夜雨聆风I sighed a little. There are always some things that Lettice will never see.
In some respects she is morally colour blind.
“What are you going to do, Lettice?” I asked.
“When—when it’s all over, I am going abroad.” She hesitated and thenwent on. “I am going abroad with my mother.”
I looked up, startled.
She nodded.
“Didn’t you ever guess? Mrs. Lestrange is my mother. She is—is dying,you know. She wanted to see me and so she came down here under an as-sumed name. Dr. Haydock helped her. He’s a very old friend of hers—hewas keen about her once—you can see that! In a way, he still is. Men al-ways went batty about mother, I believe. She’s awfully attractive evennow. Anyway, Dr. Haydock did everything he could to help her. She didn’tcome down here under her own name because of the disgusting waypeople talk and gossip. She went to see father that night and told him shewas dying and had a great longing to see something of me. Father was abeast. He said she’d forfeited all claim, and that I thought she was dead—as though I had ever swallowed that story! Men like father never see aninch before their noses!
“But mother is not the sort to give in. She thought it only decent to go tofather first, but when he turned her down so brutally she sent a note tome, and I arranged to leave the tennis party early and meet her at the endof the footpath at a quarter past six. We just had a hurried meeting and ar-ranged when to meet again. We left each other before half past six. After-wards I was terrified that she would be suspected of having killed father.
After all, she had got a grudge against him. That’s why I got hold of thatold picture of her up in the attic and slashed it about. I was afraid the po-lice might go nosing about and get hold of it and recognize it. Dr. Haydockwas frightened too. Sometimes, I believe, he really thought she had doneit! Mother is rather a—desperate kind of person. She doesn’t count conse-quences.”
She paused.
“It’s queer. She and I belong to each other. Father and I didn’t. Butmother—well, anyway, I’m going abroad with her. I shall be with her till—till the end….”
She got up and I took her hand.
