‘No, of course not,’ Eustace interrupted. ‘I’m the one who should be sorry. That was clumsy of me. It’s just that I should love to see you again once all this horrible business is cleared up.’
Milly was surprised. ‘Oh.’
‘My intentions are entirely honourable.’
Milly was puzzled. Had he come here especially to meet her? How did he know she would be in this particular inn?
‘Believe me, this is a happy coincidence,’ he added, as if reading her mind. ‘I had no idea you would be staying here. I’m here for the auction.’ He smiled. ‘So can we meet again?’
Then someone called his name. He turned his head in the direction of the caller. ‘Sorry,’ he said quickly. ‘Must go. My auction lot is coming up.’
When he’d closed the door, Milly was confused. He seemed a nice enough chap, but her heart wasn’t exactly fluttering at the thought of a date with him.
But Pearl had been talking to him about her, hadn’t she? Milly could only imagine what her sister had said. Just before she left the Swan, she asked the landlord for some paper and an envelope. Her note was hastily scribbled as she had to get back to court and she even surprised herself as she wrote, Dear Eustace, It was nice to see you again. Thanks for the invitation. I should love to meet you again. All the best, Milly.
Chapter 28
Agatha scoured the newspapers every day for news of the trial. She made sure she got hold of them before Freddie could get his hands on them. She couldn’t pretend that she wasn’t enjoying Millicent’s discomfort. It was a ridiculous state of affairs when an educated middle-class girl got herself mixed up with showmen and gypsies – even worse when that girl was part of her own family. She had breathed a sigh of relief when she realised that Millicent was only to be called as a witness for the defence, but it was still unsavoury to have her name dragged through the courts. Part of her had wanted Millicent to be taken down a peg or two, but another part of her had dreaded the knock-on effect of the publicity and shame. Most of her friends had telephoned to extend their commiserations and sympathy, but Agatha was sure there was an element of smugness in their concern.
As the trial wore on, Agatha grew increasingly frustrated. The gypsy was being treated as nothing more than a harmless scallywag who had gone a step too far. The man should be locked up, and it was high time somebody stood up and said so. This was why she decided to drive over to Lewes towards the end of the week. With her head swathed in a headscarf which completely covered her hair, and wearing a pair of large sunglasses, she had hoped to sneak over to the assizes unobserved, but Pearl had spotted her before she left the house.
‘You’re going to the trial?’
Agatha turned to see if Freddie was coming downstairs behind her.
‘It’s all right, Mummy,’ Pearl said. ‘He’s gone out.’ She paused. ‘You are going to Lewes, aren’t you? Can I come too?’
Agatha hesitated. ‘Oh all right then, but be quick about it.’ Her daughter thundered back upstairs. ‘And put on a headscarf or something which will mean nobody recognises you. I don’t want anyone to connect us to this awful business.’
The court case lasted almost another week. Milly was called to give evidence on Thursday. When she had taken the oath, Milly glanced around the courtroom and froze as she spotted a familiar face in the gallery. Pearl’s husband Freddie gave her a cold stare, and put his right index finger in front of his lips. Milly was frightened and confused. The only thing she could think of when she saw him was that he must also have spotted her the day the dog went into the river, and that this was a coded warning not to mention it. Although she tried not to look at him, there was something rather unsettling about him being there. What was he doing? And why did it matter so much that nobody knew? She shivered.
Mr Carstairs began. As part of the defence, she explained how she and Lena had gone with Seebold to collect an animal from a friend. ‘We both knew that he was only doing it to allay people’s fears,’ she said. ‘The whole of Worthing was shut down because people thought they would be attacked at any minute by a ravenous animal. No harm and no deceit was intended.’
There was laughter in the court as she described Seebold being dragged through the mud at the edge of the river by the dog because it was keen to chase ducks. Despite the hilarity in the courtroom, Milly could still feel her brother-in-law’s cold stare. During a pause in the proceedings, her eye wandered back to the public gallery. This time he drew his right index finger across his throat. Milly’s heartbeat quickened. So she hadn’t imagined it, after all. He was threatening her. The judge called for order.
‘Did anyone see you when you were in the lane?’ asked counsel.
Milly sucked in her lips as she avoided the question. ‘We were some distance from the nearest house and miles from civilisation.’
The rest of her time in the witness box passed by uneventfully, and when Milly was told to step down, she went to sit in the public gallery, although she was careful not to be near Freddie. To her great surprise, Agatha and Pearl were there as well, but they deliberately blanked her. There was a seat near the aisle. From up here, she could see the dock quite clearly. She was concerned for Lena who looked pale and tired. Even Seebold, sitting next to her, had an air of defeatism about him. Milly was filled with a longing to put her arms around him to comfort him, but Lena had told her he loved somebody else. Was she here in the courtroom? Milly looked around, but it crossed her mind that she’d never even seen his lady friend. Perhaps she was one of the travellers. Even so, she should be here to support him, surely?
When Lena was called into the witness box, she trembled as she held up the Bible and read the oath from the card. Milly wondered if Freddie might make the same threatening gestures to her, but Lena didn’t look up towards the gallery anyway – her eyes were fixed on the floor. Her evidence was exactly the same as Milly’s, but in his cross-examination of her Mr Bennet was far less gentle. At times, his quickfire questions had her flustered. ‘You saw the sheep Mr Doyle brought to the Wonderland?’
‘I glanced at it, yes.’
‘That sheep had knife wounds.’
‘I never saw them.’
‘And one of its ears was cut off.’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Do you think wolves are in the habit of killing their prey with a knife, Miss Buckley?’
‘My lord,’ Mr Carstairs protested languorously.
‘Yes, yes,’ said the judge. ‘Don’t badger the witness, Mr Bennet.’
‘As Your Lordship pleases,’ Mr Bennet said.
Seebold gave his evidence in a measured and clear voice. He said he had been shocked to discover the damaged cage and took steps to find out what had happened to the wolf. He had repeatedly rung the office of the place from which he’d bought it, but no one returned his call. In his opinion, he said, Mr Crump, in order to gain a newspaper scoop, had made a mountain out of a molehill, which had then taken off like a prairie fire.
‘That’s right, blame somebody else,’ Agatha said loudly. Several people in the gallery turned to look at her. Milly saw her sister Pearl’s face colouring.
Seebold looked up but continued his testimony. ‘Later I discovered the thing had never even been sent, but there were fifteen or twenty newspaper men who had come down from Fleet Street on the doorstep,’ he went on. ‘That’s when I realised no one was going to believe a word I said. I had to produce a wolf, even if there had never been one in the first place. Nothing else would do.’
‘So you arranged for a dog to be brought to Worthing in its place.’
‘Yes.’
‘Disgraceful,’ Agatha commented. Court proceeding were paused for a second or two as people’s eyes were drawn towards the public gallery, but then Mr Bennet continued.
Milly glanced towards Freddie, who was sitting behind his wife and mother-in-law. Their eyes met and he mouthed a lion-like snarl. Milly looked away quickly. He was making threats again. She fixed her eyes on what was happening in the court and tried to concentrate on what was being said, but her heart was thumping. This definitely had to be because she’d seen him lurking in the bushes that day. Clearly he didn’t want anyone to know he’d been there. But why? Bird-watching was an innocent enough hobby, so why be so secretive about it? She thought back. Freddie had only emerged from the reeds when the angry swan had come after him. Fair enough. That was perfectly understandable. After all, she, Lena and Seebold had all run from the same bird. Up until now she’d not given much thought to the incident but now she was suspicious. What had he been up to?
‘When did you discover that a sheep had been killed by a wild animal?’ Mr Carstairs was saying.
‘I don’t believe that sheep was killed by a wild animal. I think it was most likely already dead and somebody,’ Seebold fixed his eyes on Farmer Doyle, ‘took a knife to it.’
