I want no involvement in any of it, though. I know the truth and the secrets, but cannot see that revealing them will do any good to anyone.
It is all done. And now I have given way to the stupid painful tears for the man who had been irrepressible and ungodly and whom I shall never forget.
Signed, Maria Porringer.
TWENTY-FIVE
‘So,’ said Nell at last, ‘that’s what happened. It’s a remarkable story.’
‘Yes.’ Michael was looking at Leo.
Leo’s eyes were still in shadow, but at Michael’s words, he seemed to recollect his surroundings.
He said, ‘I think this is the time when I tell you my own part in Deadlight Hall’s history.’
‘If you felt you could do that, it wouldn’t go any further,’ said Nell, and he smiled at her.
‘I know that.’ A small frown of concentration touched his brow, as if he was assembling his thoughts, then he said, ‘It’s a long story, though, so I shall have to begin right at the beginning.’ He smiled at Nell. ‘And follow Beth’s maxim to go on until I reach the end.’
‘Good enough.’
‘It began when I came to England, when I was six,’ said Leo. ‘When I and a group of other children were smuggled out of Poland by a man we knew as Sch?nbrunn.’
Nell, listening to him, watching the play of expressions and emotions on his face as he spoke, heard – and knew Michael would be hearing – the deep sadness behind his words. He spoke concisely and well – she supposed this was to be expected – but she still found herself fascinated by his voice.
When Leo talked of Sophie and Susannah Reiss, and described what he had seen them do in Deadlight Hall’s furnace room, his voice faltered for the first time.
‘I believed that what I saw that night was my dear twins wreaking a revenge on a woman they thought posed a threat,’ he said. ‘But now—’
‘Now?’
‘Now I am not so sure. But that night I made a vow to myself – and to the twins – that I would never speak of what I saw,’ he said. ‘It was a child’s vow, but it was deeply and genuinely meant. Today is the first time I’ve ever spoken about it,’ he said.
‘A vow made out of loyalty?’ Michael’s tone was hesitant, but Rosendale looked at him eagerly, as if grateful for this comprehension.
‘I can’t be sure,’ he said, ‘because it was a very long time ago, and I was very young, as well as being quite seriously ill. But I think it was mostly loyalty. We – the three of us – had all been through so much, and I believed that nursing sister had been immensely cruel to the twins. I didn’t understand then about the tests they had to do for meningitis.’
‘Lumbar puncture,’ said Nell, nodding. ‘I believe it’s very unpleasant and painful.’