heâs been so long about finding a house of his own. Having a suite of rooms here saved his pocket.â
âAnd his wife?â
âJenniferâs meek and seems very stupid. But Iâm not so sure. She was a hospital nurse before her marriageânursed Percival through pneumonia to a romantic conclusion. The old man was disappointed by the marriage. He was a snob and wanted Percival to make what he called a âgood marriage.â He despised poor Mrs. Val and snubbed her. She dislikesâdisliked him a good deal, I think. Her principal interests are shopping and the cinema; her principal grievance is that her husband keeps her short of money.â
âWhat about the daughter?â
âElaine? Iâm rather sorry for Elaine. Sheâs not a bad sort. One of those great schoolgirls who never grow up. She plays games quite well, and runs Guides and Brownies and all that sort of thing. There was some sort of affair not long ago with a disgruntled young schoolmaster, but Father discovered the young man had communistic ideas and came down on the romance like a ton of bricks.â
âShe hadnât got the spirit to stand up to him?â
â She had. It was the young man who ratted. A question of money yet again, I fancy. Elaine is not particularly attractive, poor dear.â
âAnd the other son?â
âIâve never seen him. Heâs attractive, by all accounts, and a thoroughly bad lot. Some little matter of a forged cheque in the past. He lives in East Africa.â
âAnd was estranged from his father.â
âYes, Mr. Fortescue couldnât cut him off with a shilling because heâd already made him a junior partner in the firm, but he held no communication with him for years, and in fact if Lance was ever mentioned, he used to say: âDonât talk to me of that rascal. Heâs no son of mine.â All the sameââ
âYes, Miss Dove?â
Mary said slowly: âAll the same, I shouldnât be surprised if old Fortescue hadnât been planning to get him back here.â
âWhat makes you think that?â
âBecause, about a month ago, old Fortescue had a terrific row with Percivalâhe found out something that Percival had been doing behind his backâI donât know what it wasâand he was absolutely furious. Percival suddenly stopped being the white-headed boy. Heâs been quite different lately, too.â
âMr. Fortescue was quite different?â
âNo. I meant Percival. Heâs gone about looking worried to death.â
âNow what about servants? Youâve already described the Crumps. Who else is there?â
âGladys Martin is the parlourmaid or waitress, as they like to call themselves nowadays. She does the downstairs rooms, lays the table, clears away and helps Crump wait at table. Quite a decent sort of girl but very nearly half-witted. The adenoidal type.â
Neele nodded.
âThe housemaid is Ellen Curtis. Elderly, very crabbed, and very cross, but has been in good service and is a first-class housemaid. The rest is outside helpâodd women who come in.â
âAnd those are the only people living here?â
âThereâs old Miss Ramsbottom.â
âWho is she?â
âMr. Fortescueâs sister-in-lawâhis first wifeâs sister. His wife was a good deal older than he was and her sister again was a good deal older than herâwhich makes her well over seventy. She has a room of her own on the second floorâdoes her own cooking and all that, with just a woman coming in to clean. Sheâs rather eccentric and she never liked her brother-in-law, but she came here while her sister was alive and stayed on when she died. Mr. Fortescue never bothered about her much. Sheâs quite a character, though, is Aunt Effie.â
âAnd that is all.â
âThatâs all.â
âSo we come to you, Miss