Читать книгу Uneasy Terms - Peter Cheyney - Страница 3

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The wind came in from the sea, driving the rain before it. It descended in sheets, beating on the rolling Sussex Downs, forming little rivulets that ran swiftly down the gutters of the winding roads about Alfriston. The wind howled dismally through the woods that topped the long rise of downland behind the village.

Dark Spinney, the old rambling Alardyse house, stood on the hillside above the village of High and Over, commonly called Hangover. The high red lichen and moss-covered wall that surrounded the house showed dimly through the darkness; reflected fitfully the gleam of the lights of a car that came over the downs and wended its lonely way towards Alfriston. Inside, in the old oak-panelled wall, a wheezy grandfather’s clock struck eight.

Viola Alardyse came down the winding stairway that led to the hall. She presented a superb picture as the light at the turn of the stairs from the shaded wall lamp fell upon her. She was tall and willowy and moved with a superb grace that caught and held the eye. Her hair was the colour of corn and the light picked out its russet tints softly.

She reached the bottom of the stairs, moved across the hallway, stood at the top of the small further flight of three open stairs which led to its continuation. Before her were the main double-doors forming the entrance to the hall. On her left was the small oak-wainscotted corridor leading to the garden path that in turn led to the green door set in the wall surrounding the house, the door that looked out on to the dirt road running towards Alfriston.

She stood motionless, one hand resting on the bottom of the balustrade, the other hanging by her side. She wore a long black velvet skirt with a white georgette blouse. The ruffles about her neck and the full sleeves at her wrists were caught with black velvet ribbons. One small crêpe-de-chine shod foot tapped impatiently on the floor. There were dark circles about her blue eyes. Her mouth—beautiful like that of all the Alardyse women—was set in a straight line, hiding the small pearly teeth.

She looked at the wrist-watch on her left wrist as if the process would stop something she desired not to happen. Then, after a moment, she turned, moved towards the corridor at the top of the hall that led to the drawing-and dining-rooms. She was half-way there when she heard the door open at the end of the passage leading to the garden path. She spun round, came back. She was at the bottom of the stairs when her sister emerged from the passageway.

She said, “Good evening, Corinne.”

Corinne Alardyse put her hands in the pockets of her wet raincoat. She stood for a moment looking at her sister through half-closed lids. Her expression might have been good-humoured or contemptuous—you never knew with Corinne. She was an inch or so shorter than Viola; dark, beautiful in an Italian way. Her grey-green eyes sparkled as if she was turning a good joke over in her mind. She began to take off her raincoat.

She said, “It’s raining damned hard outside. I almost got drowned walking from the garage. How are you, my sweet?” Her mouth twisted sarcastically.

Viola said, “Are you being funny at my expense, Corinne? I don’t think that I feel inclined for humour.”

Corinne hung up her coat. She took a cigarette case out of the pocket of her tweed jacket and a lighter. She lit a cigarette. She stood leaning up against the oak wall immediately opposite her sister. A suit of armour, worn in ancient days by one of the Alardyse ancestors, standing close beside her, added an almost grotesque touch to the picture. She drew a breath of cigarette smoke into her lungs, exuded it slowly through pursed lips.

She said, “I don’t suppose you feel particularly humorous at the moment, my sweet. But whose fault is that? Isn’t there a bit somewhere about the wrongdoer always desiring sympathy?”

Viola moved a little. She said, “I’ve never asked you for sympathy, Corinne.”

Her sister said, “No? That’s probably because you knew you wouldn’t get any. Anyway, why the hell should I sympathize with you?”

Viola said wearily, “I don’t know. In any event I’m not asking you to sympathize with me. But I think you might at least tell me what’s happened.”

Corinne moved away from the wall. She came closer to Viola. She stood at the bottom of the little flight of three stairs, looking up at her sister. Viola stood motionless above her like a statue.

Corinne said cynically, “Of course, my dear, you want to know exactly what’s happened. I bet you do.” She sank her voice. “Well, I’ll tell you. The boy friend,” she went on regarding the glowing tip of her cigarette with equanimity, “is just as tough as ever. In fact I would go so far as to say it looks as if he might be even more tough.”

Viola said, “Oh, my God!”

“I don’t see what good it’s going to do you—calling on the Deity, I mean,” said Corinne amiably. “Although I expect you feel like it. But there it is. There’s the position in a nutshell. He says it’s got to be like it was before. In other words, there’s to be no reduction in the payment; otherwise—” she spread her hands. After a moment she went on, “In any event I don’t see what you’ve got to grumble about.” She looked sideways at her sister. “I ought to be the one to grumble,” she said.

Viola said softly, “Sometimes I think I’m going to end it all. It’s wearing me out. Anything would be better than this. I don’t see why you should object to that. It would be to your advantage, Corinne.”

“Perhaps,” said Corinne. “But I’m not particularly keen on its being to my advantage. I’m quite satisfied with the situation as it is now. In any event, I don’t see what you’ve got to grumble at. You’re a damn sight better off than if the truth were to come out.”

Viola said, “But he’s always asking for more.”

Corinne shrugged her shoulders. She said glibly, “Men always ask for more. They’re like that. Anyway, you’re a rich woman.” She looked up towards the stairway. She said, “Oh, my God! Do you see what I see?”

Coming round the turn of the stairway was a figure. It descended the stairs slowly with mincing steps. The steps were all the shorter because the figure was wearing red-satin Court shoes which were in the first place too large, and the heels thereon were at least three and a half inches high. The figure wore an extremely tight-fitting scarlet frock which was cut much too low, showing a too ample expanse of bosom. Its straw-coloured hair was hanging a la Veronica Lake about its shoulders. Its face was made up dead white, the eyes being encircled with middle blue and the lashes plentifully adorned with mascara. An almost perfect mouth had been painted in a bright shade of scarlet in a cupid’s bow exaggerated to the point of burlesque.

The figure was that of Miss Patricia Alardyse, aged seventeen.

Corinne said, “You little bitch! Go back to your room and take that frock off. So you’ve been going through my wardrobe again. And for God’s sake go and wash that stuff off your face. You look like a tart.”

Patricia leant theatrically over the balustrade. She said in a dramatic voice, “Corinne, haven’t I read somewhere or other that in every woman there is something of the tart?”

Corinne said, “At the present moment it looks as if there is a lot of it in you. Go and wash your face and take my frock off and put those shoes back where you found them.”

Patricia, leaning against the banisters in an attitude which she considered to be expressive of Miss Lake at her best, said, “I’ll be damned if I will.”

Corinne said angrily, “You’ll be damned if you don’t. What do you think will happen to you if Gervase sees you like that? We shall have a lecture lasting for hours.”

Patricia said, “I don’t care. Strevens, the butcher’s boy in the village, told me the other day that I was the very image of Greta Garbo.”

“Quite,” said Corinne, “and two or three days before that the boy who delivers the newspapers told you you were like Lana Turner. Silly little fool! I’m sick of having my wardrobe raided by you.”

Patricia continued to descend the stairs with what she considered to be an air of dignity.

She said, “Corinne, what you say leaves me quite cold. Your remarks pass off me like water from a duck’s back. I know what the trouble is. You’re jealous of course.”

She swept across the hall into the passage leading to the drawing-room.

Corinne said to Viola, “That Patricia is a fearful little jerk. I don’t know what’s coming over her. She spends the whole of her life acting.”

Viola said, “Well, she’s young. It doesn’t mean anything. She’ll get over it.” She laughed a little bitterly. “I think most of us spend the greater part of our lives acting.”

“You speak for yourself,” said Corinne. “I don’t act. Sometimes I think I’m the only natural person in the family.” She looked wickedly at Viola. “At least I have nothing to hide,” she said.

A gong sounded from the direction of the dining-room.

Viola said, “Hurry, Corinne, and change. You know Gervase gets fearfully angry if you’re not changed for dinner. We don’t want any more scenes. It’s been so unpleasant lately.”

Corinne said, “Yes. Actually, I’m getting rather bored with stepfather and his likes and dislikes. He thinks people have nothing else to do but change their clothes all day.”

She began to walk up the stairs. Almost at the top, where the meeting of four passageways formed a well looking down into the hall, she turned.

She said over her shoulder, “Keep your spirits up, Viola. You’re all right, my dear, you know, so long”—she dropped her voice—“as you go on paying. I’ll be seeing you.” She tripped up the stairs.

Viola stood in the hallway, looking at the great oak doors in front of her. She stood there for two or three minutes; undecided, unhappy.

She thought that life was an odd and peculiar thing. It came back and hit you and it went on hitting you. Actually your motives for doing things didn’t matter a great deal. Nothing mattered to Life. If your motives were good or bad it was all the same.

She felt very near to tears. Then, with the sudden, illogical decision that comes to women who are in the process of feeling deeply rather than thinking calmly, she moved towards the passage that led away from the drawing-room towards the east side of the house. She moved quickly as if she were afraid that delay would alter her decision.

She stopped before the door at the end of the passageway. She knocked softly on it.

Her stepfather’s voice said irascibly, “Well ... what is it? Can’t I get a moment’s peace? Who is it, and what do you want?”

Viola shrugged her shoulders, helplessly. She said, “I’m sorry ... it doesn’t matter. I’m so sorry I disturbed you.”

She went back to the hall; began to ascend the stairs. Her eyes were filled with tears. She moved quickly up the stairs to her room on the first floor.

Inside, she threw herself face downwards on the bed. She began to sob bitterly.

·····

Presenting Colonel Gervase Stenhurst (once—a long time ago—of the Indian Army; now, by courtesy, squire of Dark Spinney; also, by courtesy, titular head of the Clan Alardyse and the remains of the Clan Wymering—and when I say titular, I mean titular) who sits at the head of the long—too long for its few occupants—oak dining-table, and regards his family connections with an eye inclined to be yellow, bad-tempered and gloomy.

The Colonel is a member of the “old school.” His manners are very good—when someone is looking. He is a great respecter of the ladies; he likes whisky and a good cigar; soft living appeals to him. Above all, he likes peace and quiet so that he may enjoy the concomitants of peace and quiet.

Underneath—and when no one is looking he is bad-tempered to a degree entirely damnable. He still has an eye for a well-turned ankle, especially when he has imbibed more than four double whiskies and sodas. He has too an eye on the main chance and knows on which side his bread is buttered, but is disinclined to let anyone else realize the fact. That is, if they haven’t already guessed it.

The Colonel is so obvious that he creaks. But he has a capacity for self-delusion without comparison. He is unique in the fact that he is conceited and sixty-two, and when a man is conceited at sixty-two it isn’t so good for somebody—even if the somebody is himself.

Miss Honoria Wymering, sister of the late Mrs. Stenhurst, who was mother—by her first husband Ferdinand Alardyse—of Viola, Corinne and Patricia, sits at the foot of the table and casts about her glances inclined to be apprehensive. She looks warily round the table from time to time with blue eyes—eyes that, in spite of her years, are still bright and attractive. She realizes that the air is thick with “atmosphere” and that, on the slightest provocation, there may be one of those quarrels that have become far too numerous during the last few weeks.

Miss Wymering is plump and still beautiful. Her bleached hair is attractively dressed. Looking at her, you realize that the Wymerings are lovely women—lovely and alluring. You realize that the amazing beauty of Viola, Corinne and Patricia is a carrying on of the Wymering tradition of stateliness and beauty—so far as Viola is concerned; of beauty without stateliness where Corinne is concerned; and of beauty mixed with impishness, dramatics and what-have-you-got-to-day so far as Patricia is concerned.

And here a few words might adequately be devoted to Patricia, who is nobody’s fool; who, in spite of her predilection for dramatics; her ability to be somebody else—somebody drawn from her wide cinema screen acquaintance—has, most of the time, her bright and observant eye on the main chance. Patricia, whose ears are attuned to whispers in case the whispers might be interesting; whose eyes can (almost) see round corners; who has contempt for her stepfather, indulgence for her Aunt; a well-concealed fear of Corinne—who, in spite of anything that Patricia might say to the contrary possesses the ability to scare the pants off that young lady—and an almost as well-concealed love for Viola who is, let it be admitted, about the only person that Patricia admires and doesn’t try to imitate.

Miss Wymering eats her soup and still manages to endow the movement of arm and finger with grace. Her eyes wander from the Colonel to Viola, from Viola to Corinne, from Corinne to Patricia. Something is wrong, she thinks, and wishes she knew what it was. Almost immediately she is glad that she doesn’t. Sometimes, she considers, ignorance is really and truly bliss.

But she wonders.

She looks at Viola. She thinks that Viola is a most lovely person. She wishes that she looked less tired; that the dark circles beneath her eyes were less pronounced. She believes that something is worrying Viola. She wonders what? She remembers some of the things that used to worry her when she was nearly thirty....

Miss Wymering sighs. Sometimes she wishes that she had sufficient courage to ask Viola about many things. But she hasn’t sufficient courage. She is all for a quiet life. And if Viola wanted her to know she’d tell her. Wouldn’t she ... ?

And then Corinne. Miss Wymering thinks about Corinne, who is eating soup with an expression of supreme self-satisfaction tempered with disgust when her eyes fall on Patricia (who, by the way, is still wearing Corinne’s red dinner-frock; still wearing the terrible make-up; the film-star hair-do; an expression which she considers to be one of supreme disdain and an idea that Corinne is going to be very rude in a minute and that she—Patricia—is looking forward to the process. In fact she is, at the moment, busy rehearsing, in her mind, the “act” with which she intends to rebut any attack from the Corinne front). Corinne, who, for some reason which Miss Wymering cannot fail to notice, looks self-complacent and satisfied like, Honoria thinks, “the cat that swallowed the canary.” She wonders just which canary Corinne is contemplating swallowing at the moment.

And Patricia ... ! Under her breath, Miss Wymering makes a little clucking noise indicative of disapproval. Patricia is really very naughty. Miss Wymering realizes perfectly well that Patricia is wearing one of Corinne’s frocks—without permission; that her hair is copied, probably, from the hair-do of the film star at the moment occupying the prime place in Patricia’s emotional being; that the make-up which the child—anyone under twenty is a child to Miss Wymering—wears is too terrible for words. She hopes unutterably that Gervase is not going to notice; that if he does he won’t be too unpleasant.

Sallins, the butler, an aged retainer of Ferdinand Alardyse, who has been with the family, man and boy, for longer than he cares to think, white-haired, almost aristocratic in appearance, hovers about the end of the table waiting to clear the soup course. Sallins is not particularly happy. He too realizes that something is “up”; that there is going to be a spot of bother about something.

He wonders if they are going to wait until coffee, or if they are going to start in at any moment. He doesn’t know which process will give him most satisfaction—whether it is better to be present at a family schemozzle and pretend that you aren’t there, or not be present and wonder what it was all about.

Sallins has arrived at a state of mind and years when he is beginning to wonder what everything is about. Nothing seems to make sense to him—from the Atom bomb to Colonel Stenhurst’s liver attacks. He is old, and life resembles a chronic gum-boil. Something that is prolonged and painful and with which no one ever sympathizes.

He moves slowly round the table, collecting soup plates, limping a little, the result of a kick from Miss Viola’s pony when she was about five years of age. Those were the days, thinks Sallins ... when Mr. Alardyse was master at Dark Spinney, before Mrs. Alardyse was foolish enough to marry again. Those were the days....

The storm broke suddenly. Sallins had served the cutlets and departed to see how the sweet was progressing. Corinne masticated a piece of mutton slowly. She put down her knife and fork.

She said coldly to Patricia, “I thought I told you to take that frock off. Why don’t you do what you’re told, you fearful little thing!”

Patricia stopped eating; looked at Corinne. She said in an icy voice, “I don’t wish to talk to you, sourpuss! Before dinner you called me a bitch!”

The Colonel said testily, “What the devil’s all this about? What’s that—called you what?”

Patricia said primly, “A bitch, step-papa—a woman dog!”

The Colonel made a horrible noise in his throat.

Corinne said, “Don’t suffocate, Gervase. We should none of us like that.” She turned again to Patricia. She said, “Immediately after dinner, go to your room and take that frock off, or I’ll tear it off you. I suggest also that you wash your face and do your hair decently. I’ve already told you that you look like a tart.”

Patricia said icily, “I’m afraid I haven’t made a close study of tarts. As types they interest me only in the abstract.” She smiled wickedly at Corinne. “You’re in a pretty bad temper to-night, aren’t you, Darling?” she asked brightly. “You know, step-papa, when Corinne loses her temper she can be a fair basket.”

The Colonel said acidly, “I’m sick and tired of all these squabbles at the dinner-table. I’m sick and tired of this shocking slang too. Young women didn’t behave like you do in my days. What the devil do you mean by calling Corinne a basket? What’s a basket?”

Patricia said, “A basket is a polite expression denoting a bastard—or love-child.”

The Colonel looked at his sister-in-law. He said, “My God, Honoria, what you do with your time I don’t know. Listen to the way this child talks to me—her stepfather. Her behaviour is appalling. Everybody’s behaviour is appalling. Why I stand it I don’t know.” He banged his knife down on the table. His face was brick red.

Corinne said, “Whatever do you mean, Gervase, you don’t know why you stand it? Of course you do. So do we.”

Miss Wymering said, “Corinne, please ... that is not the way to talk to your stepfather, and I do wish you girls would not quarrel at mealtimes. It’s so bad. I’m sure the servants hear.”

The Colonel laughed sarcastically. “That’s good—” he said, “that bit about the servants hearing. Everyone hears—not only the servants but the whole village. I think it’s time that somebody talked to these girls.” He glared at Patricia. “Your sister Corinne calls you stupid,” he went on. “You are—very, very stupid. You spend all your time going to the cinema and giving imitations of film stars. You look appalling. You haven’t the remotest notion how a lady behaves. To look at you makes me feel quite ill.”

Patricia said with a wistful smile, “I’m very sorry about that, step-papa. I reciprocate it. The colour of your face at the moment is most shocking. Do you think you are going to have a fit, step-papa?”

The Colonel’s face went a shade darker. He said, “Dammit ... I’ve asked you a hundred times not to call me step-papa. Why do you do it?”

Corinne said, “Obviously she does it because she knows it annoys you. Perhaps she thinks it would be bad for you if she called you Gervase or stepfather. You might feel too important.”

Miss Wymering said anxiously, “Now, Corinne, you mustn’t talk like that. It isn’t good manners.”

There was a silence. A strained silence. You could have cut it with a knife. Then Viola said, “Will you excuse me, Gervase? I think I’ll go to my room. I really don’t want any dinner.”

“No, you won’t,” said the Colonel. He was very angry. His lips were set in a straight line. His eyes were gleaming almost evilly. “No, you won’t,” he repeated. “I’ve got something to say to you and Corinne, and you’ll be well advised to listen to what I have to say.”

Viola looked at him in amazement.

Corinne said impertinently, “Really, this sounds most dramatic. I’m fearfully interested.”

Miss Wymering looked from one to the other. She said, “Gervase dear, don’t you think you might like to talk to the girls after we’ve had coffee—when there isn’t a chance of Sallins coming back?”

The Colonel laughed. He said, “I assure you it doesn’t matter about Sallins, my dear Honoria. Every servant in this house, practically the whole of the village and certainly all Alfriston, know exactly what I’m going to talk about. I imagine they’ve known it for weeks.”

Miss Wymering said, “Dear ... dear ... Whatever is it, Gervase?” There was alarm in her eyes.

Corinne said coolly, “There’s always a lot of talk in any village, you know. Usen’t they to call it ‘throwing dung at the carriage folk?’ I suppose we’re the equivalent of ‘carriage folk’ ... or are we?”

The Colonel said, “What I have to say I propose to say now. For a long time I have put up with the atmosphere in this house. I haven’t liked it. Patricia is behaving abominably—growing up like a hoyden. Corinne”—he glowered at her—“is probably the rudest young woman I have ever met in my life, but at least I believed that Viola had some good in her make-up.”

Miss Wymering said bravely, “But Gervase, what has Viola done?”

The Colonel went on, “What she’s done or what she hasn’t done is no part of this conversation. She knows what she’s done, and so does Corinne—or at least they know what they’re doing.”

“But,” asked Miss Wymering with raised eyebrows, “what are they doing? What’s the trouble, Gervase?”

The Colonel said, “There are some very nasty rumours going about the village and Alfriston. They’ve even stretched as far as Eastbourne. It seems that Viola and Corinne’s names are being linked with an extremely unpleasant gentleman with a rather nasty past and a bad present reputation who has something to do with one of the nastier drinking clubs on the outskirts of Brighton. Dammit,” he went on, “I think it’s pretty hard when I have to hear this from members of my club—people who tell me what they’ve heard—people who are beginning to get the idea in their head that two of my stepdaughters are behaving like sluts, and the third—a child of seventeen—like the village idiot.”

Patricia rose to her feet. She made a sweeping gesture. She said, “Aunt Honoria, Corinne has called me a bitch to-night. That I can stand. I don’t see, however, why I should be compared to the village idiot. Not,” she continued, “that it is an adequate comparison because I don’t think we have a village idiot”—she looked at the Colonel—“present company always excepted of course.” She turned on an expression of extreme sadness. She said, “I think I shall go to my room. I wish to be alone.” After which she sat down and attacked her cutlet with gusto.

Viola said to the Colonel, “Don’t you think you’re being rather rude? Don’t you think you ought to think before you say things like that? Really they sound rather ridiculous.”

Corinne said, “And how! And you certainly ought to do a little thinking before you attack the family, especially Viola,” she went on, with an arch look in Viola’s direction. “After all, we all know that you only get two hundred and fifty a year as one of the trustees under Mother’s Will, and that the additional thousand that you receive comes from Viola, with her sanction and approval. It’s rather like biting the hand that feeds you, isn’t it?”

The Colonel said in a low hoarse voice, “You ... you ... I think sometimes I could strangle you.”

Patricia murmured, “Cut ... reel two....”

Miss Wymering said, “Gervase, Sallins will be here in a minute. This conversation ought to stop. I think you’ve all been very foolish. If you’ve something against the girls, this is no place to talk about it.”

The Colonel said, “I’ve been insulted. I may be the unpopular stepfather of fiction, but I’m a trustee of the Estate and whilst I am, I’m going to see that these girls behave themselves properly. Very well, Honoria, since you tell me that you do not wish me to talk about it, may I tell you ladies what I propose to do? These remarks apply to you, Viola, and you, Corinne. As for that child there”—he glared at Patricia—“I hope that you, Honoria, will endeavour to teach her a little sense and some good manners.”

He gasped a little, seeking to regain lost breath. Then he went on, “It is quite obvious to me that something is going on under my very nose which is bringing their reputations and this family to disrepute. Probably neither of you care for the fact that your family has lived here for hundreds of years. In order to indulge yourself in something which I imagine to be not very nice you are quite prepared to drag your family name through the dirt. I assure you that I am very glad that I am not your father. But understand this: I’m going to find out what’s going on. I intend to. If I have to have you watched I’ll find out what’s going on. Yes, that’s what I shall do, and if there is anything about which I can take definite steps you can rest assured I shall do so.”

Viola said, “Would you excuse me, Aunt. I think I’ll have my coffee in my room.” She went away.

“Life round here is going to be fearfully interesting,” Corinne said. She addressed her stepfather. “You ought to realize that Viola is nearly thirty, and that I am twenty-eight. Don’t you think we are rather old to be watched?”

The Colonel said, “Neither of you seems old enough to have any sense. Do you think I want to have you watched?” He looked at her. He went on, “If you like to tell me what’s been going on—exactly what there is between this man and you and your sister ... very well.... If you don’t, I shall take such steps as I consider proper to find out.”

Corinne said amiably, “So far as I’m concerned you can do what you damn well please. But I should be careful if I were you. If you begin to employ people to watch Viola and myself you’ll have to pay for it out of your own pocket.” She smiled. “You can’t expect Viola to consent to it coming out of the Estate funds, can you? What an appalling dinner,” she said. “Even Sallins seems to have missed the boat. Good-night, Aunt.” She smiled cynically at her stepfather. “And good-night to you, Gervase,” she said. “I’d take a bromide if I were you instead of your usual night-cap.”

Patricia said, “This would seem to be my cue for exit. Anyway, it looks as if the fun’s over. Good-night, folks.”

Corinne moved slowly out of the room. She went out by the side door leading to the passageway that ran into the hall. She closed the door very slowly behind her; did not quite shut it. She stood there on the thick carpet. She heard Miss Wymering say, “Aren’t you making a mountain out of a molehill, Gervase? What is all this about? I can believe possibly that Corinne might have been stupid, but surely not Viola. Are you sure of your facts? If there are any facts.”

He said, “I know what I’m talking about. And I was never more serious in my life. I tell you that it is absolutely essential that we, the trustees, should know what is going on. When I know a little more about it I’ll try and tell you the whole story. In the meantime, their attitude being what it is, I propose to find out in my own way. I have got the name of some man in London. He seems to be quite a clever person—a private detective. I’m going to get in touch with him. I’m going to find out.”

Sallins came in, began to collect plates. Miss Wymering said, “I don’t think you need worry about the sweet, Sallins. Miss Alardyse will have coffee in her room, and I think Miss Corinne would like some in hers.”

The Colonel got up. He said, “I don’t want any. I’ll have a whisky and soda in my room, Sallins. And where’s the post to-night?”

“It’s just come, Sir—just at this moment,” said Sallins. “I haven’t had time to sort it. It’s in the hall. Shall I bring your letters in?”

The Colonel said shortly, “No, I’ll collect them on my way upstairs.”

Corinne shut the door quietly. She moved down the small passage-way slowly. She heard the Colonel arrive by the main passage from the dining-room in the hallway, heard him fumbling at the brass tray which held the evening mail. She waited as she heard his staccato footsteps angrily treading the stairs. She went into the hall. She stood leaning against the dark oak wall, a little smile playing about her luscious mouth. She was watching the telephone. After a few moments it made a little noise—the almost imperceptible tinkle that a telephone makes when an extension line is being used.

Corinne felt in her pocket for her cigarette case. She lit a cigarette. She thought that her aunt would leave the dining-room by the front passage; would go to her own room, unhappily wondering what all the trouble was about. Corinne thought she was safe to stay. She imagined it would take some little time for the Colonel to get the number he wanted.

Five or six minutes passed. Again she heard the almost imperceptible tinkle. She moved swiftly to the telephone, lifted the receiver carefully. She listened. She heard the Colonel’s voice:

“I’ve got to talk to Mr. Callaghan. His name’s been given to me and I am prepared to pay for his services. I’m Colonel Gervase Stenhurst of Dark Spinney, Hangover, near Alfriston, Sussex. It’s most important business. I have had a letter....”

A voice said, “Yeah.... Well, you know what the time is? It’s half-past eight and Mr. Callaghan is no night worker—well not often. But if it’s as bad as that, and you gotta talk to him in a hurry, maybe you could get him at the Night Light Club in half an hour’s time—maybe! The number’s Mayfair 43276.”

The Colonel said, “Very well, I’ll try and get him there. But I want him to come down to-morrow. I want to see him as soon as possible.”

The other voice said, “O.K. Maybe he’ll come and maybe he won’t. You never know with that one. You get through and talk to him. So long.” Corinne heard the Colonel hang up.

She replaced the receiver, stood looking at it. She drew thoughtfully on her cigarette. She shrugged her shoulders; then she went to the hallstand, slipped into her raincoat. She went out of the side door into the wet garden.

·····

Callaghan came into the Night Light Club. He looked round, put his black soft hat on a small table to the right of the door, sat down on a high stool at the bar, ordered a double whisky and soda.

He was dressed in a double-breasted blue suit, a light blue silk shirt, a dark blue tie. His thick black hair was unruly. His face was long; his chin pointed, the jaw-bone showing in a good line from the ear to the apex of the chin. His eyes were grey, and the humour lines about them were well-developed. A strong, intelligent face—impressive to men, sometimes too attractive to women.

He drank a little more whisky. He thought that he was bored.

The Night Light Club was one of those places which abound in London. Mushrooms of the war, they had provided an adequate relief from bombs, rockets and doodle-bugs. Within the narrow walls of the Night Light, uniforms of every country in the Allied Forces had met, mixed and drunk. Now only a few habitués of the place still came. Callaghan thought that the life of a drinking club in London was rather like life itself. It began with a fanfare, went on to excitement and finished with a flop.

Three or four people came into the bar. Now the place was beginning to fill up. A woman, wearing a heavy perfume, inserted herself on to the stool next to Callaghan. He moved his own stool a little further along to make room for her. He ordered another whisky and soda.

Outside, from the small telephone room at the end of the bar, the telephone bell began to jangle. O’Shaughnessy, the white-jacketed bar-tender, left the bar, went to answer the telephone. After a minute he came back.

He said, “There’s a call for you, Mr. Callaghan. Do you want to take it?”

Callaghan said, “Do you know who it is, Patrick?” He drank some of the whisky.

O’Shaughnessy said, “No, the party wouldn’t give his name. He said it was urgent.”

Callaghan said, “All right.” He got off the stool, walked a little unsteadily towards the telephone room. He opened the door, stood leaning against the wall looking at the telephone receiver which hung, extended on its cord, from the wall instrument. According to Callaghan’s eyes the telephone receiver was getting bigger and bigger, and the telephone room itself was beginning to revolve. A pain hit him behind the eyes. His head began to spin. Now he could not even see distinctly.

Callaghan pushed himself away from the wall towards the telephone. He fell against it. He ricochetted from the telephone to the wall, from the wall across to the door that led to the men’s wash-room. He pitched forward into the wash-room, striking his shoulder against the edge of one of the wash-bowls. He lay on the floor, his eyes shut. The door closed itself slowly.

·····

When Callaghan opened his eyes he saw the face of O’Shaughnessy, the bar-tender, bending over him. O’Shaughnessy’s face looked like a full moon.

He said, “Come on now, Mr. Callaghan. Drink this. You’ll feel better. What happened?” He put his arm under Callaghan’s shoulders, propped him against the wall. Callaghan drank some of the mixture the bar-tender held towards him. It tasted foul. He ran his tongue over his dry lips. It felt as if it was made of yellow plush.

He said slowly, “How long have I been in here?”

O’Shaughnessy said, “About twenty-five minutes. Remember—you went out to answer the telephone, but didn’t make it. Somebody came in here just now and found you. What’s the matter?”

Callaghan said slowly, “You ought to know. It must have been that last whisky you gave me. Where did you get it from? Did you make it in the bath-tub upstairs?”

O’Shaughnessy said, “Have a heart, Mr. Callaghan. We don’t do things like that at the Night Light Club. That hooch was good. Everybody’s been drinking out of that bottle.”

Callaghan said, “Like hell it was good.” He got to his feet.

The bar-tender took a brush, began to brush Callaghan’s clothes. He said, “That’s not like you, Mr. Callaghan—going out like that. Maybe you ate something that disagreed with you.”

“Maybe,” said Callaghan. “All right, O’Shaughnessy.”

The bar-tender went away. Callaghan bathed his face in cold water; took a glass, drank a little water. He lit a cigarette, went back to the bar. Only two people were there—two men who were discussing the racing news in a corner.

Callaghan said to the bar-tender, “I’ll have another double whisky, Patrick. But not out of the same bottle. Try a fresh one.”

O’Shaughnessy grinned back, opened a fresh bottle. Callaghan drank the whisky, lit a fresh cigarette, picked up his hat, went out into the street. He walked slowly towards Berkeley Square, drawing on his cigarette, wondering.

It was nine-thirty when he arrived at the apartment block in which his offices—with his flat above them—were situated. He said good-night to Wilkie, the night porter, went up in the lift. He stopped the lift at the office floor, walked along the passage, saw the light in his room.

He went in. Nikolls, Callaghan’s Canadian assistant, was sitting in Callaghan’s arm-chair, his feet on the desk, reading How to be a Master of Women. The empty whisky bottle was on the floor at his side.

Callaghan said, “Hello, Windy. Any calls?”

“Yeah,” said Nikolls. “To-night, some guy called Colonel Gervase Stenhurst, from some place called Dark Spinney, at Hangover, near a dump called Alfriston. This guy wanted you bad. I told him to call you at the Night Light.”

Callaghan said, “That’s a hell of a name for a house—Dark Spinney.... Hangover....” He grinned.

“Yeah,” said Nikolls. “It sounds like a coupla murders to me.” He looked at Callaghan. “Whadya gonna do?” he asked. “You gonna go down an’ see this guy like he wanted?”

Callaghan got up. He lit a cigarette. He said, “No.... I don’t want the case.”

He went out, slammed the office door behind him.

Nikolls put on his hat. He fumbled in his pocket for a Lucky Strike, lit it; turned off the office lights. He walked slowly towards the lift.