"Something"s going to happen to someone here. I saw Dr. O"Farrell last night, I mean in a dream. You were driving him in your car through our gate. Last time I dreamt about him Dolly had measles; she was awfully ill; she nearly died."
As he spoke, Timmy kept looking round, as if afraid of being overheard.
"I don"t mean to tell anyone else," he added confidentially. "You see it upsets Mum, and makes the others cross, if I say things like that. But still, I just thought I"d tell _you_."
Radmore was impressed, disagreeably so, in spite of himself; but: "Look here, Timmy," he said chaffingly. "The Greeks have a proverb about the bearer of ill-tidings; don"t let yourself ever become that, old man!
Have you ever heard, by the by, about "the long arm of coincidence"?"
Timmy nodded.
"Don"t you think it possible that your having dreamt about Dr. O"Farrell just before Dolly was taken ill may have been that long arm of coincidence--and nothing more? I can"t help thinking that probably your mother said something about sending for Dr. O"Farrell--for people don"t get measles in a minute, you know; they are seedy for some days beforehand--and that made you dream of him. Eh?"
But Timmy answered obliquely, as was rather his way when brought to book by some older person than himself. "I think this time it"s going to be an accident," he said thoughtfully.
And an accident it was! Old Nanna, who, in spite of her age, had become the corner-stone of the household as regarded its material well-being, slipped on the back staircase, and sprained her leg, and of course it was Radmore who went off in his car to fetch and bring back Dr. O"Farrell.
A slight alleviation to their troubles was brought about by Miss Pendarth, who was going off on a visit the very day the accident happened, and who practically compelled Janet to accept the temporary service of her own excellent servant. It was her readiness to give that sort of quick, kindly, decisive help which made so many of those who had the privilege of her acquaintance regard Miss Pendarth with the solid liking which is founded on grat.i.tude.
But the help, offered and accepted in the same spirit, could not go on for long, for Miss Pendarth came home after a four days" absence; and, for the first time in many months, Janet Tosswill made time to pay a formal call at Rose Cottage in order that she might thank her old friend.
She intended to stay only the time that strict civility enjoined, and she would have been surprised indeed had she been able to foresee what a pregnant and, to her, personally, painful train of events were to follow as a result of the quarter of an hour she spent in Miss Pendarth"s old-fashioned upstairs sitting-room where only privileged visitors were ever made welcome.
"Will you come upstairs to-day, Janet? I have something about which I want to consult you."
And then, when they had sat down, Miss Pendarth said abruptly: "While I was in Ess.e.x I came across some people who had been acquainted with Mrs.
Crofton and her husband."
Janet looked across at the speaker with some surprise. "What an odd thing!" she exclaimed, and she did think it rather odd.
But Olivia Pendarth was a very honest woman--too honest, some people might have said. "It was not exactly odd," she said quickly, "for, to tell you the truth, I made it my business while there to make certain enquiries about the Croftons. In fact, I partly went to Ess.e.x for that purpose, though I did not tell my friends so."
The visitor felt rather shocked, as well as surprised. Surely Olivia Pendarth"s interest in her neighbours" concerns was, to say the least of it, excessive. But the other"s next words modified her censorious thoughts.
"Colonel Crofton and one of my brothers were in the same regiment together. I knew him quite well when he and I were both young, and when Miss Crofton came to see her sister-in-law a fortnight ago, I offered to make certain enquiries for her."
There was a touch of mystery, of hesitation in the older lady"s voice, and Janet Tosswill "rose" as she was perhaps meant to do. "What sort of enquiries?" she asked. "I thought Miss Crofton was on the best of terms with her sister-in-law."
"So she is; but she wanted to know more than Mrs. Crofton was inclined to tell her about the circ.u.mstances--the really extraordinary circ.u.mstances, Janet--concerning Colonel Crofton"s death. And now I"m rather in a quandary as to whether I ought to tell her what I heard, and indeed as to whether I ought even to send her the report of the inquest which appeared in a local paper, and which I at last managed to secure."
"Of course I know that Colonel Crofton committed suicide." Janet Tosswill lowered her voice instinctively. "That poor, second-rate little woman seems to have told Rosamund as much, and G.o.dfrey Radmore confirmed it."
"Yes, I suppose one ought to say that there is no real doubt that he committed suicide." Yet Miss Pendarth"s voice seemed to imply that there was some doubt.
She went on: "It was suggested at the inquest that the chemist who made up a certain heart tonic Colonel Crofton had been in the habit of taking for some time, had put in a far larger dose of strychnine than was right."
Janet Tosswill repeated in a startled tone: "Strychnine! You don"t mean to say the poor man committed suicide with that horrible poison?"
Miss Pendarth looked up, and Janet was struck by her pallor and look of pain. "Yes, Janet; he died of a big dose of strychnine, and the medical evidence given at the inquest makes most painful reading."
"It _must_ have been a mistake on the part of the chemist. No sane man would take strychnine in order to commit suicide. Besides, how could he have got it?"
"There was strychnine in the house," said Miss Pendarth slowly. "When Mrs. Crofton was in Egypt it was prescribed for her. You know how people take it by the drop? A chemist out there seems to have given her a much greater quant.i.ty than was needed, and in an ordinary, unlabelled medicine bottle, too." The speaker waited a moment, then went on: "Though she brought it back to England with her, she seems to have quite forgotten that she had it. But _he_ must have known it was there, for after his death the bottle was found in his dressing room."
"What a dreadful thing! And how painful it must have been for her!"
"Yes, I think she did go through a very dreadful time. But, Janet, what impressed me most painfully, and what I am sure would much distress Miss Crofton were I to tell her even only a part of what I heard, was the fact that the husband and wife were on very bad terms. This was testified to, and very strongly, by the only woman servant they had at the time of his death."
"I never believe servants" evidence," observed Janet Tosswill drily.
"The Coroner, who I suppose naturally wished to spare Mrs. Crofton"s feelings, told the jury that it was plain that Colonel Crofton was a very bad-tempered man. But the people with whom I was staying, and who drove me over to look at the G.o.d-forsaken old house where the Croftons lived, said that local feeling was very much against her. It was thought that she really caused him to take his life by her neglect and unkindness."
"What a terrible idea!"
"I fear it"s true. And now comes the question--ought I to tell his sister this? Some of the gossip I heard was very unpleasant."
"Do you mean that there was another man?"
"Other men--rather than another man. She was always going up to London to enjoy herself with the various men friends she had made during the War, and the only guests they ever entertained were young men who were more or less in love with her."
Janet smiled a little wryly. "There"s safety in numbers, and after all she"s extraordinarily attractive to men."
"Yes," said Miss Pendarth, "there _is_ safety in numbers, and it"s said that Colonel Crofton was almost insanely jealous. They seem to have led a miserable existence, constantly quarrelling about money, too, and often changing their servants. On at least one occasion Mrs. Crofton went away, leaving him quite alone, with only their odd man to look after him, for something like a fortnight. Colonel Crofton"s only interest in life was the terriers which he apparently bred with a view to increasing his income."
"They can"t have been so very poor," said Janet abruptly. "Look at the way she"s living now."
"I feel sure she"s living on capital," said Miss Pendarth slowly, "and I think--forgive me for saying so--that she hopes to marry G.o.dfrey Radmore.
I"m sure that"s why she came to Beechfield."
"You"re wrong there! She settled to come here before G.o.dfrey came home."
"I"m convinced that she knew he was coming home soon."
Janet got up. "I must be going now," she exclaimed. "There"s a great deal to do, and only Betty and I to do it."
"I suppose G.o.dfrey Radmore will be leaving now?"
"I hope not, for he"s a help rather than a hindrance. He takes Timmy off our hands--"
"--And he"s so much at The Trellis House. I hear he dined there last night."
"Yes, with Rosamund," answered Janet shortly.
Miss Pendarth accompanied her visitor down and out to the wrought-iron gate. There the two lingered for a moment, and than Janet Tosswill received one of the real surprises of her life.
"Colonel Crofton and I were once engaged. I went out to India to stay with my brother, and it happened there. _Now_ we should have married. But things were very different _then_. When my father found Captain Crofton was not in a position to make what was then regarded as a proper settlement, he declared the engagement at an end."
Janet felt touched. There was such a depth of restrained feeling in her old friend"s voice. Somehow it had never occurred to her that Olivia Pendarth could ever have been in love!
"It must be very painful for you to have her here," she said involuntarily.
"In a way, yes. But I suspected she was his widow from the first."