‘This must be a terrible burden for you.’
‘It is. Had we been without means my poor boy might have been locked away in some dreadful place, but at least he has been cared for at home, where there is a better chance of recovery. Initially we employed a daily nurse.’
‘Initially? Then he must have improved such that he no longer needs a nurse.’
‘He is a little better, in some ways, yes,’ said Mrs Vardy with a hesitation suggesting to Mina that the improvement was more optimistic than actual, ‘but my sister Mrs Norbert has come to stay and has taken charge. She is tutoring him, too. I fear it may be many months before he can be strong enough to attend school. He sleeps very poorly and still affirms that the ghost of his father comes to visit him, and to be honest, I have come to believe him. There are such things, I am convinced of it. Not all who see and converse with spirits are afflicted in the mind,’ she added defiantly.
‘Has anyone else seen or heard this ghost?’
‘No. I was wondering if I ought to employ a medium, a sensitive.’ She hesitated. ‘I have heard say that you might be such a person.’
Mina was tempted as she always was to deny at once that she had made any such claims, but Mrs Vardy looked so hopeful, so plaintive, that she could not find it within herself to do so. ‘I think, she said carefully, ‘it is possible that because of the family connection, anything your son sees or hears will be experienced by him alone. But I shall give the question some thought. Perhaps if you have any further information to give me, I might be able to look at your situation and see if there is a way forward.’
Mrs Vardy looked disappointed but nodded. ‘Very well.’
‘On the occasions when you son sees the ghost of his father, is this only a vision, or does it speak? I ask because when individuals are in poor health or experiencing grief, their sight may be affected; they see things that are simply products of the mind, pictures they have in their memory, images of people they know, either living or deceased, that will appear to them to be the actual person, real, and standing before them. It wants only a return to health to lay the supposed ghosts.’
Mrs Vardy bridled a little at the suggestion. ‘It is the appearance of this spirit which is one of the things that convinces me that Jasper is deceased,’ she said.
‘But no-one apart from your son has seen it.’
‘Not thus far, no. I do hope that in time perhaps Mrs Barnham might bring him to me, but at present it seems he only manifests to Franklin. My son is not insane, Miss Scarletti.’
Mina decided not to pursue that line of argument. ‘Has this spectre spoken, or made a sign or imparted information to your son in any way?’
‘If it has, I have not been told of it. Franklin tells me very little in any case, and my sister does not believe in the new spiritualism and dismisses it all as childish nonsense.’
‘Your nursemaid did not report anything to you?’
‘She witnessed a number of occasions on which Franklin awoke very distressed and unable to move his limbs. The episodes were brief but terrible and when the symptoms subsided, he said he had seen his father. He is sure that his father was attempting to tell him something very important. When the nurse told him that she could not see the ghost he suggested that it must be hiding behind the curtains. She looked and found nothing there, or at least nothing that she was aware of, but then she must not be a sensitive. I have considered bringing a medium to the house to hold a séance and try and contact Jasper, but I feel that it would only result in more upset for Franklin, and I have been advised that he needs to be kept calm.’
‘For someone in fragile health séances can be very upsetting and are best avoided,’ said Mina. ‘That is my advice. I have seen harm come to some people because of them.’
Mrs Vardy reluctantly absorbed Mina’s good counsel. ‘I am sure you are right, but what can I do?’
‘I think that regarding your son, your doctors are correct, this may be something that only time and good care will heal.’
Mrs Vardy gave a little groan of disappointment. She made to rise and leave. ‘I see that I have troubled you unnecessarily.’
‘Not at all. Please stay a little longer. There are more ways than one of solving a mystery.’
Mrs Vardy looked puzzled but sat down again.
‘Tell me about the day you husband disappeared. How did he seem to you that day?’
The visitor’s manner showed that it was a tale she had told many times before. ‘He seemed particularly cheerful. I put it down to his looking forward to sailing in the yacht. The weather was exceptionally good.’
‘You didn’t think of going with him? He didn’t suggest it?’
‘No, but I am a poor sailor. He thought that in time it would be a fine thing for the boys. At least that is what he said.’
‘He didn’t plan to sail the yacht himself?’
‘No, he had no experience of sailing. The vessel was owned by Mr Sutherland, who was to teach him how to sail it.’
‘What can you tell me about Mr Sutherland?’
Mrs Vardy was surprised at the question, and not a little uncomfortable. ‘Why, almost nothing.’
‘No? You have never met him?’
‘Never.’
‘I had heard — please forgive me for mentioning it — that you were both interviewed by the police.’
Mrs Vardy clearly did not like to be reminded of this. ‘Yes, that was a distressing time. And the suspicion against me remains in the public memory, and always will until the truth of what happened to Jasper has been revealed. I was interviewed at the Town Hall police office. There were men there who looked at me as if I was a criminal. I can’t describe how I felt. Mr Sutherland might have been there at the same time for all I know, but if he was, he must have been in another room and I never saw him.’
‘Perhaps you and he were kept apart as they suspected collusion.’
‘I have no doubt at all that that is what they did suspect.’
‘How did he and Mr Holt meet?’
‘It was through business, I believe. Jasper was a purveyor of wines and spirits, mainly to the restaurant trade, but also through a shop premises. Mr Sutherland was the secretary of a gentleman’s club whose interest was yachting. How many of the members actually owned yachts or even sailed I couldn’t say. I never met any of them, and Jasper was never a member. But I believe he came to Jasper to arrange for wines and brandy to be served at their annual dinner.’
‘How soon was this before your husband disappeared?’
‘Not long before. I can’t imagine that they knew each other well.’
‘And did your husband tell you anything about Mr Sutherland?’
‘No, he only said that he was thinking of buying a yacht for amusement, and was about to take a trip in one, to see if it suited him.’ Mrs Vardy gave little wail of sorrow. ‘How could I have known what he meant to do? The very act of him saying he wanted to purchase a yacht suggested to me that the business was doing well. That was all I knew; all I could know at the time.’
‘But you found out more later?’
‘Yes. His accountant, Mr Westbury told me. It wasn’t Jasper’s fault. There were other businesses that had failed, and they had no funds to pay Jasper’s invoices. He had already supplied them with the goods which had been consumed and found himself unable to meet his own creditors. Cheques he had written were being returned by the bank and people were starting to talk. He had tried to persuade his creditors it was a temporary embarrassment, he even said it was a banker’s error, but people in that line of business know each other and suspected that he was in difficulty. There had been talk of him declaring bankruptcy. None of this I knew until afterwards.’