Виктория Холт - Snare of Serpents

I wanted this nightmare to be over. The silence was terrible. It was broken by my father. “I am waiting for an explanation, Miss Milne.”

“I … I do not know how it came to be there. I did not know it was there …”

My father laughed softly but derisively.

“It will not do, Miss Milne. You have been discovered. I could, of course, hand you over to the police.”

She caught her breath. I thought she was going to faint. I had to restrain myself from going to her and putting my arms around her and telling her that whatever she had done she was my friend.

She raised her eyes and looked at me … pleadingly … asking me to believe her. And in that moment I did. I could not believe that Lilias would ever have stolen my necklace even though she so longed to have some bulwark against a needy future … a nest egg. I marvelled that I could ever have doubted her innocence and loathed myself for having done so.

“This is a crime,” went on my father. “All these years you have been in my household and I have been harbouring a thief. It is very distressing to me.”

“I did not,” cried Lilias. “I did not. Someone put it there.”

“Indeed someone put it there,” retorted my father grimly. “You, Miss Milne. You are the daughter of a vicar. You must have had a religious upbringing. That makes the matter so much worse.”

“You are condemning me without question.” Lilias’ eyes flashed. It was the spirit of desperation. Who could have put the necklace in her room? What was the point of it? If someone had taken it, of what use would it be to steal it and give it up … just to accuse Lilias?

“I have asked you for an explanation,” went on my father, “but you have none.”

“I can only say I did not take the necklace.”

“Then explain how it came to be in your room.”

“I can only say that I did not put it there.”

“Miss Milne, as I said, I could prosecute you. You could then give your explanations in a court of law. But because of your family and the fact that you have been in this house for so many years during which time no thefts have been discovered against you, I am taking a lenient view. I will say that you were overcome by a sudden temptation … and you submitted to it. So … I am going to ask you to pack your bags and leave this house at once. Mrs. Kirkwell will accompany you and make sure that you take nothing with you which does not belong to you.”

She looked at him with hatred. “How can you? How can you judge me so unfairly? I will not be treated like a criminal.”

“You would prefer to have your case judged in court?”

She covered her face with her hands, and then, without another word, turned and went out of the room.

My father said: “This is regrettable but the matter is closed.”

Closed? With Lilias dismissed for theft! Her reputation was tarnished. She would live her life in fear of the fact that she had been accused of stealing would be brought to light.

I went to her room. She was sitting on her bed staring gloomily before her. I ran to her and put my arms about her.

“Oh, Lilias … Lilias,” I cried. “This is awful. / believe you.”

“Thank you, Davina,” she said. “Who could have done this to me? What could be the point?”

“I don’t know. First poor Kitty and now you. It’s as though there is some horrible curse on this house. It’s ever since my mother died.”

“I shall have to go home and tell them. How can I do that?”

“Your father will understand. He will believe you. He is a Christian.”

“I shall be a burden to them. I shall never be able to get another post.”

“Why not?”

“Because they will want to know where I have been … why I left.”

“Couldn’t you say I was getting old. It’s true.”

“They would get into touch with your father.”

“Perhaps he would say nothing.”

She laughed mirthlessly. “Of course he would say something. He would consider it unrighteous not to. He is so holy that he cannot give a woman a chance to defend herself. People like him love to find sin in others. They are so eager to find it that they see it where it does not exist. It makes them feel even more good … thanking God they are not like other men.”

“Oh, Lilias, it is going to be so miserable without you. I wish I had never seen that necklace.”

“I should have stood up for myself. I should never have allowed myself to be accused of something of which I am completely innocent. I should have dared him to prove it.”

“Oh, Lilias, why didn’t you?”

“It could have been even worse. He didn’t believe me. Perhaps others wouldn’t. If he had called in the police … people would have known. The disgrace would have been terrible … for my father. I could see that I had to get away …”

“You must write to me, Lilias. Give me your address. You did tell me, but I want it written down. I’m going to find out who took the necklace out of my room and put it in yours. I know someone did. Perhaps it was Hamish.”

“Why? Just because he was caught with Kitty? This isn’t the same thing. I could understand his stealing the necklace, but if he had done so he would want to sell it right away. There isn’t any reason why he should try to incriminate me.”

“Perhaps he wanted revenge. Had you done something he didn’t like?”

“I hardly know him. He never even looks at me.”

“Someone must have done it. What about Ellen?”

“Why? What would be the point?”

“Whichever way you look at it, there seems to be no reason.”

“Thank you, Davina, for your trust. I shall never forget it.”

“Oh, Lilias. It’s what I’ve dreaded … your going away. Though … I never thought it would be like this.”

“Write to me and I’ll write to you. I’ll let you know what happens.”

“At least you have your family to go to. They’ll be kind and understanding.”

“They will believe in my innocence. They will never believe that I could be a thief.”

Mrs. Kirkwell came in. She looked grim and resolute.

“Miss Davina!” she said reprovingly, surprised, I supposed, to find me there.

“I think this is a great mistake,” I said.

Mrs. Kirkwell ignored that and said: “What about this packing? I see you haven’t begun yet.”

I went back to my room. I thought of all that had happened in a short time: my mother’s death, Kitty’s misdemeanour which had resulted in her dismissal—and now Lilias.

How DREARY the house was without her. She had been my special friend for so long, and I had known that I would miss her; what I had not realised was how much. I felt very melancholy.

A few days after Lilias had left, my father sent for me. He was in his study, unsmiling and forbidding.

“I wanted to speak to you, Davina,” he said. “It is about a governess.”

I stared at him. For the moment I thought he had discovered the real thief and let myself fancy that Lilias was coming back.

“You are not yet fully educated,” he went on. “I had considered the idea of sending you away to a finishing school, but I have decided against that. So there will be a governess.”

“A new governess, but …”

He looked at me with faint exasperation.

“A new one, of course. I myself will make sure that this time I engage someone who is reliable and is not going to shock us all by stealing our property.”

I flushed and began: “I do not believe …”

He went on as though I had not spoken: “This one will be able to teach a great deal you should know. Deportment, good manners. It will not be so much a schoolroom governess as someone who will be able to equip you with social graces.”

I was not listening. How foolish of me to think even for a moment that he was going to say that Lilias was coming back.