One of the few things that Albert, Lord Haverford, had updated in Haverford House were the bathrooms. In the late 1920s he’d had enough bathrooms fitted to accommodate all the guests that would stay in the house. There was almost a bathroom for every two bedrooms. At the time this must have seemed utterly outrageous and over the top – a complete waste of money in fact, at a time when everyone knew the country house was on its last legs, even if perhaps they weren’t admitting it out loud.
Viola had often wondered why he’d done it, especially as everybody knew that the Montagus, like so many minor aristocratic families at the time, had been running out of money. Still, she had always been glad he had because it meant that she had her very own bathroom, complete with art deco, claw-footed bathtub, a bathtub in which she was lounging now. Admittedly the hot water wasn’t as efficient at Haverford as it might have been but it was turning out to be, according to the newspapers, the hottest summer for twenty-seven years, so a lukewarm bath was no hardship.
As she lay in the tepid water, she kept thinking over what Sebastian had said.
Perhaps she did leave. Perhaps she has had a happy life. Perhaps she is even still alive.
What if Annie had left of her own accord to live a life elsewhere? What if, as her letter to Prunella had indicated, she had gone to America? What if she had left without Thomas Everard? What if she had met up with him later when he too had returned to America?
Why had Viola never thought about these things before? Why had she always had a feeling that Annie Bishop had never left Haverford House on that fateful night in August 1933, despite her friends teasing her about it? Why had she allowed that legend to become such a huge part of her work, her life, her identity when she knew, deep down, that it was nothing more than a legend?
And then she thought about the other thing Sebastian had said to her.
Perhaps it’s time that you left too.
Perhaps, by the end of the summer she wouldn’t have any choice but to leave. But where would she go?
She couldn’t believe that Sebastian was thinking of going back to Sunset Bay, and she couldn’t believe he’d gone back to Kiama without her. When he’d talked about it, she’d felt homesick for the first time since she’d left. She’d thought about Kiama, of course, memories of her childhood, of her mother. But she’d never seriously considered going back. She didn’t know anyone there anymore. Her father had barely been able to stay when she and Sebastian were there. God only knew where he was now. Viola and Sebastian had long since lost touch with him. Why waste energy on someone who clearly didn’t care about them?
Could she go back if she had to? Not to Kiama necessarily but back to Australia with Sebastian as he’d suggested? She didn’t know. She wouldn’t be able to make that decision until she was sure she couldn’t save the house, until David Montagu had sold it and turfed her out of her flat. And if she did go back it had to be on her own terms, not holding on to her brother’s coat tails. She hadn’t come this far to start relying on somebody else now.
But why was she thinking so negatively? Sebastian might think she should leave but he didn’t understand how much she loved this job. There must be a way of saving Haverford House from developers, hoteliers, or whoever else might want to buy it. Yes, Seraphina had been pretty adamant that this would be the last summer, the last Shakespeare Festival. But when Chase Matthews had turned out to be Charles Montgomery and in cahoots with David to turn Haverford into a hotel, Seraphina had been equally adamant that was not going to happen.
If she could just think of something that could make the Conservation Trust listen and understand how important this house was, not just to her and the family (although perhaps not to David), but to the village and the local community as well.
There must be something on the estate that she had missed. If she could just stop thinking about Annie Bishop for one minute.
Viola took a deep breath and submerged herself into the bathwater.
*
‘So what happened to the girls?’ Sebastian asked as he blew smoke rings into the air.
‘I do wish you’d give up smoking,’ Viola replied as she always did. She worried about him. She couldn’t help it.
‘One day, I promise.’ He’d been saying that for years.
It was still hot and Viola could feel a trickle of sweat slide down her spine underneath her polo shirt. They were sitting by the lake near the old boathouse, a place where they knew they wouldn’t be disturbed.
‘What happened to the girls?’ Sebastian repeated.
‘After Annie disappeared you mean?’ Viola asked not taking her eyes off the golden light. ‘After Lord Haverford shut up the house?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Well, the whole family moved to London and then, in 1934 Lady Prunella died in a car accident.’
‘Really?’ Sebastian turned to her, the sunlight catching the side of his face, his eyes wide in surprise.
‘From what I understand she was very unhappy in London. Just before Annie Bishop disappeared and Thomas Everard was questioned, she’d thought Thomas was going to propose to her. She was drunk on the night that she died.’
‘How do you know all this?’ Sebastian queried.
‘The dowager countess told me but she didn’t seem to know much detail. Or at the very least she didn’t seem to want me to know any detail. It’s a big family secret apparently but it’s not really her family, not by blood, and I think she still tries to protect her children from everything if she can.’
‘From what?’
‘She once told me, years ago when I first started working here, that she too had always been fascinated by the story of Annie Bishop but her husband, Jeremy…’
‘David’s father?’
Viola nodded. ‘Yes, apparently he always thought about the family and the effects that Annie’s disappearance had on them – the scandal and police investigation of 1933, closing up the house and then Prunella’s death. They were his family and Lady Seraphina always tried to remember that, although they weren’t her family by blood, they were her children’s family. She tries to play down a lot of the aftermath of Annie’s disappearance for that reason.’
‘And what about Lady Cecily?’ Sebastian asked. ‘What happened to her?’
‘She married,’ Viola went on. ‘The son of a banker – incredibly rich according to Seraphina. Old families like the Montagus needed money and the rich middle classes wanted titles. It happened a lot as far as I understand. Anyway, Lady Cecily and her banker husband were Jeremy’s parents and Jeremy became the sixth earl.’
‘And what about the actor, Thomas whatever his name was?’
‘Thomas Everard. Well after the police dropped the case he went back to America. He was killed in the war.’
‘Why did the police just drop the case like that?’ Sebastian asked. ‘Don’t you think that’s a bit odd?’
‘Why all the questions all of a sudden?’
Sebastian lay back on his elbows allowing the evening sun to warm his face. ‘I don’t know. There’s just something about that story you told me, the story of the disappearance of Annie Bishop that doesn’t ring true somehow.’
‘It is mostly just a local story you know,’ Viola said. ‘One that we milk a little bit to get the punters in.’
‘But it really happened,’ Sebastian went on. ‘That young woman did actually disappear one night and was never seen again and it’s that story that made you want to work here. I guess I’m just surprised that you haven’t dug into it all a bit more.’
‘Annie’s story captured my imagination. I was at a place in my life where I was really unhappy and I didn’t know what to do about it. When I read the interview in that magazine I wondered if perhaps I could disappear too. I think that’s what brought me up here in the first place. But…’ She paused.
‘But what?’
‘There was more to it than that. Annie was leaving Haverford for America for a new life, a better life. There were so many opportunities in America back then, certainly far more than there were for a lady’s maid in sleepy old Cranmere. And that’s what I was doing when I left Australia for Oxford. I was trying for a new life, to leave my old self, my grieving self behind. Of course that was never going to work out and…’ She stopped again, biting back tears. She was so much happier in Haverford than she’d been for years but it still hurt when she thought back on her life.
Sebastian turned to his sister then. ‘Why didn’t you tell me at the time how unhappy you were?’
‘What could you have done? You have your own life to lead.’
‘But we’ve always looked out for each other. We’ve always had each other’s backs. I know I was on the other side of the world at the time but I’d have helped somehow if you’d just talked to me.’
‘I wanted to work things out on my own.’
Sebastian smiled. ‘You’ve always wanted to do that,’ he said. ‘Are you happier now?’
Viola nodded. ‘Yes, I really am. I’m worried about what I’ll do when David finally sells the house, but I’ll work it out. I feel much stronger and more capable than I did five years ago.’
Sebastian nodded and turned his face towards the setting sun again. ‘I have to go to London tomorrow,’ he said. ‘A quick trip before dress rehearsals start and the festival opens. I need to talk to my agent.’
‘About going back to Sunset Bay?’ Viola asked.
He nodded. ‘I’m probably going to do it, you know. I miss home. Don’t you?’
‘Sometimes.’
‘You could come back too,’ he said again.
But Viola didn’t want to talk about that. She was determined still, even though the odds were against her, to find a reason for the Conservation Trust to take an interest in Haverford. There had to be something.
When she didn’t reply her brother stood up and stretched. ‘I’ll see you when I get back then,’ he said. Their partings had always been like this, neither of them making a fuss, both of them already missing the other.
‘Hey look,’ Sebastian said suddenly. ‘Isn’t that guy Chase or Charles or whoever over there? You know, the guy you dated.’ He pointed towards the other side of the boathouse.
‘Where?’ Viola asked, standing too, craning her neck to see.
‘Why are you blushing at the mention of his name?’ Sebastian teased.
‘I’m not blushing,’ Viola insisted even though she knew she was. She had been trying very hard to not think about Chase Matthews.
‘Look there.’ Sebastian pointed again. ‘I’m pretty sure that’s him, isn’t it?’ Sebastian started to wave at the shape in the distance.
‘Be quiet will you,’ Viola hissed, knocking his hand back down by his side. ‘Don’t draw attention to yourself.’
‘Why?’ Sebastian asked. ‘Don’t you want to see him?’
She ignored her brother. ‘It is him, isn’t it. What’s he doing here?’ She started to walk towards the boathouse. ‘Hey,’ she shouted. ‘You’re not supposed to be up here.’
‘I thought we weren’t drawing attention to ourselves,’ Sebastian muttered as he followed her.
‘Oh hello, Viola,’ Chase said as she got closer. She saw his eyes widen as he noticed her brother behind her but he didn’t say anything.
‘What are you doing here?’ Viola asked crossly.
‘I’ve paid my entrance fee…’ Chase began.
‘You know members of the public aren’t supposed to come up here to the boathouse and…’
‘But I thought…’
‘Well you thought wrong.’
‘I was just looking at the lake here and…’
‘Well go and look at the lake somewhere else please. I think we’ve made it quite clear that we don’t want anything to do with Montgomery Hotels so just leave and tell your father that we said no.’
‘This isn’t to do with the Montgomery Hotels,’ Chase began. ‘If you’d just let me explain…’
‘Just leave please,’ Viola said, crossing her arms in front of her. How was she supposed to work out how to save Haverford if this guy kept hanging around, finding ways to persuade the Montagus to sell up?
‘I think you’d better go,’ Sebastian said quietly, placing a hand on Chase’s shoulder. Chase seemed so shocked by this touch from a movie star that he nodded blankly and started to walk away.
‘What is he doing here do you think?’ Sebastian asked as Chase left.
‘I’m not sure, but Lady Seraphina won’t be impressed if she finds out he’s still sniffing around.’