Having finished a late and lazy breakfast next morning, Roger ascended
to his father's room. He found the old man lying tranquil if weak, his
temperature fallen to normal with that curious abruptness
characteristic of typhoid. The nurse, very fresh in a clean apron and
cap, was putting the room to rights. She smiled at Roger, who was no
longer a stranger, for the two had had a long talk over their coffee
the evening before, and later, with Miss Clifford, had indulged in a
little mild cutthroat bridge.
"The doctor said something to me last night about your wanting the safe
opened," ventured Roger, after several minutes' conversation with the
invalid, during which no mention was made of the matter in question.
The old man's face looked blank, he appeared struggling to recall. At
last he nodded slowly.
"I believe I did speak of it, though it's not of great importance. It
occurred to me I might as well glance through the will I drew up two
years ago. I made a slight alteration in it this winter, which I want
to speak to you about, but I'll look through it first. Something
Sartorius said reminded me of it."
Roger felt relieved. There was no evidence of his father's expecting
an immediate decease; he seemed calm and fairly cheerful.
"Right you are. I'll attend to it now, if you'll tell me the
combination."
"Give me a piece of paper; I'll write it down."
Roger handed him an envelope and his fountain pen, and watched while
the ill man laboriously traced the figures of a simple combination.
"You will find the will in the top left-hand pigeon-hole," Sir Charles
instructed him, lying back once more and wearily closing his eyes.
In the dressing-room Roger discovered Esther, occupied in arranging
flowers.
"Here's what you are looking for," she told him. "It's been moved to
make room for my diet-kitchen."
She indicated a small safe almost hidden by a white-tiled refrigerator
and an enamelled stand which bore a spirit-lamp and an array of shining
saucepans.
Roger knelt on the floor and examined the knobs and dial. Then,
raising his head, he sniffed the air, his nostrils detecting an elusive
fragrance, exotic, vaguely familiar.
"There seems a good deal of scent about here," he remarked. "It isn't
yours, is it?"
Somehow she didn't look as if she would use that particular perfume, or
indeed any perfume, while in working clothes. She laughed and shook
her head.
"Oh, no, it's not mine. It's Lady Clifford's. I could tell it
anywhere now."
"I can't see where it comes from."
"I'll tell you. When I arrived I found one of her handkerchiefs on the
floor behind the refrigerator. You wouldn't think an odour could be so
lasting, would you?"
He busied himself with the combination.
"I suppose she had been in here seeing about the milk. My aunt says
she used to look after that matter before my father was taken ill."
"Who, Lady Clifford? Did she?"
He did not look up, and so missed the brief, faintly puzzled expression
that flitted over her face as she stopped in the doorway with a vase of
tulips in her hands.
As it happened, she was wondering over this fresh instance of Lady
Clifford's solicitude for her husband's welfare, and trying to make it
fit in with the idea that had come to her on the previous day. More
than ever the Frenchwoman appeared to her a mass of contradictions; try
as she would she felt she could never fathom her....
A moment later Roger brought a narrow folded document and handed it to
his father.
"Is this it?"
"Yes, quite right. Lay it here on the bed beside me. I'll run over it
presently. I suppose you'll be off somewhere now?"
"I thought of running down to the tennis-courts on the chance of
getting a few sets. I'll not be back for lunch."
"Know anyone to play with?"
"Yes; I ran into Graham and Marjory Kent at the Casino yesterday. They
said they'd bring a fourth."
"Well, make the most of your holiday. You've earned it."
It was high praise. In this one simple sentence the old fellow, hard,
undemonstrative, more than a bit "Lancashire," expressed the utmost
approval of which he was capable. Understanding what it meant, Roger
glowed with appreciation, yet he contented himself with a bare
"Thanks," because anything more would have caused his father acute
embarrassment.
Esther, who had been in the room, now withdrew in quest of more
flowers. When she was out of earshot the invalid spoke, with a slight
movement of the head in her direction.
"Nice girl, that," he said laconically.
For an instant his son's eyes met his.
"I'm inclined to share your opinion," the younger man agreed with
conviction. After a moment's hesitation he strode quickly across the
room and re-entered the dressing-room.
"Miss Rowe!" he called.
She was in the bathroom beyond, washing her hands free of
flower-stains. She looked up in some surprise to find the son of the
house beside her.
"What time do you have free?" he demanded abruptly.
"Oh, an hour or so in the afternoon. I usually go out for a walk."
She shook her dripping fingers and reached for a towel. He noticed
that her hands, though slender and long, were firm and capable as
well--the sort of hands he admired in a woman.
"I see. Then supposing I came straight back from the courts after
lunch, would you care to come for a drive with me? It wouldn't bore
you?"
"Bore me! What do you think?"
There was no doubt as to her genuine delight. Her eyes shone, the
flecks of red deepened in her cheeks.
"Right-o! That's understood, then."
He grasped her still damp hand and was gone, leaving her with a slight
feeling of confusion the reverse of unpleasant. She continued drying
her hands, slowly, painstakingly, her thoughts far away. She was
realising a most important fact, namely, that never before with any man
of her acquaintance had she experienced a similar elation, a like
breathless flutter of the pulses. She had had more than one proposal
of marriage; perhaps if she had ever felt like this...
Her cheeks were warm when she came back to her patient, and she was a
little self-conscious when she saw the shrewd old eyes fix themselves
upon her with a quizzical but not unkindly gleam.
"You're much better to-day, aren't you?" she remarked to cover her
confusion. "I'm so glad--I'm feeling very pleased with you. Your
temperature is coming down nicely; you must just keep it up and you'll
be well before you know it."
It was true, she felt personal triumph and gratification in the
progress he was making. It was as if she were definitely fighting for
him against those malevolent wishes in which she had begun to believe,
so that his continued improvement was "one up" for her side. Yet what
an anomaly Lady Clifford presented! Why the elaborate pretence of
caring for her husband, brought to the point of preparing his milk for
him? It wasn't what one would have expected of her. Had she done it
to throw dust in the eyes of his sister and himself, so that she could
the more safely indulge her friendship with Captain Holliday? No doubt
that was it. Unless, of course, she herself had made a mistake, was
doing the young wife a gross injustice.
"Perhaps I'm too quick at jumping at conclusions," Esther reflected.
"What have I got to go on except an expression on Lady Clifford's face
when she didn't know I was watching her? In any case, she's doing her
utmost for him; I've even heard her say if he got worse she was going
to call a consultation. There's the proof, right there. Why should I
worry?"
Whether from the firmness of her resolution or from the prospect of the
drive in the afternoon, she did succeed in banishing the whole matter
from her thoughts. She was happy at the anticipation of seeing
something of the neighbouring countryside, happier still to think that
Roger Clifford had cared to invite her to go with him. Her experience
with men had taught her the great if simple truth that they did not ask
one from a sense of duty.
She had just settled her patient for his afternoon nap when Roger
returned, warm and sunburned.
"Get ready as soon as you can," he bade her. "Let's make the most of
the sunshine. Put on a warm coat; the car's an open one."
In ten minutes' time she was seated beside him in the little Citroën,
speeding along smooth roads out into the country. After the
confinement of her work she felt gloriously exhilarated, leaning back
with the sharp wind in her face, revelling in the view of the
mountains, enthusiastic as a child.
"I suppose you've been to Nice and Monte Carlo?" he suggested.
"Me? Indeed I haven't; I've not been anywhere yet. I came here with a
patient, and exactly a week later I started to work for Dr. Sartorius."
"Then you've everything before you. How I wish I could take you about
sight-seeing a bit! If only these places were a trifle nearer! ...
Still, when my father is convalescent we must see what can be done."
"It would be heavenly! It's so stupid going alone, hardly any fun at
all.... Of course, I don't know what the doctor would think if I began
running about like that. He probably wouldn't approve."
"Do you like him?" asked her companion suddenly.
"Dr. Sartorius?" she replied, knitting her brows. "I hardly know....
I suppose the fact is I neither like nor dislike him. I admire him
very much indeed; I think he's a frightfully clever physician and
scientist."
"But as a man?"
"I don't believe he is a man, quite," she laughed. "At least, one
can't exactly think of him as one."
"That's how he strikes me. Yet I suppose no one can be as phlegmatic
as he seems; there must be a spark of enthusiasm in him somewhere."
"Oh, but there is! Don't you know? He absolutely lives for research;
it's the one thing he takes an interest in. He practises medicine to
make a living, but he devotes every spare minute to hunting for
anti-toxins."
"Does he indeed? I know my aunt thinks very highly of him, but I'm
glad you do, too. Your opinion is worth something."
The time passed with amazing quickness, as they discovered when they
consulted their watches.
"Must you go back at once?" Roger asked as he tentatively reversed the
car and slowly headed for home.
"I don't want to be late," she said with a sigh. "It's my first case
here; I must be on my best behaviour! But--I've just thought of
something. Would it be very far out of our way if we went to the
doctor's villa in the Route de Grasse? I left my French lesson-books
there, and I'd like to fetch them."
"We can do it easily; only show me the house."
Before long they came in sight of the villa, which looked as tidy, as
smug and non-committal as it had done when she first approached it some
weeks ago. Alighting quickly from the car, Esther rang the bell and
waited, expecting momentarily to see the friendly Jacques answer the
summons. There was, however, no response.
"Is anyone staying here?" asked Roger.
"Yes, the doctor's servant, but he may have gone out."
She rang again; from the distant kitchen they could hear the faint
persistent peal.
"The place looks deserted for the moment, at any rate," Roger remarked,
gazing up at the closed windows.
With a sudden wry smile, Esther fished in her bag and produced a
latch-key.
"Isn't it stupid of me? I'd forgotten I still had it. I've meant
daily to give it back to the doctor, but I never think of it at the
right moment."
She fitted the key into the Yale lock, and in another moment the two
were standing inside the dim and chilly hall, looking about them. A
few circulars lay in a heap on the floor, there was a film of dust on
the polished parquet. A man's overcoat and hat adorned the rack. From
the salon a clock ticked loudly.
"Gloomy place, this," commented Roger, glancing into the cold and
orderly salon. "Makes me think of funerals."
"Yes, that room is always like that, only used as a reception-room for
patients."
She flung open the door of the salle à manger and entered, then
stopped, looking about her.
"This looks as though Jacques had been entertaining his friends," she
said, pointing to the collection of bottles on the sideboard and the
syphon and whisky decanter on the table.
"By Jove, it does!"
Roger ran his eyes over the miniature bar.
"Martini vermouth, Noilly Prat, Gordon gin, Angostura, Bacardi rum,
absinthe--pre-war, at that. If your Jacques mixes all these drinks----"
"I never saw Jacques take anything except a little _vin ordinaire_,"
Esther replied, shaking her head. "But there have certainly been two
people here, whoever they were, for here are their two glasses."
As she spoke she picked up the tumblers from the table one after the
other and examined them thoughtfully. One, she discovered, had had
only soda-water in it, there was a little in the bottom now, with a
cigarette-end floating about--a cigarette with a red tip, half uncurled
from the wet. She frowned at it for a moment, then went to the
book-shelves in search of her books, which she discovered among a pile
of medical journals.
"Here they are. Shall we go?"
Roger was examining the tumbler she had recently set down.
"Jacques also seems to have a nice taste in cigarettes," he remarked.
"Extravagant fellow altogether."
He indicated the floor, which was littered with stubs, mostly
cork-tipped, though there was an occasional scarlet tip here and there.
"Jacques smokes only those cheap Marylands that come in a blue packet,"
Esther replied, laughing. "You see I'm acquainted with all his habits.
No, I can't believe it is Jacques who's been here; it looks as
though..."
She stopped and, bending down, picked up a tiny object from the rug.
"There was a woman, at any rate," she mused, with a considerable degree
of curiosity in her voice, "for here is a hairpin."
It was a little bronze one of the "invisible" sort. Utterly unable to
comprehend any woman's being in this house, she turned the hairpin over
wonderingly. Then she noticed that her companion was staring up at the
ceiling with a frown on his face.
"S'sh," he cautioned, laving a hand on her arm. "I thought I heard..."
"_Who the hell is that down there? Answer, or I'll shoot!_"
They jumped guiltily, astonished at the sudden angry voice that
thundered upon them from the upper regions of the house.
"Goodness!" whispered Esther, gazing at Roger with round eyes. "Who do
you suppose----"
"I say, whose bloody business is it to prowl about down there? Here,
show yourselves, damn you!"
It was a man's voice, at once sleepy and peevish.
"Who on earth is it?"
"I'll soon see."
Roger pushed the door wide and strode into the hall, Esther closely
following.