Chapter 6
SIX
The following morning, Miss Watt rang up to ask if it would be convenient for Mr. Pearson to drop in that afternoon after calling on a client in Highgate.
“Yes, certainly,” Daisy assured her. “Do make sure he brings Mrs. Samuel Dalrymple’s letter, will you, please, Miss Watt?”
“I’ll remind him that you’d like to see the original, Mrs. Dalrymple. In fact, I’ll slip it into his despatch case, so that he can’t possibly forget it.” Her tone was conspiratorial.
“Thank you, that’s very kind of you.” Daisy felt she had gained an ally—not against Tommy, exactly, but against the sort of footling obstacles men tend to raise against any mild unorthodoxy when proposed by a female.
If some professional nicety made him reluctant to show her Martha’s letter, the secretary’s ploy made it difficult for him to claim to have accidentally left it at the office.
No sooner had Daisy hung the receiver on its hook than she remembered Sakari Prasad was coming to tea.
She nearly rang back, but there was no knowing when Tommy’s busy schedule would allow him to save her the trouble of going to Lincoln’s Inn.
Besides, Sakari was a close friend who wouldn’t take offence if Daisy deserted her for a few minutes to speak to Tommy.
An inveterate attender of lectures and classes, Sakari had written an essay encouraging others to do likewise. She wanted Daisy’s opinion as to whether it was worth submitting to Time and Tide, the liberal, feminist, literary magazine.
Comfortably settled in the small sitting room at the back of the house, Daisy read the article while Sakari poured tea and started to make inroads into the supply of watercress sandwiches, three kinds of biscuits, and a sponge filled with whipped cream and strawberries.
Mrs. Dobson thoroughly approved of Sakari, who appreciated good food.
Saris—such as the gold-embroidered scarlet she was wearing—were forgiving as to fit, Sakari said, so she had no inhibitions when it came to her waistline.
Besides, her chauffeur, Kesin, had become a welcome visitor in the kitchen.
Sakari’s article, with a subject that could have been as dry as dust, was delightful. Daisy should have known that her friend’s forthright sense of humour would shine through. She found herself chuckling, and a most unladylike snort escaped her just as she took a sip of tea.
“Oh dear, I’ve sprayed the page. I’ll type the whole thing for you, darling. It’s wonderful, and it may have a better chance if it’s typed. You must definitely send it in.”
“I am glad you like it, Daisy. Do you think I should use a pen name?”
“No, definitely not. I’m sure Lady Rhondda, the proprietor, will be tickled pink to have an international contributor. Now I’ll finish my tea before I finish reading.” She picked up her cup.
“Eat a sandwich also. You will fade away!”
“Not I, alas.” But she ate one of the small crustless triangles, then emptied her cup and went back to the article. Turning to the next page, she exclaimed, “You went to a lecture on graphology? I don’t remember you talking about it.”
“A great deal of nonsense was spoken,” Sakari said severely.
“You didn’t believe any of it?”
“A little, perhaps, but to read a person’s entire history in a few scribbled words—balderdash.” The last word she pronounced with the relish she always took in her infrequent use of colloquialisms.
“All the same, I’d like you to look at the letter Tommy Pearson’s bringing to show me.”
“The lawyer? What letter is this?”
Daisy explained. “He already sent me a copy, but I want to look at the handwriting, just in case it can tell me something about the writer. There’s the doorbell now. That will be Tommy.”
A few moments later, Elsie came in to announce Mr. Pearson’s arrival. “He’d like a word with you, madam.”
“Ask him to join us, will you, Elsie?”
Tommy came in wearing his lawyer face. He greeted Sakari politely but unenthusiastically, and turned to Daisy. “Could we go to your office? I’m sorry to interrupt your revels but this won’t take a minute.”
“There’s been a change of plan.” Daisy smiled at his irritated expression. “Elsie, another cup, please. Do sit down, Tommy.”
“Daisy, I haven’t got time for a tea party.”
“But darling, I’ve just discovered that Sakari is an expert graphologist. She’s going to take a look at Martha’s letter and tell us her entire history.”
Sakari shook her head, laughing. “Nothing of the sort, Mr. Pearson. However, the handwriting may tell us a little about the character. May I propose that you show the letter to Daisy while I powder my nose? She will give you her opinion and then I will give you mine. Should they coincide—”
“Coincidence, Mrs. Prasad, sheer coincidence!”
“Possibly. It can do no harm to try, can it? I need to see only one line, so the letter will remain confidential.” Seeing him unconvinced, she heaved herself out of her armchair. “I will go, and you may decide when I return.”
Reluctantly, Tommy produced the letter from his briefcase. “I wondered why you wanted to see it. Surely you don’t buy that superstitious nonsense?”
“No more than Sakari does.”
“It’s no better than astrology!”
“Darling, I have friends who are quite convinced that their fate is written in the stars. I suspect there’s a bit more substance to graphology. Let me see the letter.”
He passed it to her and turned with obvious relief to the cup of tea Sakari had poured him before departing for the cloakroom.
The handwriting was round and schoolgirlish, suggesting that Martha didn’t write often enough to have formed her own style.
She was probably young, not well-off, facing an unprecedented situation in her husband’s absence, not knowing when he would return to deal with it or what he would want her to do.
Daisy sympathised.
“She’s young, and probably na?ve. Unsure of herself.”
“And so she should be, providing not the slightest hint of what her husband’s claim may rest on, apart from the name.”
“And he lives in Jamaica. We know Julian went there.”
“His offspring seems to have spread all over the world,” Tommy grumbled.
“You must admit this Samuel is very likely one of them who stayed put. Your investigator in Kingston is still investigating?”
“Yes, but he’s not getting any further.”
Daisy found the family branch in her notebook. “Samuel’s father, James, he was the one lost at sea?”
“That’s right. His ship was sunk by a U-boat. Samuel’s ship was torpedoed, too, but he survived. He even turns out to have been something of a hero; he saved the lives of several of the crew. In fact, he was decorated after the war, when they got round to the Merchant Navy.”
“Tommy, you can’t just ignore them and hope they’ll go away!”
“I’ve no intention of doing so,” he retorted looking, harassed, “but what am I supposed to do when the man seems to have vanished? He sailed from Kingston weeks ago.”
Sakari appeared in the doorway, winked at Daisy, and advanced into the room in her stately way. “Have you decided, Mr. Pearson, whether I am to be trusted to see the letter?”
Tommy stood up, slightly flustered, turning towards her. “Of course I don’t distrust you, Mrs. Prasad. However, I have a duty to my client, who, in this case, is Lord Dalrymple—or the estate, rather—not Daisy.”
“As if Cousin Edgar would care!”
Sakari sank majestically into her chair. “Daisy, will you be so kind as to cut me another slice of this delicious-looking cake? I adore strawberries and cream.”
“Of course. Will you have some, Tommy?”
“I beg your pardon?” Apparently lost in thought, the lawyer had absentmindedly demolished the rest of the sandwiches.
“Cake?”
“Oh, yes, please. Our present cook isn’t much of a baker. Thank you.”
Daisy gave him a big piece, and cut a smaller one for herself. For a few minutes the only sounds were contented murmurs and the song of a blackbird in the garden.
Mellowed by the cake, Tommy showed Sakari a couple of lines of the letter, comprising Dear Sir, A friend has shown me your…, the rest carefully covered with a sheet of paper.
She took one glance and said, “Young, unsophisticated, lacking self-confidence.”
“Exactly what I said.”
Tommy snorted—luckily not with a mouthful of tea. Daisy thought she heard a mutter of “Piffle!”
“She is a simple person.”
“Simple-minded?” Tommy exclaimed, aghast.
“No, no, that is not what I said, Mr. Pearson. Uncomplicated. Without guile. And this is cheap paper—She is not well off.”
“That much I had worked out for myself.”
“Well taught, but not well educated.” Sakari handed the letter back to him.
“What do you mean?”
“I am sure you understand me. Her writing is clear and her English is good—as far as I, a mere foreigner, am able to judge. Nonetheless, she has no notion of the formal language a lawyer surely expects.”
“Believe me, we get letters in all sorts of language.”
“But you judge the writer thereby.”
“Touché. You are a shrewd woman, Mrs. Prasad. I grant you all you have said of her education and her means, if not necessarily of her character. Have you thought that perhaps she might be illiterate and have had someone else write it for her?”
“It is, of course, possible. However, is not the usual practice to mark an X for the signature in such cases? Is the letter signed with an X?”
“No, with her name in full. Possibly her signature is the only thing she’s able to write.”
“Is it in the same handwriting as the rest of the letter?”
“Yes,” Daisy intervened. Listening to Tommy and Sakari matching wits was entertaining, but enough was enough. “Tommy, argument may be your métier but you’re not going to best Sakari, not in a million years.”
Sakari laughed.
Tommy protested, “I’m a solicitor, not an advocate. I deal in facts, not in arguments.”
“There you go again, darling. We’re agreed—aren’t we?—that Martha is not strikingly knowledgeable or accomplished, and that she’s short of money. And we know her husband, who may be the missing heir, is away from home and apparently out of touch for the foreseeable future.”
“Mrs. Prasad didn’t know that until you just told her.”
“She does now. The question is, should you ask her to come here right away—”
“Heaven forbid!”
“Or should you request any information she has about Samuel’s family, to be sent to you or given to your representative there.
Or should you just advise her to do nothing till Samuel turns up, which for all we know could be after Geraldine’s house party.
Being late wouldn’t invalidate his claim, would it? ”
“No—unless, in the meantime, the College of Arms had declared someone else to be the rightful heir. But they’re never in a hurry. No, more likely, to my mind, is that he won’t turn up at all.”
“What would happen in such a case?” Sakari asked.
“Nothing, if one of the others proved his claim. But if it turns out that Samuel is descended through eldest sons from Julian, we might have to wait until he’s presumed dead.”
“Why shouldn’t he turn up?” Daisy demanded.
“I just think it’s odd that he’s been completely out of touch for so long.
His grandfather’s death certificate gives the cause of death as cirrhosis of the liver.
Perhaps Samuel is subject to the same weakness.
He may be down-and-out in some Caribbean port, with no means or no intention of going home. ”
“Facts,” Sakari reminded him tartly. “Lawyers are not supposed to have premonitions.”
“You’re quite right, Mrs. Prasad. Nor should I have mentioned Alfred Dalrymple’s unfortunate disorder in your presence. I trust you will disregard it.”
“My lips are sealed.”
“He seems to have been employed by a rum distillery in Kingston.” Tommy shrugged, as if to say cirrhosis was a natural, if not inevitable, result of the job.
“Unfortunately, my informant is unable to trace the family before 1882. I expect no better of Mr. Raymond Dalrymple, due to arrive shortly from South Africa. Julian’s branch of your family, Daisy, had an unfortunate penchant for settling in turbulent regions of the world. ”