‘I’m sorry,’ she said, then slid to the floor.
Suddenly the room exploded into pandemonium. Estella ran across to Clarissa’s side, crying for help, Lady Carlyle jumped to her feet and began calling for footmen and butlers, and Peter, Sybil and Lord Carlyle appeared from the other room demanding to know what had happened.
‘Will everyone please stop shouting?’ said Estella, her voice cutting through the hubbub. With Peter’s help she carried Clarissa to a sofa and a maid brought a blanket to drape over her bare legs.
‘What happened, darling?’ said Estella, kneeling down next to the girl.
Clarissa’s face was pale and she distractedly pushed a shaking hand through her hair. Georgia could see that her knuckles were scraped and her nails torn.
‘I – I don’t want to cause a fuss,’ she stuttered. ‘I’ll be all right in a moment.’
‘Tell your aunt, Clarissa,’ said Lady Carlyle with authority in her voice. ‘This is clearly a serious matter and we need to get to the bottom of it quickly.’
Clarissa looked up at her like a frightened rabbit, her eyes darting back and forth. The confident, unflappable girl from the walled garden had gone – she looked terrified.
‘Answer us!’ shouted Sybil. ‘Who did this to you?’
Estella silenced her with a glare, then turned back to the girl, gently touching her hand.
‘Who was it, darling? You can tell us.’
Georgia was shocked to see that Clarissa was looking directly at her.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘But it was Edward. He came to the swimming pool and started touching me. I tried to push him away, but he forced me into the hut . . .’ She started to sob.
The room erupted again, and Georgia found she had added her own voice to the noise.
‘How dare you say such a wicked thing about him,’ she shouted. ‘Edward would never do any such thing.’ She stepped over to Clarissa, grabbing her wrist. ‘Take it back!’ she yelled. ‘Take it back!’
‘He raped me,’ roared Clarissa. ‘How can you stick up for him when he did that to me?’
Sybil looked as though she was about to faint.
‘We had better call the police,’ said Peter, his voice a low, menacing growl. Georgia had never seen him look more angry.
‘I think we should find out what’s gone on first,’ said Lord Carlyle. He was a commanding presence in the room, but as Georgia looked at him, she could tell that he was sick with worry.
‘Let’s call the doctor first,’ said Lady Carlyle, her voice barely audible.
Everyone agreed that that was the first thing to do.
Georgia could barely remember what had happened next. Everything was sucked up into a hole of accusation and disbelief. The rest of the party guests were quickly and discreetly escorted off the property in such a way that it was impossible for any of them to know anything of the true drama that was going on. Georgia ran around the grounds looking for Edward, but before she could find him, she spotted him being bundled into a distant wing of the house by some officious-looking gentlemen. Her mother relayed to her the version of events that Clarissa had told her parents and the Carlyles, and Georgia had sobbed all the way through it.
Apparently Clarissa had been in the walled garden, drying off from her swim, when Edward had come in looking for Georgia. Clarissa had been wrapped in a towel and he had come over to talk. He’d stroked her chin and told her she was beautiful. He’d asked her to drop the towel, and when she had refused, he had turned rough.
Georgia had screamed that it was all a lie. She had raced to find Clarissa, to plead with her to tell the truth, but she was being examined by two doctors – one who had been called by the Carlyles, the other by Peter Hamilton.
The final thing she remembered of the evening was hearing a car draw up to the front of the house and a familiar voice pierce the still night air.
‘Georgia, I did nothing,’ roared Edward as she ran to the window and watched him being pushed into a waiting car.
It was the last time she ever saw him.
28 December 2012
Amy’s cup of tea had gone cold. She gazed at Georgia in amazement as the old woman finished her tale.
‘What do you mean, it was the last time you ever saw him? Did he get put in jail?’