'Laura's unaccountable dislike of Rosamund, whom, I suppose, we had better call Dora or Trilby, the girl's own posing and play-acting, and, above all, the murder of Willoughby.'
'You mean she murdered him?'
'Well, someone did, and, so far as we know, she was the only person with a motive.'
'I see that now, ma'am, but you seem to have seen it all along.'
'By no means. It did not dawn on me until it was clear that Mr de Maas could not be Romilly Lestrange. When, however, I realised that not one of my younger relatives was able to expose him for the impostor that he was, I began to wonder why, on the two occasions on which he held a house-party, the same two young men were not invited. Hubert, of course, on both occasions, must have been abroad, but that did not apply to Willoughby.
'At the house-warming I understand that Dora made an issue of it, and insisted that neither brother was to be invited. The maid Amabel told me that there had been a quarrel and that the girl had tried to run away. On the second occasion Romilly seems to have put his foot down, obtained their addresses from her, and added them to his list of guests. He wanted to be sure that all the younger members regarded him as their uncle. As, of course, Willoughby would have been in a position to expose Dora as soon as he saw her, she abstracted the two letters from the pile before Luke took them down to the post-box, not realising that he had already counted the envelopes and read their superscriptions.
'Well, with Dora it was in for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose. She wrote her own letter to Willoughby, and arranged to meet him. What she said in it we shall probably never know for certain (although I can guess) but, whatever it was, it was sufficiently threatening or persuasive to bring him to this part of the world. Realising that so long as he was alive her impersonation of Rosamund was a source of danger to herself, she met him, treacherously stabbed him to death and rolled the body down the cliff at or near Dancing Ledge.'
'We'll have a job proving it, ma'am.'
'I know, but I found bloodstains on her coat, and she would have known of the sword which was found. It had been used to cut the cake. I accept the cook's evidence as to that. She purloined it...'
'How did she manage to stab him with it, though? He was a tall young fellow and she's only a slip of a thing.'
'I think she stood at the foot of the steepest and most tricky part of the descent-you will know the bit I mean-called to him, and then, as he came bounding and sliding, in the usual careless, young-man sort of fashion, down the sharp and awkward slope, she picked up the sword from where she had hidden it in the grass, and spitted him on it,' said Laura. 'That's what I should have done.'
'Taking a big chance, Mrs Gavin,' said Kirkby critically. 'Suppose it had only grazed him, or bounced off a rib or something?'
'Well, the plain fact is that it didn't,' said Laura. 'Then, I suppose, she put her foot on the corpse-he'd have fallen backwards, most likely, if that's the way it was done, because of the force with which he was careering downhill-pulled out the sword, wiped it clean, got the corpse to the edge of the cliff and tumbled it over, leaving the sword in the grass, where Romilly (de Maas) found it.'
'Yes,' said Kirkby doubtfully, 'but we spoke to the people at the farm and they had seen nobody.'
'The chances are that there was nobody to see, because you can reach Dancing Ledge without going through the farmyard at all, so long as you don't mind a long cast round. You can reach the coast by various tracks over those hills,' argued Laura. Kirkby turned to Dame Beatrice.
'What I'd really like to know, ma'am, is what took Mr de Maas and Miss Judith there, the day they found the sword,' he said.
'Maybe nothing but chance, you know,' said Dame Beatrice. 'And, in spite of Laura's dramatic reconstruction of the event, I doubt very much whether it was the sword which killed Willoughby. I think he would have seen a thing that size in time to avoid it. I think Dora left it there as a blind, knowing perfectly well that if it was traced to anybody it would be traced to de Maas, as, of course, it was. Besides, although I greatly admire Laura's spirited picture of Willoughby galloping down the hill and spitting himself on the sword, I cannot help realising that, from the spot Laura means, to get to the edge of the cliff would involve a considerable effort if one were burdened with the corpse of a man considerably taller and heavier than oneself.'
'What is your theory, then, ma'am? I see the difficulty of accepting Mrs Gavin's reconstruction. What is yours?'
'Oh, I feel certain that they met on the cliff-top itself. No other theory is half as likely.'
'But what argument could she have used to persuade him to meet her there? It's a wild and desolate spot in mid-February.'
'He may not have known that until he got there. I think she probably wrote him to the effect that she was in durance vile and in fear of her life, and that old Felix Napoleon had given her a considerable sum of money before he died instead of mentioning her in his will. I think she may have told him that she was willing to share her gains with him in return for his help in getting free from Romilly, as she would have called him. She does not know, even now, that he is Groot de Maas.'
'Do you think that, when she wrote, she claimed to be Rosamund?' asked Laura.
'No, because I have an idea that she thought Willoughby knew quite well where Rosamund had gone when her grandfather turned her adrift, and that it was not to Galliard Hall. Of course, Dora could not meet Willoughby there, where she was masquerading successfully as Rosamund, but it was safe enough to assume her own identity at an assignation during which she knew she was going to kill him. As she saw it, so long as he was alive, he was a threat to her safety.'
'If he wasn't killed with that sword, Dame Beatrice, we shall have to find the weapon she used. Have you any theories about it?'
'Only that it was something short and handy. A fairly broad-bladed kitchen knife is the likeliest thing, unless she could get hold of a dagger. She denied ever having had a weapon as part of a fancy dress, but that assertion may well be disregarded, I think. I know that an eighteenth-century horse-pistol was in her possession, and we both know that there was at least one sword in the house. I think we may venture to say that you will trace the weapon in time, unless she flung it far out to sea, as well she may have done.'
'I can see why she decided to kill Willoughby,' said Laura. 'She was safe only so long as he never came to Galliard Hall. But she need not have given de Maas Willoughby's address. How did she know it, anyway?'
'I'll ask her,' said Kirkby. 'It's clear they must have kept in touch after the old gentleman's death.'
'She probably got it from the lawyers,' said Dame Beatrice. 'Willoughby is almost certain to have kept in touch with them in the hope that Felix Napoleon had left him some money.'
'Could he expect that, when he had caused so much trouble for his cousin, the real Rosamund?' asked Laura.
'Well, Felix Napoleon kept him on as his secretary after he had turned the girl out.'
'Yes, but that seems so unaccountable.'
'Not if you allow for Felix Napoleon's mentality. A pregnant unmarried granddaughter was one thing-a problem and an acute embarrassment, no doubt. A young man on whom he had grown to depend and who had done no more than take a leaf out of his own book, was quite another. However, we shall know more about all this when I have made contact again with the Reverend Hubert.'
'If Felix Napoleon had turned the real Rosamund adrift, you'd think he would have cut her out of his Will,' said Laura.
'May have meant to do it, but never got around to it,' said Kirkby. 'People do tend to put things off.'
'It is another point to which Hubert may be able to furnish an answer,' said Dame Beatrice. 'However, we have at least made sure that the scoundrelly de Maas will not carry out his former plan of murdering Dora after the twenty-ninth of May.'
'You'd better put her wise,' said Laura. 'So far, as you say, she hasn't a clue that de Maas isn't Romilly.'
'I'll be the
one to let her know, ma'am,' said Kirkby. 'In view of what Dame Beatrice has told me, I have some awkward questions to put to that young lady.'
At this moment the telephone rang. Laura answered it, and came back almost at once.
'She's hopped it,' she said. 'That call was from Binnie. She wanted to say a lot more, but I cut her off. Dora's bed hadn't been slept in last night, and there's no sign of her or any message left. Binnie is naturally somewhat agitated.'
'I'll get along there at once, if you'll give me the address, ma'am,' said Kirkby. 'I don't want her to slip through my fingers, although I'm bound to say that the evidence I've got against her so far isn't going to get her convicted of murder.'
'There's blood on that coat,' said Laura.
'Meanwhile, I shall get on the track of the missing heiress,' said Dame Beatrice. 'She probably does not realise her good fortune. But first for Mr Hubert.'
(2)
The Riviera town just inside the Italian border was sheltered on the north by hills and even at the end of March was pleasantly warm. There was no difficulty in finding the English church, and the near-by vicarage proved to be a small, white villa set in a garden which overlooked the sea.
The door was opened by a smiling Italian maid to whom Dame Beatrice presented her card. They were invited to wait while the girl conveyed the card to her mistress. They were not kept more than a couple of minutes before the maid reappeared and ushered Dame Beatrice and Laura into a spacious room which seemed to combine the properties of drawing-room and study, for, in addition to deep armchairs, ornaments and vases of spring flowers, there was a roll-top desk in the window and shelves of books against the wall.
A tall, dark-haired girl almost ran to meet them, holding out both hands.
'Hubert got your letter,' she said. 'He's told me all about you. I am so glad to see you. Have you anywhere to stay? If not, I can find you beds.'
Thank you, but we are off again almost at once, my dear Rosamund,' said Dame Beatrice. 'We are putting up at the Splendide for a day or two, but my work does not permit me to make a longer stay.'
'Well, do sit down, and I'll get Lucia to bring us some tea. We keep English customs here. I'll go and wake Hubert. I make him take a siesta. He works very hard, and needs the rest. I won't wake the baby, but after tea I'll take you up to have a peep at him. I'm going to have another one in October-Hubert's baby this time.'
(3)
'So you guessed all the time that Hubert had married Rosamund,' said Laura, as they made their way back to their hotel. 'He didn't tell you so, when he came over to England, did he?'
'No, he did not. I think he believes in doing good by stealth, and probably would be among the first to blush when he found it fame. Having learned of his brother's importunity and Rosamund's plight, he felt he must come to her rescue.'
'And Rosamund, armed with her birth certificate and other proofs of identity is coming back with us to England to see the lawyers and claim her rights.'
'Together with Hubert and the baby, yes. She will want to have him with her, and, of course, he may be needed as a witness.'
'But if he married Rosamund after Felix Napoleon turned her out, why didn't you get him to denounce Dora? She was in as much danger from him as from Willoughby, wasn't she? After all, who would know better than Hubert that she was an impostor?'
'Yes, but I was not sure of that at the time. Besides, I should have been unwilling to expose him to danger, and Dora is an extremely dangerous person.'
'Wonder where she is? Did you expect her to leave Humphrey's house?'
'Well, certainly not quite so soon. Romilly must have got in touch with her and told her that I had unmasked him, so that she had no need to fear him any longer. I wonder where she has gone?'
'Oh, Kirkby will find her and charge her, I suppose.'
'With the murder of Willoughby, you mean?'
'Well, I know he needs more evidence than he has at present, but it can only be a question of time before he collects it. There are the bloodstains, and now we know she had proper clothes to wear, she could have slipped out of the house at any time.'
'I am not at all sanguine as to the outcome of his enquiries. As you know, proof of motive is not nearly as important in a criminal court as proof of means and opportunity.'
'Well, as I say, those won't be difficult to establish, surely? To go on to another point, why was Willoughby against marrying Rosamund himself? Why leave his brother to hold the baby? After all, it was his child. He wrote to Hubert to confess that he was the father. That's what estranged the two brothers.'
'I should not be at all surprised to find that Willoughby was already secretly married.'
'To Dora?'
'Yes. It would explain, better than anything else I can think of, why he was willing to meet her at such an out-of-the-way spot as Dancing Ledge.'
'I don't suppose we can ever prove that they were married, though. He could have used a false name.'
'I see no need to prove it. I am concerned only to see that Rosamund gets her rights. I confess, though, that I should like to know where Dora is.'
'Do you want her to get a life-sentence, then? Personally, I should think that a rotter like Willoughby, married to one girl and getting another one into trouble, is better out of the way.'
'The law would hardly agree with you.'
'Willoughby seems to have been his great-uncle all over again. How much of a villain was old Felix Napoleon, do you suppose?'
'We have only my sister-in-law's word for it that he was a villain at all.'
'I think it was terrible to turn Rosamund away at a time when she needed all the help she could get. Apart from that, though, didn't you tell me that he was lucky to escape a charge of fraudulent conversion or something?'
'Ah, yes, of course. And Ferdinand connived at this piece of immorality by showing him a loophole in the law.'
'You said just now that you hadn't expected Dora to run away from Humphrey and Binnie quite so soon. You did expect she would leave them, then?'
'Oh, yes, I knew she would, once she had received my letter.'
'What letter?'
'I wrote to her just before we left England to inform her that on the day she received my letter we should be on the boat-train for the Continent to pay a visit to Hubert and his wife.'
'You think she knew that Hubert had married Rosamund? I thought you said...'
'Oh, my letter to Dora was a shot in the dark-or, let us say, in the half-light-but there does not seem any doubt that it found its mark.'
(4)
The last word, in a sense, was with de Maas. Some months later Hamish was at home for the school summer holiday. Kirkby had not found Dora, neither had he uncovered any real evidence against her except bloodstains whose origin he could not check. When the post came one morning, Hamish, accompanied by his Irish wolfhound and his Yorkshire terrier, picked up his baby sister and went dashing out of the room to collect the letters from Celestine. He came bounding into the breakfast room, the baby gurgling, the terrier barking, the dignified wolfhound at his heels, put down his sister, took the letters from between his teeth and handed them over to Laura, whose job it was to sort them.
'Hullo,' she said, 'there's one from the Argentine.'
'Yes, for Mrs Dame. I saw there was. Please may I have the stamp?' asked Hamish. The letter was from the erstwhile Romilly. It read: If you can't murder 'em, marry 'em. Love from Groot and Dora de Maas, Judith and Luke.
'Well!' said Laura. 'Back to Square One with a vengeance! How on earth did he get her to marry him? She was always scared stiff of him, I thought.'
'Like most actresses, she is a realist,' said Dame Beatrice. 'There was no need any longer for her to fear de Maas, and she was penniless, with all her plans gone awry. Besides, she knew that Kirkby would be on her track. It is notoriously difficult to extradite criminals from South America, and contrary to legal practice to obtain evidence from a husband against h
is wife.'
'I see another of your letters is postmarked Duncastle,' said Laura. 'Is it from...'
'Yes.' Dame Beatrice opened it. 'It is from Binnie. The school is flourishing, Humphrey is nice to her, and they are expecting their first baby in December.'
'I suppose you're asked to be godmother.'
'Well,' said Dame Beatrice, 'practice makes perfect, they say, and by now I have lost count of the number of my god-children.'
'In The Merchant of Venice,' said Hamish, 'Gratiano wished Shylock's godfathers were jurymen.
'"Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more,
'"To bring thee to the gallows, not the font."
'Mamma, are you glad or sorry they've done away with hanging people?'
'It depends on the people,' replied Laura. 'In this particular case, the question doesn't appear to arise, I'm pleased to say.'
End
FB2 document info
Document ID: b38a3d29-9010-4a7c-a750-2432b6e4164f
Document version: 1
Document creation date: 28.4.2012
Created using: calibre 0.8.48 software
Document authors :
Gladys Mitchell
About
This file was generated by Lord KiRon's FB2EPUB converter version 1.1.5.0.
(This book might contain copyrighted material, author of the converter bears no responsibility for it's usage)
Этот файл создан при помощи конвертера FB2EPUB версии 1.1.5.0 написанного Lord KiRon.
(Эта книга может содержать материал который защищен авторским правом, автор конвертера не несет ответственности за его использование)
http://www.fb2epub.net
https://code.google.com/p/fb2epub/
Dance to Your Daddy mb-42 Page 22