Miss Silver Comes To Stay

CHAPTER 10

James Lessiter drove back from Lenton. He liked driving at night in these country lanes, where the headlights made a bright path for the car and all you had to do was to take your way along it. It gave him a sense of effortless power. He did not make the conscious comparison, but he had a sense of life stretching before him just like that. He had made a great deal of money, and he expected to make a great deal more. When you had made a certain amount it went on making itself. Money was power. He thought of the boy who had left Melling more than twenty years ago, and his sense of well-being became something very like triumph. How right he had been. Instead of allowing himself to go down with a ship which had been foundering for three generations he had cut loose and made for the shore. He had no regrets. The house could go. If he wanted a place in the country, there were more amusing spots than Melling. Nowadays you didn’t want a great big barrack of a place built for the days when house-parties lasted for weeks and large staffs could be counted upon. Something modern and labour-saving-a big room where you could throw a party-half a dozen bedrooms. Meanwhile he rather thought he was going to enjoy himself. He had a score or two to pay off, and he was looking forward to the payment. Something very pleasing about being able to arrange one’s own private day of judgment.

He turned in between the tall pillars of Melling House and saw the beam of the headlights slide in front of him up the drive, whitening the neglected gravel, striking bright patches of green from holly and rhododendron. All at once the light picked up a movement in the crowded undergrowth. He thought someone had stepped aside into the bushes, but he couldn’t have sworn to it. It might have been a tradesman’s boy getting out of the way of the car, or it might have been someone coming up to see the Mayhews. Then he remembered that it was their half day out and that they would be in Lenton. Mrs. Mayhew had asked if it would be all right for them to go. There was to be cold supper left ready for him in the dining-room.

He drove right on into the garage, rather pleased at the idea of having the house to himself. It would be a good opportunity for a thorough search of his mother’s bedroom and sitting-room. He meant to find that memorandum. He had made up his mind that it would be somewhere in one of those two rooms. She had been getting feeble-not going downstairs any more.

He let himself in by the front door and clicked on the lights in the hall. The person who was just emerging from the drive stood still and saw the two hall windows spring into sight.

A good deal later the telephone bell rang in Catherine Welby’s charming room. She put down her book and lifted the receiver. Her hand tightened on it when she heard James Lessiter’s voice.

“Is that you, Catherine? I thought you would be glad to know that I have found that memorandum.”

“Oh-” For the life of her she couldn’t think of anything to say.

“I was afraid it might have been destroyed, because of course Mr. Holderness collected all the papers he could find, and Mrs. Mayhew tells me that you were in and out a good deal.”

Catherine’s left hand came up to her throat.

“I did what I could.”

“I’ve no doubt of it. But it was-where do you think?”

“I’ve no idea.”

Her mouth was dry. She mustn’t let her voice sound different.

“You’ll never guess-you didn’t guess, did you? It was in a volume of the late Vicar’s sermons. I remember when he had them printed and gave her the copy-don’t you? She could be perfectly certain no one would meddle with it there. I only found it because after I’d looked everywhere else I took all the books out of her bookcase and shook them. Perseverance rewarded!”

Catherine said nothing at all. She took a quick breath. The sound of it reached James Lessiter and gave him a lively pleasure.

“Well now,” he said briskly, “you’ll be delighted to hear that the memorandum makes your position perfectly clear. You were originally supposed to pay a nominal rent of ten shillings a month, but after one or two payments nothing more was said about it and the rent question lapsed. Then as regards the furniture-Did you say anything?”

“No-” She got the one word out, but she couldn’t have managed another.

“Well, as regards the furniture the memorandum is quite explicit. My mother says, ‘I am not quite sure what furniture Catherine has at the Gate House. I have let her have things from time to time, but of course it was clearly understood that they were only lent. It was better that they should be used, and she is very careful. I think you might let her keep enough for a small house if it does not suit you to let her stay on at the Gate House. Nothing valuable of course, just useful things. She has the small Queen Anne tea-set which I lent her during the war when china was so difficult to get. It was, of course, understood that it was only a loan.’ ”

Catherine spoke from a tight throat.

“That isn’t true. She gave it to me.”

“Well, well. Do you know, if this case came into court, I’m afraid the memorandum would be taken as evidence that she didn’t do anything of the sort.”

Again Catherine only got out the one word.

“Court-”

“Certainly. You see, this is a business matter, and I am a business man. I don’t want there to be any mistake about that. I have just informed Holderness-”

With a shock of terror Catherine came to herself. The fear that had paralysed her became a driving force.

“James-you can’t possibly mean-”

He said, “Can’t I?” And then, “I advise you to believe that I do.”