“I don’t understand.”
Freddy said, “It doesn’t matter, darling. It won’t make any difference.”
Lila turned her head a little.
“You don’t mind?”
“Not a bit, darling. You’re still Lila.”
She nodded.
“I called myself Lila—Mummy always said I did—Aunt Rhoda said so too—I called her Aunt Rhoda. I remember—her—and Kay—I remember Kay.”
Kay came and knelt beside her and took her hand.
“Please, Lila, don’t mind—please.”
And all at once it came over Miles that they were all concerned with Lila—begging Lila not to mind having the Basing millions and goodness knows what else besides. It tickled him, and yet he could see that Lila was that sort of person. She would go through life with silken carpets under her feet and pearls to hang about her neck. Oh well, it was a lovely neck—
The door opened and Flossie came in with one hand held behind her back.
“Ooh, Mr. Miles,” she said, and when he went to meet her she dropped her voice to a whisper. “I come over so angry, I can’t be sure I’ve got it all right. It is Mrs Gilmore that’s the one you’ve been looking for—the Macintyre baby?”
Miles nodded.
Flossie gave a faint giggle.
“First it was me—and then it was your young lady—and now it’s Mrs Gilmore. Bit of a queer start, isn’t it?”
Miles nodded again.
“Well, Mr Miles, such being the case, those beads of mine what the old gentleman said was pearls—I suppose by rights they’re Mrs Gilmore’s?”
“I suppose they are.”
Flossie giggled again.
“Coo! It makes me laugh when I think how they’ve just kicked about in my drawer all these years—and me thinking nothing about them except for their having belonged to my mother! Well, seeing as they’re Mrs Gilmore’s, I’d sooner she had them—so here they are!” She pushed them into his hand and ran away.
Miles came back to the group by the fire.
Kay and Freddy were still fussing over Lila. And it was Kay who had been chloroformed and locked up in a cellar for hours, besides being nearly frightened to death. But Kay would go through the world looking after other people, while Lila would always be waited upon. He thought it was time that someone looked after Kay. His little Kay—his own darling little Kay—
He came up to the sofa and dropped the black pearls in Lila’s golden lap.
About the Author
Patricia Wentworth (1878–1961) was one of the masters of classic English mystery writing. Born in India as Dora Amy Elles, she began writing after the death of her first husband, publishing her first novel in 1910. In the 1920s, she introduced the character who would make her famous: Miss Maud Silver, the former governess whose stout figure, fondness for Tennyson, and passion for knitting served to disguise a keen intellect. Along with Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, Miss Silver is the definitive embodiment of the English style of cozy mysteries.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1935 by Patricia Wentworth
Cover design by Mauricio Díaz
ISBN: 978-1-5040-3331-2
This edition published in 2016 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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New York, NY 10038
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