The adulteress

I had thought he dramatized the situation in order to amuse me but he was beginning to convince me that it could be something far removed from a joke: an unscrupulous woman and her lover with a doting old man in their grasp, who, although he was not senile, was really a little unbalanced surely and ready to pay too dearly for peace and comfort in his last days.

Gerard took a watch from his pocket. He said: "We could be back at Enderby just before half past three. I could get my man and we'd go straight to the Court. We'll sneak upstairs and get the will signed and witnessed, and then if you would trust me I would take it back to the solicitors immediately."

"I could take it tomorrow."

"Well, so we could. But in view of the people in that house ... I mean the kind of people they are ... the will should be in the solicitor's hands and I don't like the idea of your having it in that house."

"Do you think they would come and murder me to get possession of it?"

"Gad!" he said. "That would be monstrous. I couldn't let that happen. I would never be happy again for the rest of my life."

I laughed. "You do make the most extravagant statements."

He was silent. Then he said: "Seriously, I am uneasy. Let's try it."

He whipped up the horses and we rattled along to Ender-by.

It all happened quickly from then on. It seemed to me a breathtaking mad sort of adventure—different from anything that had ever happened to me before. Gerard took charge and I couldn't help admiring the speed and efficiency with which he arranged everything.

"You are making a diplomatic incident of it," I said.

"I am, after all, a diplomat. But I assure you ... this is the best and safest way to get this matter settled."

It was still a quarter of an hour to four o'clock when I took the two men to my uncle's bedroom. He expressed little surprise when I introduced them and explained why they had come. I produced the will and the necessary signatures were affixed. Gerard rolled the paper up and put it under his arm.

Uncle Carl patted my hand and said: "Clever girl!"

"And now," said Gerard, "it is for us to get this into town."

"We must go," I said, "quickly."

"Yes," said Uncle Carl, "before Jessie wakes up." He was smiling and his eyes danced with excitement. There was a certain mischief in him and for a fleeting moment I wondered whether he had conjured up the whole thing out of a fairly ordinary situation. In the moment I couldn't believe that even Jessie would hope for an instant that she could inherit Eversleigh Court.

It seemed then that we were all playing a part in some sort of farce which the old man had contrived to make his dull life more exciting.

However, we must continue with it, so we took our leave and went silently down the stairs.

As we came into the hall there was a movement on the stairs. I turned sharply. Evalina was coming down.

"Oh?" she cried. "Have we visitors?"

"This is the housekeeper's daughter," I said to Gerard.

Evalina had run up to us and was smiling innocently at Gerard.

He bowed and turned away and I led them out of the house.

I saw them into the carriage and went back into the house. Evalina was still in the hall.

"I didn't know we had callers," she said. "I know who they are. They're from Enderby."

I went past her. She was looking at me curiously, as though she was waiting for an explanation. I was determined not to give her one. It was so impertinent for the housekeeper's daughter to interrogate me about callers.

I went to my room and to the window. I saw that Jessie was just returning to the house. Evalina would tell her about the callers. She might be suspicious because she was very shrewd. But by this time Gerard would be on his way to the solicitors.

At supper that night there was a faint atmosphere of suspicion which I detected immediately. Jessie ate with her usual gusto then she smiled at me ingratiatingly and said: "Evalina said them people from Enderby called today."

"Just being neighborly," I said.

"They never called before."

"Oh?"

"I reckon they heard you was here. They never called on Lordy before."

I lifted my shoulders.

Evalina said: "One of them was a fine-looking man."

"H'm," I murmured.

She was wary; she was watchful; I could see she was puzzled and did not like the idea of callers.

I escaped to my room immediately after the meal. I wondered whether Gerard had deposited the will with Messrs. Rosen, Stead and Rosen. If he had my mission was accomplished. It was a comfort to think that the documents would be safe at the solicitors and my responsibility was over.

But I couldn't rest. I had an eerie feeling that there was something rather sinister building up in this house, that Uncle Carl was aware of it in a way and that he encouraged it. Perhaps he found life dull, confined to his room as he was; perhaps he wanted dramatic things to happen.