The Knapthorne Conspiracy by Malcolm Ballard (best english novels for beginners txt) 📕

be alright if I have a bath first?” Bella couldn’t help but smile.

“You and your baths! Of course it will.” The Roffino house had no bath, only a shower. Every time Maria came to visit, Bella swore it was only because she wanted to use the bath. “Take your time, we’ll go out when you're ready.”

“How are you feeling this morning? Any different?” Bella thought about it for a moment, then spoke with a slight look of uncertainty.

“If I said I sort of felt complete now would you understand?” Her mother nodded, giving a sympathetic smile. “I know it’s not a very good way of putting it but you’ve not only filled in a missing part of my life…” She paused to find the right words. “You’ve also given me something to be proud of.” Maria raised her eyebrows, in surprise.

“How is this so?”

“I’ve always had a lot of respect for Rupert, as have many others, I know. To discover that I am his daughter gives me a very special feeling. And because you’re my mother,” she added swiftly.

“Ah, what nonsense!” Maria scoffed. “I will go and have my bath quickly then we will go for this walk you speak of.” She turned to leave, clutching the glass of juice she had poured.

“Take your time!” Bella shouted after her. “Relax for a change!”

They walked in leisurely fashion, arm in arm, down the driveway talking about trivial things in an excited fashion, their laughter ringing in the cloister-like atmosphere beneath the trees. When they came to the point where the drive met Spinney Lane, Bella put the decision to her mother.

“Which way do you want to go? Straight on, over there, leads to a small stream about twenty minutes to half-an-hour away. “Or,” she continued, gently swinging her mother around to the left, “we can go this way and cut across the fields. It’s up to you.” Maria thought about it, briefly.

“The fields, I think. We will remain in the sun, hm?”

“Good choice. Let’s go!” They set off the short distance down the lane that would bring them to the track. “If only I could do this sort of thing with your sister. It would be so pleasant. She seems always so…”

“Uptight?”

“Yes, that is very good word. Uptight. It is great pity.”

“And you say you can see a lot of Patrick in her?”  They had never talked like this before.

“The bad things only. He had great humour, once, and could be very kind too. Everyone who did not really know him as I did liked him.” They had arrived at the beginning of the track, on their left, and Bella pointed to indicate to her mother where they were going.

“What came over him, then? Why did he change like that?” Maria began to walk a little faster, to get the full benefit of their exercise.

“Come, a little more speed, I think.” Bella followed her mother’s example as she waited for an answer. They were almost at the top of the rise before Maria replied.

“Patrick always had the short fuse but, as he got older, he suddenly seemed to get worse. I wanted him to see the doctor but he was impossible. Could you imagine trying to tell your sister to do the same thing?” They both laughed at the thought, shaking their heads.

“Don’t you mean my step-sister, mama?” Bella reminded her.

“Whatever she is, it would be as difficult.” Momentarily, it seemed, her humour had deserted her.

“So, what happened?

“Patrick had a friend. A particular friend he went to the racing with.” Having reached the point where they now overlooked the village, they could either go straight on down the slope, or right, along the track that ran on the level across the crest of the hill.

“Which way?” Maria asked, a little breathlessly. Rather than having to come back up the slope, Bella pointed to their right and they set off once again.

“Racing? How do you mean racing?”

“The horses. Patrick liked to gamble. So did his friend, the doctor.”

“Ah, I see!”

“One time he brought Patrick home, a little drunk. I put Patrick to bed and then I talk to the doctor.” Bella could see that Maria was having difficulty with both walking and trying to hold a conversation at the same time so she took hold of her mother’s arm.

“Mother! Let’s slow down a little so that it’s easier to talk, alright?”

“Si, It is a good idea. Perhaps I am not as fit as I think, eh?”

At Bella’s insistence they turned around and began to make their way back, casually strolling along the track as Maria picked up from where she had left off.

“Patrick’s friend convinced him to see a…” she paused, at a loss to remember the word.

“A specialist?”

“Si, grazi. This man did tests and found, maybe, a reason why Patrick is getting so mad.”

“Patrick told you this?” Bella asked, in amazement.

“Are you joking? Everything I find out from his friend, the doctor. By this time Patrick and I are talking very little. He got medicine, pills I think, to control him but knowing my Patrick he probably wouldn’t have taken them. He hated taking pills.” The memory of those times still caused her pain but the passing of the years had made it more bearable. Maria reached for her daughter’s hand, feeling happier than she had done for a long, long time but Bella wanted to hear more, fearing that she might never get another opportunity like this.

“Are you up to telling me how it finished, mama, what exactly happened to Patrick?” Her mother sighed, a despairing sound from deep within her, and closed her eyes briefly knowing that this moment was always going to happen.

“Patrick and I had had a blazing row. Don’t ask me how but he had found out about Rupert and me. It was a terrible scene.” Bella squeezed her hand, sympathetically.

“Maria, you poor thing. It must have been awful for you!” Her mother gazed bleakly at the rolling landscape, recalling the details as if