Rebecca

by Daphne Du Maurier

  "Very good, Madam," he said.

  I followed him out of the room and went to the little flower room for my scissors. Then I went into the rose garden and cut some young buds. The chill had worn away from the air. It was going to be as hot and airless as yesterday had been. I wondered if they were still down in the bay or whether they had gone back to the creek in Kerrith harbor. Presently I should hear. Presently Maxim would come back and tell me. Whatever happened I must be calm and quiet. Whatever happened I must not be afraid. I cut my roses and took them back into the morning room. The carpet had been dusted, and the fallen petals removed. I began to arrange the flowers in the vases that Robert had filled with water. When I had nearly finished there was a knock on the door.

  "Come in," I said.

  It was Mrs. Danvers. She had the menu list in her hand. She looked pale and tired. There were great rings round her eyes.

  "Good morning, Mrs. Danvers," I said.

  "I don't understand," she began, "why you sent the menu out and the message by Robert. Why did you do it?"

  I looked across at her, a rose in my hand.

  "Those cutlets and that salmon were sent in yesterday," I said. "I saw them on the side-board. I should prefer something hot today. If they won't eat the cold in the kitchen you had better throw the stuff away. So much waste goes on in this house anyway that a little more won't make any difference."

  She stared at me. She did not say anything. I put the rose in the vase with the others.

  "Don't tell me you can't think of anything to give us, Mrs. Danvers," I said. "You must have menus for all occasions in your room."

  "I'm not used to having messages sent to me by Robert," she said. "If Mrs. de Winter wanted anything changed she would ring me personally on the house telephone."

  "I'm afraid it does not concern me very much what Mrs. de Winter used to do," I said. "I am Mrs. de Winter now, you know. And if I choose to send a message by Robert I shall do so."

  Just then Robert came into the room. "The County Chronicle on the telephone, Madam," he said.

  "Tell the County Chronicle I'm not at home," I said.

  "Yes, Madam," he said. He went out of the room.

  "Well, Mrs. Danvers, is there anything else?" I said.

  She went on staring at me. Still she did not say anything. "If you have nothing else to say you had better go and tell the cook about the hot lunch," I said. "I'm rather busy."

  "Why did the County Chronicle want to speak to you?" she said.

  "I haven't the slightest idea, Mrs. Danvers," I said.

  "Is it true," she said slowly, "the story Frith brought back with him from Kerrith last night, that Mrs. de Winter's boat has been found?"

  "Is there such a story?" I said. "I'm afraid I don't know anything about it."

  "Captain Searle, the Kerrith harbormaster, called here yesterday, didn't he?" she said. "Robert told me, Robert showed him in. Frith says the story in Kerrith is that the diver who went down about the ship there in the bay found Mrs. de Winter's boat."

  "Perhaps so," I said. "You had better wait until Mr. de Winter himself comes in and ask him about it."

  "Why was Mr. de Winter up so early?" she asked.

  "That was Mr. de Winter's business," I said.

  She went on staring at me. "Frith said the story goes that there was a body in the cabin of the little boat," she said. "Why should there be a body there? Mrs. de Winter always sailed alone."

  "It's no use asking me, Mrs. Danvers," I said. "I don't know any more than you do."

  "Don't you?" she said slowly. She kept on looking at me. I turned away, I put the vase back on the table by the window.

  "I will give the orders about the lunch," she said. She waited a moment. I did not say anything. Then she went out of the room. She can't frighten me anymore, I thought. She has lost her power with Rebecca. Whatever she said or did now it could not matter to me or hurt me. I knew she was my enemy and I did not mind. But if she should learn the truth about the body in the boat and become Maxim's enemy too--what then? I sat down in the chair. I put the scissors on the table. I did not feel like doing any more roses. I kept wondering what Maxim was doing. I wondered why the reporter from the County Chronicle had rung us up again. The old sick feeling came back inside me. I went and leaned out of the window. It was very hot. There was thunder in the air. The gardeners began to mow the grass again. I could see one of the men with his machine walk backwards and forwards on the top of the bank. I could not go on sitting in the morning room. I left my scissors and my roses and went out onto the terrace. I began to walk up and down. Jasper padded after me, wondering why I did not take him for a walk. I went on walking up and down the terrace. About half past eleven Frith came out to me from the hall.

  "Mr. de Winter on the telephone, Madam," he said.

  I went through the library to the little room beyond. My hands were shaking as I lifted the receiver.

  "Is that you?" he said. "It's Maxim. I'm speaking from the office. I'm with Frank."

  "Yes?" I said.

  There was a pause. "I shall be bringing Frank and Colonel Julyan back to lunch at one o'clock," he said.

  "Yes," I said.

  I waited. I waited for him to go on. "They were able to raise the boat," he said. "I've just got back from the creek."

  "Yes," I said.

  "Searle was there, and Colonel Julyan, and Frank, and the others," he said. I wondered if Frank was standing beside him at the telephone, and if that was the reason he was so cool, so distant.

  "All right then," he said; "expect us about one o'clock."

  I put back the receiver. He had not told me anything. I still did not know what had happened. I went back again to the terrace, telling Frith first that we should be four to lunch instead of two.

  An hour dragged past, slow, interminable. I went upstairs and changed into a thinner frock. I came down again. I went and sat in the drawing room and waited. At five minutes to one I heard the sound of a car in the drive, and then voices in the hall. I patted my hair in front of the looking glass. My face was very white. I pinched some color into my cheeks and stood up waiting for them to come into the room. Maxim came in, and Frank, and Colonel Julyan. I remembered seeing Colonel Julyan at the ball dressed as Cromwell. He looked shrunken now, different. A smaller man altogether.

  "How do you do?" he said. He spoke quietly, gravely, like a doctor.

  "Ask Frith to bring the sherry," said Maxim. "I'm going to wash."

  "I'll have a wash too," said Frank. Before I rang the bell Frith appeared with the sherry. Colonel Julyan did not have any. I took some to give me something to hold. Colonel Julyan came and stood beside me by the window.

  "This is a most distressing thing, Mrs. de Winter," he said gently. "I do feel for you and your husband most acutely."

  "Thank you," I said. I began to sip my sherry. Then I put the glass back again on the table. I was afraid he would notice that my hand was shaking.

  "What makes it so difficult was the fact of your husband identifying that first body, over a year ago," he said.

  "I don't quite understand," I said.

  "You did not hear, then, what we found this morning?" he said.

  "I knew there was a body. The diver found a body," I said.

  "Yes," he said. And then, half glancing over his shoulder towards the hall, "I'm afraid it was her, without a doubt," he said, lowering his voice. "I can't go into details with you, but the evidence was sufficient for your husband and Doctor Phillips to identify."

  He stopped suddenly, and moved away from me. Maxim and Frank had come back into the room.

  "Lunch is ready; shall we go in?" said Maxim.

  I led the way into the hall, my heart like a stone, heavy, numb. Colonel Julyan sat on my right, Frank on my left. I did not look at Maxim. Frith and Robert began to hand the first course. We all talked about the weather. "I see in The Times they had it well over eighty in London yesterday," said Colonel Julyan.

  "Really?" I
said.

  "Yes. Must be frightful for the poor devils who can't get away."

  "Yes, frightful," I said.

  "Paris can be hotter than London," said Frank. "I remember staying a weekend in Paris in the middle of August, and it was quite impossible to sleep. There was not a breath of air in the whole city. The temperature was over ninety."

  "Of course the French always sleep with their windows shut, don't they?" said Colonel Julyan.

  "I don't know," said Frank. "I was staying in a hotel. The people were mostly Americans."

  "You know France of course, Mrs. de Winter?" said Colonel Julyan.

  "Not so very well," I said.

  "Oh, I had the idea you had lived many years out there."

  "No," I said.

  "She was staying in Monte Carlo when I met her," said Maxim. "You don't call that France, do you?"

  "No, I suppose not," said Colonel Julyan; "it must be very cosmopolitan. The coast is pretty though, isn't it?"

  "Very pretty," I said.

  "Not so rugged as this, eh? Still, I know which I'd rather have. Give me England every time, when it comes to settling down. You know where you are over here."

  "I dare say the French feel that about France," said Maxim.

  "Oh, no doubt," said Colonel Julyan.

  We went on eating a while in silence. Frith stood behind my chair. We were all thinking of one thing, but because of Frith we had to keep up our little performance. I suppose Frith was thinking about it too, and I thought how much easier it would be if we cast aside convention and let him join in with us, if he had anything to say. Robert came with the drinks. Our plates were changed. The second course was handed. Mrs. Danvers had not forgotten my wish for hot food. I took something out of a casserole covered in mushroom sauce.

  "I think everyone enjoyed your wonderful party the other night," said Colonel Julyan.

  "I'm so glad," I said.

  "Does an immense amount of good locally, that sort of thing," he said.

  "Yes, I suppose it does," I said.

  "It's a universal instinct of the human species, isn't it, that desire to dress up in some sort of disguise?" said Frank.

  "I must be very inhuman, then," said Maxim.

  "It's natural, I suppose," said Colonel Julyan, "for all of us to wish to look different. We are all children in some ways."

  I wondered how much pleasure it had given him to disguise himself as Cromwell. I had not seen much of him at the ball. He had spent most of the evening in the morning room, playing bridge.

  "You don't play golf, do you, Mrs. de Winter?" said Colonel Julyan.

  "No, I'm afraid I don't," I said.

  "You ought to take it up," he said. "My eldest girl is very keen, and she can't find young people to play with her. I gave her a small car for her birthday, and she drives herself over to the north coast nearly every day. It gives her something to do."

  "How nice," I said.

  "She ought to have been the boy," he said. "My lad is different altogether. No earthly use at games. Always writing poetry. I suppose he'll grow out of it."

  "Oh, rather," said Frank. "I used to write poetry myself when I was his age. Awful nonsense too. I never write any now."

  "Good heavens, I should hope not," said Maxim.

  "I don't know where my boy gets it from," said Colonel Julyan; "certainly not from his mother or from me."

  There was another long silence. Colonel Julyan had a second dip into the casserole. "Mrs. Lacy looked very well the other night," he said.

  "Yes," I said.

  "Her dress came adrift as usual," said Maxim.

  "Those Eastern garments must be the devil to manage," said Colonel Julyan, "and yet they say, you know, they are far more comfortable and far cooler than anything you ladies wear in England."

  "Really?" I said.

  "Yes, so they say. It seems all that loose drapery throws off the hot rays of the sun."

  "How curious," said Frank; "you'd think it would have just the opposite effect."

  "No, apparently not," said Colonel Julyan.

  "Do you know the East, sir?" said Frank.

  "I know the Far East," said Colonel Julyan. "I was in China for five years. Then Singapore."

  "Isn't that where they make the curry?" I said.

  "Yes, they gave us very good curry in Singapore," he said.

  "I'm fond of curry," said Frank.

  "Ah, it's not curry at all in England, it's hash," said Colonel Julyan.

  The plates were cleared away. A souffle was handed, and a bowl of fruit salad. "I suppose you are coming to the end of your raspberries," said Colonel Julyan. "It's been a wonderful summer for them, hasn't it? We've put down pots and pots of jam."

  "I never think raspberry jam is a great success," said Frank; "there are always so many pips."

  "You must come and try some of ours," said Colonel Julyan. "I don't think we have a great lot of pips."

  "We're going to have a mass of apples this year at Manderley," said Frank. "I was saying to Maxim a few days ago we ought to have a record season. We shall be able to send a lot up to London."

  "Do you really find it pays?" said Colonel Julyan; "by the time you've paid your men for the extra labor, and then the packing, and carting, do you make any sort of profit worthwhile?"

  "Oh, Lord, yes," said Frank.

  "How interesting. I must tell my wife," said Colonel Julyan.

  The souffle and the fruit salad did not take long to finish. Robert appeared with cheese and biscuits, and a few minutes later Frith came with the coffee and cigarettes. Then they both went out of the room and shut the door. We drank our coffee in silence. I gazed steadily at my plate.

  "I was saying to your wife before luncheon, de Winter," began Colonel Julyan, resuming his first quiet confidential tone, "that the awkward part of this whole distressing business is the fact that you identified that original body."

  "Yes, quite," said Maxim.

  "I think the mistake was very natural under the circumstances," said Frank quickly. "The authorities wrote to Maxim, asking him to go up to Edgecoombe, presupposing before he arrived there that the body was hers. And Maxim was not well at the time. I wanted to go with him, but he insisted on going alone. He was not in a fit state to undertake anything of the sort."

  "That's nonsense," said Maxim. "I was perfectly well."

  "Well, it's no use going into all that now," said Colonel Julyan. "You made that first identification, and now the only thing to do is to admit the error. There seems to be no doubt about it this time."

  "No," said Maxim.

  "I wish you could be spared the formality and the publicity of an inquest," said Colonel Julyan, "but I'm afraid that's quite impossible."

  "Naturally," said Maxim.

  "I don't think it need take very long," said Colonel Julyan. "It's just a case of you re-affirming identification, and then getting Tabb, who you say converted the boat when your wife brought her from France, just to give his piece of evidence that the boat was seaworthy and in good order when he last had her in his yard. It's just red tape, you know. But it has to be done. No, what bothers me is the wretched publicity of the affair. So sad and unpleasant for you and your wife."

  "That's quite all right," said Maxim. "We understand."

  "So unfortunate that wretched ship going ashore there," said Colonel Julyan, "but for that the whole matter would have rested in peace."

  "Yes," said Maxim.

  "The only consolation is that now we know poor Mrs. de Winter's death must have been swift and sudden, not the dreadful slow lingering affair we all believed it to be. There can have been no question of trying to swim."

  "None," said Maxim.

  "She must have gone down for something, and then the door jammed, and a squall caught the boat without anyone at the helm," said Colonel Julyan. "A dreadful thing."

  "Yes," said Maxim.

  "That seems to be the solution, don't you think, Crawley?" said Colonel Julyan, turning to
Frank.

  "Oh, yes, undoubtedly," said Frank.

  I glanced up, and I saw Frank looking at Maxim. He looked away again immediately but not before I had seen and understood the expression in his eyes. Frank knew. And Maxim did not know that he knew. I went on stirring my coffee. My hand was hot, damp.

  "I suppose sooner or later we all make a mistake in judgment," said Colonel Julyan, "and then we are for it. Mrs. de Winter must have known how the wind comes down like a funnel in that bay, and that it was not safe to leave the helm of a small boat like that. She must have sailed alone over that spot scores of times. And then the moment came, she took a chance--and the chance killed her. It's a lesson to all of us."

  "Accidents happen so easily," said Frank, "even to the most experienced people. Think of the number killed out hunting every season."

  "Oh, I know. But then it's the horse falling generally that lets you down. If Mrs. de Winter had not left the helm of her boat the accident would never have happened. An extraordinary thing to do. I must have watched her many times in the handicap race on Saturdays from Kerrith, and I never saw her make an elementary mistake. It's the sort of thing a novice would do. In that particular place too, just by the ridge."

  "It was very squally that night," said Frank; "something may have happened to the gear. Something may have jammed. And then she slipped down for a knife."

  "Of course. Of course. Well, we shall never know. And I don't suppose we should be any the better for it if we did. As I said before, I wish I could stop this inquest but I can't. I'm trying to arrange it for Tuesday morning, and it will be as short as possible. Just a formal matter. But I'm afraid we shan't be able to keep the reporters out of it."

  There was another silence. I judged the time had come to push back my chair.

  "Shall we go into the garden?" I said.

  We all stood up, and then I led the way to the terrace. Colonel Julyan patted Jasper.

  "He's grown into a nice-looking dog," he said.

  "Yes," I said.

  "They make nice pets," he said.

  "Yes," I said.

  We stood about for a minute. Then he glanced at his watch. "Thank you for your most excellent lunch," he said. "I have rather a busy afternoon in front of me, and I hope you will excuse me dashing away."

  "Of course," I said.

  "I'm so very sorry this should have happened. You have all my sympathy. I consider it's almost harder for you than for your husband. However, once the inquest is over you must both forget all about it."