'She ought to do something about her neck,' Mrs Skinner reflected. 'She's becoming dreadfully jowly.'
She had spoken of it once or twice to her husband. He remarked that Millicent wasn't as young as she was; that might be, but she needn't let herself go altogether. Mrs Skinner made up her mind to talk to her daughter seriously, but of course she must respect her grief, and she would wait till the year was up. She was just as glad to have this reason to put off a conversation the thought of which made her slightly nervous. For Millicent was certainly changed. There was something sullen in her face which made her mother not quite at home with her. Mrs Skinner liked to say aloud all the thoughts that passed through her head, but Millicent when you made a remark (just to say something, you know) had an awkward habit of not answering, so that you wondered whether she had heard. Sometimes Mrs Skinner found it so irritating, that not to be quite sharp with Millicent she had to remind herself that poor Harold had only been dead eight months.
The light from the window fell on the widow's heavy face as she advanced silently, but Kathleen stood with her back to it. She watched her sister for a moment.
'Millicent, there's something I want to say to you,' she said. 'I was playing golf with Gladys Hey wood this morning.'
'Did you beat her?' asked Millicent.
Gladys Hey wood was the Canon's only unmarried daughter.
'She told me something about you which I think you ought to know.'
Millicent's eyes passed beyond her sister to the little girl watering flowers in the garden.
'Have you told Annie to give Joan her tea in the kitchen, mother?' she said.
'Yes, she'll have it when the servants have theirs.' Kathleen looked at her sister coolly.
'The Bishop spent two or three days at Singapore on his way home,' she went on. 'He's very fond of travelling. He's been to Borneo, and he knows a good many of the people that you know.'
'He'll be interested to see you, dear,' said Mrs Skinner. 'Did he know poor Harold?'
'Yes, he met him at Kuala Solor. He remembers him very well. He says he was shocked to hear of his death.'
Millicent sat down and began to put on her black gloves. It seemed strange to Mrs Skinner that she received these remarks with complete silence.
'Oh, Millicent,' she said, 'Harold's photo has disappeared. Have you taken it?'
'Yes, I put it away.'
'I should have thought you'd like to have it out.'
Once more Millicent said nothing. It really was an exasperating habit.
Kathleen turned slightly in order to face her sister.
'Millicent, why did you tell us that Harold died of fever?'
The widow made no gesture, she looked at Kathleen with steady eyes, but her sallow skin darkened with a flush. She did not reply.
'What do you mean, Kathleen?' asked Mr Skinner, with surprise.
'The Bishop says that Harold committed suicide.'
Mrs Skinner gave a startled cry, but her husband put out a deprecating hand.
'Is it true, Millicent?'
'It is.'
'But why didn't you tell us?'
Millicent paused for an instant. She fingered idly a piece of Brunei brass which stood on the table by her side. That too had been a present from Harold.
'I thought it better for Joan that her father should be thought to have died of fever. I didn't want her to know anything about it.'
'You've put us in an awfully awkward position,' said Kathleen, frowning a little. 'Gladys Hey wood said she thought it rather nasty of me not to have told her the truth. I had the greatest difficulty in getting her to believe that I knew absolutely nothing about it. She said her father was rather put out. He says, after all the years we've known one another, and considering that he married you, and the terms we've been on, and all that, he does think we might have had confidence in him. And at all events, if we didn't want to tell him the truth we needn't have told him a lie.'
'I must say I sympathize with him there,' said Mr Skinner, acidly.
'Of course I told Gladys that we weren't to blame. We only told them what you told us.'
'I hope it didn't put you off your game,' said Millicent.
'Really, my dear, I think that is a most improper observation,' exclaimed her father.
He rose from his chair, walked over to the empty fireplace, and from force of habit stood in front of it with parted coat-tails.
'It was my business,' said Millicent, 'and if I chose to keep it to myself I didn't see why I shouldn't.'
'It doesn't look as if you had any affection for your mother if you didn't even tell her,' said Mrs Skinner.
Millicent shrugged her shoulders.
'You might have known it was bound to come out,' said Kathleen.
'Why? I didn't expect that two gossiping old parsons would have nothing else to talk about than me.'
'When the Bishop said he'd been to Borneo it's only natural that the Hey woods should ask him if he knew you and Harold.'
'All that's neither here nor there,' said Mr Skinner. 'I think you should certainly have told us the truth, and we could have decided what was the best thing to do. As a solicitor I can tell you that in the long run it only makes things worse if you attempt to hide them.'
'Poor Harold,' said Mrs Skinner, and the tears began to trickle down her raddled cheeks. 'It seems dreadful. He was always a good son-in-law to me. Whatever induced him to do such a dreadful thing?'
'The climate.'
'I think you'd better give us all the facts, Millicent,' said her father.
'Kathleen will tell you.'
Kathleen hesitated. What she had to say really was rather dreadful. It seemed terrible that such things should happen to a family like theirs.
'The Bishop says he cut his throat.'
Mrs Skinner gasped and she went impulsively up to her bereaved daughter. She wanted to fold her in her arms.
'My poor child,' she sobbed.
But Millicent withdrew herself.
'Please don't fuss me, mother. I really can't stand being mauled about.'
'Really, Millicent,' said Mr Skinner, with a frown.
He did not think she was behaving very nicely.
Mrs Skinner dabbed her eyes carefully with her handkerchief and with a sigh and a little shake of the head returned to her chair. Kathleen fidgeted with the long chain she wore round her neck.
'It does seem rather absurd that I should have to be told the details of my brother-in-law's death by a friend. It makes us all look such fools. The Bishop wants very much to see you, Millicent; he wants to tell you how much he feels for you.' She paused, but Millicent did not speak. 'He says that Millicent had been away with Joan and when she came back she found poor Harold lying dead on his bed.'
'It must have been a great shock,' said Mr Skinner.