"Shouldn't he know?"

"I can see you are a stickler for morality."

"Aren't you?"

"I am for good common sense."

"And morality does not always fit in with that?"

"I would not say that. Each situation has to be judged on its own. You cannot generalize about such matters."

"Do you think it is right ... or even wise ... for a woman who has a child to marry and not mention that child to her husband?"

"If the woman in question was a virtuous one she would not have had the child in the first place, so you must not expect exemplary conduct from her afterwards. It is a matter for Lavinia to decide."

"And Dougal ... isn't he being deceived?"

"Yes. But perhaps he would prefer not to know."

"Do you really think so? Would you in similar circumstances?"

"I find it exceedingly difficult to put myself in Dougal's place. I am not Dougal. I am myself. Dougal is a good, worthy man. I am sure he has lived an exemplary life. I cannot say the same for myself. Therefore I take a different view from the one he would take. I believe that it is better to get through life as easily as one can ... and if ignorance is more soothing than knowledge, let's remain in the dark."

"What a strange philosophy!"

"I am afraid you disapprove of me."

"I am sure there are very few things you are afraid of and my approval or disapproval is not one of them."

"I would always welcome your good opinion."

I laughed. I was feeling much easier with him. I looked forward to his visits and I was continually warning myself not to become too interested in him. I had had one warning with Dougal. He had seemed the perfect gentleman; Fabian was not that, but I found him, if anything, more interesting. The sub­jects raised by Dougal had fascinated me, but it was Fabian himself who attracted me.

I was on dangerous ground. Polly knew it; that was why she was watchful.

It was evening. Fleur was in bed, and I was sitting with Polly and Eff by the kitchen fire. Eff had just commented on how well it was drawing these days, when there was a knock on the door.

Eff rose in dismay. She never liked anyone to catch her using the kitchen as a living room.

"One of the tenants," she said. "First Floor Back, bet you anything."

She composed herself, putting on the special dignity she reserved for tenants, and went to the door.

Polly followed her with me in the wake.

It was not First Floor Back but one of the others, and she was clutching a newspaper.

"I thought you might not have heard the latest," she was saying excitedly. "It's the Janine Fletcher case."

We all went into the parlour. Polly had seized the newspaper and spread it out on the table. We all gathered round. It was on the front page, Stop Press News.

"Startling Developments in the Janine Fletcher Case. Police think they have solution."

That was all.

"Well, well," said Eff. "It was kind of you, Mrs. Tenby."

"Well, I thought you'd want to know. And Miss Delany ... you'd be interested, seeing as how you knew the poor thing."

"Yes," I agreed.

"Now we have to wait and see what it's all about," said Polly.

Eff, with the utmost dignity, was ushering Mrs. Tenby into the hall.

"Well, thank you for letting us know."

When she had gone we sat in the kitchen asking ourselves what it could mean and we were later than usual going to bed.

I went in to see Fleur, as I always did every night. She was fast asleep, clutching the little doll Eff had bought for her and from which she refused to be parted. I bent and kissed her; she murmured something in her sleep. I felt a great relief because Fabian knew and that meant that her future was assured.

I lay awake for a long time, wondering what new development there had been and whether I should see Fabian next day.

We had the papers early and there it was for us to read. It was a further shock for me and I felt more deeply involved than I had before. Dramas ... tragedies ... take place frequently. One reads of them and sometimes they seem unreal because they happen to vague people whom we can only imagine; but when they concern someone we know, that is different.

What I read saddened me greatly, although it must have brought intense relief to Lavinia.

They had found the murderess—not by any great detective work on the part of the police, but through the confession of the one who had killed Janine.

"Killer of Janine Fletcher confesses."

It was written in flowery prose.

"In a little house on the outskirts of Wanstead near Epping Forest, Jack Everet Masters lay dying of self-inflicted wounds. Beside him was the body of his wife, Miriam Mary Masters. She had been dead some hours.

"They were known as the happiest couple in the neighbourhood. Jack was a seaman. Neighbours tell how his wife used to wait for his return and how each time he came home it was another honeymoon for them. Why should she then have decided to take her life by consuming an overdose of laudanum? It was because she could not face the consequence of a reckless act which took place during one of Jack's absences at sea."

"Double Suicide" was the next headline.

"Miriam could no longer tolerate the situation in which she found herself and decided she could no longer go on living. So, carefully writing two letters—one to Jack and one to the coroner—she confessed to the killing of Janine Fletcher. In that to her husband she gave her reasons for doing so.

"/ love you, Jack.

"The letter she wrote to her husband explained what happened. One night when Jack was at sea she had been persuaded by friends to go to a party. She had not wanted to and, little realizing that she was setting out on a path which would lead to misery and finally death, unused to alcohol, she took too much and was unaware of what was happening to her. Some person took advantage of the poor girl's state and seduced her with the result that she became with child. Miriam was desperate. How to tell Jack? Would he understand? She greatly feared that he would not. Her happiness was in ruins. She tried to plan a way out. She had heard of Mrs. Fletcher's Nursing Home in the New Forest. It was expensive, but discreet. She decided there was no alternative but to go there and get the child adopted when it arrived. Janine Fletcher, known as the niece of the owner of the nursing home, was there when Miriam had her baby. Janine knew her secret. The child was born and adopted.

Miriam came home to put the past behind her. And so she did, until Janine Fletcher turned up in her life.

"It is not an unfamiliar story. Janine wanted money to keep quiet. Miriam paid ... once or twice ... and then she found she could not go on paying. Greatly she feared the consequences. She could not face telling Jack. She acquired a gun. She went to Janine's rooms and shot her dead. She managed to get away without being seen. But she realized she could not live with such a secret, so she wrote those letters.

"Star-Crossed Lovers.

"They were Romeo and Juliet. He came and found her dead. He read her letter. He was prostrate with grief. He would have understood. He would have forgiven. Perhaps they would have found the child and he would have been a father to it.

"Too Late.

"She had killed Janine Fletcher. She must have realized, while she might have lived on weighed down by the sin of adultery, she could not by that of murder. So the star-crossed lovers died, and the mystery of who killed Janine Fletcher is solved."

Fabian called later in the morning.

"You've heard the news?" he said.

"Yes," I said. "I was deeply touched." I remembered Miriam so well. I remembered her misery and I thought how cruel life had been to her.

"You seem shaken," he said.

"I knew her. She was there when we were there. She was such a gentle person. I cannot think of her as a murderess."

"It closes up the case. We can breathe more easily now. Good God! It would have been certain to come out. Lavinia could have been caught up in all this. So could you. I was daily expecting something to be disclosed. And now it's all over."

I said, "She loved her husband ... deeply. And he must have loved her. He could not contemplate living without her. She made a deep impression on me."

"She must have been an unusual woman ... to take that gun and shoot her enemy."

"It all seems so unnecessary. If only she had told her husband! If only Janine had tried to work for her living and not turned to blackmail! If only Lavinia had not been carried away by that man!"

"If only the world were a different place and everyone in it perfect, life would be simpler, wouldn't it?" He smiled at me ruefully. "You look for perfection," he went on. "I believe you will have to do with something less. I am going to cheer you up. I am going to suggest that you have luncheon with me. I think we have something to celebrate. The case is over. I can tell you I have had some uneasy moments!"

"For Lavinia," I said.

"For you also."

"I had nothing to fear."

"It is never good to be connected with what is unsavoury. It leaves something behind. People remember ... vaguely. They forget details ... who was who ... what part they played. It is a great relief that it is over."

"I can't stop thinking of Miriam."

"She took what she thought was the best way out of her dilemma."

"And destroyed her life and that of her husband."