Latter End

CHAPTER 28

Julia went out of the room and up the stairs again. She had just reached the landing, when the door of Lois’ bedroom opened and Ellie came running out. Julia gazed at her in amazement. There was a pink flush in her cheeks and her eyes were blue and shining. It was quite obvious that she was running because she couldn’t wait to walk. She ran right up to Julia and caught at her with both her hands.

“Oh, Julia-isn’t it marvellous! Jimmy says I can have Ronnie here as soon as all this is over! Isn’t he an angel! I hugged him-I feel as if I could hug everyone I meet! I’ve just been through to Matron on Lois’ extension. Those policemen never give one a chance of getting near the telephone in the study, and I felt I couldn’t possibly wait, so I rang up and told her, and she said it wouldn’t be worth sending Ronnie down to Brighton unless he was going to stay there. She sounded grim and said it was putting out all the arrangements-and I suppose I let her see just how much I cared about that, because she got a lot grimmer and began to talk exactly as if I was a V.A.D. again. I very nearly said to her, ‘Well, you know I’m not, and I hope I’m never going to be any more,’ only I thought it wouldn’t exactly oil the wheels, so I didn’t. I just said things like ‘Oh,’ and ‘No,’ and ‘That’s very kind of you, Matron,’ until she simmered down and said oh, well, she supposed they would have to manage.”

She let go and threw her arms round Julia’s neck.

“Darling, isn’t it marvellous!”

Time had swung back. This was the old Ellie with the quick blood in her cheeks, light in her eyes, every bit of her quivering with life. Julia had a moment of giddiness. You can swing too fast and too far to keep your balance. Ellie must have lost hers. She stepped back and said in a ringing voice,

“It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good, isn’t it?”

Someone was coming up the stairs behind Julia. She could just hear the sound of quiet footsteps. She said “Ellie-” in a warning voice, but it wasn’t any good. Ellie stamped her foot and cried,

“I don’t care! Lois wouldn’t have had him here-ever!”

Then she saw Miss Silver coming up behind Julia. She stood for a moment, her colour bright, her eyes wide, but before Miss Silver reached the landing she turned, ran into the room she shared with Julia, and shut the door.

Miss Silver coughed reprovingly.

“That was not very wise.”

Julia said, “No.” And then, “She wasn’t thinking about being wise, you know. She was just being natural. She hasn’t got anything to hide. She has just heard that she can have her husband here, and it has put everything else out of her head. She has been very unhappy about him. It just hasn’t occurred to her that she mustn’t let anyone see that she is happy because he can come here now.”

Miss Silver said thoughtfully,

“Wisdom is to be commended as well as harmlessness. There is scriptural warrant for that, you know, Miss Julia.” She crossed the landing to her own room and entered it.

Julia followed Ellie. She found her rubbing cream into her face. She began to talk at once.

“I’ll go over and see him this afternoon. I’m trying the cream Minnie makes. If my colour would only keep like it is now, I wouldn’t need to put any on, but the bother is I can’t trust it. I’d better be on the safe side, don’t you think?”

Julia went and stood by the near window, looking out. She said,

“I expect so.” And then, quickly, “Ellie, what possessed you to say that about Lois? Miss Silver heard you.”

“I don’t care if she did. It’s true.”

Julia’s dark brows had met. She said,

“Ellie, you’ve got to be careful-we all have. Those policemen don’t think Lois committed suicide-they think she was murdered.”

“Don’t!”

“I must. We’ve got to be careful of everything we say or do. What you said just now could very easily be twisted.”

Ellie’s colour had gone out like a candle in the wind.

“You mean they could think I did it?”

Julia turned round. She had no colour to lose.

“I mean you’ve got to be careful not to give them anything to think about. If you put it into their heads that Lois was in your way, and that you’re glad she isn’t there any longer- well, it isn’t going to be so good, is it?”

Ellie went on rubbing cream into her face mechanically. She said,

“That’s nonsense.” Her shoulder jerked.

Julia walked over to her, and took her by the arm.

“Use your head, Ellie! Think! You and Minnie and Jimmy were in the drawing-room when she took that coffee. You can’t afford to start the police thinking about you.”

Ellie pulled away.

“It wasn’t the police-it was Miss Silver.”

“It’s all the same thing.” Julia’s voice had a discouraged sound. Now she had made Ellie think her unkind. She didn’t want to frighten her, she only wanted her to be careful. It was like having to pick your way among eggshells. She wondered if she had said enough. She didn’t see her way to saying any more. She thought she had better go downstairs again and see whether the police had finished with Manny.

Ellie was wiping the cream off her face. She didn’t turn round or look up.

Julia went out of the room with the feeling that she might just as well have held her tongue.