The adulteress

"Yes, Charles. He's settling in very well now. He's happy, I think, living here. It's very convenient for his hospital."

"Where is that, then?"

"It's near the coast, about a mile or so from here. He's able to get to it every other day. His practice doesn't occupy him all that much. The hospital is his great delight."

"It must mean a lot of hard work for him."

"He thrives on it."

"What is it ... for the elderly?" asked Jean-Louis.

"Quite the contrary ... for the very young. Mothers .. . and babies. It's really a maternity hospital."

"Such matters are his speciality," said Isabel. "He's a very good man."

"Don't let him hear you say that, Isabel," said Derek.

"Well, I say it when he can't hear it," she said. She turned to us. "He has done a great deal of good work. He has saved many a life ... mothers and children."

"It seems very noble," I said.

"He says it is his work. He could of course live quite comfortably ... without working."

Derek smiled apologetically to us. "Isabel is a firm supporter of my brother," he said. "He ... Charles ... inherited a great deal of money. It gave him an opportunity to set up his hospital."

Just at that moment Lottie came running in. She was flushed and excited and stopped short when she saw that we had visitors.

"This is our daughter," I said. "Lottie, come and meet our guests."

I was proud of her for I could see they were deeply impressed by her beauty. She smiled, and when Lottie smiled she was completely enchanting. I thought I could see Gerard in that smile. It could not fail to charm everyone as he had charmed me.

She was bubbling over with excitement and when she had curtsied and the introduction was over she could not wait to burst out: "I've been exploring."

"And what did you find?" asked Jean-Louis.

"There are two houses ... not very far away ... close to each other ... or fairly close."

"I'll warrant one of those was Enderby," said Derek, and he described it.

Lottie nodded. "But it was in the other one that I found the baby. Oh, mama, it was the dearest little baby. It was lying in a sort of cradle in the garden ... and I couldn't help going through the gate to look at it!"

"Oh, Lottie, have you been trespassing?"

"Yes, but it didn't matter. There was a nurse and a lady."

"It must have been Grasslands," said Isabel.

"There were two big lawns in front of the house."

"Grasslands, certainly."

"Well, I played with the baby. It liked me. It's a little boy ... named Richard."

"That is the Mather's baby," said Isabel. "It must be about six months old ... perhaps not so much."

I couldn't stop myself saying: "Evalina ... !"

"Yes," said Isabel. "Evalina Stirling. She married Andrew Mather, you know. They say the new baby is the apple of his eye."

"She was a very kind lady," said Lottie. "She says that I'm to call whenever I want to. She said she was ever so pleased that we'd come to Eversleigh. She said she knew you, mama."

"Yes," I said slowly. "I did meet her."

I felt rather uneasy. I kept remembering that occasion when I had seen her with Dickon in the barn; I could recall exactly the steely look in her eyes and the words which had implied that she knew what had happened between myself and Gerard.

I was very occupied during the next few days and was glad of the help I received from Mrs. Jethro and Isabel. I was relieved that Jethro had dismissed those servants who had been brought in by Jessie Stirling, for, he said, you never knew how mixed up in it all they were. He thought that some of them were not sorry to go after what had happened. He knew one or two girls in the village who would be suitable and if I approved they could have a trial. Isabel's servants were helpful. They had friends whom they could recommend and in a very short time we had the place staffed and I was able to feel that it was becoming my own.

There were problems, of course. Lottie would have to have a governess. At Clavering she had taken lessons at the vicarage, but both Jean-Louis and I agreed that she should have her own governess now that she was growing up. Getting the house in order was a trifling matter compared with running the estate. Criminal though he was, Amos Carew had been an excellent manager and although he was dishonest, he had got the best out of the estate.

"What we need," I said to Jean-Louis, "is a first-class manager. Someone like James Fenton."

"We shall be extremely lucky if we get anyone as good as James," said Jean-Louis.

"I wonder how he likes farming with his cousin?" I mused.

"Well, he was the sort of man who would strike out on his own one day, I daresay," said Jean-Louis.

"We must look round for someone to manage the estate," I insisted.

"I'll be all right for a while," Jean-Louis replied.