The Mask of the Enchantress (42 page)

I was getting more and more uneasy, for he was assessing me.

he changed,he said at length. o you think so, Malcolm?

usannah?answered Malcolm. h yes, indeed she has. A visit to Australia had a marked effect on her.

t was a considerable adventure,I reminded them, nd in view of what happened

es, in view of what happened,said Garth slowly.

usannah is proving herself to be an excellent custodian or should we say seneschal,said Malcolm. He turned to me, smiling. must say I was a little surprised.

ou didn have much of an opinion of me then?I murmured.

can say that I had. I never thought you give the time and thought to the job. I didn think you be interested enough in the tenants.

o she is proving a model of virtue, is she?said Garth. must say that shakes me.

arth, please said Emerald.

ll right, all right,said Garth. nly I must say that the very thought of Susannah sprouting wings amuses me. Il have to get used to it, I suppose. What did you do, Susannah? Turn over a new leaf, repent the folly of your ways or what?

am interested in everything about the castle naturally.

es, you always were in a way. And now coming into possession I suppose makes a difference.

Somehow I got through that uneasy dinner hour. As we rose from the table Malcolm said: haven seen much of you these last few days. Where have you been hiding?

haven been feeling very well,I told him.

A solicitous look came into his eyes. ou involve yourself too much with these people. A little is all very well

all right,I insisted. ust a little tired.

I went up to my room.

I was thinking: I can go on like this. Something will have to happen. I toyed with the idea of going down to Malcolm now and telling him what I knew. Perhaps I should confess to Emerald.

I took off my dress and put on a dressing gown. I sat at my mirror staring at my reflection as though for some inspiration as to what I should do next. The mask of Susannah was still on my face. But I fancied it had slipped a little.

I heard footsteps in the corridor. They paused at my door and it was opened.

Garth stood there.

He was grinning at me. He came towards me and his eyes did not leave my face as he approached.

don know who you are,he said, ut there is one thing I do know and that is that you are not Susannah.

I stood up. ill you please leave my room,I said.

o,he replied. ho the hell are you? What are you doing here pretending to be Susannah? Looking a little like her, yes. But you can fool me. Youe a fraud. Who are you, I say?

I did not answer. He took me by the shoulders and forced my head back. He brought his face close to mine.

f anybody knows Susannah, I do. I know every inch of Susannah. Where is she? What have you done with her? Where have you come from?

et me go,I cried.

hen you tell me.

I am Susannah.

oue a liar. What happened to you then? Youe become a saint, have you? So good to all the people. Winning the approval of second cousin Malcolm. What the idea? You say you are Susannah. Then let continue where we left off, shall we? Come, Susannah, you were never so retiring before. Do you realize how long it is since we were together?He had pulled me to him and started kissing me in a violent, savage sort of way. He tore at my dressing gown. He seemed to be working himself into a frenzy.

top,I cried.

He paused and there was something demoniacal in his laughter.

f youe Susannah,he said, how me. You were never exactly shy. Insatiable, that was you, Susannah. You know you wanted me as much as I wanted you. That why it was such fun.

I cried: et me go. I am not Susannah.

He released me. h,he said, ow you are going to tell me the truth. Where is Susannah?

usannah is dead. She died in the volcanic eruption on Vulcan Island.

nd who in God name are you?

er half sister.

ord save us. Youe Anabel brat. Anabel and Joel.

hey were my parents.

nd you were with them on that island.

es. Susannah came. I went to Australia to attend a friend wedding and while I was there the volcano erupted. It killed everyone on the island.

nd so you took her place.He looked at me with something like admiration. lever girl!he added. lever little girl!

ow you will tell them, I suppose. Ie confessed. And I glad. I can go on with this.

good plan,he said, eying me speculatively. ou took possession of the castle, didn you? One in the eye for Malcolm.

What a joke!He started to laugh. smond died and that gave the castle to Susannah and then little bastard sister comes along and decides shel have it. I call that rich. I like it in a way. But it not foolproof, is it, and when Susannah constant lover and devoted slave comes along he finds a cuckoo in the nest.

I knew then that he was the writer of those letters. He frightened me.

t was wicked of me,I said. realize that now. I going to tell them and I shall go away.

ou could be prosecuted for fraud, you little schemer. No, you mustn confess. That silly. I shan give you away. Il think of some way round this. So she dead, is she? Susannah! She was a witch. She was an enchantress. Youl never be that, my dear little impostor. You haven got what she had. Who else ever had? Oh, Susannah I was thinking that tonight would be what it used to be. Why did she want to go to that wretched island? He was genuinely moved. He brightened suddenly. ever let misfortune overwhelm you,he went on. ever cry over what done and dead and gone. I not going to, I promise you. Youe got the castle now. All right then. I might let you keep it if youl share it with me.

hat do you mean?

usannah and I were going to be married when Esmond died.

ou you killed Esmond.

He gripped my wrist. ever say that out loud. Esmond died. He had a recurrence of a former illness. This last time he did not recover.

It was all sickening. I was learning so much, but there was one piece of knowledge which gladdened my heart: I had made a mistake about the man who had written those letters; it was not Malcolm but Garth.

Mingling with the terror which Garth created was the delight that Malcolm had never been Susannah lover and that he was not involved in the murder of Esmond.

Garth came close to me and put his hands on my shoulders. ou and I know too much about each other, little imitation Susannah. We shall have to work together and I see a way. Yes, I do.He lifted my chin in his hands and looked into my face. I shrank from him. I was afraid of the glitter in his eyes. came home thinking that this night Susannah and I would be together.

I was starved for Susannah. And she is dead that lovely, desirable, wicked insatiable witch is dead. That enchantress of men has gone. The Devil has taken back his own.He almost threw me from him and sat down heavily. He brought down his fist on the dressing table. Then he stared ahead. I wondered what he was going to do next.

Suddenly he began to laugh. o you died, Susannah. You let me down by dying. Never mind. Il get along without you. Youe sent me someone who looks a little like you. I could pretend she was you at times.He turned to me. ome here,he said.

shall do no such thing. Please go.

want to look at you. Youe got to make me forget Ie lost Susannah.

am going to leave the castle,I said. ou must go tomorrow.

ndeed! The Queen of the Castle speaks. Never mind that she has usurped the crown and I know it. You think I going to be ordered about by you, do you? No, little Queen with no right to the crown, you are going to do as I say. Then you can go on being Queen for as long as I shall let you.

isten,I insisted. going to tell them. I going away from here. You can do your worst.

pirit!he commented. nd not unexpected. If you been spineless you never be here, would you? Ie a plan forming in my mind and it could be good for both of us. I fancy you, my little one. You are like Susannah in a way, and that could be piquant.He took my hand and tried to draw me to him. et us put the matter to the test. Let us see if it would work. If I like you I marry you. And we rule together as Susannah and I promised ourselves we would.

lease take your hands off me,I cried, nd go. If you don I shall ring the bell and call for help.

nd what if I were to tell them what a wicked girl you are?

ou may do so. I intend to tell them myself.

believe you would. That would be foolish. It would spoil everything. Malcolm would be proclaimed true heir and we don want that, do we? No. Keep quiet. Il make a plan. Itl be like planning with Susannah.

shall not make any plans with you.

ou have no help for it. It either be kind to me or the end of your little game.

y little game is over now.

t need not be.

f the only alternative is to go on planning with you it is definitely over.

ice words. Nobly spoken.He swayed on his heels, looking at me. like you more every minute. It was a bit of a shock finding you weren Susannah. But it no use harking back, is it? Il go now if you want me to. But plans are forming in my head. We are going to make a good thing of this you and I together.

I could only say: lease go now.

He nodded.

Then he came over to me and kissed me hard on the mouth.

h yes,he whispered, like you, little mock Susannah. Youe going to come round to my way of thinking. Wee going to work our way through this together.

Then he was gone.

I pulled my dressing gown over my shoulders; which were red where he had roughly handled me.

I felt sick and very frightened.

What could I do now?

As I sat there, there was a knock on my door. I sprang up, fearing that he had come back.

ho there?I whispered.

t only Janet.

I opened the door.

y patience me! What wrong?

I said: othing nothing. It all right, Janet.

on nothing me. I know better than that. Garth been in here. I saw him going out. What he up to?

e knows, Janet.

guessed as much. I was afraid when he came. There was something between him and Susannah. There was something between her and a lot of them. She couldn resist men and there nothing that men like better than that.

h, Janet,I cried wearily, hat am I going to do? I should never have done this.

ell, you did, and what done is done. It brought you back to the castle and that where you belong by rights. You should have come back and said who you were. I doubt you would have been turned away.

anet Garth who is he?

lizabeth Larkham boy. He used to be here a lot when he was young. Used to come here because his mother was here.

es, I know that. But who was his father?

avid of course. Elizabeth was supposed to be a widow, but, well, she been David mistress before she came here and Garth was the result. She called herself a widow and came to be under the same roof as her lover. Theye like that, these Mate-lands. Always have been through the ages, I reckon. Leopards can change spots and Matelands can change their ways either.

I was thinking: Mateland blood! Garth of course. Not Malcolm. I was deeply relieved because Malcolm was completely exonerated.

I found myself telling Janet all that had happened. It was a relief to pour it out. At least I knew that she was a friend. I told her everything about David encounter with me on my way home from school and how Anabel had come to collect me and we had gone off together.

She listened attentively. She wanted to know how Anabel had lived on the island, about her happiness there.

nd did she ever mention me?she asked.

he did,I told her, nd always with affection.

he should have taken me with her,said Janet. ut then I have been blown up and not able to look after you.

hat shall I do, Janet?I asked. must tell them, of course. Il tell Malcolm tomorrow.

es,answered Janet, ut let think about it first.

She sat with me until late and then I went to bed. I was so exhausted that, to my surprise, I slept through until morning.

The next day when I arose I learned that Malcolm had gone out and that he would be away all day.

That gave me a day respite, for I had come to the conclusion that it should be to Malcolm that I made my confession.

I went down to breakfast. I was glad no one was there, for I could only manage a cup of coffee. While I was drinking it, Chaston appeared. Jack Chivers had come to see me again.

I took him into the small room off the main hall where I had seen him before.

t Leah again,he told me.

he baby ?

o, it her father. She says to come to her as soon as you can.

I went upstairs, changed into my riding kit and rode over to the cottage.

Leah was waiting, her big eyes showing great concern.

t my father again. He left this for you. He said I was to give it into your own hands.

I took the envelope she gave me, slit it, took out a sheet of paper and read what it contained.

Ie got something to say to you, Miss Susannah, and I want to say it quick. You tried to murder Mr. Esmond and my brother was a help to you. He was a good man but you are a witch and there not many can hold out against witches. Now youe got to pay for it. I want a lease to give me the farm for the rest of my days and then to be renewed for Amos and Reuben. I want new equipment and everything that can make the farm flourish again. You may say this is blackmail. Maybe it is. But you can betray me without betraying yourself. Come to the barn the one where poor Saul hanged himself. Come at nine tonight and have a paper with you promising me what I ask for, and Il give you my word that Il keep quiet about what I know. Fail me and the next day everyone will know what you got from Saul and the real reason why he killed himself.

I stared at the paper. Leah continued to watch me, her eyes full of anxiety.

I put the letter in its envelope and thrust them into my pocket.

h, Miss Susannah,said Leah, hope it not too bad.

I looked at her sadly. I thought: I shall never see the baby when it comes. I shall be far away. Where? I wondered. I should never see the castle again. I should never see Malcolm.