She said quietly: "He was a good man. I didn't want to ... "
"I know that. Tried to get out of it, didn't you?"
"Stop arguing and come to bed."
"You would have liked to stop there. Given up the plan. You brought our little bastard in, didn't you? That was a neat little job. Oh, it was nice and cosy. You're small-time, Lo. That's what you are. You come in, make a little nest for yourself and the boy and you want to keep it like that. So, what about me, eh?"
"You're shouting," she said.
"Who's to hear? And now the brother's coming back. What's that going to do to our little plan, eh?"
"Go away, Desmond. Leave things as they are."
"Very nice for you, eh? But what about me? I've got to marry the girl. You had the old man. It's only right. She's not as well padded as we thought... but she'll do very nicely."
"She won't have you."
"She's going to be made to."
"How?"
"That's what we have to fix."
"What do you plan ... to seduce her... rape her. I wouldn't put that past you."
I was so overcome with rage that I moved. The stool jerked from under my feet. I leaped to the floor.
They would have heard the noise.
I dashed from the room to my own ... and here I am.
I am so frightened. Tomorrow I shall leave the house. I will go to Mrs. Masters and tell her what I know. I will wait there for Magnus to come.
My handwriting is so shaky. It is scarcely legible. What was that? I thought I heard a noise. Footsteps...
I can hear voices ... Something is going on down there.
They are coming ...
RAYMOND
I lost count of time while I was reading Ann Alice's journal, and when I came to the end it was quite light for morning had come.
I had been there with her. I felt I knew her and her lover, her stepmother and the sinister Desmond Featherstone. I was completely frustrated by the abrupt ending and was filled with an intense longing to know what had happened on that night which I knew was the night of her death because of the date on her tombstone.
I could feel her fear... the steps on the stairs. I could see her hastily thrusting her journal into the drawer, not shutting it completely so that the telltale scarf was just visible.
And what had happened? Was the prized key in the door, or had she forgotten to lock it? Oh no, she never would do that. She had been so insistent about that key. Yet after what she had heard she would be in a state of extreme terror.
What had happened?
And how strange it was that I should be the first to read those words which had been written nearly a hundred years ago. It was almost as though they had been written for me. I was the one who had uncovered her grave, who had been the first to step into her room and find the journal.
I was impatient to tell my brother Philip what I had discovered. I even thought of going to wake him up, but I decided against that. I must be patient. He was an early riser and he would be at the breakfast table at half past seven.
I was there before him.
"Philip," I cried, "an extraordinary thing happened last night."
Then I told him and he was as excited as I was. But what interested him particularly was the map.
"Go and get it," he said. So I did.
He studied it intently.
"I know the area," he said. "These islands... well, we're aware of them ... but this Paradise Island ... It sounds rather fanciful."
"Well, we have the Solomon Islands. Why not the Paradise Island?"
'Til show it to Benjamin. He's bound to know something."
Neither of us ate much. We were so excited. I suggested that we tell Granny M what I had found. She would be most put out if she were not informed.
We went to her room where she was having her usual tea and toast with marmalade on the special tray she used for her breakfasts in bed... her one concession to her years.
She listened intently and her first remark was a reproof for me.
I had been told not to enter the room. It might have been dangerous.
"I had an urge, Granny," I said. "It was irresistible."
"In the middle of the night!" added Philip.
"So I took the candle and went up."
"Very brave in view of all the talk of spectres," said my brother. "What would you have done if you had met a headless corpse with clanging chains?"
"When you have read the journal you will not talk so flippantly of the dead," I told him earnestly.
I went up to my room and brought down the journal for them to see. They were astonished.
"And you sat up all night reading that!" said Philip.
"Well, wouldn't you? In any case, once I had started I couldn't stop."
"I should have waited until morning."
"What do you think of the map, Philip?" asked Granny M.
"It's not done by an amateur. I know the area. That's clear enough. But I have never seen this Paradise Island before. I want Benjamin to have a look at it. We'll make some comparisons."
"It will be interesting to hear what he has to say," said Granny M. "Leave the journal with me. I shall read it."
It was a strange morning. I felt wide awake in spite of a night without sleep. I went up to the room again. It seemed different from last night. I suppose that was because the workmen were there. I could not settle to anything. I kept thinking of Ann Alice. It was almost as though I were living her life and expected to see the wicked Desmond Featherstone appear at any moment.
Reading the journal had been a shattering experience for me.
At luncheon Granny M could talk of nothing else but the journal. She had stayed in bed all morning reading it.
"It's a terrible story," she said. "What do you think happened to that girl?"
"Do you think they came up and murdered her?"
"I think it very likely."
"And then walled up the room?"
"Why should they do that?"
"I don't know. They buried her ... We know that. I was the one who found her grave."
"It is a mystery that we cannot hope to solve. I wonder what that map will reveal. This island the young man talked about... where is it? Perhaps it never existed. We don't know much about the young man. The girl was so besottedly in love with him, doubtless she didn't see him clearly."
"Oh, I am sure he loved her. He believed in that island. They were going to find it. I wonder what happened to him."
"Yes, so do I. Perhaps he went to the island after the girl died."
"Imagine his coming back and finding her dead!"
"Well, it will be interesting to hear what Benjamin has to say about the map."
I was so eager to know that I went over to the shop that afternoon. I found Philip and Benjamin surrounded by old maps.
Philip shook his head at me.
"There's no sign of it anywhere."
"If it existed it would have been discovered by now," said Benjamin. "These seas have been charted."
"It is possible, I suppose, that it could have been missed."
Benjamin shrugged his shoulders. "Just possible, I suppose." He tapped the map. "This has been made by someone who knows what he is doing."
"Yes. He was a professional."
"Mr. Mallory was telling me about the discovery of the journal. In my opinion, this young man made a mistake about the locality."
"But if it were somewhere in this area..."
"It is hardly likely. It would have been discovered by now. You say this map was made nearly a hundred years ago. We've made long strides since then." He shook his head. "One never knows. It could be wrong, of course. I imagine he drew it from memory."
"I should love to find that island," said Philip.
"If it exists," added Benjamin.