The Edge

From the next morning onward I kept every thing I was doing a secret from my husband. I made sure that he did not know of my visits to the poor with the doctor by walking from the house down into the park and having Dr Crowner pick me up in his dog cart there. I paid for everything myself, not a penny passed out of Michael's purse. I did not go down to dinner, I saw him only in the chapel on Sunday when I came down. We were polite and distant with each other.

I did not reply to Stephen Bruce's letter. I refused to even think of him. It hurt me more than I could tell to admit he was not the man I had thought him. I burnt his first letter as well. I trained myself to think only of myself and my unborn child.

I grew rounder by the day, it seemed. In the iron days of January I first felt the little flutters of it's movement. I had not recovered my appetite fully but I made sure that I ate. I slept deeply at night and I stayed active.

This was aided partly by the thrice weekly trips with Dr Crowner. We visited the poor and needy of the parish, with me always bringing a basket of food, wine and medicine for them. I would stand nearby while the doctor treated the patient, I learned from him how to dress wounds, how to treat fevers and chills and all sorts of ailments. I became adept at plucking the item he required from his black medical bag which he brought with him. I grew to know and enjoy the company of the simple village folk, I learned their names and the names of their children. I began to attend chapel in the village itself once a week and to speak with them there too, I continued to do some parish work with the women's club although not as much as I had hoped. My husband had seen to it that I would not be required.

I spent all my free time at home with Nurse Ruth, knitting or working on small details for the doll's house, or with Bess, just talking over matters. With her to converse with, I felt less lonely. I certainly was in need of a friend.

It was a freezing cold morning in late January when Michael came into my craft room to find me sat beside the fire, knitting the final quarter of the blanket I was making for the baby. Nurse Ruth was elsewhere and Anna was in the other room doing some mending. My husband bowed to the other women and told me he wished to have a moment of my time. I nodded my consent.

"I have invited my sister and her family to reside here permanently. it has become a wish of hers to settle in her home district, the boys need a change of scene to recover properly and so the Eveleigh's have accepted my proposal."

I was not shocked. Victoria and her husband had been here so long that something of this sort had clearly been a possibility. I was, therefore, able to keep my face and attitude calm, my hands did not falter at my work and I merely asked where in the house they would make their own.

"Victoria and her husband will move into the bedroom which was my mothers. You are aware that I have had my father's bedroom redecorated for myself? Well, it is my plan to have my mother's room decorated for the Eveleigh's. I would ask you, then, to please pack up Mother's belongings and suchlike. These belong to you and I think it proper that you be the one to decide on where they shall go." I nodded ascent. Where then would the boys sleep? Michael had the grace to look uncomfortable.

"I am having the entire third floor redecorated. The old guest bedrooms are fine but our old chamber, the other large chamber and the nursery require stripping and re papering, new carpets and furnishings. The nursery in particular. There...there may still be scarlet fever germs in there and so we cannot be too careful. The boys can then move into bedchambers of their own on the third floor and their tutor can move into the master's suite and school room." He paused and asked me if I would care to step outside to speak privately. I got up and went with him, stopping halfway down the corridor.

Michael took my hands and looked more gently and kindly than he had done.

"There is welcome news also. My sister is with child. The nursery can be made ready for both new babies. Hers and ours." I began to shake a little and he helped me to a window seat. He sat beside me and chafed my hands, the most contact we had made in weeks. I was not to distress myself. All of James's things had already been burned or destroyed to stop the spread of fever. all that was left was his empty room and while I had a mother's feelings, a room must not lie empty. Victoria was willing for both children to be cared for together, anxious that they should be friends. And then they would grow up as close companions. This was to be hoped for, was it not? I tried hard to smile, to be willing but it still stuck in my throat.

"I am willing for all the redecoration to be done. I can see the sense. It is just so hard to think of anything that was James's." Michael kissed my forehead and told me he understood. He would not force me to speak of it. It would be better in time. Once the baby was here I would feel differently perhaps. At any rate, would I have his mother's rooms empty in the next two days? Then the decorators could start work. He would not escort me back to my room, let me carry on with work.

Back at my work my fingers burned. I could not concentrate. Nurse noticed and suggested a walk, or change of activity. I said I wished to look over Rhiannon's old rooms. My husband wished me to decide on how to pack things up, since the rooms would be redecorated soon. no, I wanted no company.

Downstairs there was a smell of paint and wood. I went along to Rhiannon's locked apartments. I had not been in there for weeks and I did not want company if I were overcome with emotion on seeing them empty.

The beautiful dove grey and pink room, with its hangings of white lace and with its blinds drawn down, was in gloom. I dusted and lit the lamps, raised the blinds to let in what little life there was and looked about me.

The carved and painted ceiling was as beautiful as ever although it required dusting. the hangings of the bed and its counterpane were still spotless white. the covers were drawn up over the pillows. on the dressing table, the bedside tables and the floor was a thick layer of dust. Dust with foot print's in it, fresh footprints. Going over to the locked strong box. I measured the prints against my own foot. They were smaller, a dainty foot in heeled shoes with pointed toes.

Victoria wore such shoes! Victoria had somehow gained access to this room! I ran out of the room and into my husband's study. He was there, looking over some papers. I told him of what I had found, that it proved that his sister had somehow got a key and had been going through his mother's things! At first he would not believe me then he looked weary but got up and said he would come with me and see for himself. We walked back to the rooms and I pushed the doors open.

The floor was clean. There was no dust what so ever. No footprints. Nothing. Michael scrutinised the floor and then looked at me. It was not a pleased look. He came close up to me and his voice was soft and determinedly even.

"I think that perhaps you should consider your actions, wife. I had thought that you were coming close to being back to your old self but clearly I was wrong. I will suffer your coldness towards me but I will not suffer you to make accusations about my sister. She and her family are to make our home their home and you will accept this. Now I wish you to clean out this room and stop wasting my time." I began to protest. The marks had been there! I had not mistaken them. He smiled thinly.

"So you are saying that in the few minutes you were out of the room that someone came in and cleaned the floor? Is that your idea? No, I see not, for you look like you see the sense. In that case, either you are lying or you are seeing things. Should I call for Dr Crowner? Or do you admit you were mistaken?" So saying he strode out without waiting for my answer.

I looked over the entire floor. No dust was visible. I sat down on the nurses old chair and surveyed the room. How could I have been mistaken? I knew what I had seen. And yet......it was foolish to think that someone had deliberately put the footprints there then come in while I was with Michael and cleaned them away. There had hardly been time. Had I been seeing things that were not there? I did see a dead woman in my bedroom. Perhaps I was ill.

The thought chilled me. I got up and walked about the clean floor, trying to calm myself. No, I thought, I know I saw those foot prints. I saw them plainly, I felt the dust on my fingertips. Or had it been shadow or trick of the fading light? I could not tell. Suddenly I did not want to be alone in that abandoned chamber. I went to the door and out, locked it and then went down to the house keepers room. I asked her if there were more than one set of keys to the suite.

Mrs Levin was surprised but she looked at her record of the house and told me that there were two sets, one which I had and the other which was in the key cupboard in the butler's pantry, which was kept locked, as she and I both knew. Did I wish to have them handed over to me? No, I said, I merely wanted to make sure that they were safe.

I then went to the butler's pantry. Jones was there and he showed me that the keys were in the locked cupboard. No, they had not been used or removed since before the late Lady Rhiannon's death. Could he help me with anything else? No? Very well.

I went up to my bedroom, sat quiet a while, I had asked the other women to let me rest, I had been make sombre by the sight of Rhiannon's things. Could Anna give me help on the following day? Nurse put in that e should start early, with better light. It was foolishness to go at twilight, when thoughts of ghosts would be easily come by. I nodded and had gone to my window seat, wrapped myself in one of Bess's thick shawls, stared out into the rapidly darkening park.

Bess appeared in the glass, clear against the black night. I confessed to her my fear, that perhaps I was seeing things, I told her of what had happened. She stopped me.

"You are not mad. I swear to you, I thought I was mad for a time but neither one of us is! If you saw those foot prints, you saw them. You were with your husband for at least ten minutes while you explained. Quite time enough for a person who was in wait to go and clean away the dust. You would not have noticed if there were anyone hiding in the anteroom or on one of the recesses. You did not lock the room behind you. Be at peace, you are not going mad, be at peace on that score." I nodded, I could see that she was right. I had been agitated, I would not have noticed if someone were hiding. But who would do such a thing? Bess hesitated then spoke, her voice urgent and fearful.

"Your sister might. Think Imogen! She has not shown you any liking. She has taken pains to make you seem in the wrong always. You have been shaken by tragedy, and she has usurped you in your husband's affections. You and Michael have suffered greatly in your marriage. Now she and her family will move here. She is trying to force you out, to get rid of you. And what better way than to make you seem mad?" I was frozen, the words that absolved Victoria turned to ice on my tongue. I could see it, it was possible. Bess went on.

"It was she who found the doll in your work box, the one of Mr Bruce. What if she knew it was there? What if she purposefully knocked over your work box so that Michael might see it? And what if she purposefully tried to make you verbally attack her at the funeral and other times? You said that she stayed in the room when the doctor was here, what if she wanted to try and bend your husband's ear? Now we know she wants what you have, her sons will take over the rooms which were your son's. She takes over the rooms which were your mother's. Each night at dinner she gains a little more ground. Perhaps she wishes to make you seem mad and then get you shut up. Listen to me, be cautious! It is just possible. I advise you, be careful. She is a snake and snakes listen at door ways." I was shaking now, I drew the shawl close about me.

"I think you must start having dinner with the family again. Do not let her have you shut up in your own house. Be sweet, be animated, do not fade away like Rhiannon did in her own home. Whatever you do, don't let her force you out!"

I nodd3ed and called for Anna. I told her to go down and speak with my husband, to ask his pardon and could I please start dining with the family again? when she was gone I went to my wardrobe. Bess advised a dress which would give me colour and I chose the green silk one which Michael liked best. I could wear one of my shawls over this. I then went to the dressing table and took out the box of rings. Bess was in the looking glass, together we went over the contents. I picked out a ring, one with a single large emerald in the centre surrounded by diamonds, a gaudy ring to my mind but one which would look rich and valuable. I would give it to Victoria as a gift.

Whatever I did, I must not make my sister more of an enemy. My very sanity and life might depend on it!

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