Anna, Where Are You?

“He’s gone-he’s got away! He’s too clever for you! He’s always been too clever for you-he always will be!” The triumph went out of her voice. It broke halfway and dropped. “He’s gone-” she said.

Her voice whispered and stopped. She looked all round the room in a hesitating, bewildered kind of way, her hands twisting in her lap. She did not speak again.

There was coming and going. An ambulance arrived, and the body was removed. The sergeant sat at the desk and was busy with the telephone. Calls went out to all stations with a description of Augustus Remington. As to the car in which he had gone, there was no description available. A

Peter took Thomasina back to the Miss Tremletts, and Miss Silver returned to the Craddocks’ wing. The study was left with a couple of constables in charge.

Thomasina and Peter walked across the park in silence. When there is too much to say it is easier to say nothing at all. They did not speak. Thomasina was alive, and she might so very easily have been dead. There could have been two bodies in the ambulance now on its way to Ledlington. As often as Peter wrenched his mind from this thought, it swung back again.

Thomasina did not think about how narrowly she had escaped. She thought about A

Coming to the Miss Tremletts was like coming into another world. They wept, they talked, they were avid for every possible detail, they were instant with cups of tea. By the time they had reached the second brew they were begi

Mr. John Verney had a word with Miss Silver before he too went back to his own wing.

“You’ll tell Emily-”

“About Mr. Craddock’s death-yes. As to your identity, Mr. Verney, I think you must be aware that she recognized you, and that that was why she fainted. Your disguise was a very good one. The loose untidy clothes, the beard, the country drawl-all these were a most efficient barrier to recognition. But when Mr. Craddock was speaking you broke into quite spontaneous and natural laughter. She recognized your laugh.”

“He was being so pompous-”

“It has been a very great shock.” Miss Silver’s tone held a note of reproof. “Mrs. Verney is not at all strong. She is going to need care.”

“I know, I know. I’ve been a deplorable husband. That was why-I wanted to be sure- You’ll do your best for her, won’t you?” He took her hand, held it very hard for a moment, and then dropped it abruptly.

They went their way to their separate wings.

CHAPTER XL

It was Augustus Remington’s violet smock that gave him away, in spite of the coat with which he had covered it and the dark wig which concealed his pallid hair. He had to stop for petrol, because A

Since all petrol stations had been warned, it was enough. The man in charge was a brawny fellow. He put a hand on Augustus Remington’s arm and said, “Just a moment, sir,” and the game was up. There never was a chance to use the revolver which was found in the coat pocket.

Frank Abbott dropped in to see Miss Silver a few days later.

“Of course he never intended to make a get-away, or he wouldn’t have been wearing those ridiculous clothes, and he wouldn’t have let himself run out of petrol. It was A

“Then she did know him before she came down here.”

“Oh, yes, a long time before that. Some of it’s guesswork still, but we’re getting it straightened out. Cables to Major and Mrs. Dartrey out east-you remember she was with them in Germany. Telephone calls to the British Occupation Zone, and quite a lot of interesting stuff to hand. We’re pretty sure it’s going to link up with a couple of sensational jewel robberies in Germany. A

Miss Silver was knitting a useful pair of socks for Maurice. Her needles clicked briskly as she said,

“Mrs. Verney remarked on it to me-quite i

“Oh, yes, she and the children were very good camouflage. And so were the Miss Tremletts-perfectly respectable spinster ladies with a streak of the crank and a disposition to admire the egregious Peveril. Then there’s Miranda-we haven’t been quite sure about Miranda, but I don’t really think she knew anything. She’s a bit of a charlatan of course. She owned to faking a trance in order to get Thomasina off the map, but she says she only did it because Augustus said she disturbed his vibrations-and I’m afraid she is pretty fond of Augustus.”