“He ill-treated you?” I asked.

” Not physically. That is not his way. But he hated me. Why should he do otherwise? He had wanted my money and when that was his. and after many attempts I had failed to give him a son, I was of little use to him. Those dreary years of sadness and terror … I cannot think how I have lived if through them.”

” So it is Dr. Smith who has tried to destroy me. Why … why?”

“I will tell you that too. I met his foster mother. She lives not far from here in a little cottage on the moors. He was brought to her when he was a baby. He was born to a gipsy girl who had forsaken her people for a while to work in the kitchens at the Revels. She was married to a gipsy named Smith; but when her child was born she did not want him and she deserted him. Sir Matthew took an interest in the girl. I do not know whether he was ever her lover, but that was what Deverel always believed. He believed that he was the son of Sir Matthew. Do you begin to understand now?”

” I begin to see some light,” I said.

“And when Sir Matthew had him educated, and trained as a doctor he was certain of this. He married me, and our daughter was called Damaris because the Rockwells had always chosen names from the Bible for their children. But it was a son he wanted. He wanted to see a son of his in the Revels. And so …”

She turned to Damaris, who was crying quietly.

” I must tell her this,” she soothed. ” It is the only way. I should have told her before. But you know how we have always feared his anger.”

” Please go on,” I pleaded.

” After several miscarriages I was warned that I ought to have no more children … but he wanted a son. I tried again. There was no son.

The child was born dead and I … well, I have been an invalid ever since.

Imagine how he hates me! I cannot even give him a son. I think that he would have rid himself of me if it had not been for Damaris. ” She put out a hand and stroked her daughter’s hair. ” You see, he does not know how far she would betray him if he attempted to destroy me. ” She turned to Damaris. ” You see, my darling, in some ways we have him in our power. ” Then to me: ” It was four years ago that I did my best to bear him a son. Before that I was not strong but I was able to take my part in the life of the neighbourhood. I played a part in the pageant. only one of the monks, it was true. I still had my robe though . until a few months ago. “

I caught my breath and said: ” So it is yours, that robe?”

” Yes, it was mine. I had kept it. I am a little sentimental about such things. It was a reminder to me of the days when I was not an invalid.”

” Damaris helped him,” I said accusingly. ” She swore that she had seen nothing.”

“I had to,” whispered Damaris, with a sob in her voice. ” He told me what I had to do. We always obeyed him. We dared do nothing else. I was to take you to the ruins … not too quickly … to give him time to get there before us. And then, when he appeared, I was to pretend I saw nothing. There is a way from the ruins into the house.

He discovered it when he was a boy. So he appeared to you in the house as well. “

Now that I had the vital facts, events began to fall into place. I saw bow he had everything fitted so neatly. I was filled with a wild exultation, and the reason was that the wish I had made at the Knaresborough Well had come true. It was not Simon.

” Why … why … ?” I demanded.

” He was determined to live in the Revels one day. As the poor boy he had watched the guests come and go. He had seen the picnics in summer, the skating parties in the winter; he had looked through the windows at the balls. He was obsessed by the Revels because he believed that he was Sir Matthew’s son and therefore belonged there. He was deter mined to get there one day, and he saw that the way to do so was through Damaris. She was to marry Luke. “

” But how could he be sure of that?”

” My daughter has a rare beauty. I do not think Luke is unaware of it.

They were thrown together always. It may have been that he would have found some way of insisting on that marriage. He discovered the secrets in people’s lives and used them when he found it expedient to do so. He would have discovered some things perhaps which Sir Matthew would not want made known . or perhaps Mrs. Grantley. The marriage would have taken place. He was not unduly concerned about Gabriel.

Gabriel was delicate; he himself diagnosed that weak heart the same complaint of which his mother had died. Perh’aps Gabriel’s heart was sound ; perhaps he was preparing the way to Gabriel’s end . I do not know everything. But when Gabriel married you he became a menace. He feared what actually did happen that you might have a child. He was determined that Gabriel must die, and you at that time were of little interest to him. So Gabriel . died. “

” It is not difficult to imagine how,” I said grimly. And I pictured it. Did he lure Gabriel on to the balcony, or did Gabriel go there as he had made a habit of doing? There was no Friday on that night to warn him of a sinister presence. And then as he stood there, a stealthy movement from behind, a hand over his mouth and his body lifted and sent hurtling over the balcony.

Suicide? It seemed a reasonable verdict.

She said: ” We are wasting time. Believe me, there is nothing more I can do for you. I have helped you all I can. Go at once to your old home. There you will be safe.”

” You know that he plans something?”

” We know that. He is angry. He does not take us into his confidence, but there are certain things we cannot help knowing Something has happened to anger him.”

I knew what that was. He had discovered that the robe had been removed. He was planning some immediate action against me. I thought of his coming into the minstrels’ gallery on Christmas night, and I wondered what would have happened to me then if Simon and Damaris had not been in the hall.

I caught their nervous excitement. I knew I had to act promptly. I could not see how he could harm me now, because I had so much evidence against him, but I did not doubt that he was diabolically clever.

” Go at once,” pleaded his wife. ” Do not wait for anything He may return here at any moment. If he found you … if he knew what we had told you….”

” Yes’,” I agreed. ” I will go at once. How can I thank you for telling me this? I know what it must have meant to you.”

” Don’t waste time in thanking us. Please go, and he must not see you leave this house.”

So I went, and when I came through the fir trees to the gate I was trying to make up my mind what I should do.

I was not going to Glen House. I was going to Kelly Grange. But first I would return to the Revels because I was determined that I would take the monk’s robe with me. I was not going to allow anyone in future to believe that I had suffered from hallucinations.

As I walked back to the Revels, I was in a state of great excitement.

I was certain that the account I had heard was a true one. How could I doubt that sick woman? Her fear had been genuine. Besides, now that I knew who my enemy was it was easy to understand how he had been in a position to act as he did. I thought back to the very beginning . the occasion when Friday had warned us of an intruder and had insisted on being taken out to the corridor; the next day when he had been missing and I had gone to look for him. and lost my way and been brought home by Simon, Deverel Smith had been present on our return.

He could have heard Gabriel say that he was going to order some milk for me. He might have seen the maid bringing it up, and have explained to her that I was upset about the loss of my dog and he would slip a sedative into my milk. Such a possibility had not entered my mind; on that tragic morning none of us thought of anything but Gabriel’s death.

But this could have been the reason why I slept so quickly and so deeply.

Then how easy it was for him to slip in and out of the house; to pull the curtains about my bed, to remove the warming-pan, and to put my cloak over the balcony.

He could come by the secret entry and if he were seen, on the stairs, in the hall, he would always have a plausible answer. He had been worried about Sir Matthew . Sarah . and latterly myself, and had dropped in to assure himself that all was well.

And Simon? I had to face the truth. I believed that Damaris regarded her father’s determination to marry her to Luke with repulsion; and what I had originally thought was an affection between her and Luke was merely Damaris’s desire to please a father whom she feared, and Luke’s natural interest in an attractive girl—and with one as beautiful as Damaris that interest would normally be intensified. But with Simon it would be different; and I did not believe that any woman could be completely indifferent to the virile charm of Simon Redvers. Even I—down to earth and sensible person that I believed myself to be—could not.

I must not think of Simon. But Hagar was my friend. I could rely on her. So I was going to the Revels; I was going to take the monk’s robe from my wardrobe and go with it to Kelly Grange. I would tell Mary-Jane to pack some of my things, and she could bring them over in the carriage later. I should walk because I was not going to let anyone but Mary Jane know that I was leaving.

Those were my plans as I entered the Revels.

I rang my bell, and Mary-Jane came to my room.

” Mary-Jane,” I said. ” I am going at once to Kelly Grange. Pack some things that I shall need. I will send for you and them. But I propose to go immediately.”

” Yes, madam,” said Mary-Jane, here eyes wide with surprise.