Lonesome Road Read Free Page B

at the people, and I look at them through my own temperament, my own mood— perhaps through my own fear, my own doubt, my own suspicion. These things do not make for clear vision. And, not seeing clearly myself, I have to choose, I have to select what I am going to tell you, and then I have to find words to convey these troubled impressions to you, a stranger. You have no check on what I tell you. You don’t know the people or the circumstances. Don’t you see how impossible it is to give you anything except an unfair picture?”
    “I see that you are very anxious to be fair. Now will you tell me who it is that you suspect?”
    Rachel Treherne looked up.
    “No one,” she said.
    “And who is it that Louisa Barnet suspects?”
    Rachel turned abruptly. She faced Miss Silver across the table now.
    “No one,” she said—“no one person. She’s afraid for me and it makes her suspicious. It is because of these suspicions that I have felt bound to come to you. I can’t go on like this, living with people, seeing them constantly, being fond of them, and these dreadful suspicions always there between us.”
    “I see,” said Miss Silver. “If I may quote from Lord Tennyson’s poem of Maud—‘Villainy somewhere! Whose? One says, we are villains all.’ And again:
    ‘Why do they prate of the blessings of peace? We have
    made them a curse.
    Pickpockets, each hand lusting for all that is not its
    own.
    And lust of gain, in the spirit of Cain, is it better or
    worse
    Than the heart of the citizen hissing in war on his own
    hearthstone?’
    Really very apt, I think. I fear that the lust of gain in the heart of Cain is responsible for a great deal of crime.”
    Rachel Treherne said “Cain—” in a sort of whisper, and Miss Silver nodded.
    “Impossible not to realize that it is some member of your family circle who is suspected by Louisa Barnet, if not by yourself.”
    “Miss Silver!”
    “You had better face it. When it comes to attempted murder, it is no use just letting things slide. I am sure that you must realize this. For your own sake, and for the sake of your relatives, the matter must be cleared up. Your fears may be groundless. The attempt may have come from some other quarter than the one which is causing you so much distress. We will attack the matter courageously and see what can be done. Now, Miss Treherne, I would like full details of your household, the members of your family, and any guests who were staying with you at the time of these attempts.”
    Rachel Treherne looked at her for a moment. Then she began to speak in a quiet, steady voice.
    “I have a house at Whincliff. My father built it. It is called Whincliff Edge, and it stands, as the name suggests, on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. There are very fine gardens on the landward side. It is in fact a kind of show place, and the house is big enough to accommodate a good many guests. I have therefore to employ a considerable staff outside, and a housekeeper and five maids indoors. I don’t employ any men indoors. My housekeeper, Mrs. Evans, has been in the family for twenty years—she is one of the nicest women in the world. The maids are local girls and from no farther afield than Ledlington—I know all about them and their families. Maids generally stay with me until they marry. They are all nice, respectable girls. None of them could have the slightest motive for wishing to harm me. My guests—” She paused, and then went on. “The house is often full. My father built it not just for himself and me, but to be a rallying point for the family. They regard it in this light, and I am very seldom alone there.”
    “You mentioned a sister, I believe.”
    “Yes—my sister Mabel.”
    “A younger sister?”
    “No, five years older. She married young, and my father made a settlement on her then.”
    “He did not leave her anything more in his will?”
    “No.”
    “And was she satisfied?”
    Miss Treherne bit her lip. She