’d From Side to Side

CHAPTER 4

Mrs Bantry stepped back a foot or two, surveyed herself in the glass, made a slight adjustment to her hat (she was not used to wearing hats), drew on a pair of good quality leather gloves and left the lodge, closing the door carefully behind her. She had the most pleasurable anticipations of what lay in front of her. Some three weeks had passed since her talk with Miss Marple. Marina Gregg and her husband had arrived at Gossington Hall and were now more or less installed there.

There was to be a meeting there this afternoon of the main persons involved in the arrangements for the fête in aid of the St John Ambulance. Mrs Bantry was not among those on the committee, but she had received a note from Marina Gregg asking her to come and have tea beforehand. It had recalled their meeting in California and had been signed, ‘Cordially, Marina Gregg.’ It had been handwritten, not typewritten. There is no denying that Mrs Bantry was both pleased and flattered. After all, a celebrated film star is a celebrated film star and elderly ladies, though they may be of local importance, are aware of their complete unimportance in the world of celebrities. So Mrs Bantry had the pleased feeling of a child for whom a special treat had been arranged.

As she walked up the drive Mrs Bantry’s keen eyes went from side to side registering her impressions. The place had been smartened up since the days when it had passed from hand to hand. ‘No expense spared,’ said Mrs Bantry to herself, nodding in satisfaction. The drive afforded no view of the flower garden and for that Mrs Bantry was just as pleased. The flower garden and its special herbaceous border had been her own particular delight in the far-off days when she had lived at Gossington Hall. She permitted regretful and nostalgic memories of her irises. The best iris garden of any in the country, she told herself with a fierce pride.

Faced by a new front door in a blaze of new paint she pressed the bell. The door was opened with gratifying promptness by what was undeniably an Italian butler. She was ushered by him straight to the room which had been Colonel Bantry’s library. This, as she had already heard, had been thrown into one with the study. The result was impressive. The walls were panelled, the floor was parquet. At one end was a grand piano and halfway along the wall was a superb record player. At the other end of the room was a small island, as it were, which comprised Persian rugs, a tea-table and some chairs. By the tea-table sat Marina Gregg, and leaning against the mantelpiece was what Mrs Bantry at first thought to be the ugliest man she had ever seen.

Just a few moments previously when Mrs Bantry’s hand had been advanced to press the bell, Marina Gregg had been saying in a soft, enthusiastic voice, to her husband:

‘This place is right for me, Jinks, just right. It’s what I’ve always wanted. Quiet. English quiet and the English countryside. I can see myself living here, living here all my life if need be. And we’ll adopt the English way of life. We’ll have afternoon tea every afternoon with China tea and my lovely Georgian tea service. And we’ll look out of the window on those lawns and that English herbaceous border. I’ve come home at last, that’s what I feel. I feel that I can settle down here, that I can be quiet and happy. It’s going to be home, this place. That’s what I feel. Home.’

And Jason Rudd (known to his wife as Jinks) had smiled at her. It was an acquiescent smile, indulgent, but it held its reserve because, after all, he had heard it very often before. Perhaps this time it would be true. Perhaps this was the place that Marina Gregg might feel at home. But he knew her early enthusiasms so well. She was always so sure that at last she had found exactly what she wanted. He said in his deep voice:

‘That’s grand, honey. That’s just grand. I’m glad you like it.’

‘Like it? I adore it. Don’t you adore it too?’

‘Sure,’ said Jason Rudd. ‘Sure.’

It wasn’t too bad, he reflected to himself. Good, solidly built, rather ugly Victorian. It had, he admitted, a feeling of solidity and security. Now that the worst of its fantastic inconveniences had been ironed out, it would be quite reasonably comfortable to live in. Not a bad place to come back to from time to time. With luck, he thought, Marina wouldn’t start taking a dislike to it for perhaps two years to two years and a half. It all depended.

Marina said, sighing softly:

‘It’s so wonderful to feel well again. Well and strong. Able to cope with things.’

And he said again: ‘Sure, honey, sure.’

And it was at that moment that the door opened and the Italian butler had ushered in Mrs Bantry.

Marina Gregg’s welcome was all that was charming. She came forward, hands outstretched, saying how delightful it was to meet Mrs Bantry again. And what a coincidence that they should have met that time in San Francisco and that two years later she and Jinks should actually buy the house that had once belonged to Mrs Bantry. And she did hope, she really did hope that Mrs Bantry wouldn’t mind terribly the way they’d pulled the house about and done things to it and she hoped she wouldn’t feel that they were terrible intruders living here.

‘Your coming to live here is one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to this place,’ said Mrs Bantry cheerfully and she looked towards the mantelpiece. Whereupon, almost as an afterthought, Marina Gregg said:

‘You don’t know my husband, do you? Jason, this is Mrs Bantry.’

Mrs Bantry looked at Jason Rudd with some interest. Her first impression that this was one of the ugliest men she had ever seen became qualified. He had interesting eyes. They were, she thought, more deeply sunk in his head than any eyes she had seen. Deep quiet pools, said Mrs Bantry to herself, and felt like a romantic lady novelist. The rest of his face was distinctly craggy, almost ludicrously out of proportion. His nose jutted upwards and a little red paint would have transformed it into the nose of a clown very easily. He had, too, a clown’s big sad mouth. Whether he was at this moment in a furious temper or whether he always looked as though he were in a furious temper she did not quite know. His voice when he spoke was unexpectedly pleasant. Deep and slow.

‘A husband,’ he said, ‘is always an afterthought. But let me say with my wife that we’re very glad to welcome you here. I hope you don’t feel that it ought to be the other way about.’

‘You must get it out of your head,’ said Mrs Bantry, ‘that I’ve been driven forth from my old home. It never was my old home. I’ve been congratulating myself ever since I sold it. It was a most inconvenient house to run. I liked the garden but the house became more and more of a worry. I’ve had a perfectly splendid time ever since, travelling abroad and going and seeing my married daughters and my grandchildren and my friends in all different parts of the world.’

‘Daughters,’ said Marina Gregg, ‘you have daughters and sons?’

‘Two sons and two daughters,’ said Mrs Bantry, ‘and pretty widely spaced. One in Kenya, one in South Africa. One near Texas and the other, thank goodness, in London.’

‘Four,’ said Marina Gregg. ‘Four—and grandchildren?’

‘Nine up to date,’ said Mrs Bantry. ‘It’s great fun being a grandmother. You don’t have any of the worry of parental responsibility. You can spoil them in the most unbridled way—’

Jason Rudd interrupted her. ‘I’m afraid the sun catches your eyes,’ he said, and went to a window to adjust the blind. ‘You must tell us all about this delightful village,’ he said as he came back.

He handed her a cup of tea.

‘Will you have a hot scone or a sandwich, or this cake? We have an Italian cook and she makes quite good pastry and cakes. You see we have quite taken to your English afternoon tea.’

‘Delicious tea too,’ said Mrs Bantry, sipping the fragrant beverage.

Marina Gregg smiled and looked pleased. The sudden nervous movement of her fingers which Jason Rudd’s eyes had noticed a minute or two previously, was stilled again. Mrs Bantry looked at her hostess with great admiration. Marina Gregg’s heyday had been before the rise to supreme importance of vital statistics. She could not have been described as Sex Incarnate, or ‘The Bust’ or ‘The Torso’. She had been long and slim and willowy. The bones of her face and head had had some of the beauty associated with those of Garbo. She had brought personality to her pictures rather than mere sex. The sudden turn of her head, the opening of the deep lovely eyes, the faint quiver of her mouth, all these were what brought to one suddenly that feeling of breath-taking loveliness that comes not from regularity of feature but from some sudden magic of the flesh that catches the onlooker unawares. She still had this quality though it was not now so easily apparent. Like many film and stage actresses she had what seemed to be a habit of turning off personality at will. She could retire into herself, be quiet, gentle, aloof, disappointing to an eager fan. And then suddenly the turn of the head, the movement of the hands, the sudden smile and the magic was there.

One of her greatest pictures had been Mary, Queen of Scots, and it was of her performance in that picture that Mrs Bantry was reminded now as she watched her. Mrs Bantry’s eye switched to the husband. He too was watching Marina. Off guard for a moment, his face expressed clearly his feelings. ‘Good Lord,’ said Mrs Bantry to herself, ‘the man adores her.’

She didn’t know why she should feel so surprised. Perhaps because film stars and their love affairs and their devotion were so written up in the Press that one never expected to see the real thing with one’s own eyes. On an impulse she said:

‘I do hope you’ll enjoy it here and that you’ll be able to stay here some time. Do you expect to have the house for long?’

Marina opened wide surprised eyes as she turned her head. ‘I want to stay here always,’ she said. ‘Oh, I don’t mean that I shan’t have to go away a lot. I shall, of course. There’s a possibility of making a film in North Africa next year although nothing’s settled yet. No, but this will be my home. I shall come back here. I shall always be able to come back here.’ She sighed. ‘That’s what’s so wonderful. To have found a home at last.’

‘I see,’ said Mrs Bantry, but at the same time she thought to herself, ‘All the same I don’t believe for a moment that it will be like that. I don’t believe you’re the kind that can ever settle down.’

Again she shot a quick surreptitious glance at Jason Rudd. He was not scowling now. Instead he was smiling, a sudden very sweet and unexpected smile, but it was a sad smile. ‘He knows it too,’ thought Mrs Bantry.

The door opened and a woman came in. ‘Bartletts want you on the telephone, Jason,’ she said.

‘Tell them to call back.’

‘They said it was urgent.’

He sighed and rose. ‘Let me introduce you to Mrs Bantry,’ he said. ‘Ella Zielinsky, my secretary.’

‘Have a cup of tea, Ella,’ said Marina as Ella Zielinsky acknowledged the introduction with a smiling ‘Pleased to meet you.’

‘I’ll have a sandwich,’ said Ella. ‘I don’t go for China tea.’

Ella Zielinsky was at a guess thirty-five. She wore a well cut suit, a ruffled blouse and appeared to breathe self-confidence. She had short-cut black hair and a wide forehead.

‘You used to live here, so they tell me,’ she said to Mrs Bantry.

‘It’s a good many years ago now,’ said Mrs Bantry. ‘After my husband’s death I sold it and it’s passed through several hands since then.’

‘Mrs Bantry really says she doesn’t hate the things we’ve done to it,’ said Marina.

‘I should be frightfully disappointed if you hadn’t,’ said Mrs Bantry. ‘I came up here all agog. I can tell you the most splendid rumours have been going around the village.’

‘Never knew how difficult it was to get hold of plumbers in this country,’ said Miss Zielinsky, champing a sandwich in a businesslike way. ‘Not that that’s been really my job,’ she went on.

‘Everything is your job,’ said Marina, ‘and you know it is, Ella. The domestic staff and the plumbing and arguing with the builders.’

‘They don’t seem ever to have heard of a picture window in this country.’

Ella looked towards the window. ‘It’s a nice view, I must admit.’

‘A lovely old-fashioned rural English scene,’ said Marina. ‘This house has got atmosphere.’

‘It wouldn’t look so rural if it wasn’t for the trees,’ said Ella Zielinsky. ‘That housing estate down there grows while you look at it.’

‘That’s new since my time,’ said Mrs Bantry.

‘You mean there was nothing but the village when you lived here?’

Mrs Bantry nodded.

‘It must have been hard to do your shopping.’

‘I don’t think so,’ said Mrs Bantry. ‘I think it was frightfully easy.’

‘I understand having a flower garden,’ said Ella Zielinsky, ‘but you folk over here seem to grow all your vegetables as well. Wouldn’t it be much easier to buy them—there’s a supermarket?’

‘It’s probably coming to that,’ said Mrs Bantry, with a sigh. ‘They don’t taste the same, though.’

‘Don’t spoil the atmosphere, Ella,’ said Marina.

The door opened and Jason looked in. ‘Darling,’ he said to Marina, ‘I hate to bother you but would you mind? They just want your private view about this.’

Marina sighed and rose. She trailed languidly towards the door. ‘Always something,’ she murmured. ‘I’m so sorry, Mrs Bantry. I don’t really think that this will take longer than a minute or two.’

‘Atmosphere,’ said Ella Zielinsky, as Marina went out and closed the door. ‘Do you think the house has got atmosphere?’

‘I can’t say I ever thought of it that way,’ said Mrs Bantry. ‘It was just a house. Rather inconvenient in some ways and very nice and cosy in other ways.’

‘That’s what I should have thought,’ said Ella Zielinsky. She cast a quick direct look at Mrs Bantry. ‘Talking of atmosphere, when did the murder take place here?’

‘No murder ever took place here,’ said Mrs Bantry.

‘Oh come now. The stories I’ve heard. There are always stories, Mrs Bantry. On the hearthrug, right there, wasn’t it?’ said Miss Zielinsky nodding towards the fireplace.

‘Yes,’ said Mrs Bantry. ‘That was the place.’

‘So there was a murder?’

Mrs Bantry shook her head. ‘The murder didn’t take place here. The girl who had been killed was brought here and planted in this room. She’d nothing to do with us.’

Miss Zielinsky looked interested.

‘Possibly you had a bit of difficulty making people believe that?’ she remarked.

‘You’re quite right there,’ said Mrs Bantry.

‘When did you find it?’

‘The housemaid came in in the morning,’ said Mrs Bantry, ‘with early morning tea. We had housemaids then, you know.’

‘I know,’ said Miss Zielinksy, ‘wearing print dresses that rustled.’

‘I’m not sure about the print dress,’ said Mrs Bantry, ‘it may have been overalls by then. At any rate, she burst in and said there was a body in the library. I said “nonsense”, then I woke up my husband and we came down to see.’

‘And there it was,’ said Miss Zielinsky. ‘My, the way things happen.’ She turned her head sharply towards the door and then back again. ‘Don’t talk about it to Miss Gregg, if you don’t mind,’ she said. ‘It’s not good for her, that sort of thing.’

‘Of course. I won’t say a word,’ said Mrs Bantry. ‘I never do talk about it, as a matter of fact. It all happened so long ago. But won’t she—Miss Gregg I mean—won’t she hear it anyway?’

‘She doesn’t come very much in contact with reality,’ said Ella Zielinsky. ‘Film stars can lead a fairly insulated life, you know. In fact very often one has to take care that they do. Things upset them. Things upset her. She’s been seriously ill the last year or two, you know. She only started making a comeback a year ago.’

‘She seems to like the house,’ said Mrs Bantry, ‘and to feel she will be happy here.’

‘I expect it’ll last a year or two,’ said Ella Zielinsky.

‘Not longer than that?’

‘Well, I rather doubt it. Marina is one of those people, you know, who are always thinking they’ve found their heart’s desire. But life isn’t as easy as that, is it?’

‘No,’ said Mrs Bantry forcefully, ‘it isn’t.’

‘It’ll mean a lot to him if she’s happy here,’ said Miss Zielinsky. She ate two more sandwiches in an absorbed, rather gobbling fashion in the manner of one who crams food into themselves as though they had an important train to catch. ‘He’s a genius, you know,’ she went on. ‘Have you seen any of the pictures he’s directed?’

Mrs Bantry felt slightly embarrassed. She was of the type of woman who when she went to the cinema went entirely for the picture. The long lists of casts, directors, producers, photography and the rest of it passed her by. Very frequently, indeed, she did not even notice the names of the stars. She was not, however, anxious to call attention to this failing on her part.

‘I get mixed up,’ she said.

‘Of course he’s got a lot to contend with,’ said Ella Zielinsky. ‘He’s got her as well as everything else and she’s not easy. You’ve got to keep her happy, you see; and it’s not really easy, I suppose, to keep people happy. Unless—that is—they—they are—’ she hesitated.

‘Unless they’re the happy kind,’ suggested Mrs Bantry. ‘Some people,’ she added thoughtfully, ‘enjoy being miserable.’

‘Oh, Marina isn’t like that,’ said Ella Zielinsky, shaking her head. ‘It’s more that her ups and downs are so violent. You know—far too happy one moment, far too pleased with everything and delighted with everything and how wonderful she feels. Then of course some little thing happens and down she goes to the opposite extreme.’

‘I suppose that’s temperament,’ said Mrs Bantry vaguely.

‘That’s right,’ said Ella Zielinsky. ‘Temperament. They’ve all got it, more or less, but Marina Gregg has got it more than most people. Don’t we know it! The stories I could tell you!’ She ate the last sandwich. ‘Thank God I’m only the social secretary.’