Miss Silver 09 - She Came Back- by Wentworth Patricia

Author:Wentworth, Patricia [Wentworth, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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CHAPTER 21

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I told you she would have a cast-iron alibi."

Frank Abbott sat back in his chair and waited for Miss Silver's reaction. It was hardly noticeable. She had begun Johnny's second stocking and almost finished the ribbing at the top. Her needles did not check nor did her expression change as she replied,

"You are naturally in a hurry to let me know that you were perfectly right."

He spread out his hands with a laughing gesture.

"Revered preceptress!"

Miss Silver permitted a very faint smile to relax her lips.

"When you have finished talking nonsense, Frank, perhaps you will go on telling me about Lady Jocelyn. It is all very interesting."

"Well, when we came away from the flat the Chief asked me what I made of her. He has a way of doing that, and when you've told him, he doesn't utter. He may think it's tripe, or he may think it's the cat's whiskers, but he won't let on--just sticks it away behind that poker face and takes the next opportunity of snubbing you good and hard. I've got an idea that the snub is in inverse ratio to the value he sets on your opinion--in fact the bigger the snub, the bigger the compliment. I got Remarks from a Superior Officer to a Subordinate on the Dangers of Swollen Head, all the way down the stairs."

Miss Silver coughed.

"And pray, what did you make of Lady Jocelyn?"

"Ah--now that is very interesting. I think the Chief thought so too--hence the homily. She opened the door to us herself, and if we'd been Gestapo with death-warrants spilling out of all our pockets, she couldn't have been more taken aback."

Miss Silver coughed again.

"She has, after all, been living under the Gestapo for more than three years."

"So she took occasion to remind us. Grasped the nettle with great firmness and presence of mind, said we'd frightened her dreadfully, and led the way to the drawing-room, where she very nearly passed out when the Chief mentioned that we'd come to ask questions about Miss Nellie Collins, who was dead. I don't think I've ever seen anyone come so near fainting and not do it. And the only reason she didn't do it was because she wouldn't. She made the sort of effort that is painful to watch--it was like seeing a steel spring being coiled up. And she pulled it off. But the really extraordinary thing was the isolation and concentration of the effort--the throat muscles were perfectly tense, but the hands lying in her lap remained quite lax. Odd, you know, and pointing to great powers of control. Only what was it all about? She was horribly frightened when she first saw us, but she was pulling out of that. Then the Chief told her Nellie Collins was dead, and it very nearly knocked her out. I'll swear she didn't know it till he told her, and it came as a quite terrific shock. Why? She was frightened before she knew that Nellie Collins was dead--horribly frightened.

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