Page 17 of Old Girls Behaving Badly

We’d left through the main entrance and down the gravel drive before Leonard instructed us to go left and through an archway cut into the yew hedge. We were out onto a path that I noticed led down to the church, but we kept to the left and were into a copse of trees.

‘Important to take this path,’ Leonard boomed from the front. ‘If you leave from the other side of the house and through the gardens you end up at the ha-ha.’

Of course I knew exactly what this was, but decided to play up my stupid persona.

‘What’s that, Leonard?’ I asked and his face lit up. He was delighted to be able to explain. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and turned to him, all ears.

‘Well,’ he began. ‘It’s a type of sunken fence commonly used in landscaped gardens and parks in the eighteenth century.’

‘But what does it do?’ This came from Caroline and I kept my mouth firmly clammed shut.

‘The point of the ha-ha is to give the viewer of the garden the illusion of a continuous rolling lawn, whilst providing boundaries for livestock,’ Leonard said.

‘Such a silly name though,’ Caroline said. ‘Why is it called that, Uncle Len?’

‘Um, because it sounds funny and unexpected,’ he said, suddenly flustered. ‘Right, everyone head round to the left and you’ll see some fine examples of the wonderful English oak,’ Leonard blustered and then began striding forward.

Caroline looked round at me and shrugged.

‘You dig a deep, dry ditch, the inner side of which would be built up to the level of the surrounding turf with either a dry-stone or a brick wall. The other side was designed to slope steeply upwards before levelling out to turf again. It was originally a feature of French formal gardens in the eighteenth century. Goodness I’ve forgotten the name of the chap who first wrote about it, but the idea was that the name derived from the optical illusion created on the viewers of the garden from a distance. They would come closer and be hugely surprised and cry “Ah! Ah!”’

I had pretty much whispered this to Caroline, but I realised my mistake when she snorted out a bark of laughter. Dorothy had expressly asked me to make sure everyone saw me as a companion only. She also asked me to chat to the family and draw out anything relevant. I was going to be walking a thin line.

‘I think I remember reading that in a National Trust leaflet,’ I added quickly.

‘I wonder,’ Caroline said, lowering her own voice, ‘if Uncle Leonard always knows what he’s talking about.’

There was no annoyance in her tone and, actually, she spoke with a lot of affection.

‘Are you close to your uncle?’ I asked, capitalising on the moment.

Caroline looked surprised by the question, but then seemed to contemplate her response.

‘Uncle Len is a sweetheart,’ she said simply. ‘He’s so generous to have let us use his house for the week. Not many people can brag about being married in such a beautiful setting. The reception is going to be in the orangery. Have you seen it?’

‘No, I haven’t.’

‘It’s got the most gorgeous lemon trees and vines. Some of the trees will have to be taken outside to fit in all of the tables, but it will still look lovely. I’ve got the florist to entwine her displays of cream lilies and pale-yellow roses all over the place. There’s going to be low-hung chandeliers above each table and the linen is all in crisp lemon to complement the trees. I can’t wait!’

‘It all sounds wonderful, and you’re right, your uncle is indeed a very generous man.’

‘Well, I think sometimes he can be a bit ruthless,’ Caroline continued.

‘Oh? How so?’ I asked as casually as I could, although my fists clenched in anticipation.

‘Well, the thing is,’ Caroline said, lowering her voice, ‘I heard a rumour about him.’

I glanced up to see how far Leonard was ahead of us. He was at a substantial distance and it was unlikely he’d be able to hear us. Caroline must have thought the same because she slowed her pace before she continued.

‘He had a cook who worked for him for years, I mean, like many years. And then, just over a year ago there was some nonsense about her stealing from him. She was a really nice woman and had known Uncle Leonard and our family really well. The thought of her taking anything from him was abhorrent, but Uncle Len decided she had to go, and so she did and then Harry turned up pretty quickly after that. I suppose you can’t have dishonest staff working for you, but it did seem very unlikely and as I say a bit ruthless somehow. I wondered if he made it up so he could get rid of her and he’s so friendly with Harry that I guess he just wanted to give him the job.’

A heron stood in the middle of the lake surveying its surroundings. I thought it might be a statue for a moment as we walked closer, but then it turned its head, fixed its black eye on us and took flight, its huge wingspan clear as it glided over our heads. I digested what Caroline had said. I was building a picture about the man and didn’t like what I was seeing. Caroline, of course, had no idea of the bigger picture and could be forgiven for misunderstanding, but my impression was coalescing into a dark image.

There was little shade on the left-hand side of the lake and we walked into the sun as we headed back to the house. I pulled the brim of my hat a little lower, although it was mostly just making my head hot. Rufus was ahead of me and as Caroline had caught up with Juliet and linked arms with her I decided to see what I could gather from a conversation with him if he was willing. His slim shoulders were hunched over and his hands were pushed down low in the pockets of his black shorts. His demeanour wasn’t unlike Juliet’s, in a sulky teenager way, even though Rufus looked to be in his twenties. He bore an uncanny resemblance to his uncle Leonard with his black hair, but I assumed it was his own and not from the same bottle.

‘Hi there,’ I said as I drew level with him.

‘Hello,’ he said. ‘You’re Dot’s friend, aren’t you?’