Chapter 15 Chapter fifteen

"Your room is ready," Sofia said. She stood beside me, looking out into the garden.The landscape of the garden now looked gray and bleak, with half-leaved branches swaying in the wind. Sophia hit my mark: "How desolate it seems...," As we watched, a figure and then another came across the yew hedge from the rock garden.Under the dim light, the two figures looked gray and unreal. The first was Brenda Leonides.Wrapped in a gray chinchilla coat, she moved with a little cat-like stealth.She slid past in the twilight with an eerie grace. As she passed the window, I saw her face.There was a half smile on her face, the crooked smile I had noticed upstairs.A few minutes later, Laurence Brown, looking gaunt and shy, also slid by in the dim light.All I can say is that they don't look like two people walking, two people out for a walk.They give people a sneaky, unreal feeling, like two ghosts.

I don't know whether it was Brenda or Lawrence's foot that broke a branch and made a sound. I asked out of natural association: "Where is Josephine?" "Maybe upstairs with Eustace." She frowned. "I'm worried about Eustace, Charlie." "why?" "He's so weird and moody. He's been so different since he got the damn polio. I can't figure out what's going on in his mind. Sometimes he seems to hate us all." "Maybe he'll grow up, it's just a stage." "I suppose so, but I'm really worried, Charlie."

"Why, dear?" "Really, I think, it's probably because Mom and Dad never worry, they don't look like Mom and Dad." "It might be better. Interference hurts children more than non-interference." "It's the truth. You know. I never thought of it until I got back from overseas, but they're such an odd couple. Dad's life is steeped in a world of obscure history while mum's constantly creating drama Scene, enjoy yourself. Mom made up all the boring behavior tonight, no need, she just wanted to put on a family meeting scene. She was bored here, you know, had to try to make a Come out."

For a moment, I fantasized about Sophia's mother rashly poisoning her elderly father-in-law in order to witness a murder scene starring her. A hilarious thought!I'm so tempted to push the thought away--but the thought leaves me with a slight unease. "Mom," said Sophia, "has to be taken care of all the time. You never know what she's up to!" "Forget about your family, Sophia," I said firmly. "I like it very much, but it's a bit difficult at the moment. But when I was in Cairo, I forgot about them all and had a good time." It occurred to me that Sofia never mentioned her home or family at the time.

"That's why you never talked about them?" I asked. "Because you want to forget about them?" "I think so. We've all been living too much on each other, we--we like each other too much, we don't hate each other like some families, that must be pretty bad, but it's almost like a family Living with conflicting emotions is even worse." She went on to say: "I think that's what I meant when I said we all lived in one crooked little house. I didn't mean crooked to say there was any disrepute. I guess I meant we couldn't grow up on our own Stand up, stand up straight. We're all a little twisted."

Sophia added: "Like wild bindweed..." I thought of the way Miss de Haviland trampled the weeds into the ground with the heels of her shoes. Then Madag came in - flung the door open - and cried: "My dear, why don't you light the lamps? It's almost dark." She flips the switch.The lights on the wall and on the table jumped out. She, Sofia and I closed the thick rose curtains, and then we were all in the room smelling of flowers. Magda lay down on the sofa and said loudly: "What a marvelous scene, isn't it? How angry Eustace was! He told me he thought it really indecent. How ridiculous boys are!"

She sighed: "Roger's lovely. I like the way he snaps at his hair and knocks everything over. It's cute when Edith says she's going to give him all her share of the inheritance, isn't she? She means it, It's not just posturing, you know. But it's terribly stupid to say that--it might make Philip think he should be like her! Of course Edith would do anything for the family! An old maid to There's something very sentimental about her sister's child's love. One day I'm going to be that sacrificial spinster aunt. Inquisitive, stubborn, devoted."

"She must have been very upset when her sister died," I said quickly, lest I have to hear her talk about her character again. "I mean, if she doesn't like old Leonides that much." Magda interrupted me. "Don't like him? Who told you? Nonsense, she's in love with him." "Mom!" said Sophia. "Don't try to argue with me, Sophia. Of course at your age, you think love is two beautiful young men and women in the moonlight." "She told me," I said, "that she never liked him." "Maybe she didn't like it when she first came. She's been mad at her sister for marrying him. Maybe there's always been some opposition—but she's in love with him! I know what I'm talking about, darling! Of course he couldn't marry her because of dead wife's sister and all that, and I bet he never thought of marrying her--and probably she didn't either. Quite happy. But she doesn't like him marrying Brenda. She doesn't like it at all!"

"You're not the same as Dad," Sophia said. "Yes, of course we hate! Naturally! But Edith is the one who hates the most. Honey, I've seen the way she looks at Brenda!" "That's enough, Mom," said Sophia. Magda gave her an affectionate, half-guiltful glance, the gaze of a spoiled naughty child. She went on, apparently not realizing the incoherence: "I've decided that Josephine really has to go to school." "Josephine? Going to school?" "Yes, to Switzerland, I'm going to do it tomorrow. I really think we might send her away right away, it's not good to get her involved in this horrible thing, she's getting sicker and sicker Now, what she needs is kids her age, school life. I've always thought so."

"Grandpa didn't want her to go to school," Sofia said slowly. "He was very against it." "Dear old sweetheart likes us all in front of him, old people are often so selfish. Little children should be with other little children, and Switzerland is so good for body and mind - all winter sports, and air, better than here Too much food!" "Isn't it difficult to arrange to go to Switzerland now, with all the foreign exchange laws?" I asked. "Nonsense, Charlie. Someone arrange this kind of education--or you could exchange it with a kid from Switzerland--there's more than one way. Rudolf Astor is in Northany, I'll wire tomorrow Give it to him, tell him to arrange everything, we can send her away within this week!"

Magda beat a bolster, smiled at us, went to the door, stood for a while, and looked back at us quite charmingly. "Only young people matter," she said, and it was a beautiful line in her voice. "They must always be a priority. And, dear - think of the flowers - that blue gentian, that narcissus..." "In November?" asked Sophia, but Magda had already left. Sophia sighed angrily. "Really," she said, "Mum is such a nuisance! She suddenly has an idea, sends out thousands of telegrams, and then everything has to be arranged in such a short time. Why should Josephine Driven to Switzerland in such a hurry?" "Maybe there's something to it. I think it's a good thing for Josephine to be with kids her age." "Grandfather doesn't think so." Sophia said stubbornly. I feel a little angry. "My dear Sophia, do you really think that an old gentleman in his eighties is the best judge of a child's welfare?" "He's pretty much the best judge of anyone in the room," Sophia said. "Better than your Aunt Edith?" "No, probably not better than her. She's kind of in favor of her going to school. I admit Josephine is getting a little hard to manage—she has a horrible habit of snooping around. But I really think it's just her playing detective." game." Was Magda's sudden decision just for Josephine's welfare?I suspect.Josephine was well aware of everything that had happened right before the murder and had none of her business.A healthy school life full of sports and games may have been good for her, but I'm a little skeptical of the haste of Magda's decision—Switzerland is far away.