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Unthank," Dominey replied, "and a portion, at any rate, of the Black Wood may remain standing. You will find it a little difficult, though. You must excuse my ringing the bell. I see no object in asking you to remain longer." She rose unwillingly to her feet. Her manner was sullen and unyielding. "You are asking for the evil things," she warned him.
Unthank?" he enquired anxiously. "I don't think so," she answered, in a perplexed tone. "I think I am very much afraid of her. But it is no use, Everard! She would never go away." "When I return," Dominey said, "we shall see." She took his arm and linked her hands through it. "I am so sorry that you are going," she murmured. "I hope you will soon come back. Will you come back my husband?"
"What about that horrible woman?" "I have pensioned Mrs. Unthank. To my surprise I hear that she is still living in the village." "And your ghost?" "Not a single howl all the time that Rosamund has been away." "There is one thing more," Caroline began hesitatingly. That one thing lacked forever the clothing of words. There came a curious, almost a dramatic interruption.
Willimoteswick was long in the possession of the Ridleys, and it is generally accepted as having been the birthplace of Bishop Ridley, though Unthank Hall, nearer to Haltwhistle, and also a home of that family, disputes the honour.
His passion for Lady Dominey was uninvited and unreciprocated. Her only feeling concerning him was one of fear; that the whole countryside knows. Your son was a lonely, a morose and an ill-living man, Mrs. Unthank. If either of us had murder in our hearts, it was he, not I. And as for you," Dominey went on, after a moment's pause, "I think that you have had your revenge, Mrs. Unthank.
Her hair hung down her back like a girl's, and the white dressing-gown which floated diaphanously about her was unexpectedly reminiscent of Bond Street. "You are not afraid?" she asked anxiously. "See, I have nothing in my hands. I almost think that the desire has gone. You remember the little stiletto I had last night? To-day I threw it into the well. Mrs. Unthank was very angry with me."
The lawyer shook his head. "There are all sorts of theories, of course," he said, "but for one superstition you may as well be prepared. There is scarcely a man or a woman for miles around Dominey who doesn't believe that the ghost of Roger Unthank still haunts the Black Wood near where you fought." "Let us be quite clear about this," Dominey insisted.
"They do say hereabout," he confided, "that the spirit of Roger Unthank have been taken possession of by some sort of great animal, and that it do come here now and then to be fed." "By whom?" Dominey enquired patiently. "Why, by Mrs. Unthank." "Mrs. Unthank has not been in this house for many months.
"It is the end, I trust, of these foolish superstitions about Roger Unthank's ghost. There lies Roger Unthank, half beast, half man. For some reason or other some lunatic's reason, of course he has chosen to hide himself in the Black Wood all these years. His mother, I presume, has been his accomplice and taken him food. He is still alive but in a disgusting state."
"At the time of your unfortunate visit to the Hall Miss Felbrigg was living practically alone at the Vicarage after her uncle's sudden death there, with Mrs. Unthank as housekeeper. Roger Unthank's infatuation for her was patent to the whole neighbourhood and a source of great annoyance in Miss Felbrigg.
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