The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith: A Golden Age Mystery

by Patricia Wentworth

  Henry’s face seemed to have grown rigid. “It’s impossible,” he said in a low voice.

  The clock above them struck ten, and he waited till the last stroke had died away.

  “I don’t know quite what to say to you, but what-ever I say is confidential. You’ve heard my mother talk of the Luttrells, and you may or may not know that my uncle died a year ago. You have also probably heard that his son, my Cousin Anthony, disappeared into the blue in 1915.”

  “Then Luttrell Marches belongs to you?” For the life of her, Jane could not keep a little consternation out of her voice.

  “No. If Tony had been missing for seven years, I could apply for leave to presume his death, but there’s another year to run. My mother—every one—supposes that I am only waiting until the time is up. As a matter of fact—Jane, I’m telling you what I haven’t told my mother—Anthony Luttrell is alive.”

  “Where?”

  “I can’t tell you. And you must please forget what I have told you—unless—”

  “Unless?”

  “Unless you have to remember it,” said Henry in an odd voice. “For the rest, Luttrell Marches was let during my uncle’s lifetime to Sir William Carr-Magnus. You know who I mean?”

  “The Sir William Carr-Magnus?” said Jane, and Henry nodded.

  Jane felt absolutely dazed. Sir William Carr-Magnus, the great chemist, great philanthropist, and Government expert!

  “He is engaged,” said Henry, “on a series of most important investigations and experiments which he is conducting on behalf of the Government. The extreme seclusion of Luttrell Marches, and the lonely country all round are, of course, exactly what is required under the circumstances.”

  Quite suddenly Jane began to laugh.

  “It’s all mad,” she said, “but I’ve quite made up my mind. Renata shall elope, and I will go to Luttrell Marches. It will be better than the workhouse anyhow. You know, Henry, seriously, I have a lot of qualifications for being a sleuth. Jimmy taught me simply heaps of languages, I’ve got eyes like gimlets, and I can do lip-reading.”

  “What?”

  “Yes, I can. Jimmy had a perfectly deaf house-keeper, and it worried him to hear us shouting at each other, so I had her taught, and learned myself for fun.”

  Henry crossed to the bookcase and came back with a photograph album in his hand. Taking a loose card from between the pages, he put it down in front of Jane, saying:

  “There you may as well make your host’s acquaintance.”

  Jane looked long at the face which was sufficiently well known to the public. The massive head, the great brow with eyes set very deep beneath shaggy tufts of hair, the rather hard mouth—all these were already familiar to her, and yet she looked long. After a few moments’ hesitation, Henry put a second photograph upon the top of the first, and this time Jane caught her breath. It was the picture of a woman in evening dress. The neck and shoulders were like those of a statue, beautiful and, as it were, rigid. But it was the beauty of the face that took Jane’s breath away—that and a certain look in the eyes. The word hungry came into her mind and stayed there. A woman with proud lips and hungry eyes, and the most beautiful face in the world.

  “Who is it?” she asked.

  “Raymond Carr-Magnus. She is Lady Heritage, and a widow now—Sir William’s only child. He gave her a boy’s name and a boy’s education—brought her up to take his place, and found himself with a lovely woman on his hands. This was done from Amory’s portrait of her in 1915—the year of her marriage. She was at one time engaged to my Cousin Anthony. If you do go to Luttrell Marches, you will see her, for she makes her home with Sir William.”

  Henry’s voice was perfectly expressionless. The short sentences followed one another with a little pause after each. Jane looked sideways, and said very quick and low:

  “Were you very fond of her, Henry?”

  And when she had said it, her heart beat and her hands gripped one another.

  Henry took the photograph from her lap.

  “I said she was engaged to Tony.”

  “Yes, Henry, but were you fond of her?”

  “Confound you, Jane. Yes, I was.”

  “Well, I don’t wonder.”

  Jane rose to her feet.

  “I must be going,” she said. “I have an assignation with Arnold Todhunter, who is going to take me up a fire-escape and substitute me for Renata.”

  Henry took out a pocket-book.

  “Will you give me Molloy’s address, please?” And when she had given it: “You know, my good girl, there’s nothing on earth to prevent my having that flat raided and your cousin’s deposition taken.”

  “No, of course not,” said Jane—“only then nobody will go down to Luttrell Marches and find out what’s going on there.”

  She looked straight at Henry as she spoke.

  “I’m going, whatever you say, and whatever you do, and I only came to you because—”

  “Because—”

  “Well, it seemed so sort of lonesome going off into situations of deadly peril with no one taking the very slightest interest.”

  Jane’s voice shook absurdly on the last word. And in an instant Henry had his arm round her and was saying, “Jane—Jane—you shan’t go, you shan’t.”

  Jane stepped back. Her eyes blazed. “And why?” she said.

  She tried to say it icily, but she could not steady her voice. Henry’s arm felt solid and comfortable.

  “Because I’m damned if I’ll let you,” said Henry very loud, and upon that the door opened and there entered Mrs. de Luttrelle March, larger, pinker, and more horrified than Jane had ever seen her. She, for her part, beheld Henry, his arms about a shabby girl, and her horror reached its climax when she recognised the girl as “that dreadfully designing Jane Smith.”

  “Henry,” she gasped—“oh, Henry!”

  Jane released herself with a jerk, and Mrs. de Luttrelle March sat down in the nearest chair and burst into a flood of tears. Her purple satin opera cloak fell away, disclosing a peach-coloured garment that clung to her plump contours and seemed calculated rather for purposes of revelation than concealment. Large tears rolled down her powdered cheeks, and she sought in vain for a handkerchief.

  “Henry—I didn’t think it of you—at least not here, not under my very roof. And if you were going to break my heart like your father, it would have been kinder to do it ten years ago, because then I should have known what to expect, and anyhow, I should probably have been dead by now.”

  She sniffed and made a desperate gesture.

  “Oh, Henry, I can’t find it! Haven’t you got one, or don’t you care whether my heart’s broken? And I haven’t even got a handkerchief to cry with.”

  Henry produced a handkerchief and gave it to her without attempting to speak. Years of experience had taught him that to stay his mother’s first flood of words was an impossibility.

  Jane felt rather sick. Mrs. March was so very large and pink, and the whole affair so very undignified, that her one overmastering desire was to get away. She heard Henry’s “This is Miss Smith, Mother. She came to see me on business”; and then Mrs. March’s wail, “Your father always called it business too, and I didn’t think—no, I didn’t think you’d bring a girl in here when my back was turned.”

  Jane stood up very straight, but Henry had taken her hand again.

  “I beg your pardon,” he said, in a very low voice. “She—she had a rotten time when she was young” then, in a tone that cut through Mrs. March’s sobs as an east wind cuts the rain, he said:

  “My dear mother, you are making some extraordinary mistake. The last time that I saw Miss Smith was three years ago. I then asked her to marry me, and she refused. I would go on asking her every day from now to kingdom come if I thought that it was the slightest good. As it isn’t, I am only anxious to be of use to her in any possible way. She came here to-night to ask my advice on an official matter.”

  Mrs. March fixed her very large blue eyes up
on her son. They were swimming with tears, but behind the tears there was something which suddenly went to Jane’s heart—something bewildered and hurt, and rather ungrown-up.

  “You always were a good boy, Henry,” said Mrs. March, and Henry’s instant rigid embarrassment had the effect of cheering Jane. She came forward and took the limp white hand that still clutched a borrowed handkerchief.

  “I’m sure he’ll always be a good son to you, and I wouldn’t take him away from you for the world. He’s just a very kind friend. Good-night, Mrs. March.”

  She went out without looking back, but Henry followed her into the hall.

  “You’re not really going to plunge into this foolish affair?” he said as they stood for a moment by the door. It was Jane who opened it.

  “Yes, I am, Henry. You can’t stop me, and you know it.”

  Jane’s eyes looked straight into his, and Henry did know.

  “Very well, then. Read the agony column in The Times. If I want you to have a message, it will be there, signed with the day of the week on which it appears. You understand? If the message is in The Times of Wednesday, it will be signed, ‘Wednesday.’ And if there are directions in the message, you will obey them implicitly.”

  “How thrilling,” said Jane.

  “Is it?”

  Henry looked very tired.

  “I don’t know if I’ve done right, but I can’t tell you any more just now. By the way, Molloy’s flat will be watched, and I shall know whether you go to Luttrell Marches or not. Good-bye, Jane.”

  “Good-bye, Henry.”

  Henry watched the lift disappear.

  Chapter Four

  “This,” said Arnold Todhunter, “is the fire-escape.” His tone was that of one who says, “This is our Rembrandt.” Proud proprietorship pervaded his entire atmosphere.

  “Ssh!” said Jane.

  They stood together in a small back-yard. It seemed to be quite full of things like barrows, paving-stones, old tin cans, and broken crockery. Jane had already tripped over a meat tin and collided with two chicken coops and a dog kennel. She reflected that this was just the sort of back-yard Arnold would find.

  Everything was very dark. The blackest shadow of all marked the wall that they were to climb. Here and there a lighted window showed, and Jane could see that these windows had rounded parapets jutting out on a level with the sill.

  Arnold, meanwhile, was tugging at something which seemed to be a short plank.

  “What on earth?” she whispered.

  “We shall need it. I’d better go first.”

  And forthwith he began to climb, clutching the plank with one hand and the iron ladder with the other.

  Jane let him get a good start, and followed.

  The ladder was quite easy to climb; it was only when one thought of how immensely far away the skyline had looked, that it seemed as if it would be very uncomfortable to look down instead of up, and to see that horrid little yard equally far below.

  Jane did look down once, and everything was black and blurred and shadowy. It was odd to be clinging to the side of a house, with the dark all round one, and the steady roar of the London traffic dulled almost to nothingness.

  The night was very still, and a little cold. Some-where below amongst the tin cans a cat said, “Grrrwoosh,” not loud, but on a softly inquiring note. The inquiry was instantly answered by a long, piercing wail which travelled rapidly over four octaves, and then dwelt with soulful intensity upon an agonising top note.

  With a muttered exclamation, Arnold Todhunter dropped his plank. It grazed Jane’s shoulder, and fell among the cats and crockery with a most appalling clatter.

  Jane shut her eyes, gripped the ladder desperately, and wondered whether she would fall first and be arrested afterwards, or the other way about. Nothing happened. Apparently the neighbourhood was inured to the bombardment of cats.

  After a moment Jane became aware of Arnold’s boots in close proximity to her head. A wave of fury swept away her giddiness, and she began to descend with a rapidity which surprised herself.

  Once more they stood in the yard.

  Once more Arnold groped for his plank.

  “I’m going up first,” said Jane, in a low tone of rage. “I won’t be guillotined on a public fire-escape. Which floor is it?”

  “The top,” said Arnold sulkily, and without more ado Jane went up the ladder.

  It was exactly like a rather horrid dream. The ladder was very cold and very gritty, and you climbed, and climbed, and went on climbing without arriving anywhere.

  Pictures of the Eiffel Tower and New York skyscrapers flitted through Jane’s mind. She also remembered interesting paragraphs about how many million pennies placed on end would reach to the moon. And at long, long last the escape ended at a window-sill with a parapet-enclosed space beneath it.

  Jane sat down on the window-sill and shut her eyes tight. She had a horrid feeling that the building was rocking a little. After a moment Arnold crawled over the edge of the coping, dragging his plank. He was panting.

  “This,” he said, with his mouth close to Jane’s ear—“this window only leads to the landing where the lift shaft ends. We’ve got to get across to the next one, which is inside Molloy’s flat. That’s what the plank is for.”

  “You’re blowing down my neck,” said Jane.

  Arnold Todhunter felt that he had never met a girl whom he disliked so much. Extraordinary that she should look so like Renata and be so different.

  He knelt just inside the parapet, and pushed the board slowly out into the dark until it rested on the parapet of the next window.

  “Will you go first, or shall I?” he whispered.

  “I will.”

  Jane felt sure that, if she had to watch Arnold balancing on that plank miles above the ground, she would never be able to cross it herself.

  The reflection that it was Renata, and not she, who would have to make the descent fortified her considerably. Even so, she never quite knew how she crossed to the other window. It was an affair of clenched teeth and a mind that shut out resolutely everything except the next groping clutch of the hand—the next carefully taken step.

  She sank against the window-sill and heard Arnold follow her. Just at the end he slipped; he seemed to change his feet, and then with a heavy thud pitched down on the top of Jane.

  She thought he said “Damn!” and she was quite sure that she said “Idiot!”

  There was an awful moment while they listened for the fall of the plank, but it held to the coping by a bare half-inch.

  “Thank goodness I’m not Renata!” said Jane, with heartfelt sincerity. And—

  “Thank goodness, you’re not!” returned Mr. Todhunter, with equal fervour, and at that moment the window opened.

  There was a little sobbing gasp, and a girl was clinging to Arnold Todhunter and whispering:

  “Darling—darling, I thought you’d never come.”

  Arnold crawled through the open window, and from the pitch-black hall there came the sounds of demonstrative affection.

  “Good gracious me, there’s no accounting for tastes!” said Jane, under her breath. And she too climbed down into the darkness.

  Arnold appeared to be trying to explain Jane to Renata, whilst Renata alternated between sobs and kisses.

  Jane lost her temper, suddenly and completely.

  “For goodness’ sake, you two, come where there’s a light, and where we can talk sense. Every minute you waste is just asking for trouble. What’s that room with the light?”

  It is difficult to be impressive in a low whisper, but Renata did stop kissing Arnold.

  “My bedroom,” she said—“I’m supposed to be locked in.”

  Jane groped in the dark and got Renata by the arm.

  “Come along in there and talk to me. We’ve got to talk. Arnold can wait outside the window. I don’t want him in the least. You’re going to spend the rest of your life with him in Bolivia, so you needn’t worry. I simply won’t
have him whilst we are talking.”

  Arnold loathed Jane, a little more, but Renata allowed herself to be detached from him with a sob.

  Inside the lighted bedroom the two girls looked at one another in an amazed silence.

  In height and contour, feature and colouring, the likeness was without a flaw.

  Facing them was a small wardrobe of painted wood. A narrow panel of looking-glass formed the door. The two figures were reflected in it, and Jane, tossing her hat on to the bed, studied them there with a long, careful scrutiny.

  The same brown hair, growing in the same odd peak upon the forehead, the same arch to the brow, the same greenish-hazel eyes. Renata’s face was tear-stained, her eyelids red and swollen—“but that’s exactly how I look when I cry,” said Jane. She set her hand by Renata’s hand, her foot by Renata’s foot. The same to a shade.

  The other girl watched her with bewildered eyes.

  “Speak—say something,” said Jane.

  “What shall I say?”

  “Anything—the multiplication table, the days of the week—I want to hear your voice.”

  Oh, Jane, what an odd girl you are!” said Renata—“and don’t you think Arnold had better come in? It must be awfully cold out there.”

  “Presently,” said Jane. “It’s very hard to tell, but I believe that our voices are as much alike as the rest of us.”

  She opened her bag, and took out The List and a pencil.

  “Now, write something—I don’t care what.”

  Renata wrote her own name, and then, after a pause, “It is a fine day.”

  “Quite like,” said Jane, “but nearly all girls do write the same hand now. I can manage that. Now, tell me, where were you at school?”

  “Miss Bazing’s, Ilfracombe.”

  “When did you leave?”

  “Two months ago.”

  “Have you been in America?”

  “Not since I was five.”

  “Anywhere else out of England?”