CHAPTER 73: AS THOUGH NOTHING WERE AMISS
Noon that same day
Thomas Barrow's Room
So far, no one was suspicious of Thomas' absence. Mrs Patmore had declared, "Mr Barrow may be many things, but one thing he is not is a layabout. If Mr Barrow says he's sick, then he's sick." The family and the other servants shared her sentiment and asked Bates to deliver their well-wishes.
Bates stood outside Thomas' room with the lunch tray and called, "Mr Barrow." He did not expect an answer and opened the door, but Thomas was nowhere to be seen. Bates set down the tray and hobbled to the bathroom. Thomas was not there either. Panic spread down Bates' limbs and turned them cold. Was Thomas wandering about in his pyjamas? Whoever found him would ring Dr Clarkson, and Thomas would be carted off to god knows where. It was vital that Bates be the first to find him.
Bates started for the stairs, but a gut feeling compelled him to return to Thomas' room and open the wardrobe. There sat Thomas and the Churchill painting, both half hidden behind the clothes that Bates had put away that morning. Bates forced himself to behave as though nothing were amiss. "I've brought your lunch, little brother, straight from Mrs Patmore. Are you hungry?" Bates held out his hand, and Thomas took hold and climbed out of the wardrobe. Thomas' blue eyes seemed unfocused and were all but lost in dark shadow. Bates wondered if he had slept at all.
Thomas sat on the edge of the bed, and Bates sat between him and the night table where he had placed the tray. Thomas took hold of Bates' pocket flap as he had that morning, and Bates found the gesture oddly comforting. Bates picked up a glass of milk from the tray and took a sip. He handed the milk to Thomas, who gulped it down. "Slow down, Pooh. You'll make yourself sick." Bates shook his head. I sound like my mother. Thomas is right. I am an old goat.
Bates picked up the cloche from a plate of scrambled eggs. "Mrs Patmore was worried when she saw that you didn't eat last night's dinner. She made these eggs especially for you." Bates took a bite and held out the plate to Thomas. Thomas took a bite and noisily choked it down. Bates could see Thomas' eyes water with the effort. He returned the plate to the tray. "That's all right, Pooh. There's rice pudding and soup. Perhaps those will be easier."
"The tube!" protested Thomas.
"No one will bring the tube because you didn't eat the eggs," Bates soothed. "Not as long as you eat something." Bates took a bite of the pudding and held out the dish to Thomas. Thomas tentatively took a bite and then another and then gobbled it down while Bates held the dish. Thomas never let go of Bates' pocket.
"The soup smells delicious, doesn't it, Pooh?" asked Bates. Thomas shook his head and released Bates' pocket. He climbed back into the wardrobe and shut the door behind him. Bates watched him in helpless silence.
Anna would know what to do. Bates stood next to the wardrobe. "I must bring Anna her lunch now, little brother, but I'll be back later with tea." Thomas was silent. Bates cracked open the wardrobe door. "Will you be all right, Pooh?" Thomas reached out from the wardrobe, patted Bates' leg, and pulled the door shut.
The Bates Cottage
By the time Bates reached the cottage, he was distraught. "If Thomas doesn't return to work soon, Mrs Hughes will ring Dr Clarkson no matter what I say. Dr Clarkson will ship him off to some asylum, and he'll be at the mercy of some alienist who'll put him in a cold shower until he's half frozen or inject him with malaria so that the fever will cure him. He'll think I've abandoned him, Anna."
"Calm yourself, John. Asylums today aren't like the ones we heard about as children, and the doctors are called psychiatrists now, not alienists."
"Are they? Whatever they're called, they'll make Thomas feel punished for a condition he can't control. Do you want to see him committed?"
"No," answered Anna firmly. "But we can't leave him in the attic where he's been his unhappiest and where his condition is more likely to be discovered. Bring him here. I'll take care of him."
"What about Timothy? Anna, what if Thomas becomes violent? I don't believe he will, but what do I know? I never thought he would sit in a wardrobe and have conversations with a boy in a painting."
"We'll let Timothy stay overnight in the nursery. You remember what fun he had last time. One night and then we'll see what's to be done. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The first thing is to bring Thomas here without being noticed."
The Boot Room
Bates had dropped a package of completed mending in Mrs Hughes sitting room and was heading for the stairs to fetch Thomas when a hand pulled him into the boot room. He turned impatiently to face the perpetrator, and it was Minnie. "John, find Thomas!"
"What are you talking about? He's in his room."
"No, he isn't! I caught him leaving by the servants' entrance only a moment ago. He told me he wasn't poisoned and he was going to Chicago and to keep away from him, and he ran out the door."
"Oh god!"
"John, he made no sense. Something's not right. I'm going to ring Dr Clarkson."
"Minnie, no!" Bates grabbed Minnie by the arm and dragged her to the door. "Help me find him first. That's what's urgent."
Minnie nodded and the pair hurried out the servants' entrance. Thomas was out of sight but one of his shoes was sitting on the path to the Bates cottage. As they walked up the path, they stumbled across the other shoe and then Thomas' coat. Bates could barely contain his desperation.
"Look!" Bates followed Minnie's finger and saw Thomas sitting in his pyjamas on the bank of the River Swale, clutching his pillowcase.
