Joan Smith - Delsie

“I cannot leave now. There will be creditors, after the notice in the papers,” she parried. His reason for wishing the visit was becoming clear to her. He wanted to get her out of the house to let the smugglers come and get their brandy. He would even send her and Roberta off to this horrid Clancy Grayshott to achieve his aim. She dug in her heels.

“I’ll be happy to meet the creditors for you,” he said.

“I had hoped to bring you and the child to my wife today,” Clancy went on, unconvinced that he had failed, with the unexpected support from deVigne. “She has not had the pleasure of your acquaintance, ma’am, and you may imagine how eager she is to meet Andrew’s wife.”

‘I could not possibly be ready to make the visit on such short notice,” Delsie insisted.

“Tomorrow, then. I’ll put up at the inn in Questnow for the night…”

“Stay at the Hall,” deVigne invited. Delsie directed an incredulous stare at his speech. DeVigne loathed Clancy. To offer him the hospitality of the Hall was done only to make her position more difficult.

“I fail to see the great urgency for this visit,” she said angrily. “I have promised to take Roberta to you in the near future, Mr. Grayshott. In a week or two-”

“With winter coming on, it’s best to do the thing before the roads become bad,” Grayshott pressed on urgently.

“It is only early December. I cannot think we’ll be snowbound within the next week. I’m sorry. I am very busy-everything in a mess here. It is impossible to leave at this time.”

“My wife will be very disappointed,” Grayshott said, peering at her to see how this new tack was working.

“I will be happy to receive her here at any time. I cannot leave at the present.” The mulish set of her chin at last convinced him that his errand had failed.

“I’ll tell her, then,” he said, arising. DeVigne too arose, and together the two men left the Cottage. From the window, Delsie saw them stroll together down the walk and off towards the stable.

* * * *

“That young lady has a mind of her own,” Clancy said. “She’ll come to grief, mark my words.”

“She had better not,” deVigne answered in a quietly menacing tone. “You understand my meaning, Clancy?”

“Can’t say as I do,” the man answered slyly.

“Let us cut line. We have discovered what is going on here, as no doubt Bristcombe told you.”

“Bristcombe? I haven’t seen him in a dog’s age.”

“Not since this morning, at any rate. How long will it take you to get the stuff out of the orchard?”

“You found that out too, did you?” He laughed. “Pity. Such an ingenious idea, I had hoped we might go on using it. Andrew was a drunken fool, but he had a way with mechanical contrivances, no denying.”

“Is one night sufficient?”

“Oh, an hour is time enough, but not with a sharp-eyed busybody looking over our shoulders. That wouldn’t do at all. The gentlemen are right shy.”

“She won’t be here tomorrow night. Come any time after midnight.”

“What have you in mind to do with her? She won’t budge for me, and I fancy you’ve already tried your hand at leading her.”

“I have a few tricks up my sleeve yet. Tomorrow night. And Clancy, this will be the last time the orchard is used.”

“Aye, so it will. Pity. But I daresay I can arrange the same setup at my place, now I know how he did it.”

“It shouldn’t be too difficult,” deVigne agreed, just as though he knew what they were talking about.

DeVigne did not return to the Cottage after leaving with Grayshott, but at about four, Lady Jane came, bringing a picnic basket of comestibles and a ray of sunshine with her.

“What’s new?” she asked merrily, throwing off her cape. “Did anything happen while I was away?”

“I had a visitor. Clancy Grayshott was here,” Delsie replied.

“Has he been pestering you already?”

“Yes, he wanted me to take Bobbie to him at Merton for a few days.”

“It is not to be thought of.”

“I have promised him a visit-I felt obliged to when he discovered she is presently with deVigne.”

“Max won’t like that,” she cautioned.

“DeVigne was here at the time, pacing about the room as you described to me.”

“He came down off his high ropes, did he? I made sure he would be sulking and deprive you of his cheerful presence for a few days, to trim you into line.”

“He cannot be so foolish as to think that would have any effect, but in fact he was in favor of the visit. He wanted me to go at once. When I declined the honor, he invited Clancy to stay the night at the Hall.”

“What!” This startling intelligence brought Jane to indignation. “Glory to goodness, he’s run mad! He and Clancy have been enemies forever. Why, he calls him a mushroom, and worse. I cannot believe he would let you go to Merton.”

“Oh, yes, he quite tried to push me out the door. But it was only to get me out of the Cottage. He would send me to hell itself to have his own way. I wouldn’t leave now if I were to receive an invitation to Carlton House to meet the Prince of Wales.”

“That certainly would not be worth the trip, my dear. So what happened?”

“I refused to go today, but am promised for some future time. Clancy and deVigne left together, chatting as friendly as a couple of schoolmates. Cooking up some vile scheme between them, very likely.”

“I’ve a good mind to nip up to the Hall and discover what is going on. Shall we send Nellie up to see how Bobbie is doing, and have her find out from the other servants?”

“That won’t work. He would not have told the servants anything.”

“Harold is coming over after dinner. He would not be put off, Delsie, but there is a decent library here, and he will not tax us unduly.”

The remainder of the day and the evening were not exciting. Sir Harold’s arrival after dinner did nothing to shorten the lagging hours. He had not seen Max, or heard any news from the Hall. Delsie missed her stepdaughter; she also missed deVigne and the family dinner. She and Lady Jane dined on cold fowl and cheese brought in the basket from the Dower House. They sat together embroidering after Sir Harold left. Mrs. Grayshott was beginning a set of seat covers for her dining-room chairs, and Lady Jane was helping her.

They both retired early, sincerely hoping they would have company in the orchard, as this cramped style of life was not of a sort that could go on indefinitely. But the only sound heard from that direction the whole night long was an owl’s hooting, followed by the terrorized shriek of some small nocturnal creature as he was picked up and carried away,

Early the next morning, deVigne came, carrying Bobbie and Miss Milne with him in his carriage. They arrived just as the ladies were having breakfast, and Max and Bobbie joined them at the table. Delsie fully expected that after refusing Clancy’s offer, she would be more deeply than ever in deVigne’s black books, that he would be pacing the floor and scowling at her, but he was in good spirits. She felt insensibly elated to see it. He complimented her on the progress she was making with her housecleaning, and also on the coffee.

“It was your Nellie who made the coffee,” she confessed. “I must get busy and find myself a new housekeeper. Do you know of anyone who is available, either of you?”

“There’s that Mrs. Lampton whose husband was drowned out fishing last year,” Jane mentioned. “She is looking for a position, I hear.”

“She’s rather old,” Max said. “She would do for a couple of years. Shall I take you to see her, cousin?”

“Yes, please, if you are going to the village. I wonder if she will be more willing to come to me than my two ex-students were.”