know. If it was true I never suspected it. After she left we never spoke of it. Alice was certainly disturbed, and would have said anything to stop the wedding. She hadn’t got over Father’s death. She was on a tightrope, and seeing the pearls in the picture, she just fell. Her body has gone, but her spirit is still here, trying to regain her balance. I don’t know whether Harry had any sense of her being still here, but he moved away soon after. I think she was trying to get help from your father, but he moved away too. And now she appears to have found you.”
“Why me? What am I to her?”
“Who knows. Your connection to me? To the house? Victoria’s only surviving male heir? I told you before that I have never seen or felt her, but I have sensed her spirit over the years, and I felt it again when you came down. Your father was driven away by her, and we need to resolve this now.” She looks down at the pearls. “I can’t do it, but I think that you can. It’s a small gesture, but all we can do. You need to give these back to her.”