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ill.” She glanced across the room to where a large mantel clock sat above a roomy fireplace. “I wonder why Maurice didn’t wake me.”
    “Perhaps he wanted you to rest,” Elizabeth said kindly. She was being diplomatic. Maurice Macclesby had fallen from the roof of a barn when he was four years old. The accident had left him lame in one leg and damaged his brain. Maurice’s mind had never progressed much beyond childhood. Even so, he managed to do his fair share of the farm work, and Elizabeth admired him greatly for rising above his limitations.
    “He must be wondering where I am.” Sheila waved a hand at a roomy couch. “Sit down, Lady Elizabeth. Would you care for some tea?”
    “Thank you, no.” Now that she was here, Elizabethwas feeling decidedly uneasy. The bad news she had brought was bound to be a great shock to Sheila. “Have you heard from Walter lately?”
    Sheila sat down on a dining room chair with a thump. “Wally? I got a letter from him a few days ago, from Belgium. He’s all right, isn’t he?”
    Annoyed with herself, Elizabeth hastened to reassure her. “As far as I know. That’s not why I’m here.”
    “Then, if you don’t mind my asking, m’m, why are you here?”
    Sheila still had that drawn look on her face—and a pallor that suggested she might be right about catching a cold. Feeling immensely sorry for the poor woman, Elizabeth said gently, “I’m afraid I do have bad news, Sheila. One of your land girls was found dead in the woods this morning.”
    “No!” Sheila’s hand flew to her throat. “My God. Who would do such a thing?”
    “That hasn’t been determined yet. P.C. Dalrymple will be along a little later on to ask you some questions, but I wanted to let you know what had happened to her. You must be wondering.”
    “Wondering?”
    “Why she didn’t come home last night. The constable believes she was killed last night.”
    “Oh.” Sheila shook her head, as if trying to clear her mind. “Well, I wouldn’t know, would I. Since I haven’t been outside the house yet this morning, I wouldn’t know one was missing, and they often come in late at night after I’m asleep. As a matter of fact, I heard Amelia talking to someone outside my bedroom window late last night long after I’d gone to bed.”
    “Amelia?”
    Sheila looked confused again. “Amelia Brunswick. She’s one of the land girls. Arguing with someone, she was.”
    A. B. Elizabeth drew a deep breath. “Sheila, I’m sorryto tell you this, but I believe it’s Amelia’s body they found in the woods.”
    Sheila stared at her for several seconds. “Oh, no, you can’t mean it. Not Amelia.”
    “I’m afraid so.”
    Sheila shook her head. “She was such a bright young thing. I can’t believe she’s gone. The others are going to be so upset. Poor Maisie, she’s such a nervous little cow. This will scare her to death.”
    “Maisie is one of the land girls?”
    Sheila dragged a large handkerchief out of her pocket and loudly blew her nose. “We have four. Or we did until now. Pauline and Kitty are the other two. Oh, whoever done this to poor Amelia should be hung.”
    “He probably will be,” Elizabeth said dryly. “Do you happen to know who it was Amelia was talking to last night?”
    “No, m’m, I’m afraid I don’t. I only heard Amelia’s voice clearly. The other one was too muffled to even tell if it was a man or a woman. I just stayed in bed and pulled the covers over my ears. After all, it’s none of my business what they get up to in their free time. As long as they do their work around here, I stay out of their private lives.”
    “Did Amelia make a habit of coming home late?”
    Sheila stared down at the handkerchief and twisted it around her hands. “She liked the boys, I do know that. Always rushing around getting ready to go meet someone, she was. Most of the time I never knew what time she got home. She always got her jobs done, so I never asked.”
    “Did she have a