Виктория Холт - The Shadow of the Lynx

“So you’re staying in bed for a while?”

I said I was. She went out and a little later Lude came in.

“Just to see how you feel,” she said.

I was half asleep, so she went on: “I won’t disturb you. A little rest will do you good.”

It was about half past ten when there was a light tap on my door. It was Mary, one of the housemaids. She said:

“Mrs. Herrick’s called. She wants to see you.”

Nora! My heart was leaping about uncomfortably. I wanted to see Nora, to talk to her. I was turning over in my mind whether I might tell her what I had heard. I had always felt an urge to confide in Nora. But how could I in this case?

I heard myself say uncertainly: “Ask her to come up.”

“Shall I draw the blinds. Miss Minta.”

I hesitated.

“N … no. Not just yet.” I wanted to know whether I could face Nora first. My hair was unkempt; I should have washed, tidied myself before seeing her. But it was too late now. The maid was gone and when she came back Nora was with her.

Nora was wearing a grey riding habit and she looked elegant and worldly. There was a gentleness in her face. I knew that she was sorry because I was married to Stirling—not only because that meant he wasn’t free for her. She was sorry because she thought I was going to be unhappy.

“Oh, you are resting,” she said.

“I heard that you weren’t feeling well.”

“I didn’t feel very well yesterday and since the fall Dr. Hunter likes me to rest a lot.”

“I’m sure he’s right.” A faint light came through the slats of the blind and she drew a chair up to the bed.

“I thought I must come and see you,” she went on.

“I shan’t have much more opportunity.”

“You are determined to leave us, then?”

“I’ve definitely made up my mind.”

“I shall miss you. As for Stirling …” My voice trembled.

She said quickly: “I always thought I should go back some time.”

“You must have been very happy there She drew her brows together and said: ” Yes. I daresay you are longing for the child to be born. “

Yes, I am. “

“And Stirling, too.”

Children playing on the lawns of Whiteladies! I thought.

The waiting period can be irksome,” I said.

“Franklyn will miss you.”

“In a -year or so you will have forgotten me … all of you.”

I shook my head. I had a great desire to see her face more clearly.

She hid her feelings well but I thought: She must be as unhappy as I am. I said: “It’s dark in here.”

“Shall I pull up the blinds?” She rose and went over to the window. I heard her give a little gasp. She was staring at the floor. Then hastily she pulled up the blind and looked down again.

“What is it?” I cried, starting up.

“Bella and the kitten …”

I leaped out of bed. I caught my breath in horror. Their bodies looked oddly contorted. They were both dead. I knelt down beside them. I could not bring myself to touch those once lively little bodies which I had loved.

“They’re dead,” said Nora.

“Minta, what can it be?”

I knew. I remembered the milk dripping on to the floor and Stirling standing by my bed.

“There was poison in my milk,” I said quite calmly.

“Of course it was meant for me.” Then I began to laugh and I couldn’t stop myself.

“I’ve a charmed life. First Maud … then you, and now the cats.”

She took me by the shoulders and shook me.

“What do you mean?” she demanded.

“What do you mean? Control yourself, for God’s sake. Don’t touch the cats. You don’t know what’s wrong. Let me help you back to bed. Remember the child.”

She drew me back to the bed. I was saying: “It’s all very simple, Nora. Someone is trying to kill me. There have been other attempts.

But I have a charmed life . “

She was very pale.

“I don’t believe it,” she said.

“I don’t believe it.” And said it as though she were trying to convince herself. And I knew what was in her mind. She had heard him say it. He had said to her: “I’ll find a way.” I heard her whispering to herself.

“No … no It’s not true.”

“Nora,” I said, ‘it can’t always miss, can it . not every time? “

“You’ve got to get away from … from here. We have to think about it. I can’t leave you here. You must come bade with me to Mercer’s. We can talk there … we can plan …”

I thought: Go with her She is the reason why he wants to be rid of me.

He wants Nora and Whiteladies. How can I go with her? But she had saved me once before.

“What will they say if I go with you?” I said.

“What will Stirling say?”

“We must save him … and you,” she answered. It was as though she were speaking to herself. It was an admission that the thoughts which were in my mind were shared by her.

There was a knock on the door. Nora looked at me in dismay. It was the maid again.

“The doctor is here. Miss Minta. I’ve brought him up.”

Dr. Hunter was immediately behind her and he came into the room.

“Lady Cardew suggested I pop in and have a look at you,” he said. He gazed at us both in astonishment.

“Is anything wrong?”

I left it to Nora to explain. I heard her say: “We’re very alarmed, Dr. Hunter. Come and look at the cats.”

She took him over to the window and he knelt down to look at Bella and her kitten. When he rose his face was ashen.

“What happened?” he asked.

They drank the milk which was intended for Minta,” said Nora.

“Were they poisoned?”

“It could be so.”

“What should we do?”

“I will take the cats away.”

“I was suggesting that I take Minta with me to the Mercer’s House.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” said the doctor. He turned to me and said.

“Get up and dress quickly. Go out of the house as though nothing extraordinary has happened. Go to the Mercer’s House with Mrs. Herrick right away and stay there until I come.”

So he left us, taking the cats with him; and I dressed hastily and, wrapping myself in my cloak, went out of the house with Nora.

I shall never forget that journey back to the Mercer’s House and the thoughts which crowded into my mind. Stirling was trying to murder his wife. That was what he had meant when he had said he would find a way.

Why had I not gone back to Australia months before? I should have gone as soon as he had married her.

Half my mind rejected the thought and then I kept thinking of that terrible day which was engraved indelibly on my memory when Jagger had caught me and fought with me and Lynx had come and shot him dead. He had killed a man because he had dared touch what he thought of as his; it was not because of attempted rape. I would never forget the poor little maid Mary who had suffered through Jagger. That had been shrugged aside as of little importance. Stirling was the son of Lynx.

They were ruthless, both of them. They held life cheaply—that was, other people’s lives. Stirling had been determined to get Whiteladies and now that he regretted the great sacrifice he wanted to start again. He could only do this by ridding himself of Minta. No, Stirling, I thought. And Lynx, this is where your revenge has led us!

I had made Minta mount my horse and I walked beside it, leading it.

The poor girl looked as though she would collapse at any moment. No wonder! She had miraculously escaped death—and not only once, for I was sure that the crumbling parapet had been a trap for her.

I called one of the stable boys to look after the horse and took her into the house. We went into the drawing-room with its rosewood furniture and Regency striped wallpaper and sat looking at each other helplessly.

“Nora,” she asked me, ‘what do you think of it? “

I couldn’t bear to talk of my suspicions, so I said that the cats might have died of some strange disease. There were mysterious illnesses among animals of which we knew very little. She started to talk about animals she had had when a child and some of the things which had happened to them.

But we were not in inKing of what we were saying. I said I would make some tea and she said she would help. It gave us something to do and all the time we were trying to work out some plan. She must stay with me, I said. I couldn’t bear her to be out of my sight. I was terrified of what might happen to her.

There was about her a surprising indifference. She had been greatly shocked by what had happened so perhaps that was why she gave that impression of not caring. I was desperately sorry for her. She was going to bear Stirling’s child and I had been envious of that, but I was overcome by a desire to protect her.

We drank the tea. It was now past midday. At Whiteladies they would be wondering where she was, although one of the maids had seen us leave and I had murmured something about Mrs. Herrick’s coming over to the Mercer’s House with me.

It was one o’clock when Lucie arrived. Her hair was disordered by the wind; she had evidently come out hastily when she had discovered that Minta was not in her room and she had learned where she was.

As she came into the drawing-room and saw Minta her expression was one of relief.

“Oh Minta, my dear, I wondered what had happened.”

They embraced and Lucie said: “Why didn’t you say you were going out?

I thought you were in your room. “