After The Funeral Part 36

"Mrs. Leo Abernethie."

"Oh ? Suppose they'll go gossiping for about an hour.

Women have no sense of time when they get on the phone.

Never think of the money they're wasting."

Miss Gilchrist said brightly that it would be Mrs. Leo who

had to pay, and Timothy grunted.

"Just pull that curtain aside, will you ? No, not that one,

the other one. I don't want the liglt slap in my eyes. That's

better. No reason because I'm an invalid that I should have

to sit in the dark all day."

He went on:

"And you might look in that bookcase over there for a green What's the matter now ? What are you rus.h.i.+ng

off for ?"

"It's the front door, Mr. Abernethie."

"I didn't hear anything. Ymfve got that woman down-stairs, haven't you ? Let her go and answer it."

"Yes, Mr. Abernethie. What was the book you wanted me to find ?"

The invalid closed his eyes.

"I can't remember now. You've put it out of my head.

You'd better go."

Miss Gilchrist seized the tray and hurriedly departed.

Putting the tray on the pantry table she hurried into the front hall, pa.s.sing Mrs. Abernethie who was still at the tele-phone.

She returned in a moment to ask in a muted voice:

"I'm so sorry to interrupt. It's a nun. Collecting. The Heart of Mary Fund, I think she said. She has a book. Half

a crown or five s.h.i.+llings most people seem to have given."

Maude Abernethie said:

"Just a moment, Helen," into the telephone, and to Miss Gilchrist, "I don't subscribe to Roman Catholics. We have our own Church charities."

Miss Gilchrist hurried away again.

Maude terminated her conversation after a few minutes with the phrase, "I'll talk to Timothy about it."

She replaced the receiver and came into the front hall.

Miss Gilchrist was standing quite still by the drawing-room

door. She was frowning in a puzzled way and jumped when

Maude Abernethie spoke to her.

"There's nothing the matter, is there, Miss Gilchrist ?"

"Oh no, Mrs. Abernethie, I'm afraid I was just wool gathering. So stupid of me when there's so much to be done."

Miss Gilchrist resumed her imitation of a busy ant and

Maude Abernethie climbed the stairs slowly and painfully to

her husband's room.

"That was Helen on the telephone. It seems that the place

is definitely sold some Inst.i.tution for Foreign Refugees----"

She paused whilst Timothy expressed himself forcefully on

the subject of Foreign Refugees, with side issues as to the house

in which he had been born and brought up. "No decent

standards left in this country. My old home I I can hardly

bear to think of it."

Maude went on.

"Helen quite appreciates what you--we--will feel about it. She suggests that we might like to come there for a visit

before it goes. She was very distressed about your health and

the way the painting is affecting it. She thought you might

prefer coming to Enderby to going to an hotel. The servants

are there still, so you could be looked after comfortably."

Timothy, whose mouth had been open in outraged protests