Chapter Ten
She had to find Frederick -- Captain Wentworth -- and tell him about the rock, but he had gone to see Mr Ingleby again and she could not think of any excuse to call on the man. There might be something she could speak to Mrs Ingleby about, however, and if she was lucky the captain was still there. She started to walk in that direction.
But then again, Mrs Croft had spoken to her in the meantime and so had Sir William, and then she had walked through the park. She had not checked the time, but at least fifteen minutes must have passed, probably closer to thirty. Captain Wentworth might no longer be with Mr Ingleby, assuming they were still not the best of friends. Any conversation of theirs would have been short. She would be too late.
Also, Ingleby might have been out. He did occasionally visit people or run errands, Anne supposed. She stopped while she was wondering what to do. Eventually she walked on.
Arriving at the rectory, she could not come up with a single excuse to call on Mrs Ingleby. She did not really like Mrs Ingleby, she decided, who was quite dull, and not longer being connected to the Hall, she could not go and make simple inquiries about villagers. Well, she could, but she could not think of anyone to make inquiries about today. Her mind was completely taken up by other things. She failed to direct her thoughts in other directions.
She walked on. Waiting outside would be useless if he was probably already gone.
It was a good decision, for after having walked for ten minutes, ahead in the distance she saw a figure she recognised.
"I need you to look at something," Anne said breathlessly as soon as he was within hearing. After she had spoken she wondered if she ought to have asked him, perhaps. She sounded so demanding now.
He did not immediately ask what, but greeted her stiffly. It puzzled her. Perhaps she had indeed sounded too demanding. But then he spoke. "Someone might be watching," he explained. "They might wonder why you stopped hurrying when you found me, as if you were looking for me, which you could not be."
"Oh. Yes. I really should go that way," she pointed for the benefit of a hidden onlooker, "but it is so impolite, is it not? You do not know the area well and might be lost."
"Indeed. I have never before been here and walked here. What is that way, other than the village?"
"Farms, more villages."
"Rabbit holes?"
"Those too."
"I already half sprained my ankle stepping into a rabbit hole, so I had best not go that way. I think I might head back to Kellynch Hall. Perhaps, if it does not keep you from your errand, you could show me the shortest way."
"Well, you could climb over this gate here," Anne gestured at a wooden gate in the hedge to her left.
"This gate? What would Sir William think of that?" Wentworth said in a low voice. "You had best not come with me, but I wonder which one of us he would follow if you did not. This is quite a lonely lane. I am not sure what is best."
Anne was a little surprised at the captain not knowing what was best. Heretofore he had never had any trouble on that score. "I was not really going anywhere, but why do you mention Sir William?"
"He was some distance behind you."
"He spoke to me earlier. Perhaps he means to ask me again whether I am not terribly sad about his imminent departure." She frowned when she considered the possibility that he had been following her ever since their conversation. It was good that she had not called at the rectory after all and that she had stopped only briefly to look at the house.
"Oh, yes," said Captain Wentworth. "He told me. I did not mention this to you before, but I hope you would know better than to believe any sweet-talking he does."
Anne was silent for a few moments. "Does he speak about that, or about me, to you?"
He gave a little shrug. "He marks his territory. Drops a few hints here and there about the particular understanding he and you have. I did not perceive one, so I was not particularly concerned, but if he is following you, he must be sensing that the heavier cannons are required."
"But that is horrible!" She had coloured as she spoke and the mention of cannons really clinched it. "I do not like to be spoken of."
He shrugged as if he did not feel he was to blame and wisely changed the subject. "I spoke to Mr Ingleby. He does not like showing his whole hand any more than Sir William does."
"Because it is all supposition on his part," said Anne, who could not bring herself to think otherwise. She leant against the gate and looked into the meadow. She had to tell him what she had concluded and dismissed. Yes, anything was better than speaking about herself.
Captain Wentworth climbed over it. He had glanced back to where he had last seen Sir William, but he had seen nothing. It did not mean the man was not spying on them. Still, it would take him another minute or two to get here. "That shed. Climb over and run to it."
"Run?" Anne was uncertain of his intentions, but she obeyed nevertheless. She guessed she should probably hide on its other side.
"Good," said the captain, joining her there. "Although this might make me look suspicious in his eyes, I doubt he will follow us hither."
"Does it not make me look suspicious?"
"No, for any disappearance of yours could only be at my instigation. In his opinion."
"Does he think we are on his trail?"
"Probably something else," he said vaguely, peering around the wooden shed. "He might think we crossed the meadow to that wood over there. It should be possible in a minute."
She did not care to think about what that something else was that she could be doing here with Captain Wentworth. She had an inkling it would make her blush. "What of Mr Ingleby?"
"Peculiar man. Suppose it is Sir William and it might well be, because he has also been to see Mr Ingleby, or the reverse. They have spoken. Mr Ingleby, I suspect, likes to stir up a little trouble here and there. Sir William also needs to find out who the woman is who allegedly married Sir Walter, because he was not told either."
"The woman needs to have money, otherwise there is no point." Anne briefly considered again the possibility of her father marrying a titled lady, but quickly dismissed it. He would not have kept silent about it if he had.
"Why?"
"He...well, I concluded that he would have married two kinds of women: titled or rich ones. I cannot see a titled lady going along with such a scheme, because she would not have benefited."
"Could there not have been a titled woman who loved him?"
"Stranger things have happened, of course, but it does not sound likely to me. Therefore, if there is a wife, she needs to have money, because she does not have a title."
Captain Wentworth pondered this reasoning. "Would Sir William draw that conclusion too if he knew your father well?"
"I cannot say when he would. But he did so after getting rid of Mrs Clay? He did not see Mr Ingleby before then, I mean?" she asked. "Why get rid of Mrs Clay?"
"Well, I do not like defending anyone in this case, but I must say she was the most likely candidate for a wife at a first glance, having been so much in the company of your sister and father. Perhaps he was not yet thinking along the lines of money then. He did not know Sir Walter well and perhaps he knew very little of his debts? Neither of your sisters seemed to have known about them."
"That type of ignorance defies all logic."
"But if I am not mistaken there was hardly any contact between your family and his until Sir Walter died. Sir William did probably not know about the debts. The first thing he would have seen was Mrs Clay's dubious position in the family."
"But one does not kill until one is certain of there being a purpose to the killing."
"Yes, that is puzzling," the captain admitted. "However, we are looking at this from too rational a viewpoint. We may need to take a more irrational, impulsive, passionate approach. She may have lied to tease him. And we should not forget that Mr Shepherd said she was expecting. If Sir William also knew, he might not have inquired further."
"How could he know?" Anne wondered. "Unless she told him or he saw it. And he could still not be certain he would be replaced as baronet by that child."
"No, but he could fear he was."
"He seems too -- well, not impulsive or reckless enough for that," she said with a look of doubt. Sir William had always struck her as calculating and somewhat reserved, not in manners but in openness.
"Perhaps she was asking for money. You pay me and I will not tell anyone you are not really the new baronet yet?" he tried.
"Would he take the risk?"
"Would he take the risk of her having a boy and then producing a marriage certificate? It could have been a girl, but it would have been a large risk."
"It is also a large risk to murder someone for nothing."
"Yes, that is the rational viewpoint," said Captain Wentworth. "Can you think of any wealthy women who were acquainted with your father?"
"Yes, Lady Russell," Anne said immediately, knowing he would come up with this name by himself before long. She had best mention it straight away and have him agree to dismiss it. "But I have already considered this and it cannot be her. It is absolutely out of the question."
"By all accounts they were good friends," Wentworth said in a thoughtful tone.
"But she is my godmother. I cannot believe she would do such a thing."
"She would refuse to help your father? And, indirectly, her goddaughter?"
"She would help, but not the other things you have suggested!" Anne's face showed a mortified blush. "She and I drew up plans for retrenchment. That was her sort of help. She would not involve me in that, ask my opinion, and then behind my back marry my father so he could pay his debts with her money. Let alone all the other things."
Captain Wentworth was perceptive. "The possible child?"
She was aghast. "She is like a mother to me. Would you believe it of your mother?"
"Do you think I am related to my sister and brother?"
"Yes."
"Well, then I must believe it of my mother. Who has, by the way, been dead for too long for me to remember anything at all about her principles regarding penniless baronets. The only thing Lady Russell has against her is her age, perhaps. How old is she? Is she past forty-six?"
"I do not exactly know. Why forty-six?"
"My mother gave birth to me when she was forty-six. It was not very good for her health, but that is another matter. I am in perfect health, so a future little baronet could also be in perfect health. My mother proved that it was possible."
"I still do not know," Anne said doubtfully. "One does not ask a lady's age. My mother would have been..." She thought for a second. "Forty-eight. I assume that as her friend, Lady Russell would be around the same age, although I had a friend at school who was three years older."
"Ask her how old she is," he advised her. "It is very important to our inquiries."
Anne watched Captain Wentworth peer around the shed again. "I cannot ask her! What if she asks me why? I could hardly tell her that you suspect her of...of...unspeakable things."
He looked back briefly. "They are in fact good and advantageous things if they are true. There he goes," he said. "What a coincidence that he is taking exactly the same route, which is not a well-travelled way, is it? That gate is rather an obstruction. I cannot imagine people climbing over it often."
Anne could only shake her head and move when he gestured for her to do so. They were moving out of sight, she supposed. After a minute she remember that she had something to tell him. "I have something to show you at Athena's bench. There are rocks there."
"Rocks?" His interest was piqued immediately.
"I have not examined them yet. One might be the weapon."
"So then we would know how and where. We need to know who."
Anne agreed, but she did not see how they could progress any faster except by asking someone and having him admit he did it. And that was hardly going to happen.
"But we cannot go to Aphrodite's bench now."
"Athena's," she corrected. "But they are near each other."
"It would look suspicious if you came across me and we went straight to that rock. He is following you for a reason, I suppose, or is he thinking of proposing?"
She started. "Proposing?"
"Yes, does he suspect you of being on his trail or are you simply difficult to capture?"
"I am tempted to say the first," she said with a blush. "Although I do not know how or why he could think so. I have not spoken to him about the case at all. Have you?"
"No. He has only spoken of it as an accident and I did not change his mind. It is only our prowling around the park that could have made him curious."
Anne had sat down on a log and wondered what they could do. "Curiosity is a natural reaction. Very understandable. It does not prove his guilt."
"Unfortunately. And unfortunately we do not know where Sir William is now. He disappeared into the wood, but we need to wait a while before we can leave this place. He may yet come out."
She had to find Frederick -- Captain Wentworth -- and tell him about the rock, but he had gone to see Mr Ingleby again and she could not think of any excuse to call on the man. There might be something she could speak to Mrs Ingleby about, however, and if she was lucky the captain was still there. She started to walk in that direction.
But then again, Mrs Croft had spoken to her in the meantime and so had Sir William, and then she had walked through the park. She had not checked the time, but at least fifteen minutes must have passed, probably closer to thirty. Captain Wentworth might no longer be with Mr Ingleby, assuming they were still not the best of friends. Any conversation of theirs would have been short. She would be too late.
Also, Ingleby might have been out. He did occasionally visit people or run errands, Anne supposed. She stopped while she was wondering what to do. Eventually she walked on.
Arriving at the rectory, she could not come up with a single excuse to call on Mrs Ingleby. She did not really like Mrs Ingleby, she decided, who was quite dull, and not longer being connected to the Hall, she could not go and make simple inquiries about villagers. Well, she could, but she could not think of anyone to make inquiries about today. Her mind was completely taken up by other things. She failed to direct her thoughts in other directions.
She walked on. Waiting outside would be useless if he was probably already gone.
It was a good decision, for after having walked for ten minutes, ahead in the distance she saw a figure she recognised.
"I need you to look at something," Anne said breathlessly as soon as he was within hearing. After she had spoken she wondered if she ought to have asked him, perhaps. She sounded so demanding now.
He did not immediately ask what, but greeted her stiffly. It puzzled her. Perhaps she had indeed sounded too demanding. But then he spoke. "Someone might be watching," he explained. "They might wonder why you stopped hurrying when you found me, as if you were looking for me, which you could not be."
"Oh. Yes. I really should go that way," she pointed for the benefit of a hidden onlooker, "but it is so impolite, is it not? You do not know the area well and might be lost."
"Indeed. I have never before been here and walked here. What is that way, other than the village?"
"Farms, more villages."
"Rabbit holes?"
"Those too."
"I already half sprained my ankle stepping into a rabbit hole, so I had best not go that way. I think I might head back to Kellynch Hall. Perhaps, if it does not keep you from your errand, you could show me the shortest way."
"Well, you could climb over this gate here," Anne gestured at a wooden gate in the hedge to her left.
"This gate? What would Sir William think of that?" Wentworth said in a low voice. "You had best not come with me, but I wonder which one of us he would follow if you did not. This is quite a lonely lane. I am not sure what is best."
Anne was a little surprised at the captain not knowing what was best. Heretofore he had never had any trouble on that score. "I was not really going anywhere, but why do you mention Sir William?"
"He was some distance behind you."
"He spoke to me earlier. Perhaps he means to ask me again whether I am not terribly sad about his imminent departure." She frowned when she considered the possibility that he had been following her ever since their conversation. It was good that she had not called at the rectory after all and that she had stopped only briefly to look at the house.
"Oh, yes," said Captain Wentworth. "He told me. I did not mention this to you before, but I hope you would know better than to believe any sweet-talking he does."
Anne was silent for a few moments. "Does he speak about that, or about me, to you?"
He gave a little shrug. "He marks his territory. Drops a few hints here and there about the particular understanding he and you have. I did not perceive one, so I was not particularly concerned, but if he is following you, he must be sensing that the heavier cannons are required."
"But that is horrible!" She had coloured as she spoke and the mention of cannons really clinched it. "I do not like to be spoken of."
He shrugged as if he did not feel he was to blame and wisely changed the subject. "I spoke to Mr Ingleby. He does not like showing his whole hand any more than Sir William does."
"Because it is all supposition on his part," said Anne, who could not bring herself to think otherwise. She leant against the gate and looked into the meadow. She had to tell him what she had concluded and dismissed. Yes, anything was better than speaking about herself.
Captain Wentworth climbed over it. He had glanced back to where he had last seen Sir William, but he had seen nothing. It did not mean the man was not spying on them. Still, it would take him another minute or two to get here. "That shed. Climb over and run to it."
"Run?" Anne was uncertain of his intentions, but she obeyed nevertheless. She guessed she should probably hide on its other side.
"Good," said the captain, joining her there. "Although this might make me look suspicious in his eyes, I doubt he will follow us hither."
"Does it not make me look suspicious?"
"No, for any disappearance of yours could only be at my instigation. In his opinion."
"Does he think we are on his trail?"
"Probably something else," he said vaguely, peering around the wooden shed. "He might think we crossed the meadow to that wood over there. It should be possible in a minute."
She did not care to think about what that something else was that she could be doing here with Captain Wentworth. She had an inkling it would make her blush. "What of Mr Ingleby?"
"Peculiar man. Suppose it is Sir William and it might well be, because he has also been to see Mr Ingleby, or the reverse. They have spoken. Mr Ingleby, I suspect, likes to stir up a little trouble here and there. Sir William also needs to find out who the woman is who allegedly married Sir Walter, because he was not told either."
"The woman needs to have money, otherwise there is no point." Anne briefly considered again the possibility of her father marrying a titled lady, but quickly dismissed it. He would not have kept silent about it if he had.
"Why?"
"He...well, I concluded that he would have married two kinds of women: titled or rich ones. I cannot see a titled lady going along with such a scheme, because she would not have benefited."
"Could there not have been a titled woman who loved him?"
"Stranger things have happened, of course, but it does not sound likely to me. Therefore, if there is a wife, she needs to have money, because she does not have a title."
Captain Wentworth pondered this reasoning. "Would Sir William draw that conclusion too if he knew your father well?"
"I cannot say when he would. But he did so after getting rid of Mrs Clay? He did not see Mr Ingleby before then, I mean?" she asked. "Why get rid of Mrs Clay?"
"Well, I do not like defending anyone in this case, but I must say she was the most likely candidate for a wife at a first glance, having been so much in the company of your sister and father. Perhaps he was not yet thinking along the lines of money then. He did not know Sir Walter well and perhaps he knew very little of his debts? Neither of your sisters seemed to have known about them."
"That type of ignorance defies all logic."
"But if I am not mistaken there was hardly any contact between your family and his until Sir Walter died. Sir William did probably not know about the debts. The first thing he would have seen was Mrs Clay's dubious position in the family."
"But one does not kill until one is certain of there being a purpose to the killing."
"Yes, that is puzzling," the captain admitted. "However, we are looking at this from too rational a viewpoint. We may need to take a more irrational, impulsive, passionate approach. She may have lied to tease him. And we should not forget that Mr Shepherd said she was expecting. If Sir William also knew, he might not have inquired further."
"How could he know?" Anne wondered. "Unless she told him or he saw it. And he could still not be certain he would be replaced as baronet by that child."
"No, but he could fear he was."
"He seems too -- well, not impulsive or reckless enough for that," she said with a look of doubt. Sir William had always struck her as calculating and somewhat reserved, not in manners but in openness.
"Perhaps she was asking for money. You pay me and I will not tell anyone you are not really the new baronet yet?" he tried.
"Would he take the risk?"
"Would he take the risk of her having a boy and then producing a marriage certificate? It could have been a girl, but it would have been a large risk."
"It is also a large risk to murder someone for nothing."
"Yes, that is the rational viewpoint," said Captain Wentworth. "Can you think of any wealthy women who were acquainted with your father?"
"Yes, Lady Russell," Anne said immediately, knowing he would come up with this name by himself before long. She had best mention it straight away and have him agree to dismiss it. "But I have already considered this and it cannot be her. It is absolutely out of the question."
"By all accounts they were good friends," Wentworth said in a thoughtful tone.
"But she is my godmother. I cannot believe she would do such a thing."
"She would refuse to help your father? And, indirectly, her goddaughter?"
"She would help, but not the other things you have suggested!" Anne's face showed a mortified blush. "She and I drew up plans for retrenchment. That was her sort of help. She would not involve me in that, ask my opinion, and then behind my back marry my father so he could pay his debts with her money. Let alone all the other things."
Captain Wentworth was perceptive. "The possible child?"
She was aghast. "She is like a mother to me. Would you believe it of your mother?"
"Do you think I am related to my sister and brother?"
"Yes."
"Well, then I must believe it of my mother. Who has, by the way, been dead for too long for me to remember anything at all about her principles regarding penniless baronets. The only thing Lady Russell has against her is her age, perhaps. How old is she? Is she past forty-six?"
"I do not exactly know. Why forty-six?"
"My mother gave birth to me when she was forty-six. It was not very good for her health, but that is another matter. I am in perfect health, so a future little baronet could also be in perfect health. My mother proved that it was possible."
"I still do not know," Anne said doubtfully. "One does not ask a lady's age. My mother would have been..." She thought for a second. "Forty-eight. I assume that as her friend, Lady Russell would be around the same age, although I had a friend at school who was three years older."
"Ask her how old she is," he advised her. "It is very important to our inquiries."
Anne watched Captain Wentworth peer around the shed again. "I cannot ask her! What if she asks me why? I could hardly tell her that you suspect her of...of...unspeakable things."
He looked back briefly. "They are in fact good and advantageous things if they are true. There he goes," he said. "What a coincidence that he is taking exactly the same route, which is not a well-travelled way, is it? That gate is rather an obstruction. I cannot imagine people climbing over it often."
Anne could only shake her head and move when he gestured for her to do so. They were moving out of sight, she supposed. After a minute she remember that she had something to tell him. "I have something to show you at Athena's bench. There are rocks there."
"Rocks?" His interest was piqued immediately.
"I have not examined them yet. One might be the weapon."
"So then we would know how and where. We need to know who."
Anne agreed, but she did not see how they could progress any faster except by asking someone and having him admit he did it. And that was hardly going to happen.
"But we cannot go to Aphrodite's bench now."
"Athena's," she corrected. "But they are near each other."
"It would look suspicious if you came across me and we went straight to that rock. He is following you for a reason, I suppose, or is he thinking of proposing?"
She started. "Proposing?"
"Yes, does he suspect you of being on his trail or are you simply difficult to capture?"
"I am tempted to say the first," she said with a blush. "Although I do not know how or why he could think so. I have not spoken to him about the case at all. Have you?"
"No. He has only spoken of it as an accident and I did not change his mind. It is only our prowling around the park that could have made him curious."
Anne had sat down on a log and wondered what they could do. "Curiosity is a natural reaction. Very understandable. It does not prove his guilt."
"Unfortunately. And unfortunately we do not know where Sir William is now. He disappeared into the wood, but we need to wait a while before we can leave this place. He may yet come out."