Tibbermore settled himself in the chair just across the little desk and, perhaps unconsciously, adopted a poise and tone of voice I would have expected from a primary school teacher about to read a story to the little ones. In oblique terms, he confirmed what I had already suspected about the nature of the relationship - close but informal - between Mayfield and Glen. Not that he needed to; the evidence of my own eyes was quite enough. He also admitted that he was in collusion with Mayfield herself to conceal the relationship from Lady Strowan, and everybody else for that matter.

Indeed, in reality, he was even tacitly supporting the relationship, deflecting enquiries about Mayfield's continued absence from the Lower Realms, hinting at motivations and mitigating circumstances, without ever finding it necessary to tell an explicit lie. Clearly, he was instrumental in making it possible for her to spend most of her time on the surface, shacked up in the little hideaway with her boyfriend.

But this wasn't the only misdirection that Tibbermore indulged in, not the only little matter that he kept from his Mistress. There were more revelations still to come.

Many years before, Tibbermore explained, while both her parents and Lady Strowan's husband were still alive, Mayfield would occasionally attend parties at the Westwood mansion. Lady Strowan had established a considerable reputation as a society hostess - for a certain kind of society, of course - while thoroughly indulging herself and exercising her husband's millions into the bargain. The actress and the lord would entertain frequently, putting on grand balls in the mansion and elaborate soirées in the courtyard. The young Mayfield would, from time to time, be invited to meet the rich and famous, the influential and the fabulous, the beautiful and the notorious, all of whom would gather to mingle with the cream of Goblin society.

At the time, Mayfield was very young and still very much an emerging, deepening beauty; already lovely, but invoking an uncanny sense that her exquisiteness would mature with time. She was still outwardly demure and even shy, but already displaying a hint of the steely strength of character she had inherited from her grandmother.

And so it was that Mayfield was introduced, at one of the numerous balls and parties, to a young Goblin called Cutmal Lundie who, by all accounts, fell deeply and irrevocably in love with her. It was true from the beginning that his feelings for her were not reciprocated. Unfortunately, youth and shyness - or perhaps good manners - did not allow her to rebuff him firmly enough, or clearly enough. Or perhaps he was just a little deranged, even then.

Cutmal's parents were also from the upper echelons of our society - or at least they liked to think of themselves as such - and were perhaps bedazzled by the prospect of a glittering alliance with a family who seemed to be doing so well. Without consulting Mayfield, the two sets of parents arranged a betrothal, which was immediately announced in the usual newspapers and was also widely circulated by the gossips and letter-writing contingents.

Mayfield's reaction, when she found out, was neither demure nor shy. In short, she went ballistic. She shouted, she stamped, she fell out with parents, roundly berating them in private and denouncing them in public. After that, she refused to have anything to do with them, withdrawing herself from society of Goblins, although where she had disappeared to was, at the time, quite unremarked.

Mayfield's parents were later tragically killed in an accident. Tibbermore did not convey the details and I didn't press the matter, although he assured me this was an accident, with no suggestion of foul play. This unfortunate turn of affairs did just a little to mollify Mayfield's position, although not very much. Id did bring her closer to her aged grandmother, who was by now suffering the emotional pain of an unexpected bereavement. Both Westwoods young and old became effectively recluses, using money and family influences to hide themselves away from the wide circle of acquaintances they had so obviously relished in the past.

Cutmal Lundie clearly never forgot Mayfield Westwood. Tibbermore told me he had bombarded her with letters, telephone calls, flowers and gifts of decorative fungi. She returned them all. Firmly in denial, Lundie told everybody he encountered that he was still affianced to Mayfield, that the marriage was simply a matter of time. This had the effect of forcing Mayfield even deeper underground or, more precisely, onto the surface where she had encountered Glen, the circumstances of which Tibbermore did not know.

Irrevocably lovelorn, Lundie also adopted the curious habit of turning up unannounced at Lady Strowan's residence, sometimes when there was no other visitor but very often when Almon Methven had been invited as a dinner guest. Tibbermore considered it uncanny how Lundie seemed to know the infrequent occasions when Methven would be in attendance, although I suspected an entirely mundane explanation which required Lundie merely to have a certain amount of skill in following people.

Lady Strowan knew that Almon Methven enjoyed his food and would make sure that a splendid meal was laid on for him when he came to dine, even though Strowan herself could no longer manage more than a few mouthfuls of any of the courses. Tibbermore thought that Lundie was angling to be invited to the dinner table as well, but Tibbermore was robust in holding to Mayfield's wishes in excluding him from her Ladyship's company. So, more often than not, Lundie could be found be seated at a corner of the vast kitchen table, eating leftovers and watching the cook and the sole remaining kitchen maid - no doubt the redoubtable Molly I had encountered earlier - cook and clean and tidy up.

Mayfield was embarrassed, even distressed, by the continuing unwelcome attention from Lundie. She had begged Tibbermore to conceal Lundie's visits and to make sure she never met him in the house. The old retainer had acceded, with considerable nervousness and qualms, but had stuck to the promise rigidly.

So Lundie was still hanging around and Tibbermore, responding to Mayfield's desires, continued to exclude him from the company of Lady Strowan. Still, he was entirely powerless to prevent accidental encounters between Lundie and other guests, like Methven. Lundie clearly wanted to engineer a chance meeting with Mayfield herself, but the combination of her determination and Tibbermore's machinations made sure this never took place.

Tibbermore could not bring himself to admit to it, but he clearly looked on Mayfield with a great deal of affection. As far as I knew, he had no family, no children of his own, and it was entirely likely that he treated Mayfield as the daughter he never had.

Part 30

Part 32