Doctor Who_ The Banquo Legacy - Andy Lane [20]
‘I was as clear as I could be under the circumstances,’ he protested, ‘but given the nature of the experiment –’
He got no further as Elizabeth broke in.
‘Here they go again,’ she said loudly to me and Susan. ‘John, Susan dear, can you please bring some sort of order into our household – at least until dinner?’ Harries slumped back into his chair, apparently in a sulk.
Susan’s mouth pursed in amusement as she looked at Harries. ‘We shall see what can be done,’ she said, sparing me a quick glance.
‘Or,’ I added, ‘if this opaque language continues, we shall all adjourn for a long evening walk around the grounds.’
‘There’s a full moon tonight,’ George said, actually greeting the prospect with enthusiasm. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. ‘A little light exercise would do us all the world of good. And I can show you the gardens by moonlight – including the new grotto.’
Elizabeth sighed. ‘You’re incorrigible,’ she laughed. ‘I promise we shall all come and admire the addition to the gardens. But in daylight if you don’t mind.’
I had passed within sight of the new ‘grotto’ on my walk from the station. It was – or rather, was going to be – part of a hillside just off the main path in the woods. I left it to George to enlighten Miss Seymour and the others.
‘Well,’ he mused, ‘it’s not much of a grotto yet, I’m afraid. Be better next week when the chap’s been to blow a hole in the rock.’
I decided that I might as well throw in my penny’s worth. ‘At the moment, there’s just a small wooden shed full of tools and so on. I saw it from the path on my way up earlier. But if the plans are anything to go by, then George will have a very picturesque little cave to hide in when it’s finished, overlooking most of the grounds.’
‘The gardener isn’t altogether sure about it yet, though,’ said Elizabeth, and we all laughed. She led Catherine and Susan off to another part of the room. Harries was apparently in a world of his own, staring at his half-empty glass. This left Wallace and me together with the decanters. George refilled his glass, and then topped up mine before I could protest.
‘Well, John – now you’ve met Miss Seymour what do you think of her?’ he asked when sure that his wife had manoeuvred the ladies out of earshot.
‘She’s not exactly what I expected,’ I said slowly, wondering how I could turn the conversation towards the topics I wished to broach with George. Harries, for example, and Gordon. Now that he had been mentioned I felt that I ought to say something to George, not for my own sake so much as for his. This was the first opportunity I had had to speak to George alone and I was loath to waste it. On the other hand, I had hoped to wait, to sort out my own feelings and position first. ‘Also she’s not so…’ I struggled for the right word. ‘I don’t know – intense, I suppose. Not like Harries.’
‘Yes, Richard does get a bit carried away at times, doesn’t he?’
I agreed. ‘Miss Seymour seems a very pleasant young lady all in all. From what little I’ve seen of her.’
Wallace laughed. ‘Another difference from her fiancé, then.’
This was what I had hoped for. ‘George,’ I said quietly, ‘why do you put up with him?’
I could tell from his eyes that George had heard, but he hesitated, looking over towards Harries, now talking to his sister, and then towards Susan Seymour and Elizabeth.
‘I suppose Simpson and Beryl can manage dinner for all of us,’ he said uneasily, as though the thought had just struck him. ‘I’ll go and check with Elizabeth.’
He walked stiffly over to join them, leaving me alone and puzzled. There was one explanation for his strange behaviour, but I could hardly credit it.
I needed to think; suddenly the room seemed full of people all breathing too little air, stifling me. I glanced quickly around to see that no one was watching me, then put down my glass and slipped behind the heavy curtains, opened the French windows and went out into the garden. I quietly closed the windows behind me and leaned