Chapter 24
CHARLOTTE
‘Grace Alexander.’ Lawrie shook his head in amazement as they sat in the dining room of Harling Hall.
According to the conversations Charlotte had overheard between Callie and Mrs Godfrey’s replacement – a young woman called Mia who was far too familiar with the family for Charlotte’s liking – Lawrie had rallied remarkably since her arrival and had agreed to have dinner at the main table rather than in his room.
‘This is incredible. First Mother and now Silas’s wife. Who will be next?’
‘Don’t say that,’ Callie said in horror. ‘The ghosts are in uproar as it is. I had a heck of a job trying to calm them down.’
‘Peasants,’ Charlotte said contemptuously.
‘I think it’s time I did a tour of the estate, Lawrie, darling.
It seems to me that the place has gone to wrack and ruin.
The cleaners don’t even come in on Sundays!
And the housekeeper, chatting to her and to my darling great-grandson as if they were equals. ’ She gave Callie a disapproving look.
‘Things are very different these days, Mother,’ Lawrie said nervously. ‘We don’t stand on ceremony any more.’
‘Well, it’s all wrong,’ Charlotte said. ‘People should know their place.’
Lawrie smiled. ‘I expect Agnes would agree with you. You have more in common than you think, although she’s grown very fond of Mia.’
‘Don’t talk to me about Agnes!’ Charlotte raged, her anger increasing as she watched Callie and Brodie helping themselves to roast potatoes and tender lamb that looked unbearably delicious to her. She couldn’t believe she was unable to eat any of it!
‘I can’t believe I’d forgotten about her and her dreadful family.
I remember you and Edward going on and on about them all.
You seemed to positively adore her which, now I’ve met her, sickens me to the stomach.
To think that she was here all the time I was alive, watching my every move, judging me.
Ugh! It makes my skin crawl. Well, it would if it could.
And another thing; I don’t see why the Wyndhams have been given an entire suite to themselves, and I only have a bedroom. After all, I’m a Davenport.’
‘The Davenports no longer run the estate, Mother,’ Lawrie reminded her gently. ‘It’s the turn of the Chases now.’
‘Nonsense! The girl’s marrying Brodie, isn’t she? Well then, she’ll be a Davenport and that means the estate will pass back into our hands, where it belongs.’
‘Excuse me,’ Callie said sharply, ‘but I don’t recall ever saying that I was going to change my name to Davenport, just because I’m marrying Brodie.’
Brodie looked at her in surprise. ‘You’re not?’ he asked.
She squeezed his arm. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I forgot you couldn’t hear the context for that remark. It’s your great-grandmother,’ she added through gritted teeth. ‘She has opinions on her position in this house.’
Brodie nodded, almost as if he understood her meaning, though surely he was only humouring her?
‘But don’t you think,’ he said, ‘that we have more important things to worry about? If Harmony’s right and Madam Mariska’s séance caused the return of long-departed souls who were never meant to be ghosts, then we must do something about it.
There could be others. Who knows who might be lurking in the estate without our knowledge?
And not all of them might be as genial as, er, Great-Grandmother and Mrs Alexander. ’
‘What’s she like?’ Lawrie asked curiously. ‘I simply can’t imagine Silas having a wife at all, though I knew he had at some point. She must have been a very strong character to put up with him, that’s all I can say.’
‘Actually,’ Callie said with a smile, ‘she’s lovely. Not at all what I was expecting. She’s all cuddly and round and soft and smiley.’ She chuckled. ‘She called him Carrots!’
‘Carrots?’ Brodie burst out laughing. ‘I’ll bet he was mortified. Why would she call him Carrots?’
‘No one knows, but Aubrey thinks it’s probable that, before his hair turned white, Silas was a redhead.’
‘They do say redheads have fiery tempers,’ Lawrie acknowledged. ‘Perhaps it’s true after all.’
‘You should have seen him earlier though,’ Callie said.
‘He was like mush. She walked over to him, and he put his arms around her and just held her for ages. Then they left the library without a word to any of us. He’s obviously very fond of her.
It’s funny because he never spoke a word about her to me all this time. ’
‘He never mentioned her to me either,’ Lawrie admitted. ‘Although I knew of her existence, and of course there’s the inscription on the headstone. She and Silas are buried together.’
‘Really? I was given strict instructions that we weren’t to touch Silas’s grave this morning, so I didn’t get to read it.’
‘Grace Alexander,’ Lawrie said, tilting his head as if trying to remember all the details, ‘didn’t live here long. As I recall, she and Silas arrived here during the Great War, and she died only a few months after they moved here. If I’m remembering the inscription correctly, that was in 1917.’
‘Oh gosh,’ Callie said sadly, ‘that’s awful. Poor Silas.’
Charlotte tutted impatiently. ‘Yes, well, he’s got her back now, hasn’t he? Lucky them. Of course, Edward is nowhere to be seen, which doesn’t surprise me. He was never around when I needed him. He’ll be somewhere wonderful having an amazing time of it, no doubt.’
Lawrie raised an eyebrow. ‘Where, Mother? Where is this wonderful somewhere?’
‘What?’ Charlotte shrugged. ‘I have no idea.’
‘You really don’t know where you’ve been all this time?’ Callie asked suspiciously.
‘I said so, didn’t I?’ Charlotte snapped. ‘Or are you calling me a liar?’
‘Of course she’s not, Mother,’ Lawrie soothed. ‘But you must understand why we’re curious. This is a rare opportunity to discover what happens after we leave this mortal realm. You can’t blame us for asking questions.’
Charlotte sighed. ‘If I knew, I would tell you, but I honestly don’t.
The last thing I remember is Golden Boy taking off at that fence on Rowan Farm’s top field.
I have no recollection of anything after that until I found myself on the landing here in Harling Hall, with that ridiculous woman in her nightclothes screaming blue murder at me. ’
‘A pity,’ Lawrie said.
‘Maybe not,’ Callie mused. ‘Perhaps there are some things we should never know about.’
Charlotte considered the matter. ‘I will say that when I try to remember, all I know is that I feel… happy. Contented.’ She shrugged. ‘That’s it. That’s all I’ve got. Perhaps this Grace woman will know more.’
‘What are we talking about?’ Brodie murmured to Callie, who proceeded to fill him in on the details of their conversation.
Charlotte leaned towards Lawrie, her nose twitching at the scent of mint sauce and a delicious thick gravy wafting from his plate.
‘Such a shame that he doesn’t possess your gift, darling.
And his father, too! An utter catastrophe for the Davenports.
I don’t even have the consolation of knowing that it would have destroyed Edward, had he learned of it. ’
‘Oh, Mother,’ Lawrie said, shaking his head. ‘Father knew about William. My son was born in 1965 and Father only passed on in 1988.’
‘Was he furious when he realised William couldn’t see the ghosts?’ she asked gleefully.
Lawrie hesitated. ‘No,’ he said honestly. ‘He was very accepting of the situation. He simply said William should never be made to feel that he’d let anyone down. Jacqueline and I made sure that he wasn’t.’
Charlotte couldn’t help feeling disappointed. After all, the Harling Estate had meant everything to Edward – far more than she’d ever meant to him. She’d have bet a fortune that he’d have been devastated at such a turn of events.
‘Why wasn’t I invited to this meeting anyway?’ she demanded suddenly. ‘After all, it was called because of my arrival in the village, and it was for all the ghosts. Well then, if anyone should have been there, it’s me.’
‘It wouldn’t have been appropriate,’ Callie explained. ‘They were trying to decide what to do next. As Brodie said, the most important thing now is figuring out if, er, Madam Mariska was responsible for your return to the estate, and if so, how do we send you back?’
‘Send me back?’ Charlotte cried indignantly. ‘What am I? Some unwanted parcel?’ She turned to Lawrie, her eyes beseeching. ‘Lawrie, darling, you don’t want me to go away again, do you?’
‘Of course not, Mother,’ Lawrie said immediately. ‘I’ve only just got you back.’
‘Well, that’s settled then,’ she said, running her gloved hands along her riding crop with satisfaction. ‘I shall stay.’
And, she thought grimly, just let anyone try to tell her otherwise!