“Then she did know him before she came down here.”
“Oh, yes, a long time before that. Some of it’s guesswork still, but we’re getting it straightened out. Cables to Major and Mrs. Dartrey out east-you remember she was with them in Germany. Telephone calls to the British Occupation Zone, and quite a lot of interesting stuff to hand. We’re pretty sure it’s going to link up with a couple of sensational jewel robberies in Germany. Anna Ball was on the spot-and who was going to suspect Mrs. Dartrey’s English governess? What we haven’t tracked down, and perhaps never will, is just where Augustus came in. He may have been the frail old Frenchwoman who was trying to trace a missing grandson and who took such a fancy to the Dartrey child. Or he may have been somebody else. He is certainly an adept at disguise. What is significant is that very shortly after the second robbery Mrs. Dartrey paid a short visit to France to her great-aunt, the Comtesse de Rochambeau. She took the child, and Anna went along. What would be easier than to have got that jewellery over the frontier, packed among the little girl’s things? We shall never be able to prove it, but that’s how I believe it was done. And then the Dartreys go out east, and it’s time for a change of scene. I don’t know if Augustus had worked with Craddock before, but I expect he had. You don’t fix that sort of thing up on a half hour’s acquaintance. Craddock had been doing a small business in forging notes-getting his hand in, as you may say. He had the idea of taking over a derelict country house and setting up something more ambitious there. Mrs. Verney and her money came in very handy. He made a great parade of his occult studies and the Colony he was going to found, and put in the powerful electric installation which immediately attracted your attention.”
Miss Silver was knitting a useful pair of socks for Maurice. Her needles clicked briskly as she said,
“Mrs. Verney remarked on it to me-quite innocently of course, poor thing.”
“Oh, yes, she and the children were very good camouflage. And so were the Miss Tremletts-perfectly respectable spinster ladies with a streak of the crank and a disposition to admire the egregious Peveril. Then there’s Miranda-we haven’t been quite sure about Miranda, but I don’t really think she knew anything. She’s a bit of a charlatan of course. She owned to faking a trance in order to get Thomasina off the map, but she says she only did it because Augustus said she disturbed his vibrations-and I’m afraid she is pretty fond of Augustus.”
“Yes, I am afraid so. I have been to see her. She is very unhappy.”
Frank leaned forward.
“Most esteemed preceptress, you know everything. Can you tell me why at least two women should fall for that miserable little rat? And I rather think Miss Gwyneth has a soft corner for him too.”
“Not now,” said Miss Silver. “She is too much shocked. As to Miranda and Anna Ball, it is, and always has been, quite impossible to account for the violent attraction which some criminals appear to exercise. The victims are as a rule lonely women who have failed to make other ties. It is a tragic spectacle, and one which would be avoided if these people would realize that their craving for affection defeats its own ends. If they were willing to give instead of merely wishing to receive, they would form genuine ties of friendship and not fall a prey to the first adventurer who plays upon their vanity.”
Frank received this with respect. What in an irreverent moment he had been known to allude to as Maudie’s Moralities never failed to delight him, but under the mockery there was not only affection but a very real respect. Because Maudie was herself a Case in Point. She not only preached, but she practised. Going out into the world as a penniless governess, a position so undefined as to be exposed to tne condescension of the employer and the formidable dislike of the domestic staff, she had won her way to a comfortable independence, and in the course of doing so had acquired a very large circle of admiring and devoted friends. And this had been done by the exercise of intelligence, courage and devotion to duty. She had thought of others before she thought of herself, she had sought justice and loved mercy, and walked humbly in the sight of what she called Providence. She had her reward, not because she had sought it, but because it had been earned. He smiled at her and said,
“Miranda will get over it. She strikes me as having a fundamental streak of common sense. She didn’t mind obliging Augustus with a fake trance, but she would probably always have drawn the line at forged notes, and the bank murders have really shocked her to the core.”
Miss Silver continued to knit placidly. She said,
“The Verneys will return to Wyshmere. It is indeed fortunate that her house there was only let and not sold. She told me that she could not bear to part with it as all her children had been born there, and since her tenant wishes to return to London she can go back whenever she likes. Mr. Verney has shown much good feeling. She needs kindness, and he will supply it. The children are already devoted to him, and Jennifer is a different creature. The Miss Tremletts would also like to return to Wyshmere, and I gather that they will be able to arrange to do so. Deep End is really not at all congenial. Miss Elaine has missed her classes for folk-dancing, and both are longing to see their friends again. They have a chance of securing a larger and airier cottage, and I believe they will avail themselves of it.”
“And Thomasina Elliot? ‘’ said Frank. “Do you know, I feel sorry for Thomasina. She took the bit between her teeth and ran head-on into a good deal more than she expected.”
Miss Silver’s needles clicked.
“She acted from the most conscientious motives.”
Frank cocked an eyebrow.
“I know. It is invariably fatal. Consider the consequences. Instead of remaining quietly in town, a course commended by both of us, accepting the benevolent counsel of a rising police officer, dining out with him discreetly and, who knows, making steady progress in his affections, she rushes violently into the middle of a murder case, very nearly gets herself bumped off, and will probably end by marrying that chap Brandon.”
Miss Silver smiled benevolently.
“They will suit one another very well,” she said.
CHAPTER XLI
Thomasina was very unhappy. She would have liked to put four hundred miles between her and Deep End. Or, failing Scotland, she would have liked to bury herself in London and not see anyone she knew for a very long time. Most particularly she did not want to see Peter Brandon. He had said, and everyone else had said, that she would get herself into a mess if she insisted on coming to Deep End, and now there was nothing to stop any of them-or Peter-from saying, “I told you so.” Except their kind hearts. And she was just as certain as she could be of anything that Peter hadn’t got that sort of heart at all. He would not only say, “I told you so,” but he would probably go on saying it for the rest of their lives, and she couldn’t bear it. But whether she could bear it or not, she would have to stay at Deep End with the Miss Tremletts till after the inquest on Peveril Craddock. That would be only a day or two now. After it was over she could go back to town, but when the trial came on she would have to give evidence.