Vanishing Point

How foolish, how dreadfully foolish to let such thoughts come into her mind. She mustn’t let them come. She must think about getting supper and washing up afterwards. There were herrings to fry, and she must remember that Henry liked his crisp. And the toast too. That was the sort of thing she must keep her mind on. And then Nicholas would be coming home, and-and-“I can always lock my door.”

CHAPTER 31

Up at Crewe House Rosamond moved as if she were in a dream. The night lay before her like the river of Jordan, dark, and narrow, and fleeting. She had only to cross it, and she and Je

Her efforts to get Je

“There’s the kind of night you want to rush into bed and snuggle down and get into a nice comfortable dream, and there’s the kind when you want to go out and dance in the wind. There’s a lovely swoopy sort of wind tonight. I can hear it whooshing round the house like a lot of mad galloping horses. I expect it’s what used to make witches get their broomsticks and fly up the chimney. Mustn’t it have been fun! I’d have loved to be a witch and go rushing over the housetops!”

“Je

Je

“Oh, no, it isn’t. You know, Rosamond, what’s the matter with you is that you’re a born fuss. Come and have breakfast- come and have supper-come and have lunch-come along to bed-all day and every day! And if you think I don’t get bored with it, you can think again! I get as bored as being stuck in the middle of a mud swamp and nothing to do except wonder how soon an alligator will come and eat me. Darling, wouldn’t Aunt Lydia make a lovely crocodile!”

Rosamond was just going to say “Je

Lydia Crewe didn’t like being kept waiting. Even now she was not in the best of tempers. She was in her chair, sitting very bolt upright and tapping on the arm of it with bony fingers.

“I wished to ask you if you had spoken to Je

“Not yet, Aunt Lydia.”

“And why not?”

Rosamond came a little farther into the room.

“I didn’t want to upset her.”

“Why would she be upset? It’s high time all this spoiling and cockering came to an end! Do you imagine that Je

“I thought it would be better for her to have a good night’s rest.”

Miss Crewe said sharply,

“If she would give herself the chance! You will remember to lock her in. Fortunately, there is no way in which she can get out of the windows. You were both very much a

“Aunt Lydia -”

“Well?”

“It-it would upset her dreadfully to be locked in.”

“Why should she know anything about it? She won’t unless she tries to go out, and if she does that she will deserve to be upset. You don’t really imagine that she can be allowed to run about the fields by night?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then you will do as I say! You can lock the door after she is asleep and open it before she wakes in the morning. It is all perfectly simple, and you will see that it is done. You can go and get my hot milk now, and then I don’t suppose I shall be wanting you again.”

By the time she had heated the milk and brought it up Miss Crewe was in her bedroom. She put a hand round the communicating door to take the cup and shut it again at once. There was to be no more talk. And this was the last time that Rosamond would do this errand and get no more than that harsh goodnight for thanks. The thought startled her. It didn’t seem as if the endless service could be ending here. She picked up the tray with its other two cups of milk and went along the passage to Je

When she came in, there was no Je

“Say I’ve been quick! I have, haven’t I? And my things all neatly folded! ‘Virtue Rewarded, or the Piece of Chocolate’ is what I should call it if it was a story I was writing! Like those heavenly books that belonged to Aunt Lydia ’s mother when she was a Sweet Young Girl! Darling-can you imagine Aunt Lydia as a sweet young girl, or a nasty little one, or all wrapped up in long clothes like they used to with babies! And woollen veils over their faces because of the fresh air being so deadly! There was one in the photograph album Aunt Lucy brought to show me, and I don’t see how the baby could breathe at all! No wonder such a lot of them died!”

Je

Rosamond went back to her own room and thought about locking the door. She hadn’t said she wouldn’t, and she hadn’t said she would. She had never done such a thing before, and she didn’t want to do it now. If Je