The two women closed in on either side of her and took her away.
Rosamond and Craig did not speak. They went back to the hotel where they had taken a room. When Craig had opened the door and stood aside to let her pass Rosamond went over to the window. She stood there looking out but not seeing anything at all. When Craig came to her she put out both her hands to keep him away. He had seen her pale, but never as pale as this. She said, low and quite steadily,
“I’m so ashamed-so ashamed-”
He took the hands and found them icy cold.
“My darling, if we start being ashamed of what other people have done, we’ve got our work cut out. And she is mad. You do realize that, don’t you?”
“Is she?”
“I don’t think there is any doubt about it. I should say she’d been heading that way for years.”
A shudder went over her. He came nearer and held her close.
“We’re not going to let it spoil things for us. Do you hear, my sweet? If you think I’m going to let you go about in sackcloth and ashes, well, you’ve got another think coming. You know, happy people have got something to give to the world. That sounds a bit grandiloquent, and I wouldn’t have the nerve to say it except just to you. But it’s true. We love each other, we’ve got a right to be happy, and if you go round disseminating gloom, I shall probably beat you, after which you will be able to divorce me. And what a lot of good that is going to be- especially for Jenny!”
“Jenny-”
He put his cheek against hers.
“You know, it strikes me that Jenny can do with a bit of happiness. She has been living at an abnormal pitch, and she is a lot too old for her age. What she wants is to relax and be part of a family circle. And live a normal life-I think probably a day school to start with, and a home background to give her a sense of security.”
He could feel the tension going out of her. She leaned against him now instead of stiffening and drawing away. He went on in a quiet everyday voice.
“That’s what she wants. And that’s what you want too. You won’t bother about that, but I’m afraid you’ll just have to give it a passing thought. Unless you are happy, Jenny won’t be happy, and that would be very bad for Jenny. And quite damnably bad for me. Now are you going to come off it?”
“You make me sound a most frightful prig.”
“There’s a slight danger in that direction, but it shall be corrected.”
“Oh, Craig!”
“That, darling, was a joke. The first step towards a successful marriage is for a wife to laugh at her husband’s jokes. So now is your chance!”
Her lips began to tremble. He suddenly pulled her close and kissed her.
“Oh, my darling sweet, you are going to be happy-you are!”
There was a sense of release, of things that slipped away into the past where they belonged. They were in a light place. The sun shone on them. Rosamond lifted her face and said,
“Yes.”
Patricia Wentworth
Born in Mussoorie, India, in 1878, Patricia Wentworth was the daughter of an English general. Educated in England, she returned to India, where she began to write and was first published. She married, but in 1906 was left a widow with four children, and returned again to England where she resumed her writing, this time to earn a living for herself and her family. She married again in 1920 and lived in Surrey until her death in 1961.
Miss Wentworth’s early works were mainly historical fiction, and her first mystery, published in 1923, was The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith. In 1928 she wrote The Case Is Closed and gave birth to her most enduring creation, Miss Maud Silver.
