Annie Haynes Premium Collection – 8 Murder Mysteries in One Volume. Annie Haynes
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 eyes. Looking at her he came to the conclusion that he would rather have Nurse Gidden as a friend than an enemy.
“You wished to speak to my mother?” said Mavis, advancing. “I am so sorry she is not able to see you this morning, but if there is anything that I can tell you—you are a friend of Nurse Marston’s are you not?”
“Her greatest friend, I believe,” Charlotte returned in her brisk, matter-of-fact tones. “We were probationers together, though Mary was some years the younger, and we have kept in communication with one another ever since. Ah, I see you did not think I was a nurse”—as Mavis glanced at her serviceable green dress and plain hat—“but I don’t wear uniform as a rule in my holidays! To tell the truth it is a relief to get out of it and dress like other people sometimes. I have a month off, Miss Hargreave, and I came to Lockford yesterday. I mean to find out what has become of Mary Marston, and I want you to help me.”
“I only wish I could,” Mavis said earnestly. “But nothing we do seems any good. You know my brother has had a detective down?”
“I have heard so.” There was a pause. Charlotte was apparently studying the pattern of the carpet. Garth, from the point of vantage he had taken up in a distant window-seat, watched her, and decided that she was at a loss how to begin. “I am sure of one thing—that Mary Marston had no idea of going away of her own free will that night; her letter to me proved it.”
Mavis drew a long breath.
“Ah, I heard you had a letter, but she must have left the house of her own free will, I think! I should like to see the letter.”
Charlotte raised her hands.
“I wish you could!” she said. “I never thought it was of any particular importance, and I should have my work cut out for me, with my luggage, going about as I do, if I hoarded up letters. I always burn them after they are read.”
“Oh, what a pity it is!” Mavis said as she drew up a chair. “Sit down, Nurse Gidden; you must be tired if you walked up.”
“Yes, it is a goodish way by the road—thank you!” Charlotte said as she accepted the courtesy. “Not but what I remember pretty well what was in the letter,” she resumed after a pause. “She said that nobody knew who the young lady was that she was nursing, but that she herself had seen her in different circumstances, and she felt it was her duty to tell Lady Laura at once, as she thought Lady Laura ought to know who she had in the house. I can’t remember that she said anything more definite”—wrinkling up her brows—“but I know the impression left on my mind was that she thought Lady Laura would soon get rid of the young lady when she did know. The other thing I can recall is that she had only come to the Manor temporarily, that she said she didn’t like leaving her mother just then, and if it had been anybody but Mr. Garth Davenant who asked her to she didn’t think she should have gone.”
“Oh, yes,” Mavis said quickly. “I can understand that! Her mother nursed Mr. Garth Davenant and his brother, and they have always been very kind to the Marstons.”
“So I have heard. That part of the letter does not puzzle me, Miss Hargreave,” remarked Charlotte composedly. “It shows though that Mr. Garth Davenant had a pretty strong influence over her—that is what I notice; but my opinion, looking at the case all round, is that that young lady she was nursing knew she was recognized, and, having her own motives for stopping at the Manor, contrived to get Miss Marston out of the way somehow, so that she should not tell Lady Laura who she was. That is where I fancy you can help me, Miss Hargreave.”
Mavis shook her head.
“You are quite on the wrong tack, Nurse Gidden—I can vouch for that. Hilda was lying in a semi-conscious state all the time the nurse was in the room. I don’t think she had any idea that Nurse Marston had recognized her, and that she had nothing to do with her subsequent disappearance I am absolutely certain, because I went into her room when the nurse came out to see my mother, and remained there until her absence caused uneasiness and they came to make inquiries. It is out of the question that Hilda could have had anything to do with it.”
“Not herself, certainly; she could have got some one to do it for her perhaps,” suggested the other.
“Impossible! Nobody had been in the room all day but ourselves and my maid. After the nurse came she sat by the bed all the time. Hilda had no opportunity of plotting anything of the kind, even if she were inclined, which I do not believe for one moment. Nurse Marston’s disappearance and the rumours connecting her with it have been a real trouble to her.”
“Um!” Nurse Gidden, evidently a lady of free and easy manners, unfastened her coat and leaned back in her chair. “Well, what you say does seem to put this young lady out of count,” she observed; “but I don’t know what to make of it. Can’t you help me at all, Miss Hargreave?”
“I wish I could,” Mavis said, with a heartfelt sigh. “I was just saying when you came in that the atmosphere of the Manor is dreadful just now. Suspicion seems to be in the very air.”
“It is bad for you—anyone can see that,” Charlotte agreed sympathetically. “Well, as it is no use thinking any more of the lady, I must trust to the gentleman and look after Mr. Garth Davenant a little more closely than I fancy he has been looked after yet.”
Mavis started, her eyes flashed.
“I