The Devil Defeated Page 8

  “That is what I thought,” Harry replied, “but we both ate the same at dinner and I am perfectly all right.”

  “But surely he must have had something else,” Dorina insisted. “Did he eat anything strange yesterday? Perhaps some fruit which he picked in the garden or anything else that you did not take at the same time?”

  “I cannot think of anything,” Harry answered.

  “Or did anybody bring him anything?”

  “The only person he saw, apart from the farmers he visited all yesterday,” Harry said slowly, “was Jarvis Yarde!”

  Dorina stiffened.

  “Cousin Jarvis? He is with you?”

  “He arrived unexpectedly from London just before luncheon,” Harry answered, “and was very pleased with himself because he had taken only two-and-a-half hours to complete the journey, while the average, as I expect you know, is nearly three!”

  Dorina nodded and then she said quickly,

  “Why did Cousin Jarvis come to Yarde so unexpectedly?”

  “Just to make himself pleasant to Oscar, I suppose,” Harry replied.

  There was a hard note in his voice as he spoke that Dorina did not miss.

  Then she said,

  “You don’t think he might have given his Lordship anything to eat you did not know about?”

  Harry did not answer for a moment. Then he said,

  “When I saw Oscar this morning, he was feeling so weak that it was difficult to ask him too many questions and I realised that he should see a doctor at once. But now I think about it, he did murmur something about wine, but his voice was so low and he seemed almost unconscious so I did not press him to repeat himself.”

  Dorina looked at him with frightened eyes, then she said,

  “I think I should come to Yarde immediately! I will bring some medicine with me, one of Mama’s herbal cures. She used to give it to the villagers when they were ill and they always swore it was better than anything the doctor could prescribe.”

  “A good idea!” Harry agreed. “While you are getting ready, I will ride back as fast as I can and fetch my phaeton to bring you to Yarde. I might have come in it anyway, except that I thought it would be quicker to ride.”

  “If you will do that, it will give me time to pick some fresh herbs that Mrs. Meadows can make up for me in the still room. She knows, and so does Burrows, how efficacious Mama’s special potions were.”

  “I had better hurry back then!” Without saying any more Harry left the drawing room, walked across the hall and Dorina heard him running towards the stable.

  She put her hands up to her forehead as if to force herself to think.

  At the same time she was desperately aware that if, as she suspected, Cousin Jarvis had struck down the Earl in some mysterious occult manner that she did not understand, she might be too late.

  ‘Why was I not brave enough to tell him yesterday?’ she asked herself.

  Then she knew that she might once again be imagining something that had quite a simple explanation.

  The Earl might be stricken with one of the fevers that often hit the people in the village and for which the doctor could find no explanation.

  Or he might quite simply have eaten something which disagreed with him and had made him sick. That, in a way, was a blessing, as it would take away from his body whatever was upsetting him.

  ‘By the time I reach Yarde, I expect he will be better,’ she told herself reassuringly.

  Equally, once again, she could hear Jarvis making his pact with Lucifer and, despite everything her common sense told her, her hands were trembling.

  *

  Harry Harringdon was surprisingly quick in fetching the Earl’s phaeton from Yarde and he came back with a groom to hold the horses.

  He helped Dorina carry from the house the basket in which there were several small bottles containing the herbal essences that her mother had been so famous for.

  On top of them lay a number of freshly cut herbs from the garden which had been the pride of Mrs. Stanfield and which, however much time the Vicar might spend on his cacti, he always managed to keep in order.

  Sometimes Dorina had thought it was painful for him to spend so much time in a place which brought his wife back to him so vividly.

  And yet the plants, herbs and shrubs flourished as if they were tended by ‘green fingers’.

  She was sure that this was because of the love her father gave them, just as her mother had always said that plants tended with love always grew well.

  “Do you mean, Mama,” Dorina had asked, “that if you tell a plant you love it, it really grows stronger and quicker than if you said you hated it?”

  “That is undoubtedly true,” Mrs. Stanfield replied, “and I know one must also apply the same principle to people. Love can work miracles, while hatred can do irreparable damage.”

  Dorina now remembered her mother saying that and thought that it might simply be Jarvis’s hatred rather than Satan’s magic which had struck down the Earl.

  At the same time, as she climbed the beautiful staircase at Yarde, she was very apprehensive of what she would find.

  She had not been near the Master bedroom since she had heard Jarvis behaving in such a strange way after the old Earl’s funeral.

  Now, as Harry opened the door and they went in, she almost expected to feel again the fear she had felt then and notice a sinister atmosphere in the large room.

  Instead, there was only the scent of flowers coming from two big bowls of lilies and there was also the clean crisp smell of Eau de Cologne.

  Then she had eyes only for the Earl.

  He was lying in the middle of the great bed, his eyes closed, while his face had an unhealthy pallor that was almost blue and very different from his usual robust appearance.

  Because he was so athletic and went riding in all weathers and in Paris had kept up his Military Parades and duties with his Regiment, his skin was suntanned and he usually looked extremely healthy.

  Now, to Dorina’s consternation, there was an unnatural paleness about him and deep lines under his eyes.

  Harry walked ahead of her to the bed and said quietly,

  “Are you awake, Oscar? I have brought your cousin, Dorina, to see you.”

  With an effort the Earl opened his eyes, saw Dorina looking at him, and muttered,

  “I-I am feeling – extremely ill. Can you – find me a – good doctor?”

  “As Mr. Harringdon has already discovered,” Dorina replied, “the doctor is away, but I have brought you something that I am sure will help you feel better. First, however, I want to know what upset you.”

  “I – cannot imagine,” the Earl replied, speaking with difficulty, as if his voice, which sounded slurred, came from far away, “unless it was – the wine – that Jarvis – brought me.”

  “What wine?” Dorina asked. “And where is it now?”

  There was a pause as if the Earl were finding it hard to think. Then he mumbled,

  “Jarvis told me he had – three bottles of a very special old brandy he wanted to – give to the – Prince Regent as a – present.”

  He drew a breath as if it was hard to speak and then went on,

  “He – he, however, said that – as I was a – connoisseur of brandy – having just come from – France – he wanted me to try a glass – and, although he did not – want to seem mean – he had not enough for Harry – so he brought it to me – while I was changing – after I had been – riding.”

  “That would have been at about four o’clock,” Harry interposed, “and after that he went straight back to London.”

  “I-I drank only – half the glass,” the Earl went on, “because – I don’t like – drinking between meals.”

  He paused for breath again before he continued,

  “I – told Jarvis – however – that I was sure the – Prince would – appreciate it, but as soon as he left the – room I threw the rest away!”

  “And that saved your life!” Dorina exc
laimed.

  “What – what do you – mean?”

  “I mean,” Dorina replied slowly, “and I am quite sure I am right, that the brandy was poisoned!”

  Chapter five

  For a moment both men stared at Dorina in sheer astonishment, then the Earl closed his eyes and sighed,

  “For God’s sake – give me something to make me able to – listen! I want to – hear what you are – saying, but this cursed darkness keeps – creeping up on me.”

  “Just stay quiet for a moment while I fetch you something,” Dorina said quickly.

  She picked up her basket and took it to the table at the other side of the room, saying to Harry in a low voice,

  “I think he has been poisoned by either belladonna or foxglove.”

  “Why should you think that?”

  “He is showing the symptoms of both,” Dorina replied. “Belladonna would account for the bluish discolouration of his skin, which is due to insufficient oxygen and vomiting, while foxglove brings on a drowsiness that often ends in convulsions!”

  Harry gave an exclamation.

  “Can you do something about it?”

  “I am sure I can,” Dorina answered. “Fortunately I made an elixir from my mother’s recipes only two days ago for a child who had been eating some belladonna berries, which in this part of the world is called ‘deadly nightshade’.”

  She took a small bottle out of her basket, shook it well and poured it into a glass that stood on the table.

  Then she took it to the bed and, slipping her arm under the Earl’s head where he lay with his eyes shut, she held it to his lips saying,

  “Drink this and you will feel better.”

  She knew another symptom was to have difficulty in swallowing. But after a pause he obeyed her and she managed to tip all the contents of the glass down his throat.

  There was another longer pause before he said,

  “That was a – strange – taste!”

  His voice was already a little stronger and not as slurred as it had been before.

  Gently Dorina laid him back against the pillows and asked,

  “Are you too tired to hear me? If you would rather sleep, we can talk later.”

  The Earl opened his eyes and stated,

  “I would – like to hear you – explain – why you think I have been – poisoned.”

  Dorina sat down in a chair near to the bed while Harry leaned against one of the carved pillars listening, she knew, intently.

  Slowly and hesitatingly because it embarrassed her, Dorina described to them her horrible experience after the old Earl’s funeral and how she had heard her cousin Jarvis making a pact with Satan that if Oscar died, he would do anything the Evil One asked of him.

  Only when she had finished speaking quietly in her soft voice did the Earl seem to relax his tension and he said incredulously,

  “I can hardly believe – that I am – hearing of such things in England!”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Harry came in. “If we were in the Far East or in Africa, I would not be surprised, but that your cousin, of all people, even though we are aware that he is an outsider, should stoop to murder is something I never anticipated.”

  “Looking back at when we were children,” Dorina said, “I think he always resented that William and Charles had a background that he would have liked to have himself.”

  “I suppose the temptation of knowing that now there is only one life between him and the Earldom has proved too much for him,” Harry remarked.

  The Earl had not spoken and Harry, looking at him, added,

  “For Heaven’s sake, Oscar, you cannot die in such an ignominious fashion after having fought through the war without so much as a scratch!”

  “Who says – I am – going to?” the Earl asked in a sleepy voice.

  “You are not going to die!” Dorina said firmly. “I know if you do, Jarvis will spend all the money in London on riotous living and the estate will be even worse off than it is at the moment.”

  Despite the fact that he felt so ill, she saw the Earl’s lips twitch and he stammered with difficulty,

  “Still – preaching at me – Dorina?”

  “Dorina knew that he was making an effort, so she merely replied,

  “Not at the moment, but I will have a lot to say later!”

  She thought the Earl was amused, but she knew that he must rest while she prepared another and stronger dose of what she had just given to him.

  She therefore picked up her basket and, going to the door, beckoned Harry to follow her.

  They went outside and she whispered,

  “I am sure you will think I am imagining things, but when I was telling you just now about Cousin Jarvis and how he invoked Satan in that room, I felt the same horror I felt then strike me again.”

  “I can understand that,” Harry said sympathetically, “and it must have been frightening.”

  Dorina looked up at him to see if he was really sympathetic. Then she said,

  “It is still frightening and I cannot help feeling that somehow he has impregnated the atmosphere with his evil designs and they may hurt the Earl.”

  “Are you saying that you think the Black Magic, or whatever it is, is still in the room?” Harry asked.

  “Either it was put there when he was invoking Satan,” Dorina replied, “or else, because he is willing the Earl to die, you can feel the vibrations coming from him, even though he is far away in London.”

  “You are making me feel creepy!” Harry exclaimed.

  “I am not being hysterical when I say you have every reason to be,” Dorina replied.

  “Then what can we do about it?”

  “What I would like to do,” she answered, “if you don’t think that it would annoy the Earl too much, is to ask my father to come and remove whatever evil influence is still lurking here. Then perhaps the Earl will feel strong enough to combat anything more that Jarvis might be concocting.”

  Harry stared at her.

  “Are you going to ask your father to exorcise – I think that is the right word – the satanic influence you feel? And now I think about it, I can feel it myself!”

  “That is what I would like to do,” Dorina said, “as long as it will not upset the Earl and perhaps make him angry.”

  “I will talk to him, while you prepare the herbs.”

  “That is what I wanted you to say,” Dorina replied with a little smile.

  She then went to find Mrs. Meadows who, as she expected, was deeply perturbed to learn that the Earl was suffering from some sort of poisoning.

  “It must be something he ate,” Dorina told her, as she had no wish to alarm the whole household or make them suspect what had really happened.

  “I’m sure it was nothing the cook prepared,” Mrs. Meadows said quickly. “She’s been trying to please his Lordship ever since he arrived home.”

  “I am sure she has,” Dorina said. “No, I think that when he was out riding or walking in the woods, he may inadvertently have picked a poisonous berry and put it into his mouth. You will remember how Mama was always warning the village children against doing that.”

  “That’s what it must have been!” Mrs. Meadows agreed. “Men never grow up! I always say they’re like children until they are put into their graves!”

  She helped Dorina to prepare the herbs which she had brought with her and, when they had been strained and there was enough liquid to fill a large glass, Dorina hurried back to the Earl’s bedroom with them.

  She knew from the expression on Harry’s face as she entered the room that they had already talked together and the Earl had agreed to her suggestion.

  He was lying back with his eyes closed. Once again she could see the slightly bluish tinge to his skin and was sure that she had been right in thinking it was deadly nightshade or belladonna which Jarvis had used.

  As Dorina knew, it grew profusely on many parts of the estate and Jarvis would have had plenty of opportunity of
finding it in his friends’ gardens or anywhere else in the country where it grew.

  She made the Earl swallow the concoction she and Mrs. Meadows had brewed for him and, when she took his pulse, she found it was slow and guessed that he might have an irregular heartbeat.

  She looked at Harry and said,

  “I think it would be a good idea to leave him to sleep, when I am sure my antidote will work against the poison.”

  Harry nodded and, as they went quietly from the room, Dorina was sure that the Earl was unconscious and not aware that they were leaving.

  Outside she said,

  “Shall I fetch Papa?”

  “I will take you back to the Vicarage,” Harry said, “and we can bring him back in the phaeton. It will be quicker that way and I don’t want to leave Oscar for long.”

  “No, of course not,” Dorina agreed.

  “There should be somebody with him and, as I already anticipated that you would want to fetch your father, I have told his valet to sit with him in case he wants anything.”

  “I see you are a good nurse!” Dorina teased and Harry replied,

  “We learnt to look after one another when we were fighting together in the Army. At times one or the other of us was down with fever or on many occasions half-poisoned by the Spanish food, which swam in oil.”

  They reached the phaeton and he helped her in and, once they drove off, he said in a low voice so that the groom behind them could not hear,

  “Do you think he will be all right?”

  Dorina knew that he was really asking her if the Earl might die and she replied confidently,

  “I am sure now that Mama’s antidote, which has been proved effective dozens and dozens of times, will save him. But I am more afraid, I must admit, of what Jarvis has left behind in that room and also of what further mischief he is trying to raise from a distance.”

  “If I had not seen what could happen to Oscar on one glass of wine,” Harry said, “I should think that you were imagining all this!”

  “That is what I kept trying to tell myself, ever since it happened,” Dorina replied, “but now I feel very guilty that I did not tell the Earl at once what Cousin Jarvis was trying to do.”

  “I doubt if he would have believed you,” Harry said frankly, “but now there is no doubt that your cousin is not merely a menace but an unhinged criminal.”