Chapter Thirty-eight

Miss Silver rose quietly to her feet and passed into the chapel. Ellie did not move. It would have been hard to say that she breathed. She seemed frozen. It wasn’t until Miss Silver spoke her name and touched her gently on the shoulder that she turned her head. For the moment her eyes were blank and unaware. They looked at Miss Silver as though they did not see her. Then she drew another of those painful breaths and leaned back against the chair.

Miss Silver sat down beside her.

‘You are ill, my dear.’

There was a faint movement of the head, a faint sighing ‘No-’

‘Then you are in trouble.’

Consciousness came back to Ellie’s eyes. The voice which spoke to her was kind – not anxious like Mary’s or stern like John Lenton’s. It had a comforting warmth, a supporting authority. She had come to the end of anything she could do or think. She turned a little towards Miss Silver and said in a piteous voice,

‘I don’t know what to do-’

In Miss Silver’s experience this usually meant that the person in distress had a perfectly clear idea of what ought to be done, but shrank from doing it. She said very gently,

‘Are you quite sure that you do not know?’

She saw the girl quiver.

‘They are going to send me away.’

‘Do you want to tell me why?’

Ellie Page said, ‘Everyone will know, and I shall never see him again.’

‘Perhaps that is what is best.’

Ellie made a quick movement.

‘Why do things hurt like this? If I don’t see him again, I can’t bear it. And if I see him-’Her voice stopped as if she had no more breath.

‘You are speaking of Mr Ford.’ It was not put as a question.

Ellie gasped.

‘Everyone knows – Mary said so-’

‘There has been a little talk. I do not think that it amounts to very much. Mr Ford has that kind of way with him. People do not take him very seriously.’

‘I did.’

‘That was a pity, my dear. He has other obligations. To neglect them was bound to cause unhappiness.’

Ellie repeated what she said before.

‘They are going to send me away.’

‘That might be wise, at any rate for a time.’

Ellie’s hands held one another tightly.

‘You don’t understand.’

Miss Silver said, ‘In order that I may do so, I should like to ask you one or two questions.’

There was a shaking movement. Ellie said,

‘Oh-’

‘It may be important for you to answer them. I hope that you will do so. Some of the Vicarage windows have a good view of the road leading away from the church. Is your bedroom window one of them?’

There was a faint movement of the head which said, ‘Yes-’

‘Will you tell me which window it is?’

‘It is the one at the side where the pear-tree is.’

‘If you were to look from that window on a clear night you would be able to see if anyone came down the road from Ford House. The moon was almost full last night. Even though there was a good deal of cloud, the night was not dark. Mr Ford came down that road on the night before last at about half past eight. If you had been looking out of your window you could have seen him. I do not mean that you could have recognized him, but if he came down that road and turned in at Mrs Trent’s you would be in very little doubt as to who it was. And you might have been sufficiently distressed to feel that you must make quite sure.’

Ellie stared.

‘How – do – you – know?’ The words could hardly be heard.

Miss Silver said in a compassionate tone,

‘You were very unhappy. Did you climb down the pear-tree? You had done it before, had you not? And you went to the Lodge, but you did not knock at the door or go in. You went round to the sitting-room window, and you stood there and leaned on the sill and listened. The window was open, was it not? Miss Page – what did you hear?’

It was like the Day of Judgment. These were things that no one knew. But this stranger knew them. She was Adriana Ford’s friend who had come on a visit on the day of Mabel Preston’s funeral. How did she know the secret things that were hidden in your heart? If she knew them, it wasn’t any good to try to hide them. And because she was a stranger it didn’t matter so much. It didn’t matter what you said to a stranger like this. She wouldn’t be grieved like Mary, or condemn like John. And if she told the terrible things that crowded in her mind, perhaps they would go away and leave her to find some kind of help and peace again. She said faintly and with stumbling words,

‘I heard – them talking – Geoffrey and – her-’

‘Mrs Trent?’

‘Yes-’

‘What did they say?’

‘Geoffrey said, “She saw us there”, and Esmé said, “She couldn’t speak the truth if she tried”. They were talking about Meriel.’

‘You are sure about that?’

‘I thought it was Edna at first when Esmé said, “She’s as jealous as hell”. But it wasn’t, because Geoffrey said Meriel would like anyone to make a pass at her, and that she was out to make trouble.’

‘Did he say how she could do that?’

‘Esmé said she could have seen them slip behind the curtain at the cocktail party, but she couldn’t know they were anywhere near the pool, and who cared if they took a stroll in the garden? And then – and then-’

‘Yes?’

‘It was Meriel. She flung back the door and came into the room. She must have been listening. They quarrelled dreadfully. It was all about how that poor Miss Preston got drowned. Meriel talked of telling the police, and Esmé said didn’t Meriel know rather a lot about it herself? She said she and Geoffrey went for a stroll on the lawn, and they were never anywhere near the pool. And Meriel said she saw them in the summerhouse.’

Ellie was shaking all over. Miss Silver laid a hand on her arm.

‘Wait a minute, my dear, and think of what you are saying. Do you mean that Meriel Ford stated that she had seen Mr Geoffrey Ford and Mrs Trent in the summerhouse by the pool on the Saturday evening that Miss Preston was drowned?’

‘Oh, yes, she did!’

‘Did she say at what time this was?’

‘She said – she saw – Miss Preston – coming across the lawn when she went away. And it was true – I know it was true! Esmé said they were only taking a stroll in the garden, but they were there in the summerhouse together – I know they were! Geoffrey didn’t deny it – not until she made him. They were there – together!’

Miss Silver said in a kind, firm voice,

‘My dear, you must control yourself. I do not think you can be aware of the implications of what you have just said. It is not a question of whether Mr Geoffrey Ford and Mrs Trent were carrying on a most reprehensible flirtation in the summerhouse, but whether either or both of them was present at the time of Mabel Preston’s death.’

Ellie had been looking in front of her. She jerked round now and stared into Miss Silver’s face.

‘It is a question,’ said Miss Silver, ‘of whether either or both of them was responsible for that death.’

Ellie said, ‘No – no – oh, no!’ The words came out in gasps. ‘That is what Meriel said – she said the police would think Geoffrey had done it. But he didn’t – he couldn’t! She was just saying it to hurt him! She said the most terrible things! She said, “Supposing I say I saw you push her”. And she said it was because she was wearing Adriana’s coat and he thought it was Adriana. Because of the money she was going to leave him.’

Miss Silver said,

‘To desire what belongs to another person is a frequent cause of crime.’

‘Geoffrey wouldn’t! He wouldn’t do a thing like that! He didn’t! Do you suppose I would have told you all this if I thought it was Geoffrey?’

Miss Silver said, ‘No – you do not think so.’

Ellie put up a hand and pushed back her hair.

‘After Meriel had gone they talked. Each of them thought the other had done it. They had heard someone coming, and they had gone different ways. Esmé asked Geoffrey if he came back and pushed Miss Preston in, and he said, “My God, no! Did you?” She might have been pretending, but he wasn’t. He was quite dreadfully shocked. And Esmé said he must go after Meriel and not let her ring up the police. She said he would be able to talk her round – and if everything else she said was lies, that was true. Oh, yes, that was true – he knows how to do that.’