“I stepped back towards the door. That was the last I saw of him, and that was the last thing I heard him say.”
She stopped again and put her hand up to her head-the same gesture which she had used before. It was borne in upon the two men that she was making a very great effort. Miss Silver had measured it from the beginning.
The effort carried Mabel Robbins into speech again. She said in her steady, low voice,
“As soon as I moved I began to feel faint. I had had very little to eat all day. I don’t faint as a rule, but I was afraid I was going to then, and I thought I’d rather die. The door was ajar behind me. I got it open and I got into the hall, and there was my father coming through the baize door from the kitchen wing. He came up to me, and I don’t know what he said, because the faintness was so bad I had to hold on to him. I remember he shook me and pushed me towards the front door, but when he saw how I was he let go and left me leaning against it. When he came back he had a glass with a pretty stiff dose of whisky in it. He made me drink it, and it brought me round. He took me out into the glass passage and said why had I come, did I want him to curse me for breaking my promise? And I said no. Then he asked if anyone had seen me, and I said no again. He said, ‘You came to see Mr. Henry. Did you see him?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I saw him, but he didn’t see me. Neither of them did. I stood there in the dining-room behind the screen, and I saw them, but they didn’t see me. They’re in there together-Henry and Miss Day. It’s all quite over now-you needn’t be afraid that I’ll come back.’ He said, ‘You’d better not,’ and then he put me out of the glass door into the street and stood there to watch me go. I don’t know how I got back to Ledlington. The last train had gone. I must have just gone on walking along the London Road, because a motorist stopped there and picked me up. I don’t remember anything about it, but he must have looked in my handbag and found my address, for he took me there. I can just remember my landlady coming out, and their helping me into the house, and his saying, ‘I’m a doctor. You’d better get her to bed and I’ll have a look at her.’ That was how I met my husband.”
March looked at her hard.
“When you heard that Clayton had disappeared, did it not occur to you that you should communicate with the police? You’ve waited a long time to tell your story, Miss Robbins.”
It seemed as if she was feeling some relief. She was not quite so pale. She said,
“Yes. But, you see, I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t know that Clayton had disappeared?”
“No. I was very ill. It was two months before I could look at a paper, and there was no one to tell me about the Pilgrims any more. I was quite cut off from Holt St. Agnes. It was a year before I knew that Henry hadn’t married Miss Freyne.”
“Who told you he hadn’t?”
“A friend of his, a man I used to meet sometimes when I was with him. The way he put it, I never thought-” She broke off. “Indeed I didn’t, Superintendent March, He said, ‘So Henry couldn’t stick it after all. Money isn’t everything, is it? Do you ever hear from him now?’ When I begged him to tell me what he meant he said, ‘Oh, didn’t you know? Poor old Henry, he jibbed at the last moment and went off into the blue. Nobody’s heard from him since.’ ”
“I see.”
“I thought that was all. It was the sort of thing Henry might do. I thought he had got too much tangled up with Miss Day, or perhaps Miss Freyne had found out. I never, never thought-I don’t see how I could-it never came into my mind.”
March said slowly and gravely,
“Just when did it come into your mind, Miss Robbins?”
She moved to face him again.
“I’ve been married for about a year. I told my husband everything long before that. He had adopted my little girl. I could never tell you how good he has been. He has a brother who is a journalist-younger than John. He was in the Army, but he was invalided out. His paper sent him down here when-when-” Her voice broke off.
March said, “When Clayton’s body was discovered?”
“Yes.”
“When did you hear of the discovery?”
Her colour had all gone again. Her voice had an odd note of surprise as she said,
“It only happened yesterday, didn’t it? Jim-my brother-in-law-came in to see my husband this morning. He has a room quite near. He had been down here yesterday for his paper. He was on his way down again. I had gone to the office. Jim told my husband all about the case. The reason he came in was because he knew I came from that part of the world-he thought I might know some of the people.” She caught her breath sharply. “He didn’t know how well I knew them. He didn’t know my story, or my real name. I had been calling myself Robertson before I married, and he thought I was a widow.”
“The discovery of Clayton’s body was in all the morning papers, Miss Robbins.”
“I know. But I hadn’t seen them-I never had time in the morning. I used to listen to the eight o’clock news whilst I was dressing Marion. Then I had breakfast to get. I never have time for the papers-it’s always a rush to get off. I have a friend who looks after Marion with her own little girl, and I have to take her there on my way to the office. I usually only do a half day, but if they have a rush of work, I stay on. We are very busy just now, so I was going to stay.”
“Your husband saw the papers, I take it.”
“Yes-after I was gone. He didn’t know what to do-he knew it would be a dreadful shock. Then Jim came in and told him all the things that weren’t in the papers. He said of course there wasn’t the slightest doubt that my father had killed Henry-though of course he didn’t know he was my father. And he said all the newspaper men thought he had killed Roger Pilgrim too, to stop him selling the house, because if it was sold, the cellars would be turned out-” She put up a hand and gripped the edge of the table. “He said, ‘Robbins will be arrested today-there’s no doubt about that.’ ”
After a short pause she went on.
“My husband rang up the office and asked if I could come home-urgent private affairs. They said they couldn’t possibly spare me then, but they would try to let me go by four o’clock. They didn’t tell me he had rung up. When I went to fetch Marion my friend told me that John had asked whether she would keep her for the night. That was when I began to think something must have happened. I went home, and John wasn’t there-he had had an urgent call. We have a daily woman-she gave me the message and said would I wait in for him, and he would be back as soon as he could. He didn’t come until half past five. He told me about Henry, and what Jim said about my father being arrested. He said there was no question but that I must tell the police what I had seen and heard. He said I couldn’t possibly stand out of it.”
“He was quite right.”
She said, “Yes-I know that. I told him I would go down. He said he couldn’t come with me, because of the case he had been called to-he would have to go back. But he said my brother-in-law would meet me. I don’t know what he told him-enough to make him say he would keep in touch all day. He rang up again whilst we were talking, and John said I was coming down, and what train to meet. When I got to Ledlington he was there. He told me my father had committed suicide.”
Miss Silver coughed. Mabel Robbins turned to meet her eyes, very bright, very intelligent, very kind.
Miss Silver said,
“I am afraid I must give you another shock. Your father did not commit suicide. He was murdered.”
If it was a shock, there was no visible effect, just another of those long sighing breaths, and then a low “I wondered about that-I couldn’t see why he should kill himself.”
She turned back to March.
“My mother-Superintendent March, I’ve told you everything I know-may I go to my mother now?”
Miss Silver said, “Someone must tell her first, I think. She believes that you are dead.”