Chudleigh Hold
Spoilers
The Chudleigh Family
Merrill Chudleigh - (Auntie M)
Sir Godfrey Chudleigh and his brothers and sisters
Merrill (Merle) - aged 21
twins Charlotte (Cherry) and Charles - aged 19
Peregrine (Hawk) - aged 17
Venancy (Ven) - aged 16
Arminel (Crumpet) - aged 12
Benny - aged unspecified
Miss Hilton - governess to Ven and Crumpet
Tim - family dog
In the Cavern the swimmers find oil on the water, clear evidence in their eyes that a boat has been there since their last visit. Godfrey suggests that a submarine may be using the cavern as a base for smugglers, no longer lace and brandy but drugs, spirits and nylons. Merle, however, has a more matter of fact solution - that a can of oil from a motorboat has floated in and been punctured on the rocks.
Merrill's interest in the family treasures seems to concentrate around their value; she surprises the younger members of the party by admiring ugly works by a famous artist while dismissing more attractive ones by lesser known painters. Her disappointment is intense when she asks to see the family jewels, to be told that since the start of the last war they have been kept safely at the bank.
Merrill knows the whereabouts of one of the old smugglers' passages, in the room in which she has been sleeping until now, and is angry and upset that she must give it up, trying to persuade her cousins that she will not be in the way if she stays there. It is in vain, however.
Crumpet watches Merrill stealing out of the house and then, from her favourite hidie-hole above an old stable, hears Merrill meeting with a mysterious stranger and talking about the family jewels.
Up by Highwayman's Chains, scene of the hanging of Green Tom, Crumpet finds a leather pouch with what appears to be 'a child's sketch of a leafless tree with various branches forking from the main trunk in different directions'. Only later does she realise that this is a map of the old passages, for now she is distracted by falling into an old moor pit, followed by Miss Hilton, while a distraught Ven runs to the Hold for help.
Crumpet overhears a conversation between Merrill and the mysterious stranger that shows her that something is about to happen. She and Hawk set out to follow Merrill that night but disturb Auntie M, who arms herself and Hawk with revolvers and insists on leading the expedition. There might have been a tragedy for the family but for a foolhardy action on the part of Merrill. As it is the 'cousin' is exposed for what she is.
contributed by Nicky Wade, England __ working from a hardback edition