Althea said, ‘He is quite dreadful!’

They were having tea when Nicholas Carey rang the front door bell. Rightly considering that her presence could now be dispensed with, Miss Silver put on her coat and hat and went out. Arriving at Warren Crescent, she turned off there and proceeded along it into Warren Road. The houses here stood in gardens of between three-quarters of an acre and an acre and a half. The Hollies, which as the telephone-book informed her had the privilege of sheltering the Miss Pimms, occupied one of the larger plots. It had three storeys and a large Victorian conservatory. The holly bushes from which it took its name had been cut into the shapes of birds and beasts, but with time and diminishing care they had become less and less agreeable to the eye. Miss Silver regarded them with distaste as she turned in at the gate and ascended four wide steps to the porch. She rang the bell, and the door was presently opened by Lily Pimm. That was of course the drawback about having only a daily maid. The Miss Pimms could remember the time when The Hollies was served by a resident cook, parlourmaid, and housemaid, not to mention a woman once a week to scrub the floors and a boy for the boots and knives and to help in the garden, where there was of course a whole-time gardener. Now there was only Doris Wills, and Doris left at half past two. The Miss Pimms greatly disliked opening their own front door, and Mabel and Nettie combining in the matter, it had become one of the tasks allotted to Lily, the only drawback being that if it was a pedlar or someone collecting for a charity she was quite unable to say no.

She now stood gazing blankly at Miss Silver with the door in her hand. Miss Silver smiled.

‘Miss Lily Pimm? We met a few hours ago at The Lodge, where I am staying with Miss Althea Graham. My name is Silver – Miss Maud Silver.’

Lily brightened.

‘Oh, yes – but you’ve got a hat on now.’

Mabel Pimm appeared in the drawing-room doorway. She directed a caustic look at Lily, and changed it quickly to a smile of welcome for the guest.

‘Oh, Miss Silver, do pray come in! How good of you to call!’

It would perhaps be unkind to compare Mabel’s feelings with those of the wolf who, having laid elaborate plans to attack the sheepfold, is gratified by the voluntary approach of one of its choicer lambs, but it is certain that next to Althea herself there was no one in Grove Hill whom she would rather have ushered into her drawing-room. As they entered Miss Silver was saying,

‘I was so much concerned at your kind visit to Miss Graham being so unavoidably cut short by her faintness that I felt I should call and let you know that she was able to get some sleep and is now feeling a good deal better. Of course the whole thing has been a most terrible shock.’

‘Naturally.’ Mabel was about to add other and well chosen words, when Lily broke in.

‘I can’t think what I should have done if I had found Mamma murdered at the bottom of the garden…’

There was a simultaneous ‘Lily!’ from both her sisters, but it had practically no effect, and she persisted.

‘Of course we haven’t a gazebo, and Mamma was bedridden for some years before she died. But if she hadn’t been, and I had found her – perhaps in the shrubbery – it certainly would have been a most terrible shock.’

‘Lily…’ Mabel’s tone had become an awful one.

Lily’s understanding, though not bright, was capable of receiving the impression that she would do better to hold her tongue. She sat therefore in silence for some time whilst the conversation between Miss Silver and her sisters proceeded, merely turning her head from side to side so as to be able to watch the person who was speaking.

Mabel was full of inquiries about Althea.

‘And you feel that she is well enough to be left?’

Miss Silver coughed in a deprecating manner.

‘Oh, I should not have liked to leave her by herself. Mr Carey is with her.’

Nettie and Mabel echoed the name.

‘Nicholas Carey!’

‘Oh, yes. They are great friends, are they not? In fact…’ She hesitated and broke off. ‘But perhaps if it is not given out? And of course at a time of mourning like the present…’

It was a pity that Frank Abbott should not have been privileged to observe his Miss Silver in the role of the well-meaning friend who alternately says too much and too little about the affairs in which she has become involved. In a very few minutes Mabel and Nettie were vying with each other to convince her how intimate they had been with Mrs Graham, and how complete had been the confidence she reposed in them. Between them it became established that Nicholas Carey might be a very charming young man, but definitely unreliable. Look at the way he had suddenly thrown Althea over five years ago and gone off into the wilds!

‘We felt very sorry for her.’

‘Really it quite changed her.’

‘A most untrustworthy young man.’

Miss Silver looked from one to the other.

‘Oh, do you really think so?’

Mabel Pimm’s long nose quivered.

‘Look what has happened as soon as he comes back!’

Lily emerged from her silence.

‘Mrs Graham would not let them get married,’ she said. ‘Mrs Stokes who is their daily told Doris Wills, and Doris told me. She said it was ever so romantic, and now that he had come back she wouldn’t be surprised if it was all on again only Mrs Graham would do all she could to put a spoke in his wheel. That’s what Mrs Stokes said.’

If Mabel had been capable of producing a blush she would have blushed for Lily. It was all very well to be accurate, but there was no need to repeat Mrs Stokes’ uneducated way of speaking. She gave her a look and said in a lofty voice that she never listened to gossip.

When Nicholas Carey’s generally unsatisfactory character had been further dealt with, Miss Silver observed in a diffident manner that she felt herself in a very delicate situation, and that any information which could be given her by such old friends as the Miss Pimms would be most helpful. For instance when friends called to inquire after Miss Graham, since all were strangers to herself it would be of the greatest assistance to know which were really on terms of intimacy with the family.

Mabel Pimm was not one to neglect such an opportunity. Miss Silver heard all about Dr Barrington’s partiality for Mrs Graham.

‘People did say – but you can’t believe all you hear, can you, and a doctor must see too many sick people to be attracted by them. But of course she was always sending for him…’

After which there was a piece about Mrs Justice.

‘There is something rather vulgar about having so much money, don’t you think? The girl Sophy married a distant cousin of ours. They are out in the West Indies. By the way, weren’t you at the cocktail-party Mrs Justice gave the other day?’

Miss Silver smiled a little nervously.

‘Oh, yes, she was kind enough to ask me. There was a time when I knew her quite well. Of course I did not expect to know many people there. Perhaps you can tell me about some of them. There was a woman who seemed to be on very friendly terms with Mrs Graham – rather a striking looking person in royal blue, with that very bright golden hair.’

Miss Mabel’s thin eyebrows rose.

‘If you call it gold,’ she said.

Nettie came darting in.

‘Of course it’s tinted… I believe she doesn’t make any secret of that. People don’t nowadays, do they? They don’t call it a dye any more, they just say they’ve had a brightening rinse. I’ve sometimes wondered lately whether Althea…’

Mabel interrupted her.

‘That was Mrs Harrison. The Harrisons are newcomers to Grove Hill, but Mr Harrison is a cousin of the Lesters who used to own Grove Hill House. He bought it from Miss Lester a couple of years ago, and Emmy Lester asked everyone to call, so we did.’