Читаем A Dangerous Fortune (1994) полностью

When he said that, Augusta was relieved, but worried as well. She wanted to know the truth, but she feared what it might be. Poor Teddy--he had almost died, as a baby, because there had been something wrong with Augusta's breast milk, and he nearly wasted away before the doctors discovered the nature of the problem and proposed a wet nurse. Ever since then he had been vulnerable, needing her special protection. Had she had her way he would not have gone to boarding school, but his father had been intransigent about that.... She returned her attention to Micky.

"Edward didn't mean any harm," Micky began. "He was just ragging. He threw the other boys' clothes into the water as a joke."

Augusta nodded. That sounded normal to her: boys teasing one another. Poor Teddy must have suffered that sort of thing himself.

"Then Hugh pushed Edward in."

"That little Hugh has always been a troublemaker," Augusta said. "He's just like his wretched father was." And like his father he would probably come to a bad end, she thought to herself.

"The other boys all laughed, and Edward pushed Peter's head under, to teach him a lesson. Hugh ran off. Then Tonio threw a stone at Edward."

Augusta was horrified. "But he might have been knocked unconscious, and drowned!"

"However, he wasn't, and he went chasing after Tonio. I was watching them: no one was looking at Peter Middleton. Tonio got away from Edward eventually. That was when we noticed that Peter had gone quiet. We don't really know what happened to him: perhaps Edward's ducking exhausted him, so that he was too tired or too breathless to get out of the pool. Anyway, he was floating facedown. We got him out of the water right away, but he was dead."

It was hardly Edward's fault, Augusta thought. Boys were always rough with one another. All the same she was deeply grateful that this story had not come out at the inquest. Micky had covered up for Edward, thank heavens. "What about the other boys?" she said. "They must know what happened."

"It was lucky that Hugh left the school that very day."

"And the other one--did you call him Tony?"

"Antonio Silva. Tonio for short. Don't worry about him. He's from my country. He'll do as I tell him."

"How can you be sure?"

"He knows that if he gets me into trouble, his family will suffer back home."

There was something chilling in the boy's voice as he said this, and Augusta shivered.

"May I fetch you a shawl?" Micky said attentively.

Augusta shook her head. "No other boys saw what happened?"