Rustication by Charles Palliser Read Free Book Online

I exclaimed.
    Don’t interrupt me, Richard. Mrs Quance has suspicions about Mrs Paytress and to ignore that would be to fly in the face of local opinion .
    It seems extraordinary to me. The only intelligent and amiable person in the neighbourhood has sought our friendship and we are discussing whether to accept or reject it!
    Euphemia said to Mother: You do know what Mrs Quance’s motive is for wanting Mrs Paytress to be ostracised?
    Mother nodded: She hopes that one of her girls will marry the earl’s nephew .
    Which one? I asked.
    I believe it’s Enid , Euphemia said off-handedly. The Quances are afraid that Mrs Paytress might interfere with that .
    I understand , Mother said. If she married the earl and bore him a son, the nephew would inherit neither the title nor the fortune .
    (I must say, that seems unlikely since he must be in his late fifties or even sixties.)
    Euphemia rose to her feet and announced that she was going to Lady Terrewest.
    I seized the opportunity of her absence to persuade Mother to defer my exile since I have to wait for my trunk to arrive and then take from it the clothes I will need while I’m away. Since the weather is turning colder the carrier might be able to bring it in the next day or two. Mother accepted that argument and gave me a reprieve until Friday.
    7 o’clock.
    As I approached the village the smoke from the chimneys hung low and there was the smell of coal-smuts mingled with fog, and even here my nostrils were filled with the odour of the marshes and the sea. The Christmas candles in the windows made me think of all the preparations and parties that must still be going on in Thurchester without us.
    On the other side of the village I passed a tall stranger who was striding along with a rapid slouching gait. When I nodded a greeting, he walked on without acknowledging it.
    It was getting dark so I quickened my step. I made one final circuit of the Battlefield and that was when I saw Effie. She was several hundred yards away and walking in the direction of Stratton Herriard. What was she doing there? If she had gone to Lady Terrewest she would be there by that time and it was too soon for her to be returning. And anyway, we were now more than a mile from the road.
    Taking care not to let her see me, I followed her at a distance of a hundred yards or so. I dared not get too near in case she turned round but in the gathering twilight, I was able to come closer and closer to her without risking being spotted. I watched her enter the house and then I walked up and down the path for ten or fifteen minutes in order not to make it obvious that I had followed her home.
    ½ past 8 o’clock.
    Ate very little at dinner. My appetite goes when I’m like this. Missing it badly. Craving it and nothing else. Mother was worried and Effie looked at me knowingly. As long as Mother doesn’t suspect.
    After dinner I found Effie alone and asked her what she had been doing on the Battlefield. She was very indignant. When at last she deigned to give me an answer, she insisted that I must have been mistaken because she had been home at that time. I persisted and she said: Are you saying you followed me?
    No, of course not , I said.
    If you doubt me, ask Mother. Don’t you spy on me and I won’t ask any questions about what you got up to in Cambridge .
    I said I had no idea what she meant.
    Just at that moment Mother came back into the room and Effie said: Mother, Richard has the absurd idea that he saw me out on the Battlefield at about 6 o’clock but you can confirm that I arrived home before 5, can’t you?
    Mother looked from one to the other of us and then said: You shouldn’t accuse your sister of things, Richard .
    I said: I wasn’t accusing her of anything. I merely said that I had seen her there. But if you tell me she was at home at that time, then I can say no more .
    Mother nodded without looking at me and sat down and pulled her work-basket towards her.
    I cannot understand why Mother