"Very good of you to come along," said Maude gruffly, as she
greeted Mr Entwhistle on the platform of Bayham Compton station. "I can
assure you that both Timothy and I much appreciate it. Of course the
truth is that Richard's death was the worst thing possible for Timothy."
Mr Entwhistle had not yet considered his friend's death from this
particular angle. But it was, he saw, the only angle from which Mrs
Timothy Abernethie was likely to regard it.
As they proceeded towards the exit, Maude developed the theme.
"To begin with, it was a shock - Timothy was really very attached
to Richard. And then unfortunately it put the idea of death into
Timothy's head. Being such an invalid has made him rather nervous about
himself. He realised that he was the only one of the brothers left alive
- and he started saying that he'd be the next to go - and that it
wouldn't be long now - all very morbid talk, as I told him."
They emerged from the station and Maude led the way to a dilapidated car of almost fabulous antiquity.
"Sorry about our old rattletrap," she said. "We've wanted a new car
for years, but really we couldn't afford it. This has had a new engine
twice
-and these old cars really stand up to a lot of hard work.
"I hope it will start," she added. "Sometimes one has to wind it."
She pressed the starter several times but only a meaningless whirr
resulted. Mr Entwhistle, who had never wound a car in his life, felt
rather apprehensive, but Maude herself descended, inserted the starting
handle and with a vigorous couple of turns woke the motor to life. It
was fortunate, Mr Entwhistle reflected, that Maude was such a powerfully
built woman.
"That's that," she said. "The old brute's been playing me up
lately. Did it when I was coming back after the funeral. Had to walk a
couple of miles to the nearest garage and they weren't good for much -
just a village affair. I had to put up at the local inn while they
tinkered at it. Of course that upset Timothy, too. I had to phone
through to him and tell him I couldn't be back till the next day. Fussed
him terribly. One tries to keep things from him as much as possible -
but some things one can't do anything about - Cora's murder, for
instance. I had to send for Dr Barton to give him a sedative. Things
like murder are too much for a man in Timothy's state of health. I
gather Cora was always a fool."
Mr Entwhistle digested this remark in silence. The inference was not quite clear to him.
"I don't think I'd seen Cora since our marriage," said Maude. "I
didn't like to say to Timothy at the time: 'Your youngest sister's
batty,' not just like that. But it's what I thought. There she was
saying the most extraordinary things! One didn't know whether to resent
them or whether to laugh. I suppose the truth is she lived in a kind of
imaginary world of her own - full of melodrama and fantastic ideas about
other people. Well, poor soul, she's paid for it now. She didn't have
any protégés, did she?"
