After The Funeral

Chapter 3

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to. As a matter of fact there"s a play with a simply wonderful part. "

n.o.body listened to Rosamund"s ecstatic disquisition. Their attention had shifted to their own immediate future.

"Touch and go," thought George to himself. "Now I can x8

lp,ut that money back and n.o.body will ever know But it s been a near shave."

Gregory closed his eyes as he lay back against the seat. Escape from bondage.

Susan said in her clear rather hard voice, "I"m very sorry, of course, for poor old Uncle Richard. But then he was very old, and Mortimer had died, and he"d nothing to live for and it would have been awful for him to go on as an invalid year after year. Much better for him to pop off suddenly like this with no fuss."

Her hard confident young eyes softened as they watched her husband"s absorbed face. She adored Greg. She sensed vaguely that Greg cared for her less than she cared for him--but that only strengthened her pa.s.sion. Greg was hers, she"d do anything for him. Anything at all ....

Maude Abemethie, changing her dress for dinner at Enderby, (for she was staying the night) wondered if she ought to have offered to stay longer to help Helen out with the sorting and clearing of the house. There would be all Richard"s personal things... There might be letters... All important papers, she supposed, had already been taken possession of by Mr. Entwhistle. And it really was necessary for her to get back to Timothy as soon as possible. He fretted so when she was not there to look after him. She hoped he would be pleased about the will and not annoyed. He had expected, she knew, that most of Richard"s fortune would come to him. After all, he was the only surviving Abernethie. Richard could surely have trusted him to look after the younger generation. Yes, she was afraid Timothy would be annoyed .... And that was so bad for his digestion. And really, when he was annoyed, Timothy could become quite unreasonable. There were times when he seemed to lose his sense of proportion... She wondered if she ought to speak to Dr. Barton about it... Those sleeping pills--Timothy had been taking far too many of them lately--he got so angry when she wanted to keep the bottJ, e for him.

But they could be dangerous ,D,r. Barton had said so---you could get drowsy and forget you d taken them--and then take more. And then anything might happen I There certainly weren"t as many left in the bottle as there ought to be .

. . Timothy was really very naughty about medicines. He wouldn t listen to her... He was very difficult sometimes.

She sighed--then brightened. Things were going to be much easier now. The garden, for instance

Helen Abernethie sat by the fire in the green drawing-room waiting for Maude to come down to dinner.

She looked round her, remembering old days here with Leo and the others. It had been a happy house. But a house like this needed people. It needed children and servants and big meals and plenty of roaring fires in winter. It had been a sad house when it had been lived in by one old man who had lost his son ....

Who would buy it, she wondered ? Would it be turned into an hotel, or an inst.i.tute, or perhaps one of those hostels for young people ? That was what happened to these vast houses nowadays. No one would buy them to live in. It would be pulled down, perhaps, and the whole estate built over. It made her sad to think of that, but she pushed the sadness aside resolutely. It did one no good to dwell on the past. This house, and happy days here, and Richard, and Leo, all that was good, but it was over. She had her own activities and friends and interests. Yes, her interests .... And now, with the income Richard had left her, she would be able to keep on

the villa in Cyprus and do all the things she had planned to

do.

How worried she had been lately over money--taxation-- all t!:ose investments going wrong Now, thanks to Richard"s money, all that was over ....

Poor Richard. To die in his sleep like that had been really a great mercy .... Suddenly on the 2end--she supposed that that was what had put the idea into Cora"s head. Really Cora was outrageous I She always had been. Helen remembered meeting her once abroad, soon after her marriage to Pierre Lansquenet. She had been particularly foolish and tatuous that day, twisting her head sideways and making dogmatic statements about painting, and particularly about her husband"s painting, which must have been most uncomfortable for him. No man could like his wife appearing such a fool. And Cora was a fool! Oh, well, poor thing, she couldn"t help it, and that husband of hers hadn"t treated her too well.

Helen"s gaze rested absently on a bouquet of wax flowers that stood on a round malachite table. Cora had been sitting 20

. ng to start

beside it when they had all 1a"i"g to. und w;enceS" and for the church "She had0t reminis clearly so

delighted recog"iti0ns ef t[s.ad YacPletely

leased at being hck in hat 01[taat she ridable& P

- were a.s.sev leSS lost sght of th rn for g" :

"But perhaB" tought &}"" me was hypocrite than tkert of u"" .. .

" Cora had neer n from tr 0,",

Look at the wa she Ra ..,t mat quesv

he was muraereq, wasn"t hew ..o. iOg ,hose Such a variety of expr;ssionstst nave

mind, And suddenly, seeing the }ltl ?} s -x Helen frowned.. Tere eemg u

picture ....

Something . } "

Somebody J:.i ,"- >

, ace.

Was t an exprea0n on s0*?, ht

mething thath0w could s)egtl["b been there... ? .g, tpce it b[ there bad She di"t know.,, she co " " "

been somethingmewher0,

=- wiSpY

Meanwhile, in the -- .... une etin bath.e had no

mourning arm Ieslo0ns oi let

&inhng tea and l%kng forgd;euture" . ..

premomtions of dister c;?V.

- o*

certainty MgrY ese cross-country iourno< p="">

expense dldn t matter now

travel th the Iamily-pr;aeykg to ra o. . bns Too much of an effort.

.at,,neral

made you feel, Th" mnm at i4t; AC those and so was the cold run -- , u ,

. h ocrtes aav they faceswhen looked at she"dher I said that abo t to her

Well, it had been h fight t gt y"

head in satisfied approval of herself. Yes, it had been tho

right thing to do.

She glanced up at the clock. Five minutes before her train

went. She drank up her tea. Not very good tea. Sho

made a grimace.

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