Annie Haynes Premium Collection – 8 Murder Mysteries in One Volume. Annie Haynes

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СКАЧАТЬ number was used in connexion with her age,” remarked Davenant dryly.

      Mavis looked at him with amazed eyes.

      “What do you mean, Garth? I am sure she does not look more—”

      “Are you?” Garth said cynically. “Well, I must confess that I have not the unquestioning faith of the inhabitants of Hargreave Manor, and I have studied your fair friend’s face on one or two occasions in the open sunlight, away from the couches and subdued lights she usually affects, and I think she is considerably older than you imagine.”

      “Oh, don’t!” exclaimed Mavis miserably. “You make me feel so unhappy, Garth—as if I ought not to believe in anyone!”

      Her lover put out his arm and drew her to him.

      “I am a suspicious, world-hardened wretch, Mavis, am I not? I don’t want any trouble to come to you that I can help, and I am afraid—”

      “Afraid that trouble will come if Arthur married her?” Mavis finished, her head resting against his shoulder.

      “I feel sure of it if he should be mad enough to contemplate such a step before something is known about her,” said Davenant in alarm. “But I hardly thought matters had got so far as that even from your account.”

      Mavis raised her head.

      “Hilda seemed to want to wait until things were cleared up, but Arthur seems quite determined that the engagement shall be announced at once—and he is his own master. I am afraid that mother’s remonstrances only made him more positive. What she implied about Dorothy only annoyed him so much he said he had made up his mind that there should be no more misconception. Don’t you think you may be mistaken about Hilda, Garth? I know it sounds a mad sort of thing for Arthur to do—to marry a woman we know nothing about; but I must say that to a certain extent I cannot help sympathizing with him. Hilda is so very pretty and charming that I feel positive if I were a man I should want to marry her myself.”

      “I should certainly interfere to prevent you,” said Garth, laughing and catching her hand. “Seriously, darling, cannot you see how queer the whole business is? Here is this girl, dropped apparently from the clouds on your doorstep, and nobody makes the smallest inquiry after her. One would naturally have supposed that if a girl of our class, as she appears to be, were missing, there would be such a hue and cry after her that the whole country would be roused, yet, though a description has been published and advertisements inserted, you get no reply from her friends at all!”

      “Yes, yes. I know it sounds strange,” Mavis admitted at once. “But I am sure there is some satisfactory explanation of it all. Hilda and I were talking about it yesterday, and we came to the conclusion that there must have been some wrongdoing somewhere. Perhaps she may be heiress to some property which some one else wants to secure, and they may have treated her in some way that reduced her to the state she was in. Very likely they think she is dead!”

      Garth’s lips curled curiously.

      “I fancy I could pick a few holes in that theory, Mavis. However, shall we say no more about it? Time may prove that you are right and I am wrong. In the meantime before the wedding we will set all our wits to work. We must save Arthur from this folly if possible.”

      “Oh, dear!” Mavis said with a sigh as she turned away her head.

      “What is the matter with you, Mavis?” Garth’s voice was very tender, his clasp grew closer.

      Mavis moved restlessly.

      “Everything is so altered, Garth,” she complained miserably. “And it is such a little time ago since we were so happy; but now the very air of the Manor seems full of mystery and suspicion. One does not know whom to trust.”

      Garth’s hand smoothed her brown hair gently.

      “One thing is not altered, I hope, Mavis—our love for one another.”

      Mavis’s fingers lingered on his arm caressingly.

      “Oh, no! That is the same always; but, Garth, sometimes it seems hardly right for me to be happy in your love when I am afraid that Dorothy—”

      Davenant’s dark face clouded.

      “Hush, child! Poor little Dorothy! We must have patience and it will all come right some time.”

      Mavis did not reply, but rested quiescent in his arms, feeling a certain comfort from the close contact with his strength, from the firmness of his clasp as he bent over her.

      There was a step in the conservatory and Mavis freed herself.

      “Oh, there you are!” Lady Laura said as she caught sight of them through the glass door. “I was looking for you, Mavis. You must see this person for me,” glancing at the card she held in her hand. “I’m really so upset this morning that I cannot talk to anyone. What do you say to this folly—this madness of Arthur’s, Garth?”

      “It is what I have been fearing for some time. I was afraid—”

      “I never thought of such a thing,” Lady Laura said plaintively. “How could I imagine a man would want to marry a girl, however beautiful, who could not remember even her own name? I concluded that that put it entirely out of the question. I should have thought it quite as improbable as that Arthur, visiting a lunatic asylum, should fall in love with one of its inmates and want to marry her. I can see now that I have been imprudent in allowing them to see so much of one another, but I assure you that was how I looked at it.”

      Garth laughed in spite of his real vexation.

      “There is something to be said for that point of view, Lady Laura, but I question whether the marriage can take place until the girl recovers her memory. We don’t even know that she is free.”

      Lady Laura clasped her hands.

      “Certainly we do not! Garth, that had not occurred to me. You must have a long talk with my poor boy. He will not listen to anything I can say. It seems useless to speak, and yet to see him throwing away his happiness in this way is heart-breaking.”

      Mavis took the card from her hand.

      “Nurse Gidden,” she read, and then underneath in pencil, “From Mrs. Marston.”

      “Oh, mother, what does she want?” she asked.

      “I do not know—something to do with Nurse Marston I suppose,” Lady Laura said tearfully. “But I really cannot stand any more worry this morning, Mavis; I am not fit for it.”

      “Poor little mumsy!” Mavis kissed her heartily. “I will hear what she has to say. May I tell Jenkins to show her in here, then Garth can help me perhaps?”

      “Oh, see her where you like,” Lady Laura acquiesced fretfully. “I am going out for a drive. I think it may help to steady my nerves.”

      “The best thing you can do, mother dear,” Mavis agreed as she rang the bell and Lady Laura hurried out through the conservatory.

      Garth Davenant glanced up curiously as Gidden was ushered in. He saw a plain-featured, resolute-looking woman of middle height and apparently of middle age, with a firmly-set humorous mouth and bright dark СКАЧАТЬ