those cases where the truth would be disappointing. The mystery is far better. Did the men rejoin you?"
Damaris grimaced in a strange half smile, rueful and ironic. "You mean was Thaddeus still alive then? Yes he was. Sabella went upstairs to be alone, or I think more accurately to sulk, but I can't remember when. It was before the men came in, because I thought she was avoiding Thaddeus."
"So you were all in the withdrawing room, apart from Sabella?"
"Yes. The conversation was very artificial. I mean more so than usual. It's always pretty futile. Louisa was making vicious little asides about Alex, all with a smooth smile on her face, of course. Then Louisa rose and invited Thaddeus to go up and visit Valentine - " She gave a quick little gasp as if she had choked on something, and then changed it into a cough. "Alex was furious. I can picture the look on her face as if I had only just seen it."
Hester knew Damaris was speaking of a subject about which she felt some deep emotion, but she had no idea why, or quite what emotion it was. But there was little point in pressing the matter at all if she stopped now.
"Who is Valentine?"
Damaris's voice was husky as she answered. "He is the Furnivals' son. He is thirteen - nearly fourteen."
"And Thaddeus was fond of him?" Hester said quietly.
"Yes - yes he was." Her tone had a kind of finality and her face a bleakness that stopped Hester from asking any more. She knew from Edith that Damaris had no children of her own, and she had enough sensitivity to imagine the feelings that might lie behind those words. She changed the subject and brought it back to the immediate.
"How long was he gone?"
Damaris smiled with a strange, wounded humor.
"Forever."
"Oh." Hester was more disconcerted than she was prepared for. She felt dismay, and for a moment she was robbed of words.
"I'm sorry," Damaris said quickly, looking at Hester with wide, dark eyes. "Actually I don't know. I was absorbed in my own thoughts. Some time. People were coming and going." She smiled as if there were some punishing humor in that thought. "Maxim went off for something, and Louisa came back alone. Alex went off too, I suppose after Thaddeus, and she came back. Then Maxim went off again, this time into the front hall - I should have said they went up the back stairs to the wing where Valentine has his room, on the third floor. It is quicker that way."
"You've been up?"
Damaris looked away. "Yes."
"Maxim went into the front hall?" Hester prompted.
"Oh - yes. And he came back looking awful and saying there had been an accident. Thaddeus had Mien over the banister and been seriously hurt - he was unconscious. Of course we know now he was dead." She was still looking at Hester, watching her face. Now she looked away again. "Charles Hargrave got up immediately and went to see. We all sat there in silence. Alex was as white as a ghost, but she had been most of the evening. Louisa was very quiet; she turned and went, saying she was fetching Sabella down, she ought to know her father had been hurt. I can't really remember what else happened till Charles - Dr. Hargrave - came back to say Thaddeus was dead, and of course we would have to report it. No one should touch anything."
"Just leave him there?" Edith said indignantly. "Lying on the floor in the hallway, tangled up with the suit of armor?"
"Yes. . ."
"They would have to." Hester looked from one to the other of them. "And if he was dead it wouldn't cause him any distress. It is only what we think . . ."
Edith pulled a face, but said nothing more, curling her legs up a little higher.
"It's rather absurd, isn't it?" Damaris said very quietly. "A cavalry general who fought all over the place being killed eventually by falling over the stairs onto a halberd held by an empty suit of armor. Poor Thaddeus - he never had any sense of humor. I doubt he would have seen the funny side of it."
"I'm sure he wouldn't." Edith's voice broke for a moment, and she took a deep breath. "And neither would Papa. I wouldn't mention it again, if I were you."
"For heaven's sake!" Damaris snapped. "I'm not a complete fool. Of course I won't. But if I don't laugh I think