Stephen said, ‘What!’

It was an interruption which Miss Silver would not have excused in the days when she presided over a well-ordered schoolroom, yet at this moment she regarded it with indulgence. There is a certain satisfaction in the delivery of a piece of startling news, and it was quite apparent that what she had just imparted was news which startled Stephen Eversley. She contented herself therefore with a slight reproving cough and proceeded,

‘Louisa is my informant, and I have no reason to doubt what she says. Under the grandfather’s will each daughter who succeeded was to have this power of appointment. As no doubt you know, it is not an unusual provision. It was the knowledge that his daughter Candida would have this power if she ever came into the property which particularly annoyed Mr. Benevent. He used to come here and talk to Canon Arnold about it, and the Canon repeated a good deal of what was said to Louisa. So I feel quite sure that her information is correct. And now, Mr. Eversley, pray consider whether a young man of Alan Thompson’s determination to settle himself in life would have thrown away such an opportunity of doing so.’

‘I suppose he could have got cold feet at the last minute. Look here, what about his letters home? His mother was alive then, wasn’t she? Did they give any indication of his state of mind?’

Miss Silver’s needles clicked.

‘There were no letters, Mr. Eversley.’

‘Do you mean none at all?’

‘From the time that he threw up his clerkship and left Lenton he never communicated with his family. He made it quite clear to his stepfather’s sister, Mrs. Kean, that he did not want to be associated with trade in any way. He seems to have been unaware that she and her husband had a bookshop in Retley, and when she recognised him he made it quite clear that he did not wish to have anything to do with her. These things are indications of a settled determination to leave his origins behind him and to establish himself in as favourable a manner as possible. I am unable to believe that he would throw away such a chance as this marriage would have offered him.’

‘Well, you know what was said about his going off. Suppose he had been taking advantage of his opportunities to line his pockets and Olivia had found him out. She is pretty sharp, you know, and if she had found out about the proposed marriage at the same time, do you suppose she would have hesitated to put the screws on him – “Clear out, or we prosecute”? He wouldn’t really have had much choice, would he?’

Miss Silver smiled.

‘That is quite an ingenious theory, Mr. Eversley, but I believe that it will not bear any closer scrutiny. It does not reckon with the certain fact of Alan Thompson’s influence with Miss Cara. When you consider that it had brought her to within six days of marrying him, and that it was strong enough to induce her to keep the fact a complete secret from the sister who had dominated her all her life, it is clear that Alan would only have had to go to Miss Cara and she would have protected him by declaring that she had given him the money. By far the larger part of the income was hers, and she had only to say the missing sum was a gift from herself. Louisa has told me that she saw Miss Cara just once after Alan disappeared. They met by accident in the precincts of the cathedral, and for the moment Miss Cara was alone. She took Louisa by the hand with the tears running down her face and said, “Oh, why did he go? There was no need – I would have given him anything!” And then Miss Olivia came up and took her away. They went abroad a day or two later.’

Chapter Twelve

Derek burdon looked across the table at Candida. It was a big old-fashioned affair well furnished with drawers, and with such aids to industry as a large blotting-pad, a massive double inkstand, and plenty of pens and pencils. There was also an old-fashioned portfolio full of papers. He said in an exasperated voice,

‘It’s all very well to say we ought to get on with it, but I ask you!’

‘Do you?’

He laughed,

‘Well, I suppose I don’t really. This sort of thing just isn’t my line of country, you know. Well, I mean to say – is it? The old dears don’t seem to realise that they might just as well expect me to play the cathedral organ or to fly a plane! As a matter of fact I wouldn’t mind learning to fly, but they wouldn’t expect me to do it right away without learning how, now would they?’

She could not help laughing.

‘I can’t think why you took on a secretarial job.’

He laughed too, and in a perfectly carefree manner.

‘Can’t you? I expect you could if you tried. It was a gift-horse, and I couldn’t afford to look it in the mouth. You see, the bother about me is that I’m just no use at earning a living. I haven’t got any vices, but I haven’t got any of the tiresome virtues either. Industry, application, perseverance – you know the sort of thing. They used to put bits in my reports about them. “Lacks application” – that one was always cropping up. My father used to get wild about it, but I don’t see that it was my fault. You don’t have a down on anyone simply because he can’t act or hasn’t got an ear for music. The things just weren’t included in my make-up, that’s all. Now my father was a really successful business man until he came a spectacular smash and went off into the blue in his private plane. No one knows whether he got anywhere or not. Personally I feel sure that he did, and that he had parked enough money abroad to see him through. I was eighteen, and as soon as I had done my military service an uncle with an office shoved me into a junior clerkship, a completely repellent job. You see, I really do hate work.’ He smiled disarmingly.

‘Somebody has got to do it,’ said Candida.

‘Yes, darling, but not me – at least not if I can help it. And of course there are two sides to the business – you have to find an employer who will put up with me. The uncle stuck it for two years – I give him marks for that – but he booted me in the end.’

‘How did you come across the Aunts?’

‘Oh, that was easy. I was in a concert party at Eastcliff – they go down there once in a way to take the sea air – and I had a bit of luck. Miss Cara twisted her ankle, and I carried her to their hotel. After that the job just fell into my lap. They’ve been frightfully good to me, and as a rule I don’t get asked to do anything I can’t manage. It’s this family history business that gets me down.’

‘Why?’

He rumpled up his hair.

‘Well, it’s a bit above my head, you know. There are pieces in Latin, and if there was one thing that I was worse at than the other things, it was Latin. I remember a really frightful row after getting “Doesn’t try” in a report. That was a chap called Masterman. He had a down on me, and I fairly loathed him. One of the strenuous, earnest sort.’

‘I haven’t come across any Latin.’

‘No, darling, but you haven’t got very far, have you? Besides, to tell you the truth, the whole thing gives me the pip. Who cares what people did two or three hundred years ago? They’re dead and buried, and why not let them be? It’s like grubbing into graves and digging up a lot of old bones, and I don’t like it. If you ask me, the whole thing stinks.’

Candida had an odd feeling that something had startled her, but she didn’t know what it was. There was the hint of an uneasy tone in Derek’s voice, the hint of an uneasy look behind the smile in his eyes. He looked past her and said,

‘What I’d like to know is, why have they got so keen about it again all of a sudden?’

Candida echoed his word.

‘Again?’

He nodded.

‘Yes. It was the chap who was here before me who started on it – Alan Thompson. You’ve heard about him?’

‘Yes.’

He waved a hand in the direction of the portfolio.