Latter End

CHAPTER 27

At the sound of footsteps coming from the direction of the hall Miss Silver set down the tumbler she was holding and walked briskly to meet them. It was Julia Vane whom she encountered. It did not escape her that, in addition to being unusually pale, Julia had a look of endurance which had not been there when they met at breakfast. Whatever may have been her errand, Miss Silver forestalled it.

“I should appreciate a short conversation with you, Miss Vane, if you can spare the time.”

She had shut the door behind her. Julia looked past her in that direction.

“I was going to see Mrs. Maniple. Is she in the kitchen?”

Miss Silver shook her head.

“Oh, no-she is still in the study with Sergeant Abbott. I will not detain you for long. Perhaps the drawing-room would be suitable.”

Julia preceded her there in dumb rebellion. The house was no longer their own-it certainly wasn’t Jimmy’s. Their lives, their actions, their time, the words they spoke, the words they dared not speak, were all conditioned by this timeless nightmare in which they lived and moved. She turned, to see Miss Silver looking at her kindly. Her voice too was kind as she said,

“Truth is always best, Miss Julia.”

The bitterness she felt for Manny, for Jimmy, for all of them, came out in her voice as she answered,

“Is it?”

Miss Silver said, “I think so. It is not always easy to see it at the time. That is one of the things which makes the conduct of a murder case so difficult. People with something to conceal persist in trying to conceal it. It may be a serious matter, or it may be quite trifling, but the result is the same-the issues are obscured. People who are habitually truthful are tempted to depart from the truth. They are not usually very successful. It requires a good deal of practice to deceive an experienced police officer. It is much easier, as well as much safer, to tell the truth.”

The words which formed themselves in Julia’s mind dissolved as she looked at Miss Silver. They were what anyone might suppose. “Do you think I’m telling lies? Why should I? I haven’t got anything to hide.” They were in her mind, but they never reached her lips. She looked at Miss Silver, and lost sight of her primness and her dowdy clothes. She didn’t see them any more. She was aware of intelligence and strength. She was intelligent enough herself to recognize these qualities, and strong enough to value them. She said in a quiet, humble voice,

“I’m not hiding anything-really.”

Miss Silver’s smile came out.

“Thank you, my dear. I shall be very glad if you will trust me. Concealments are of no real benefit. The innocent cannot gain by them, nor can the guilty. There is no worse punishment than seeming impunity in crime. That is why I said that truth is best. If you are wondering why I wished to speak to you-it is about Miss Mercer.” She saw all the muscles of Julia’s face go taut, and added, “You see, I heard what she said.”

Julia’s lips were stiff. She had to force them to move. She said,

“What did you hear?”

“I heard her say, ‘What have I done-what have I done?’ ”

“She was asleep-she was dreaming-she was talking in her sleep.”

Miss Silver made a slight inclination of the head.

“Is she in the habit of walking in her sleep?”

“I think she used to-after her father died.”

“Was his death a sudden one?”

Julia nodded.

“Yes-a car accident-at night. It was a great shock.”

“And under similar conditions of grief and shock the sleepwalking has returned. But perhaps I should not have mentioned grief. Perhaps there is no personal grief on Mrs. Latter’s account. You can inform me as to that, can you not? Or, shall I say, you can confirm my impression that Miss Mercer felt no affection for Mrs. Latter?”

Julia’s wide, sad gaze did not falter. She said,

“No. None of us did.”

Miss Silver coughed.

“Then it was shock that brought about a recurrence of the sleep-walking. When I first came out of my room you were following her down the stairs. When you caught her up and stopped her she had her face turned in the direction of this room. It would have been interesting to see what she would have done if she had entered it. As it was, your touch broke the thread of her thought. I withdrew into my room and watched you both come back and enter hers. I reached the door in time to hear her say, ‘What have I done?’ ”

After her last words Julia had turned away. There was a ruined vase of roses on the mantelpiece. The room had not been done since Wednesday, nor the flowers changed. There was a scatter of crimson petals on the shelf. Julia swept them together, and as she did so remembered how she had seen Minnie stand just here where she was standing when she looked into the room on Wednesday night. In her mind she could see her as plainly as if it was all happening again- Minnie half turned from the room, bending a little as if she were too tired to stand upright, picking up the fallen petals one at a time in a small trembling hand-With an abrupt movement Julia broke the picture. The rose-leaves fell to the hearth in a crimson pool as she swung round crying,

“She didn’t do it!”

Miss Silver had been watching her closely.

“If you were quite sure about that, there would be no need for you to feel so much concern.”

Julia drew a stormy breath.

“I am sure! Anyone who knew her would be sure!” She checked herself and went on in a different tone. “Miss Silver, there are things people can do, and things they can’t. When you know someone, you know what it would be possible for them to do. It wouldn’t be possible for Minnie to kill anyone. You can’t kill unless there’s something that lets you. People either have that something, or they haven’t. Anyone with a hot temper could kill, I suppose, if the provocation was enough to break through a normal self-control. I’ve got a temper myself. As a rule I’ve got hold of it-I’ve always known I mustn’t let go. I suppose if I did, I might-kill. But Minnie hasn’t got a temper. I’ve known her all my life, and I’ve never seen her angry. There’s no wild beast in her to get loose like there is in me. Then the other sort of killing, the slow, cold-blooded sort-she couldn’t do that any more than I could. None of us could. You see, you don’t know her. She’s one of the people who is born unselfish-she just doesn’t think about herself at all. She’s always been the same ever since I can remember. She’s kind, and patient, and gentle, and really, truly good. She never had a hard word even for Lois. She’d have been fond of her if it had been humanly possible, because it’s her nature to be fond of people. You see, she’s good. She could no more poison anyone than she could suddenly turn into a hyena. It’s just one of those things that are right off the map.”

Miss Silver smiled disarmingly.

“She has a very good friend, my dear,” she said.