Daisy’s Betrayal. Nancy Carson

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ have any genuine cause for complaint about how they are treated?’

      ‘Certainly not, ma’am.’

      ‘Then why are we treated so shamefully?’

      ‘I can’t imagine, ma’am,’ Daisy said resignedly. ‘I suspect whoever it was saw no harm in what they were doing if the silver was to be returned. Certainly, they wished you no harm.’

      Mrs Cookson eyed Daisy suspiciously. ‘And I think you know more about this than you are admitting, Daisy.’

      Daisy did not respond.

      ‘Of course, I cannot conceive that you had any hand in it.’

      ‘Indeed I did not, ma’am,’ she said indignantly.

      ‘All the same, I want the police here. I shall send Gerald with a note at once. It is the course of action my husband would take. It is the only sensible course I can take.’

      ‘I understand, ma’am.’

      ‘They will resolve this if you cannot, even if they have to arrest each and every one of the staff. Please send Gerald to see me at once.’

      Daisy was hopelessly torn. She did not know whether to come out with the truth just to clear her own name. But she could not point the finger at poor Sarah and condemn her to the possibility of several years’ penal servitude when there was a chance she might still escape blame. So she said no more and went to look for Gerald.

      Half an hour later, with lunch postponed, a police officer sporting a huge moustache arrived. He had everybody assembled in the kitchen and Daisy explained broadly what had happened, without naming Sarah.

      ‘So who was responsible for letting go this silverware?’ he asked pointedly.

      Nobody answered, nobody moved.

      ‘Well, somebody must know.’

      Everybody seemed preoccupied with looking at their shoes and not at the policeman. It was clear that nobody was going to snitch on their workmates.

      ‘Well I’m sure everybody wants their dinners,’ the policeman said ominously, his moustache twitching. ‘But there’ll be no dinner till I get an answer. And if I have to troop you all up to the police station, throw you in a cell and clap you in irons, I will …’

      ‘It was me,’ Sarah said meekly, and then began to wail.

      Mrs Cookson looked at Daisy studiedly. She had read Daisy. She knew that Daisy had deliberately tried to shield her sister, knowing all the time she was responsible for this senseless error of judgement. Daisy’s heart sank as, with dawning clarity, the implications of her obstructive vagueness intensified.

      She went over to Sarah and wrapped her in her arms. ‘There, there,’ she whispered. ‘You are no criminal. You didn’t understand what you were doing, did you? Just tell the police officer exactly what happened then everything will be all right.’

      Eventually Sarah ceased her weeping and, when the others had been dismissed, she told the policeman all she knew, naming Roland, the grocer’s lad. She apologised profusely to Mrs Cookson and made a formal statement admitting her part in the affair.

      After lunch, Mrs Cookson sent for Daisy again. ‘Sit down, Daisy.’ Her voice was as sharp as a shard of glass.

      ‘Thank you, ma’am,’ Daisy said, trying to keep her voice even, quaking with apprehension.

      ‘Daisy, I am profoundly disappointed in your younger sister but, quite frankly, I am even more disappointed in you. Sarah has shown incredible stupidity in being persuaded by some scallywag to part with silver that is the property of Mr Cookson. Of course, she must be punished. I appreciate that she was duped and she is not wilfully criminal. However, I am unable to allow her to continue her employment here. Furthermore, my husband might well wish to press charges. We must not set any precedent and appear to the rest of the staff to be too lenient. If we were, we would risk others’ further exploitation. Do you see, Daisy?’

      ‘Yes, I see, ma’am. But do you really have to press charges?’ She sat without moving as a shaft of weak sunlight was suddenly cast across the table between them. ‘I think that is being rather harsh, if you’ll pardon me for saying so. After all, she was not the criminal element, as you have yourself implied, ma’am. She was duped.’

      ‘And I suspect that that is the reason you tried to shield her, Daisy.’

      Her eyes dropped to the floor and she looked absently at the rug that lay beneath her feet. ‘Sarah is just a poor misguided girl who failed to use her common sense, ma’am. She’s young and innocent. She’s not a felon. She’s made a silly mistake. You could hardly expect me to betray her when there was a chance she might not be blamed.’

      ‘So you betrayed me instead, your employer. That really doesn’t impress me, Daisy. Your loyalties should lie with those who provide your bread and butter.’

      ‘Ma’am, I am sorry …’ Daisy could hear the indignation rising in her own voice, but was unable to control it. ‘But if you think that you, or any employer for that matter, should come before any member of my family, then you neither know nor understand me. Certainly I will never stand by and see my sister’s regretful lapse blown out of all proportion. That can only mean resentment and mistrust are going to fester between us. I don’t believe I could work here in such circumstances, ma’am.’

      ‘Do I understand then that you wish to resign as housekeeper?’

      ‘I honestly don’t believe I have an alternative, ma’am,’ Daisy said.

      Daisy left Baxter House that evening and so did Sarah. At first she thought she was in a bad dream and that soon she would wake up and escape the sudden shame and anxiety. Sarah was beside herself with humiliation and remorse, mostly that her blind stupidity had cost Daisy her position. She was not so concerned about herself. They deposited themselves upon their mother and father and shared the tiny boxroom that Sarah used to sleep in before she started work. Daisy still had almost all of the money left that she had won on her bet, but it would not last forever. Finding as good a position in another house would not be easy, especially if Mrs Cookson was reticent about giving her a good character. But she decided to put such worries behind her until she had talked things over with Lawson next day, the evening of which they had laughingly, frivolously agreed would be so romantic as he wined her and dined her at his renovated house. The last thing on her mind by this time, however, was romance.

      She met him as usual at three o’clock outside the Saracen’s Head. They headed for the Dudley Arms Hotel, a Sunday afternoon routine they had slipped into since their very first tryst.

      ‘I’ve got some bad news,’ she said as soon as he delivered their drinks to the table. She explained in detail what had happened while he listened carefully, twisting his whisky tumbler around in his fingers.

      ‘Well, well,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘What a to-do.’

      ‘But do you think I was right to put Sarah first, even though she’d done wrong?’

      ‘Blood’s thicker than water, Daisy. It’s no surprise to me that you did.’

      ‘But I couldn’t see the poor child hurt more, Lawson. She’s the СКАЧАТЬ