But he already knew she was here. Even if he could not see her, he would have sensed her presence in the way predators sensed the presence of their victims.
The latch clicked and the door swung open. The rainy light lay across the floor, and when Maud slowly turned her head she saw the figure outlined in the doorway–an impossibly tall figure it seemed to be, wrapped in a long dark cloak, the hem swishing around booted feet.
The figure stepped inside and spoke. It was not Simon after all, it was Thomasina.
In a perfectly ordinary voice, Thomasina said, ‘My dear child, what on earth are you doing here? Let me take you home.’
Thomasina spoke as if nothing very unusual had happened, and for a moment Maud stared at her and wondered if she had dreamt that firelit bedroom and Simon’s body suffocating her.
Then she said, ‘You pretended to be asleep, but you weren’t. You’ve been following me.’
‘Of course I followed you. You were not very subtle, Maud. Scrabbling in the wardrobe for your clothes, and getting dressed in the bathroom. Did you think I didn’t know what you were doing?’
‘I won’t go back to Quire House,’ said Maud, and was pleased to hear her voice sounded quite brave. ‘If you try to make me go back, I’ll scream for help.’
‘Scream away. There’s no one to hear you. Cormac Sullivan’s not very likely to be in his own bed at this hour of the night, and his daughter will be at Latchkill–she’s a nurse and she’s on night duty. So scream until your throat bursts: no one will hear you.’
Maud had no idea if any of this was true, or if Thomasina was just saying it to keep her quiet.
‘And,’ said Thomasina, not giving Maud time to reply, ‘even if you did scream, and even if anyone did hear you, I have only to say you’re a young relative and your mind is a little disturbed; that I’m caring for you.’
‘No one would believe that,’ said Maud, but she knew people would believe it, because of who Thomasina was. Miss Forrester of Quire House. Important and rich and with that indefinable authority that everyone recognized and respected. Yes, people would believe Thomasina over Maud.
As if she had heard this last thought, Thomasina said, ‘My poor child, of course people would believe you were disturbed. I would only have to tell them how I found you huddled in a dank wash-house, when all the time there’s a warm comfortable room for you at Quire House, and people there who love you and want you back. You’re not displaying much sanity at the moment, are you, Maud?’ She paused, and then said, in a soft, pitying voice, ‘You do know what happens to people who aren’t sane, don’t you?’
Latchkill…The place of locked doors and barred windows…The place you must always avoid when it’s spider light…
Maud said, ‘Yes, I do know. But I’m not mad.’
‘Of course not. But perhaps confused. And so you’d better come back with me and be properly looked after,’ said Thomasina. Incredibly there was a note of affection in her voice. She held Maud’s arm very firmly, and took her outside, pushing the door closed with her foot as she did so. Maud tried to resist but Thomasina’s hands were too strong. As they went back across the park Thomasina talked soothingly–something about soon being home and how no one needed to know about this absurd flight through the darkness.
Maud, by this time sobbing with despair, scarcely heard her, but when Thomasina said, ‘Where on earth were you going anyway?’ she replied, ‘I was escaping from you. And Simon. I was running away because of what he did to me.’