But Marianna gave her stepson no chance to reply. She said, with a firmness of voice that surprised her, ‘Neither of you will go to the police. You, Ralph, had better consider very carefully before you take such a drastic step, all because of a spiteful vendetta against me. Just think what would inevitably emerge if we were ever put on trial — the twisted nature that lay behind your father’s façade of respectability. Your children’s grandfather, don’t forget.’
Ralph gave a contemptuous shrug. ‘You won’t deter me as easily as that, Marianna.’
‘Think, Ralph, think. Jacinto and I are not two helpless young people, as we were in those days, with no power to defend ourselves adequately. We have the means now to fight back. You had better consider what a leading King’s Counsel would do to you in the witness box. What questions you might be asked.’
He snorted. ‘I can handle any questions that come my way. I am a successful, highly respected man of business, don’t forget. I shall be believed over anything you might say.’
Marianna took a deep breath. ‘I am quite aware that if you are determined to press these charges against Jacinto and myself, you could make life very uncomfortable for us. You might even succeed in having us both imprisoned. So for that very reason, Ralph, I swear to God that if you attempt to bring destruction down upon us, then I will see that you are destroyed too. Be in no doubt that I have the knowledge to do so.’
A look of unease crept into his eyes, but still he blustered. ‘What the devil is that supposed to mean?’
‘It means this. Just as Dick unwittingly presented you with a weapon against Jacinto and me, he also gave me one against you.’ She closed her eyes, uttering a silent prayer that Dick was right in what he suspected and that Ralph would not just laugh away her threat, ‘What would your father-in-law say, I wonder, were he to be informed that you had swindled him? Swindled him to the tune of two whole boatloads of Christmas comforts for the troops at the Cape, which were never purchased and never delivered, though Sir Percival Rockingham paid you for them in full.’
Ralph did laugh, but very shakily. ‘If Dick told you that, he was lying.’
‘Then if the story is false you have nothing to fear from my going to Sir Percival.’
‘D’you imagine he’d believe you? Good God, woman, he received a grateful letter from the Secretary of State for the War Department.’
‘But would that letter stand investigation?’ she challenged, with growing confidence. ‘Suppose your sister’s husband, Sir Cedric Kendall, were to ask a few questions among his military friends? I believe he would soon uncover the fact that it was written solely to appease Sir Percival, with no basis of truth.’
Eyes blazing, Ralph took a threatening step towards her, so that Jacinto moved quietly between them.
‘This ... this is nothing short of blackmail,’ he spluttered.
‘You may call it what you will,’ Marianna said, facing him calmly now that she knew she had won. ‘So I shall say it again. I swear to you, Ralph, that if there is ever a threat to Jacinto and myself, I shall know it is due to you, then I shall not hesitate to bring that ugly story to light.’
‘It’s Dick’s word against mine!’
‘We shall see, shall we not, if you force my hand?’
Ralph tried to turn his defeat against her, by abusing her son. ‘There’s one thing I’m glad about, anyhow. I’ll be rid of that sanctimonious little prig. I’ll never call him brother.’
‘I doubt,’ said Jacinto in a voice that betrayed his own deep anger, ‘if that will cause the young man much distress.’
Ralph stood hesitating at the door, still searching for a thrust that would pain her. His eyes gleamed suddenly, and he began, ‘Those photographs of you, Marianna, I think I shall—’
‘Oh, do what you like with the filthy things,’ she cried. ‘They reveal far more about the mind of the man who had them taken — your father — than they do about the young girl they portray.’
Jacinto, who could have understood little of what had been said, intervened curtly. ‘You had better go now, Penfold. At once.’
Ralph looked from one to the other of them, his face contorted with rage, then without speaking another word he turned and slammed from the room. But even when the sounds of his footsteps had receded, his hatred remained, hanging in the air like something cloying and tangible.
For long moments Marianna stood motionless, trembling, then her strength of purpose seemed to desert her and she broke into uncontrollable weeping. Jacinto took her gently into his arms and she clung to him.
It being Sunday, the shop was closed, so Marianna rapped with her knuckles on the glass pane of the door. A moment later Hilda’s inquiring face appeared in the doorway from the living quarters, then lit up with pleasure as she recognized her visitor and hurried round the counter to open up.
‘Ooh ma’am, it’s lovely to see you again. I do hope as how you can stay for a bit, ’cos my Albert’s out with the children just at present, except for the baby. He always takes them over to Regent’s Park of a Sunday morning if it’s not raining, to get them out from under my feet, like, while I cooks the dinner.’
An appetizing smell of roasting mutton was drifting through from the back regions, to mingle with the subtle blend of cheese and bacon, tea and coffee, and all manner of herbs and spices.
‘I’m afraid I didn’t give a thought to you cooking the Sunday dinner,’ Marianna said apologetically, as she followed Hilda across the shop. ‘You mustn’t let me delay you.’
‘Oh, you won’t do that’m, so long as you don’t mind me popping out to the scullery now and then to keep an eye on things.’ In the back room she pulled out a chair for Marianna and swept a pile of mending out of sight. ‘I s’pose, ma’am, you wouldn’t stay and have a bite with us? There’s always plenty.’
‘How kind of you, Hilda. I’d have loved to, but I have a prior engagement.’
‘With your son, I s’pect?’
‘Yes, with Dick, and ...’ She paused, then burst out, ‘Oh Hilda, I have so much to tell you.’
The story as Marianna related it was muddled and confused, because there was much she felt unable to reveal even to this loyal friend. But Hilda grasped the essentials, and she kept exclaiming in wonderment.
‘Just fancy, you finding each other like that, right here in London! It’s nothing more nor less than a blessed miracle.’
‘Yes, a miracle,’ agreed Marianna. ‘What was it prompted me to call upon you on that particular day, I wonder? What made me leave here at the precise time I did and then wander through the streets instead of immediately taking a cab?’
‘It’s all your best dreams come true at last, ain’t it, ma’am?’
Marianna could not conceal that a dark cloud hung above her happiness.
‘Alas, all is not quite so perfect as it sounds, Hilda. There is a tragic side to our coming together — the very reason for my Jacinto being in London at all.’ She felt a lump in her throat as she spoke of his failing sight, and Hilda’s round, freckled face melted in sympathy.
‘Isn’t there no hope at all, ma’am?’
Marianna shook her head. ‘None at all, I’m afraid. After a second consultation the specialist confirmed his original diagnosis. Jacinto faces total blindness. To me, it is truly remarkable with what calmness he accepts the terrible prospect.’
They were sitting over a cup of tea chatting of this and that, with Marianna holding the baby on her lap, when Hilda’s family returned home. Albert had been a good-looking young footman, and although somewhat weightier now, he was still a well-set man. He greeted Marianna with great cordiality, and each of the children was presented in turn.
She only stayed a few minutes longer. Saying goodbye to Hilda at the shop door, she murmured, ‘I’m so glad to have met your family and seen how well and happy you all are.’
‘Ooh, yes’m. I’ve got so many blessings to count that sometimes I feels almost like bursting.’ Then, sympathetically, ‘I’ll be thinking of you, ma’am ... both of you, like. You deserve to find happiness after all you’ve been through.’
‘Thank you, Hilda.’
‘You will come and see us another time, won’t you, ma’am — if ever you comes to England again?’
‘Yes, indeed I will. And next time ... it will be with my husband. You see, there is nothing to prevent us coming to England any more. The danger for us here has been quite resolved, I’m thankful to say.’
* * * *
Marianna had telephoned Cedric Kendall a second time, feeling that it was only courteous to inform him of the turn of events since they had talked together. Greatly to her pleasure, he had at once insisted on coming to London to see her again, expressing the hope that he would also be able to meet her future husband. Tuesday was decided upon, and Marianna had ordered luncheon to be served in her sitting room.
Dick, who was also now staying at the Savoy as a temporary measure, had set out half an hour previously to meet Cedric’s train at Waterloo. They were due at any moment and Marianna was pacing the room from fireplace to window and back again, too nervous to remain seated.
There was a sound of voices at the door and Dick came bursting into the suite in his usual impetuous way, followed rather more sedately by Cedric.
‘Mama, what do you think? Cedric has invited me to stay at Hardwick Manor until I go up to Oxford in the autumn. Isn’t that splendid? He says it will be easy enough to find a tutor who can bring me up to the mark.’
‘All depending, of course,’ put in Cedric, ‘on whether the idea meets with your approval, Marianna.’
She was hesitant. ‘Are you quite sure that Eunice would be happy about this?’
‘Eunice is wholly with me, my dear. In fact, we both hope that Dick will regard the Manor as his home in England, as long as he is here.’
‘That is extremely generous of you, Cedric. What can I say except to offer my most heartfelt thanks?’
She packed Dick off then, on the excuse that he should be down in the foyer in good time to greet Jacinto when he arrived from his own hotel at Victoria. In reality, she wanted a few minutes private conversation with Cedric.
‘Much has happened since I saw you last,’ she said, when they were alone.
‘It would certainly appear so, my dear.’
‘As I mentioned on the telephone, Ralph Penfold is no longer a threat to us. Something Dick had discovered about his business dealings has effectively silenced him from speaking out against Jacinto and myself. I am not sure whether I ought to go into details ...’
‘Better perhaps that I don’t know everything,’ suggested Cedric ruefully. ‘After all, the man remains my wife’s brother.’ He smiled across at her from his chair by the fire. ‘Dick is a different person, is he not? And full of praise for your husband-to-be.’
‘I rejoice about that. Dick has so violently rejected William Penfold as his father and Ralph as his half-brother that he is now ready — eager, I truly believe — to look upon Jacinto as his father.’
They exchanged a glance which dispensed with a great many difficult words. Then Cedric said, ‘This matter of incipient blindness, though ... it is very dreadful.’
‘Indeed, yes — but Jacinto accepts it so philosophically. I am only thankful that I shall be able to serve as his eyes.’
Cedric frowned and gave her a dubious look. ‘I gather he is a man of strong character — he must be to have won your heart. How will such a man be able to accept a dependent role in life?’
Marianna laughed softly. ‘I see that it is high time you met him. Make no mistake, Cedric, I shall be the dependent one. Jacinto is selling his interests in Guiana and we shall be partners in the firm of Tobias Dalby. I have little doubt whose views will prevail, then. Already, in this short time, Jacinto is full of plans and ideas for development.’
‘I see. And what about you? Will you be content to play a secondary part, my dear, after enjoying absolute power for so long?’
‘Enjoying? The power I wielded, Cedric, was merely a substitute for my heart’s craving. But now, that has been granted to me.’
When Dick arrived with Jacinto, Marianna was content to look on and let her son perform the introductions. The handshake between Jacinto and Cedric was firm and decided, the greeting of two men who already held each other in respect.
Cedric said, ‘I have been trying to persuade Marianna to bring you down to us in Sussex for a visit, before you leave for Madeira.’
‘I thought later,’ Marianna put in swiftly. ‘The next time we come to England.’
‘Your kindness is much appreciated,’ Jacinto told him. ‘But perhaps, as Marianna suggests, it would be best to postpone our visit.’
Five days later Marianna and Jacinto departed for Madeira, and Dick accompanied them to Southampton. The separation from her son was Marianna’s only regret at leaving England, but this would not be for very long. He referred to Madeira now as home and had expressed his intention of returning for a holiday before going up to Oxford. ‘It will fit in rather well, mama,’ he had said eagerly. ‘That way I shall be able to take part in the vintage.’
As the train passed through Edgeley station she sought Jacinto’s glance, remembering so much, but the memories no longer had any power to hurt her. Dick’s voice broke in upon her thoughts.
‘About the money that’s due to me when I come of age ... I hate the thought of taking it, mama.’
Marianna would never have suggested that he should relinquish his Penfold inheritance, but her heart flowed with gratitude.
‘Then don’t take it, dearest. There is money enough for you without that.’
‘But the only thing is, it seems a beastly shame for Ralph to benefit, doesn’t it?’
Jacinto’s lips twitched in a smile. ‘Why not make your inheritance over to some charitable institution, Dick? A lawyer could arrange the matter for you.’
‘I say, sir, that’s a jolly good idea.’
Fifteen minutes later the train drew to a halt at the dock-side and they went aboard the Royal Mail steamer to find their cabins. When the last call came for visitors to go ashore, Dick caught his mother in his arms and gave her a fierce, bear-like hug that left her breathless. Breaking away at last, he held out his hand to Jacinto. Then, in the emotion of parting, the two of them embraced. Father and son?