I stifled an uneasy certainty that Josephine was very much all there. I remembered the intelligence of her beady black eyes.
I had rung up Sophia and asked if I might come down again.
Please do, Charles.
How are things going?
I dont know. All right. They keep on searching the house. What are they looking for?
Ive no idea.
Were all getting very nervy. Come as soon as you can. I shall go crazy if I cant talk to someone.
I said I would come down straight away.
There was no one in sight as I drove up to the front door. I paid the taxI and it drove away. I felt uncertain whether to ring the bell or to walk in. The front door was open.
As I stood there, hesitating, I heard a slight sound behind me. I turned my head sharply. Josephine, her face partially obscured by a very large apple, was standing in the opening of the yew hedge looking at me.
As I turned my head, she turned away.
Hallo, Josephine.
She did not answer, but disappeared behind the hedge. I crossed the drive and followed her. She was seated on the uncomfortable rustic bench by the goldfish pond swinging her legs to and fro and biting into her apple. Above its rosy circumference her eyes regarded me sombrely and with what I could not but feel was hostility.
Ive come down again, Josephine, I said.
It was a feeble opening, but I found Josephines silence and her unblinking gaze rather unnerving.
With excellent strategic sense, she still did not reply.
Is that a good apple? I asked.
This time Josephine did condescend to reply. Her reply consisted of one word.
Woolly.
A pity, I said. I dont like woolly apples.
Josephine replied scornfully:
Nobody does.
Why wouldnt you speak to me when I said hallo?
I didnt want to.
Why not?
Josephine removed the apple from her face to assist in the clearness of her denunciation.
You went and sneaked to the police, she said.
Oh! I was rather taken aback. You meanabout About Uncle Roger.
But its all right, Josephine, I assured her. Quite all right. They know he didnt do anything wrongI mean, he hadnt embezzled any money or anything of that kind.
Josephine threw me an exasperated glance.
How stupid you are.
Im sorry.
I wasnt worrying about Uncle Roger. Its simply that thats not the way to do detective work. Dont you know that you never tell the police until the very end?
Oh, I see, I said. Im sorry, Josephine. Im really very sorry.
So you should be. She added reproachfully: I trusted you.
I said I was sorry for the third time. Josephine appeared a little mollified. She took another couple of bites of apple.
But the police would have been bound to find out about all this, I said. YouIwe couldnt have kept it a secret.
You mean because hes going bankrupt?
As usual Josephine was well informed.
I suppose it will come to that.
Theyre going to talk about it tonight, said Josephine. Father and Mother and Uncle Roger and Aunt Edith. Aunt Edith would give him her moneyonly she hasnt got it yetbut I dont think father will. He says if Roger has got in a jam hes only got himself to blame and whats the good of throwing good money after bad, and Mother wont hear of giving him any because she wants Father to put up the money for Edith Thompson. Do you know about Edith Thompson? She was married, but she didnt like her husband. She was in love with a young man called Bywaters who came off a ship and he went down a different street after the theatre and stabbed him in the back.
I marvelled once more at the range and completeness of Josephines knowledge; and also at the dramatic sense which, only slightly obscured by hazy pronouns, had presented all the salient facts in a nutshell.
It sounds all right, said Josephine, but I dont suppose the play will be like that at all. It will be like Jezebel again. She sighed. I wish I knew why the dogs wouldnt eat the palms of her hands.
Josephine, I said. You told me that you were almost sure who the murderer was?
Well?
Who is it?
She gave me a look of scorn.
I see, I said. Not till the last chapter? Not even if I promise not to tell Inspector Taverner?
I want just a few more clues, said Josephine.
Anyway, she added, throwing the core of the apple into the goldfish pool, I wouldnt tell you. If youre anyone, youre Watson.
I stomached this insult.
OK, I said. Im Watson. But even Watson was given the data.
The what?
The facts. And then he made the wrong deductions from them. Wouldnt it be a lot of fun for you to see me making the wrong deductions?
For a moment Josephine was tempted. Then she shook her head.
No, she said, and added: Anyway, Im not very keen on[102] Sherlock Holmes. Its awfully old-fashioned. They drive about in dog-carts.
What about those letters? I asked.
What letters?
The letters you said Laurence Brown and Brenda wrote to each other.
I made that up, said Josephine.
I dont believe you.
Yes, I did. I often make things up. It amuses me.
I stared at her. She stared back.
Look here, Josephine. I know a man at the British Museum who knows a lot about the Bible. If I find out from him why the dogs didnt eat the palms of Jezebels hands, will you tell me about those letters?
This time Josephine really hesitated.
Somewhere, not very far away, a twig snapped with a sharp cracking noise. Josephine said flatly:
No, I wont.
I accepted defeat. Rather late in the day, I remembered my fathers advice.
Oh well, I said, its only a game. Of course you dont really know anything.
Josephines eyes snapped, but she resisted the bait.
I got up. I must go in now, I said, and find Sophia. Come along.
I shall stop here, said Josephine.
No, you wont, I said. Youre coming in with me.
Unceremoniously I yanked her to her feet. She seemed surprised and inclined to protest, but yielded with a fairly good gracepartly, no doubt, because she wished to observe the reactions of the household to my presence.
Why I was so anxious for her to accompany me I could not at that moment have said. It only came to me as we were passing through the front door.
It was because of the sudden snapping of a twig.
It was because of the sudden snapping of a twig.
Chapter 14
There was a murmur of voices from the big drawing-room. I hesitated but did not go in. I wandered down the passage and, led by some impulse, I pushed open a baize door. The passage beyond was dark, but suddenly a door opened showing a big lighted kitchen. In the doorway stood an old womana rather bulky old woman. She had a very clean white apron tied round her ample waist and the moment I saw her I knew that everything was all right. It is the feeling that a good Nannie can always give you. I am thirty-five, but I felt just like a reassured little boy of four.
As far as I knew, Nannie had never seen me, but she said at once:
Its Mr Charles, isnt it? Come into the kitchen and let me give you a cup of tea.
It was a big happy-feeling kitchen. I sat down by the centre table and Nannie brought me a cup of tea and two sweet biscuits on a plate. I felt more than ever that I was in the nursery again. Everything was all rightand the terrors of the dark and the unknown were no more with me.
Miss Sophia will be glad youve come, said Nannie. Shes been getting rather over-excited. She added disapprovingly: Theyre all over-excited.
I looked over my shoulder.
Wheres Josephine? She came in with me.
Nannie made a disapproving clacking noise with her tongue.
Listening at doors and writing down things in that silly little book she carries about with her, she said. She ought to have gone to school and had children of her own age to play with. Ive said so to Miss Edith and she agrees but the master would have it that she was best here in her home.
I suppose hes very fond of her, I said.
He was, sir. He was fond of them all.
I looked slightly astonished, wondering why Phi lips affection for his offspring was put so definitely in the past. Nannie saw my expression and flushing slightly, she said:
When I said the master, it was old Mr Leonides I meant.
Before I could respond to that, the door opened with a rush and Sophia came in.
Oh, Charles, she said, and then quickly: Oh, Nannie, Im so glad hes come.
I know you are, love.
Nannie gathered up a lot of pots and pans and went off into a scullery with them. She shut the door behind her.
I got up from the table and went over to Sophia. I put my arms round her and held her to me.
Dearest, I said. Youre trembling. What is it?
Sophia said:
Im frightened, Charles. Im frightened.
I love you, I said. If I could take you away
She drew apart and shook her head.
No, thats impossible. Weve got to see this through. But you know, Charles, I dont like it. I dont like the feeling that someonesomeone in this housesomeone I see and speak to every day is a cold-blooded, calculating poisoner
And I didnt know how to answer that. To someone like Sophia one can give no easy meaningless reassurances.
She said: If only one knew
That must be the worst of it, I agreed.
You know what really frightens me? she whispered. Its that we may never know
I could visualize easily what a nightmare that would be And it seemed to me highly probable that it never might be known who had killed old Leonides.
But it also reminded me of a question I had meant to put to Sophia on a point that had interested me.
Tell me, Sophia, I said. How many people in this house knew about the eserine eyedropsI mean (a) that your grandfather had them, and (b) that they were poisonous and what would be a fatal dose?
I see what youre getting at, Charles. But it wont work. You see, we all knew.
Well, yes, vaguely, I suppose, but specifically
We knew specifically. We were all up with grandfather one day for coffee after lunch. He liked all the family round him, you know. And his eyes had been giving him a lot of trouble. And Brenda got the eserine to put a drop in each eye, and Josephine, who always asks questions about everything, said: Why does it say Eyedropsnot to be taken on the bottle? And grandfather smiled and said: If Brenda were to make a mistake and inject eyedrops into me one day instead of insulinI suspect I should give a big gasp, and go rather blue in the face and then die, because you see, my heart isnt very strong. And Josephine said: Oo, and grandfather went on: So we must be careful that Brenda does not give me an injection of eserine instead of insulin, mustnt we? Sophia paused and then said: We were all there listening. You see? We all heard!