Henry Gamadge 06 Evidence of Things Seen by Elizabeth Daly

Author:Elizabeth Daly [Daly, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781937384425
Publisher: Felony & Mayhem Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Foreign Bodies

IN HER ANXIETY to fall in with Gamadge’s plans, Clara had suppressed her doubts and fears; but when the time came to return to the cottage she found to her amazement that she was not only resigned to the move, but looking forward to it. Gamadge’s high spirits and Maggie’s complacency carried her along, and the move itself was an easy one. Maggie, ensconced in the rumble of the Gamadge car, with a lump of ice done up in newspaper at her feet and half a cooked ham in her arms, said that there would be no ghosts with Mr. Gamadge in the house. Gamadge talked with almost febrile intensity of his yearning for dips in the pool and walks in the woods.

“I want to hear the waterfall,” he kept saying, in the tones of a minor poet crazed by inspiration. “I want to hear the waterfall.”

Clara wanted to hear the waterfall, too.

They stopped at the Radford farm. Sam the hired man said that he guessed they could go on having dairy produce, and forthwith supplied them with a can of milk and a pound of butter. He promised eggs for the morrow.

“What became of the dogs?” asked Gamadge.

“They was drafted into the Coast Guard.”

“Where did Miss Radford get them, do you know?”

“Kennels over the mountain near Stormer. She went there on and off for three weeks after she got settled in here, makin’ herself acquainted with them; then when they came she introduced them to me.”

“On formal terms, were you?”

“Kind of. They let me give them their supper and wash ‘em up sometimes. With Alvira lookin’ on.”

“Mrs. Groby here?”

“No, she goes home by sunset. Certainly gettin’ the old house turned inside out.”

“That’s what heirs are for.”

At the cottage Eli the Indian was waiting on the porch. He said that he had taken over after the state trooper left, just to see that everything was in good shape when the Gamadges came. He had a bunch of flowers for Clara, picked in his own garden; his shack was two miles away in the heart of the reservation.

Clara pored lovingly over the sweet williams, marigolds and mourning bride. “Eli, it was nice of you.”

Eli, grave and calm, said that he had an idea Mrs. Gamadge liked flowers. Gamadge offered him a cigarette, and they sat smoking while Clara got out vases and her clipping scissors.

“Are you inclined to the ghost theory, Eli?” inquired Gamadge. “Do you think my wife saw a ghost on Saturday night?”

Eli said: “Tell you what, Mr. Gamadge; when I give up being a ward of the government so I could vote, I must have given up ghosts too. I don’t seem to think much of ‘em now, if I ever did.”

“I don’t believe she saw a ghost, either.”

“There weren’t no tracks around the place, nothing the law and the newspaper fellers and the sightseers couldn’t have left. The grass and the leaves—you don’t get footprints on ‘em. You want me to help fix anything before I go?”

Gamadge produced a brown paper package.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.