Chapter 14 third quarter

At dinner that night, Joanna told Patridge that she hoped her afternoon tea would be a joy for both guests and guests. Patridge blushed slightly, and stood up straighter, "Thank you, miss, but Agnes didn't come." "Oh, what a pity." "'I' don't care," Patridge said. She seemed to be full of grievances, and couldn't help complaining to us: "I didn't ask her to come, but she called to say that she had something on her mind and asked if I could let her come. She is on vacation today. I only agreed after your permission. Unexpectedly, there was no news at all, and no apology to me, but I think I will probably receive a postcard from her tomorrow morning. Now these girls - don't understand the rules at all, and don't understand their own identities. "

Joanna tried to comfort Patridge's hurt feelings: "Maybe she's not feeling well, you didn't call to ask." Patridge straightened herself up again and said, "No, I didn't, miss! Really not. If Agnes likes to mess around, it's her own carelessness, but next time we meet, I must be careful." Teach her." Patridge straightened up and walked away angrily. Joanna and I couldn't help but smile knowingly. "Poor Patridge, I was expecting someone to come to her for advice in the afternoon, but they have made up again. I think Agnes and her boyfriend must be hugging each other in some dark corner."

Joanna smiled and said, presumably so. We talked again about anonymous letters, and guessed that Nash and the gloomy inspector didn't know what was going on. "It's been a whole week since Mrs. Symmington committed suicide." Joanna said, "I think they should have gained something, maybe fingerprints or handwriting or something." I answered her absent-mindedly, and for some reason I suddenly felt a strange uneasiness, which probably had something to do with Joanna's "whole week." I dare say I should have thought of this sooner.Perhaps my subconscious already had doubts.

In any case, this unease finally has a context. Joanna suddenly realized that I was not paying attention to her vivid account of an adventure in the country. "What's up? Jerry." I didn't answer because my mind was busy putting one thing together. Mrs. Symmington's suicide... She was alone that afternoon... "Because the servants were away on leave" so she was alone... A whole week to this day... "Jerry, why..." I cut her off. "Joanna, the servants have one day off every week, don't they?" "And every other Sunday," said Joanna, "after all..."

"Never mind Sunday, they have the same day off every week?" "Yes, usually." Joanna stared at me curiously, wondering what the hell I was thinking. I went over and rang the bell. Patridge heard the sound and came. "You say," I asked her, "this girl named Agnes Wardell is also a servant?" "Yes, sir, serving Mrs Symington, oh, it must be Mr Symington now." I took a breath and looked at the clock, it was half past ten. "Do you think she's home now?" Patridge said with a disapproving expression, "Yes, sir, it's an old rule that maids must be home by ten o'clock."

I walked down the hall, Joanna and Patridge following me. Patridge was visibly annoyed, Joanna was confused, and when I called, she asked me, "What are you trying to do, Jerry." "See if the girl has arrived home safely." Patridge sniffed, and so did Joanna, nothing more, but I didn't care about Patridge's slight. Elsie Holland's voice came over the phone. "I'm sorry to disturb you," I said. "I'm Jerry Burton. Excuse me—has Agnes, the housemaid, come home?" After I finished speaking, I suddenly felt a little stupid. If the girl had arrived home safely, how could I explain the reason for the call?If I had thought earlier, it might have been easier to explain if Joanna called.I can almost imagine that there will be a lot of gossip about Linstak, and the object of the talk is me and that Agnes Wardell whom I have never even met.

As I expected, Elsie Holland said with great surprise: "Agnes? Oh, she must be back by now." I felt like a fool, but I continued, "Can I trouble you to see if she's back? Miss Helan." The advantage of being a nanny is that when someone asks her to do something, she will do it.Elsie Holland put down the receiver and walked away obediently. Two minutes later, I heard her voice say: "Are you still there, Mr. Patton?" "exist." "Honestly, Agnes hasn't come back yet." At this time, I knew that my hunch was right. I heard a vague voice on the phone, and then Simmington said:

"Hi Burton, what's the matter?" "The housemaid, Agnes, hasn't returned yet?" "Yes, Miss Helan just watched it. What's going on? Could it be some accident?" "Not an 'accident,'" I said. "You mean you have reason to believe that something happened to the girl?" I said seriously: "If that's the case, I won't be too surprised." That night, I slept very restlessly. I thought, there were a lot of messy clues in my mind at that time, if I could think about it with my heart, I would definitely be able to figure out the answer at that time, otherwise, why do those fragments always linger in my mind?

How much do we know about ourselves?I believe there is far more than what we know we know, but we often cannot break through a certain layer of boundaries, so we always stay in that range. I lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep, tormented by intermittent bouts of confusion. There must be some kind of "pattern" to follow, if only I could catch a clue, if only I could track down... Until I fell into a dream, these words kept flashing in my mind: "Where there is no fire there is no smoke, where there is no fire there is no smoke, smoke... smoke... smokescreen, no, that's war... war words... oh, no... note... just a note. Belgium -- Germany……"

I fell asleep at last, and dreamed that I was taking the Reverend Mrs. Kemp for a walk, and she had a chain and collar around her neck—for she had become a hound.