Seven for a Secret by Victoria Holt Page B

know more of her and to probe what was behind this strange delusion. I wondered whether, if she could be made to realize the doll was only a doll and that the baby she believed it to be was now a grown man, she might return to normality.
    Then I was overcome by a desire to get away and I heard myself say: “I think I should be going now. I’ll let myself out.”
    As 1 was about to descend the stairs I heard the sound of voices below. I was dismayed. I had not heard anyone come in.
     
    “Flora!” It was Lucy’s voice. She came out and was clearly astonished to see me descending the staircase.
    “I’ve been with Miss Flora upstairs,” I stammered.
    “Oh … she invited you up here, did she?”
    I hesitated.
    “She has been … er … showing me the nursery.”
    Lucy looked rather angry. Then a man came into the hall. It was Crispin St. Aubyn.
    “This is Miss Cardingham’s niece,” Lucy said.
    “Flora asked her in.”
    He nodded in my direction.
    “I’ll be going,” I said.
    Lucy took me to the front door and I went out.
    I sped away.
    What a strange afternoon that had been! I could not stop thinking of the seven magpies. They were rather sinister-looking birds. Lucy had evidently cut out the picture from a book and framed it for Flora.
    Could it be to remind her that there was some secret which had to be kept? Flora’s mind was like that of a child. She might have to be reminded often of certain things. Perhaps the picture was just from a book she had loved in her childhood and Lucy had framed the picture for her.
    In any case, it was very interesting, I was thinking, as I sped home to Aunt Sophie.
    It was a few days later when I discovered a side to Aunt Sophie’s nature which I had not suspected before. At The Rowans there was a small room which led from her bedroom. It must have been a dressing-room, but she used it as a little study.
    1 wanted to speak to her about some trivial matter and Lily told me she thought she was in her study tidying a drawer, so I went up. I knocked on the bedroom door and, as there was no answer, I opened it and looked in.
     
    The study door was open.
    “Aunt Sophie,” I called.
    She came out and stood in the doorway.
    There was something different about her. She looked sad, as I had never seen her before, and a tear was glistening on her eyelashes.
    “Is something wrong?” I asked.
    She hesitated for a moment and then said: “Oh no … nothing. I’m just a silly old fool. I’ve been writing to some one I knew in the past.”
    “I’m sorry 1 interrupted. Lily said she thought you were tidying a drawer.”
    “Yes, I did say I was going to do that. Well, come in, dear. It’s time you knew.”
    I went into the study.
    “Sit down. I was writing to your father,” she said.
    “To my father?”
    “I do write to him now and then. I knew him very well, you see … when I was younger.”
    “Where is he?”
    “He’s in Egypt. He used to be in the Army, but he left all that. I’ve been writing to him over the years. It goes a long way back.” She looked at me as though she were not quite sure of something. Then she seemed to come to a decision.
    She went on: “I met your father first … before your mother did. It was at someone’s house party. We were very friendly from the start. He was asked to Cedar Hall. That was when your mother came home from school. She was eighteen then and really beautiful. Well, he fell in love with her.”
    “But he left her!”
    “That was some time after. It didn’t work. He wasn’t fitted to settling down. He was a very merry person. He liked the social life.
    He drank a little . not too much, but perhaps verging on it. He gambled. He liked the ladies.
     
    He is not a very serious person. Well, they parted about a year after you were born. There was a divorce, as you know. There was another woman. He married her, but that didn’t turn out very well either. “
    “He doesn’t seem to be a very reliable sort of person.”
    “He