Виктория Холт - The Landower Legacy

“Why is it,” I asked, “when people marry, they feel everyone else ought to be in the same state?”

“A good marriage is the best way of life.”

“You hesitated for a long time.”

“I waited until I was absolutely sure. That is what every wise woman should do.”

“But how can one be absolutely sure?”

“By making up your mind that such and such is for you and once you have made up your mind on that, make it up again. You are going to see that it works.”

“All are not as far-sighted as you, Rosie.”

“I admit I have had some experience of men … and women.”

“And when you look round do you find the failures exceed the successes?”

“We hear of the failures. The successes are not talked of.”

I said: “I think of Robert Tressidor. What sort of marriage was that? I think of my mother and Captain Carmichael … of Olivia and Jeremy …” I hesitated and she waited. But I could not speak of Gwennie and Paul.

She was watching me with serious eyes; but she remained silent.

After a while she said: “While I am here you and I must see each other … often.”

We did. I had many talks with Rosie. She was so interested in everything about her. She created a furore of excitement in the countryside and quickly became known as Mr. Jago’s Lady. Her clothes and her general appearance were stunning. Her statuesque good looks made her seem like a goddess come down from the Olympian heights to our community.

She was by no means an expert horsewoman but she looked like Diana on horseback with her beautifully cut riding habit in silver grey with top hat of the same colour and a cravat flecked with mauve stars on grey silk.

Jago was very proud of her. I did not suppose for a moment that he would be converted to a completely faithful husband, but Rosie would know how to cope with that. She understood well the vagaries of men and the reason for her success was that she knew how to compromise. She took what life offered and then set about moulding it to her own needs and desires. I felt there was a great deal to be learned from Rosie.

She showed an immense interest in the people—however humble. She delighted in Jamie and his bees. We spent a very pleasant hour in the lodge.

“Presumably,” I said, “the bees approve of this marriage.”

She was very discerning and had quickly summed up the situation at Landower; and it did not take her long to realize that I was caught up in it.

She was rather grave about that.

She said: “Gwennie isn’t a bad sort. She is just obtuse. She can’t forget that she’s paid for something and she wants full value. She can’t understand that she can’t have what she wants just by paying. One couldn’t explain to her. She would never listen. The Gwennies of the world just think they know it all. That’s their mistake. She wouldn’t listen to advice. She would never be diverted from her course. You could cut the tension in that house with a knife. It’ll break. I reckon it’s near breaking point now.”

“You mean … with Paul?”

“He hates her. Even when she’s not being offensive about paying for the house and so on. He can’t bear the sight of her. Every little thing she does irritates him … the sort of thing he wouldn’t notice with other people. I don’t like it, Caroline.”

“What does Jago think?”

“Jago says it has always been like that. But I feel it’s rising … perhaps because I’m new to it. I knew the situation, of course. Jago had told me. But I didn’t realize that it was so far gone.”

She looked at me steadily. “Is it because of you?” she asked.

I tried to look surprised but she went on: “He’s in love with you, and you with him. What are you going to do about it?”

I could see it was no use trying to hold anything back from Rosie. “Nothing,” I said. “What can we do?”

“It’s difficult … You’ve got this place. He’s got that place. The children … The responsibility to the tenants.”

“You see how impossible it is.”

“Are you going on like this … till the storm breaks?”

“What would you do, Rosie?”

She hesitated for a moment then she said: “I’m myself and you are yourself. There could be secret meetings, but how would that end? You’d be discovered sooner or later. That might make things worse. You’re in a trap, both of you. If it weren’t for all this …” She waved her hand. “I’d say, Get out. Go away. Try to make a new life.”

“And what of the estate?”

“Go away for a while. Even a month or so. Come to London. Stay with us. That manager of yours could look after everything, couldn’t he? Yes, that’s the solution. Get away. Sort out your thoughts. You can’t see these things clearly when you’re right on top of them. That’s my advice. Get away. Look at yourself. Look at the future. See what can be done. At the moment you’re sitting on a powder keg. Anything could happen.”

“Do you think it is as dangerous as that?”

“I’ve been in and out of tricky situations. I do have a nose for these things.”

“It’s wonderful to talk to you, Rosie.”

“I’m at your service. Another good thing about this marriage … it has brought us closer together.” She was silent for a moment, then she went on. “In a place like this you live close to people. Everyone seems to know a great deal about everyone else, and with a woman like Gwennie … well, she’s insatiably curious. I suppose her own life is unsatisfactory, so she has to probe into those of others to find the flaws.”

“Not satisfactory! She thinks she has bought herself a wonderful life.”

“And a husband who can’t bear the sight of her. She’s aware of that and she blames him.”

“People always blame others for their own shortcomings.”

“I’ve got to know her quite well. She has a passionate interest in people around her. It’s an unhealthy sort of interest because it is the scandals and the shadowy side which interest her. She told me of your engagement to Jeremy and its ending with the utmost relish. She’s absolutely obsessed by that man with the bees. She knows that it was exactly eight months after her marriage that one of the servants had her baby and that it was not premature. These are the kind of details which absorb her. I think it’s a sort of compensation for shortcomings in her own life which make her rejoice in the frailties of others.”

“You understand her. I think she likes you. I heard through one of the servants that she was delighted with Mr. Jago’s Lady.”

“I’m with her a good deal. I can’t avoid it, being in the house.”

“Does she confide in you?”

“Not about herself. Only about others … what she discovered … what she hopes to discover. Poor Gwennie, I’m sorry for her in a way. She’s not a bad sort. She’s just blind and won’t see. I shall invite her to London, too. But what we want most is for you to come and be with us. Think about it. I am sure it is what you need.”

“It’s wonderful to have you here, Rosie. I shall miss you so much when you have gone.”

How right I was. I felt very lonely after she and Jago left.

After Rosie had gone there seemed to be an anticlimax until one day when I met Paul in the lane leading to Tressidor just as I was going to one of the farms.

I noticed the change in him.

I said: “Something has happened.”

“She’s gone away,” he told me.

“Your wife?”

He nodded and a smile spread across his face. “You can’t imagine … the relief.”

“I think I can. Where has she gone? For how long?”

“She’s gone to Yorkshire … visiting an aunt.”

“I didn’t know she had an aunt.”

“Oh yes. They’ve corresponded apparently … spasmodically. She suddenly took it into her head to go and see her.”

“For how long?”

He lifted his shoulders. “Who knows? Not a brief visit … I hope.”

“She must have decided suddenly.”

“Yes. It was after Jago and Rosie left. She didn’t waste much time once she’d decided. I drove her to the station myself. She had to go to London first and take the train to Yorkshire from there.”

“She has never been away before.”

“All those years …” he said wearily. “At least this is a respite. I have wanted to talk with you so often … to be with you.”

I was silent and he went on: “What are we going to do, Caroline?”

“Much the same as we have been doing, I suppose,” I answered. “We seem to go on in the same way. What else can we do?”

“We must see each other sometimes … alone. We have to face up to facts. Here we are … in this impasse. We can’t go forward and we can’t go back. Are we going to deny ourselves forever? Are we going to live here like this, frustrated all our lives?”

“I had thought of going away for a while … going to London. Rosie suggested I should visit them.”

“Oh no,” he said.

“I thought it was a good idea. I need to get away … to think about everything.”

“You can’t leave Tressidor any more than I can leave Landower.”

I said: “I have Livia now. It makes me think very seriously about what I can do. Before I had a sort of freedom. There was a time when I had almost decided …”

“Decided what?”

“That I would risk everything to be with you.”

“Caroline?”

“Oh, yes I did. I almost did. I saw it all clearly … this liaison between us … secret meetings … living in fear of discovery … asking myself what discovery would mean. And there were times when I told myself that I did not care what the consequences would be, I would risk everything. Then I had my responsibilities … just as you have.”

He said: “We could go right away. God knows I’ve thought of it often enough. We could live abroad. France … do you remember France? What a long time ago that seems. I was so afraid for you then. I learned what you meant to me in those few days … and I learned it forever. I came to look at you when you were sleeping. I stood at the glass doors leading to the balcony.”