Appleby File Read Free Page B

friend Ned Strickland and his wife Molly–’
    ‘How nice!’ Judith said. ‘We know them quite well.’
    ‘That’s capital – and shows, my dear Lady Appleby, how well house-parties arrange themselves at Gore. The only other guest is a fellow called Charles Trevor, who does something or other in the City. We were at school together, and have been trying out a revived acquaintance. And now I’ll leave you. The bells do ring, by the way – and just at present there even appear to be young women who answer them. But I don’t know what my father would have thought of running Gore on a gaggle of housemaids.’
    ‘A gaggle of housemaids.’ Appleby was opening his suitcase with an expression of some gloom. ‘I suppose one might call that rather a territorial joke. Would you say I’d better put on this damned dinner-jacket?’
    ‘Yes, of course. And it’s lucky I brought a decent frock.’
    ‘Our fellow waif-and-stray, Mr Jolly, won’t have a dinner jacket.’
    ‘You’ll find that one or another of the Darien-Gores will keep him company by not dressing. But the other men will.’
    ‘Oh, very well.’ Appleby had little doubt that it would turn out just as Judith said.
    ‘We’re lucky to have hit upon such civilized people. And I look forward to seeing the Stricklands.’
    ‘My dear Judith, General Strickland is an amiable bore.’
    ‘Yes – but he’s a very old friend of the family. Get him in a corner, and he’ll tell you all about the Darien-Gores. I’m curious about them.’
    ‘I’m sure you are. But I doubt whether there’s a great deal to learn. I’ve a notion that Jasper was once a distinguished athlete–’
    ‘Yes, that rings a bell. Something aquatic – high diving or water-polo or–’
    ‘No doubt. And he’s simply lived on his rents ever since. As for the melancholic Robert, perhaps the less one learns the better.’
    ‘Just what do you mean by that?’ Having found the dress she wanted, Judith was shaking it out on its hanger. ‘You don’t think he’s mad, do you?’
    ‘I’d hardly suppose so. But when a chap like Jasper Darien-Gore starts apologizing for his brother in advance, one has to suppose there’s something rather far wrong. And I’ve an impression that Robert, and presumably his wife Prunella, aren’t simply here on a weekend visit. In some obscure way, Robert has taken refuge here. And you and I, my dear, butting in in the way we have butted in, have very precisely the social duty to discover nothing about it.’
    ‘Perhaps we have. Only it’s not in your nature, John, to refrain from looking into things – just as you’re doing now.’
    This was fair enough. Turning out his pockets as he changed, Appleby had come upon the binoculars he had first used in search of Gore Castle. He had drawn back a curtain and was using them now to take a closer look at the inner bailey. The moon was rising, and the sky had blown clear. Straight opposite, the keep was no longer a mere dark mass within its scaffolding. One could make out something of the detail of its surface, pierced by narrow unglazed windows. Below, the carpet of snow, untrodden even by the tracks of cat or bird, surrounded the sinister well.
    ‘Come along,’ Judith said. ‘We mustn’t skulk.’
    Appleby closed the curtain and put down the binoculars. They left the room together. A few paces down the corridor, there was a half-open door on their right. And it was true that Appleby could seldom refrain from looking into things. He did so now. A middle-aged man, sharp-featured and indefinably furtive, appeared to have turned back into the room when about to leave it. He was now transferring from a small suitcase to a jacket pocket what appeared to be a rather bulky pocketbook.
    ‘Well, well!’ Appleby had walked on for some paces before he murmured this. ‘Not only do we know the Stricklands. We know Mr Jolly as well.’
    ‘Nonsense! I took a glance at the man. I’m certain I’ve never seen him