Latter End

by Patricia Wentworth

  “More fool you! You don’t know what’s good for you. I didn’t when I married Joe Marsh and tied myself up to live in a hole like this.”

  “Weren’t you-weren’t you fond of him?”

  Gladys laughed. Really, Miss Silver thought, a most unpleasant sound.

  “Fond of him! I’d been ill and I was out of a job, and he was getting good money. I was a damned fool. If I’m one of the chief witnesses in a big murder trial, why I’ll get dozens of offers-girls do. I’d be able to pick and choose and marry where there’s some money going and a chance of a good time if I hadn’t tied myself up to Joe. However, ’tisn’t for always nowadays-that’s one comfort. I’ll do better than Joe with this trial to boost me.”

  “You didn’t ought to talk like that.”

  Gladys laughed again. The sound really quite got on Miss Silver’s nerves.

  “Oh, I didn’t, didn’t I? Well, you wait and see, Polly Pell! There’s more than that I can say if I choose, but I’m not saying it yet. I’m keeping it back to make a splash with-see?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I can put the rope round somebody’s neck if I choose, and I’m going to choose all right. There’s someone in this house that’s going to swing for what they done, and it’s me that’s going to put the rope round their neck. And get my photo in all the papers, and everyone talking about me! I’ll say this for those reporter chaps, they give you a good write-up. ‘Golden-haired, blue-eyed Gladys Marsh’-that’ll be me, when I’m not a ‘beautiful blonde.’ You see, I’ll be right in the news, and if I can’t make something out of it, my name’s not Gladys Marsh. And won’t you wish you was me!”

  Polly achieved emphasis.

  “No, that I won’t!” she said.

  CHAPTER 27

  At the sound of footsteps coming from the direction of the hall Miss Silver set down the tumbler she was holding and walked briskly to meet them. It was Julia Vane whom she encountered. It did not escape her that, in addition to being unusually pale, Julia had a look of endurance which had not been there when they met at breakfast. Whatever may have been her errand, Miss Silver forestalled it.

  “I should appreciate a short conversation with you, Miss Vane, if you can spare the time.”

  She had shut the door behind her. Julia looked past her in that direction.

  “I was going to see Mrs. Maniple. Is she in the kitchen?”

  Miss Silver shook her head.

  “Oh, no-she is still in the study with Sergeant Abbott. I will not detain you for long. Perhaps the drawing-room would be suitable.”

  Julia preceded her there in dumb rebellion. The house was no longer their own-it certainly wasn’t Jimmy’s. Their lives, their actions, their time, the words they spoke, the words they dared not speak, were all conditioned by this timeless nightmare in which they lived and moved. She turned, to see Miss Silver looking at her kindly. Her voice too was kind as she said,

  “Truth is always best, Miss Julia.”

  The bitterness she felt for Manny, for Jimmy, for all of them, came out in her voice as she answered,

  “Is it?”

  Miss Silver said, “I think so. It is not always easy to see it at the time. That is one of the things which makes the conduct of a murder case so difficult. People with something to conceal persist in trying to conceal it. It may be a serious matter, or it may be quite trifling, but the result is the same-the issues are obscured. People who are habitually truthful are tempted to depart from the truth. They are not usually very successful. It requires a good deal of practice to deceive an experienced police officer. It is much easier, as well as much safer, to tell the truth.”

  The words which formed themselves in Julia’s mind dissolved as she looked at Miss Silver. They were what anyone might suppose. “Do you think I’m telling lies? Why should I? I haven’t got anything to hide.” They were in her mind, but they never reached her lips. She looked at Miss Silver, and lost sight of her primness and her dowdy clothes. She didn’t see them any more. She was aware of intelligence and strength. She was intelligent enough herself to recognize these qualities, and strong enough to value them. She said in a quiet, humble voice,

  “I’m not hiding anything-really.”

  Miss Silver’s smile came out.

  “Thank you, my dear. I shall be very glad if you will trust me. Concealments are of no real benefit. The innocent cannot gain by them, nor can the guilty. There is no worse punishment than seeming impunity in crime. That is why I said that truth is best. If you are wondering why I wished to speak to you-it is about Miss Mercer.” She saw all the muscles of Julia’s face go taut, and added, “You see, I heard what she said.”

  Julia’s lips were stiff. She had to force them to move. She said,

  “What did you hear?”

  “I heard her say, ‘What have I done-what have I done?’ ”

  “She was asleep-she was dreaming-she was talking in her sleep.”

  Miss Silver made a slight inclination of the head.

  “Is she in the habit of walking in her sleep?”

  “I think she used to-after her father died.”

  “Was his death a sudden one?”

  Julia nodded.

  “Yes-a car accident-at night. It was a great shock.”

  “And under similar conditions of grief and shock the sleepwalking has returned. But perhaps I should not have mentioned grief. Perhaps there is no personal grief on Mrs. Latter’s account. You can inform me as to that, can you not? Or, shall I say, you can confirm my impression that Miss Mercer felt no affection for Mrs. Latter?”

  Julia’s wide, sad gaze did not falter. She said,

  “No. None of us did.”

  Miss Silver coughed.

  “Then it was shock that brought about a recurrence of the sleep-walking. When I first came out of my room you were following her down the stairs. When you caught her up and stopped her she had her face turned in the direction of this room. It would have been interesting to see what she would have done if she had entered it. As it was, your touch broke the thread of her thought. I withdrew into my room and watched you both come back and enter hers. I reached the door in time to hear her say, ‘What have I done?’ ”

  After her last words Julia had turned away. There was a ruined vase of roses on the mantelpiece. The room had not been done since Wednesday, nor the flowers changed. There was a scatter of crimson petals on the shelf. Julia swept them together, and as she did so remembered how she had seen Minnie stand just here where she was standing when she looked into the room on Wednesday night. In her mind she could see her as plainly as if it was all happening again- Minnie half turned from the room, bending a little as if she were too tired to stand upright, picking up the fallen petals one at a time in a small trembling hand-With an abrupt movement Julia broke the picture. The rose-leaves fell to the hearth in a crimson pool as she swung round crying,

  “She didn’t do it!”

  Miss Silver had been watching her closely.

  “If you were quite sure about that, there would be no need for you to feel so much concern.”

  Julia drew a stormy breath.

  “I am sure! Anyone who knew her would be sure!” She checked herself and went on in a different tone. “Miss Silver, there are things people can do, and things they can’t. When you know someone, you know what it would be possible for them to do. It wouldn’t be possible for Minnie to kill anyone. You can’t kill unless there’s something that lets you. People either have that something, or they haven’t. Anyone with a hot temper could kill, I suppose, if the provocation was enough to break through a normal self-control. I’ve got a temper myself. As a rule I’ve got hold of it-I’ve always known I mustn’t let go. I suppose if I did, I might-kill. But Minnie hasn’t got a temper. I’ve known her all my life, and I’ve never seen her angry. There’s no wild beast in her to get loose like there is in me. Then the other sort of killing, the slow, cold-blooded sort-she couldn’t do that any more than I could. None
of us could. You see, you don’t know her. She’s one of the people who is born unselfish-she just doesn’t think about herself at all. She’s always been the same ever since I can remember. She’s kind, and patient, and gentle, and really, truly good. She never had a hard word even for Lois. She’d have been fond of her if it had been humanly possible, because it’s her nature to be fond of people. You see, she’s good. She could no more poison anyone than she could suddenly turn into a hyena. It’s just one of those things that are right off the map.”

  Miss Silver smiled disarmingly.

  “She has a very good friend, my dear,” she said.

  CHAPTER 28

  Julia went out of the room and up the stairs again. She had just reached the landing, when the door of Lois’ bedroom opened and Ellie came running out. Julia gazed at her in amazement. There was a pink flush in her cheeks and her eyes were blue and shining. It was quite obvious that she was running because she couldn’t wait to walk. She ran right up to Julia and caught at her with both her hands.

  “Oh, Julia-isn’t it marvellous! Jimmy says I can have Ronnie here as soon as all this is over! Isn’t he an angel! I hugged him-I feel as if I could hug everyone I meet! I’ve just been through to Matron on Lois’ extension. Those policemen never give one a chance of getting near the telephone in the study, and I felt I couldn’t possibly wait, so I rang up and told her, and she said it wouldn’t be worth sending Ronnie down to Brighton unless he was going to stay there. She sounded grim and said it was putting out all the arrangements-and I suppose I let her see just how much I cared about that, because she got a lot grimmer and began to talk exactly as if I was a V.A.D. again. I very nearly said to her, ‘Well, you know I’m not, and I hope I’m never going to be any more,’ only I thought it wouldn’t exactly oil the wheels, so I didn’t. I just said things like ‘Oh,’ and ‘No,’ and ‘That’s very kind of you, Matron,’ until she simmered down and said oh, well, she supposed they would have to manage.”

  She let go and threw her arms round Julia’s neck.

  “Darling, isn’t it marvellous!”

  Time had swung back. This was the old Ellie with the quick blood in her cheeks, light in her eyes, every bit of her quivering with life. Julia had a moment of giddiness. You can swing too fast and too far to keep your balance. Ellie must have lost hers. She stepped back and said in a ringing voice,

  “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good, isn’t it?”

  Someone was coming up the stairs behind Julia. She could just hear the sound of quiet footsteps. She said “Ellie-” in a warning voice, but it wasn’t any good. Ellie stamped her foot and cried,

  “I don’t care! Lois wouldn’t have had him here-ever!”

  Then she saw Miss Silver coming up behind Julia. She stood for a moment, her colour bright, her eyes wide, but before Miss Silver reached the landing she turned, ran into the room she shared with Julia, and shut the door.

  Miss Silver coughed reprovingly.

  “That was not very wise.”

  Julia said, “No.” And then, “She wasn’t thinking about being wise, you know. She was just being natural. She hasn’t got anything to hide. She has just heard that she can have her husband here, and it has put everything else out of her head. She has been very unhappy about him. It just hasn’t occurred to her that she mustn’t let anyone see that she is happy because he can come here now.”

  Miss Silver said thoughtfully,

  “Wisdom is to be commended as well as harmlessness. There is scriptural warrant for that, you know, Miss Julia.” She crossed the landing to her own room and entered it.

  Julia followed Ellie. She found her rubbing cream into her face. She began to talk at once.

  “I’ll go over and see him this afternoon. I’m trying the cream Minnie makes. If my colour would only keep like it is now, I wouldn’t need to put any on, but the bother is I can’t trust it. I’d better be on the safe side, don’t you think?”

  Julia went and stood by the near window, looking out. She said,

  “I expect so.” And then, quickly, “Ellie, what possessed you to say that about Lois? Miss Silver heard you.”

  “I don’t care if she did. It’s true.”

  Julia’s dark brows had met. She said,

  “Ellie, you’ve got to be careful-we all have. Those policemen don’t think Lois committed suicide-they think she was murdered.”

  “Don’t!”

  “I must. We’ve got to be careful of everything we say or do. What you said just now could very easily be twisted.”

  Ellie’s colour had gone out like a candle in the wind.

  “You mean they could think I did it?”

  Julia turned round. She had no colour to lose.

  “I mean you’ve got to be careful not to give them anything to think about. If you put it into their heads that Lois was in your way, and that you’re glad she isn’t there any longer- well, it isn’t going to be so good, is it?”

  Ellie went on rubbing cream into her face mechanically. She said,

  “That’s nonsense.” Her shoulder jerked.

  Julia walked over to her, and took her by the arm.

  “Use your head, Ellie! Think! You and Minnie and Jimmy were in the drawing-room when she took that coffee. You can’t afford to start the police thinking about you.”

  Ellie pulled away.

  “It wasn’t the police-it was Miss Silver.”

  “It’s all the same thing.” Julia’s voice had a discouraged sound. Now she had made Ellie think her unkind. She didn’t want to frighten her, she only wanted her to be careful. It was like having to pick your way among eggshells. She wondered if she had said enough. She didn’t see her way to saying any more. She thought she had better go downstairs again and see whether the police had finished with Manny.

  Ellie was wiping the cream off her face. She didn’t turn round or look up.

  Julia went out of the room with the feeling that she might just as well have held her tongue.

  CHAPTER 29

  Miss Silver, having fetched a fresh ball of grey wool from her bedroom, proceeded downstairs with it. She had left her knitting-bag on a table in the hall, and it was while she was slipping the wool into it and hanging the bag on her arm that the door of the study opened and Mrs. Maniple came out. The dignity of her bearing was unimpaired. She crossed the hall and made her way down the long passage which led off it to the kitchen wing.

  As soon as she was out of sight Miss Silver entered the study. The Chief Inspector, who was on his feet, was saying, “Well, you’d better go and get her, and Miss Silver too. I don’t want-” He broke off at the sound of the closing door. “Well, there!” he said, “How did you know you were wanted? I was just sending Frank for you.”

  Miss Silver smiled agreeably.

  “For me-and also, I think, for someone else. May I enquire who else was to be summoned?”

  He said briefly, “Miss Mercer. I was going to ask her about those fingerprints, and as she looks as if it wouldn’t be any trouble to her to faint, I thought I’d have you handy.”

  A shade of distance tinged Miss Silver’s manner. She did not regard herself as something to be kept handy, nor did she expect to be so regarded. Frank Abbott, gathering up his papers, suppressed a smile.

  Miss Maud Silver reached the chair which she had occupied before, altered its angle slightly, and sat down. As she disposed the knitting-bag on her lap and drew out Derek’s half-finished stocking, she observed,

  “I am always pleased to do anything I can to assist you, Chief Inspector.” She made a slight but impressive pause and continued. “I would, however, ask you to defer Miss Mercer for the moment. I have just overheard a conversation between Gladys Marsh and the young girl Polly Pell. When I have repeated it to you, you will, I think, agree that it would be as well to question Gladys without delay.”

  Lamb gave a snort of disapproval.

  “What’s she been saying?”

  “I will tell you. I was in the pantry,
with the door ajar into the kitchen. I heard Gladys boasting that she was going to be a witness, and that if it came to a trial she would have her photograph in all the papers. She regretted that as she was already married she would not be able to avail herself of the many offers of marriage which she anticipated. She had, however, the effrontery to indicate that the difficulty might be surmounted.”

  Frank Abbott looked over his shoulder to say,

  “We shall certainly want you here as a chaperon if we’re going to interview Gladys-shan’t we, Chief?”

  There was an impudent gleam in his eye which drew a frown from his superior officer. Lamb said gloomily,

  “I suppose that wasn’t all, or you wouldn’t be wanting us to see her.”

  Miss Silver was knitting with great rapidity.

  “It was by no means all,” she said. “After boasting that she would be one of the chief witnesses in a big murder trial, she went on to use these words, ‘There’s more than that I could say if I choose, but I’m not saying it yet-I’m keeping it back to make a splash with.’ Polly asked her what she meant. In reply Gladys said that she could put the rope round somebody’s neck if she chose, and she was going to choose all right. She added, ‘There’s someone in this house that’s going to swing for what they done, and it’s me that’s going to put the rope round their neck, and get my photo in all the papers and have everyone talking about me.’ ”

  The Chief Inspector pursed up his lips as if he were about to whistle.

  “She said that?”

  “Word for word.”

  “Then we’ll have her in and find out what she meant by it. It mightn’t be very much, you know, if she was boasting like you say. No, there mightn’t be very much to it, but we’ll have her in. Where did you say she was-in the kitchen?”

  Miss Silver coughed.

  “She was there. But Mrs. Maniple having returned, I think it probable that Gladys will now be somewhere else.”

  Wherever she was, it did not take Frank Abbott long to locate her. She could be heard giggling before he opened the door and ushered her into the room, where she looked impudently at Miss Silver, rolled her eyes at the Chief Inspector, and tripped round the table to sink gracefully upon the chair which had been placed for her. Seated, she crossed her legs, bringing a brief skirt several inches above the knee. The blue eyes rolled in Frank’s direction, glanced coyly down at the expanse of silk stocking, and then swam back to his extremely unresponsive profile.