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.’Angela regarded Mrs.Sheridan sympathetically.She looked a little better than she had that morning, with slightly more colour in her cheeks, although she still clung to Mary like a child.‘Virginia was just saying she thinks she might have to sell the place,’ said Mary.‘I can’t say I blame her, after what’s happened.’‘No,’ said Mrs.Sheridan.‘It’s such an awfully big house for one person, and I can’t possibly manage the gardens by myself.Oh, dear, and they were Raymond’s pride and joy.’Two large tears appeared in the corners of her eyes, and she fumbled for a handkerchief.‘No, I promised I wouldn’t be like this,’ she said after a moment or two.‘I must think about practical things, mustn’t I, Mary?’‘That’s probably the best idea,’ replied Mrs.Ainsley.‘It will help take your mind off what’s happened.Oh, by the way, Angela, I do wish we hadn’t mentioned anything to Jonathan this morning about the Quinns.I think he is going to be quite impossible on the subject.’‘Really?’ said Angela.‘In what way?’‘Why, he’s fastened onto this silly hypnotism idea, of course.He was silent all through lunch, and then quite suddenly came out and asked me if I’d ever felt myself feeling sleepy while talking to Mrs.Quinn, and had I ever thought they might be trying to persuade me to do something against my will? Naturally, I gave him my best snort and told him in no uncertain terms that he ought to forget about the Quinns and start concentrating on his worshippers, in case he lost them altogether, but I don’t think he was listening.He went out and said he was going to visit Mrs.Rowe.’‘Is Mrs.Rowe the woman who was supposed to be planning to include the Quinns in her will?’ said Angela.‘The one whose son wasn’t happy about it?’‘Yes, that’s the one,’ said Mary.‘I dare say Jonathan is haranguing her at this very moment, trying to get her to admit that she was hypnotized into it.Poor woman.And she walks with sticks so she can’t even run away.’‘Oh dear,’ said Angela, trying not to laugh at Mary’s rueful face, since she saw that her friend was genuinely worried.‘Yes,’ said Mary.‘I am rather worried that he’s going to cause trouble.I’ve told him that it’s unchristian to spread rumours, but he’s adamant that it doesn’t apply in the case of the Quinns, since they are as good as criminals and he is doing a good turn to society in warning people against them.’‘I don’t think he’s the only one, though,’ said Angela.‘I was speaking to Mr.Morandi earlier and he said he had heard a lot of silly rumours about them.He wouldn’t tell me what they were, but I gather there has been a lot of talk in the town over the past couple of days.It looks as though the Quinns are under rather a cloud of suspicion at present.’‘Poor things,’ said Mary.‘Even if they aren’t quite the thing I don’t suppose for a moment they had anything to do with what happened to Raymond, but once a rumour takes hold there is no quashing it.’Virginia Sheridan had been listening to all this with astonishment.‘Do you mean to say that people think the Quinns had something to do with Raymond’s death?’ she said.‘How are they meant to have done it?’Reluctantly, Mary told her about the hypnotism theory and she opened her eyes wide.‘Why, surely that’s nonsense!’ she said.‘Of course it’s nonsense,’ said Mary, ‘but I’m afraid reports are going about that he left them some money in his will, which supposedly gives them a motive.You don’t happen to know whether he did leave them anything, do you?’‘He never told me anything about it if he did,’ said Mrs.Sheridan.‘But he never made any secret of the fact that he was very grateful to them, so I shouldn’t be a bit surprised if he had left them something.I doubt it would be very much, though—and certainly not enough to induce them to—’ she tailed off.‘That’s exactly what I said to Jonathan,’ said Mary, ‘but he wouldn’t be convinced.I really must persuade him to take a holiday.I think the strains of the job are getting on his nerves, rather.’ She suddenly remembered something.‘But Angela,’ she said, ‘I quite forgot to ask you what happened during your séance.You never told me your impressions of the Quinns.’‘No, I didn’t, did I?’ said Angela, who had almost forgotten about the thing in view of subsequent events.She recounted what had happened during their sitting, and told Mary what she had thought of the Quinns—that is, that they were harmless charlatans who provided a little excitement for a modest fee.‘I thought you’d say that,’ said Mary [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]