Snodgrasses out there had no doubt become as Spanish as they were English in a good many ways, and I think they prized being accepted by the Blancos, or aristocrats of pure Spanish descent. No doubt they exploited the natives, and the lower classes generally, in a manner merciless enough. But they had their virtues, and I think it would be fair to call them an honourable and high-minded crowd. Certainly they got deeper into politics, and with the best of intentions. The result of that was that their prosperity tended to decline, and their security was threatened in various ways. Roughly speaking, therefore, they came to rely a good deal on their English and American connections. I think their position is something like that today.’
‘Great houses like this are contriving to get along in private hands still without a great deal behind them.’ Appleby paused. There had been the sound of a car on the drive which probably betokened the arrival of more police. ‘Would that be the position of Ledward still?’
‘I think not. There’s real wealth behind it. And there are other Snodgrasses in England who are people of fortune.’
‘It seems to me extraordinary that this unfortunate fellow, Adrian Snodgrass, being actually the proprietor of the place, should have had nothing to do with it for years, nor apparently have benefited from it in any way.’
‘Oh, I rather doubt that last proposition. I expect there were bankers upon whom he could draw if he wanted to. Basically it has been a matter of pride, I imagine. Adrian stood by the role his family had allotted him when he was still a younger son.’
‘Ah, yes.’ Appleby recalled Who’s Who . ‘ “Eldest surviving son”. As a young man, they shipped him off to South America?’
‘Just that. He was too wild for the home paddocks. And, in point of family tradition, there was nothing out of the way in it. The branch of the family out there was by way of getting, as I’ve said, financial backing from Snodgrasses in England. And black sheep would arrive along with the money, as a kind of package deal.’
‘A humiliating arrangement, from the young man’s point of view.’
‘Yes, indeed. But I think the old gentleman here, Beddoes Snodgrass, was the only one to bother his head about that. Adrian must always have been a favourite of his.’
‘Is it really a full ten years since he last troubled to turn up and see his uncle?’
‘I think of it loosely as that, but if I worked it out I think it might come to only eight. Which was long enough. And it wasn’t, incidentally, pure family piety that brought him back to Ledward then. Or I don’t think it was. I had a strong impression at the time that he had come here in order to lie low. This will sound melodramatic, I suppose. But I believe there were people who were out for his blood.’
‘My dear Doctor!’ Under cover of this exclamation of astonishment, Appleby took a sharp look at Plumridge, as if almost suspecting him of some deliberate obfuscation. ‘Do you mean political enemies from across the South Atlantic?’
‘It sounds absurd, but I’m afraid I do.’
‘You saw him at this time you’re speaking of? You had some talk with him?’
‘Certainly. A good deal of what he said was obscure to me. Adrian might be described as submerged in a world of revolution and counter-revolution of an almost phantasmagoric sort, and he took it for granted that I was as interested and well-informed as he was.’
‘It amounted to obsession? He was far from being mentally well-balanced?’
‘I think that would have to be called a fair assessment. Adrian had started in the army, you know, and left it pretty promptly under some sort of cloud. And that made him seek, if not exactly martial glory, at least military eminence. So now it was a matter of his wanting to be Commander-in-Chief in Azuera, and probably Minister of War as well. But some rival clique of officers had got their man the job. He was very savage
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