many years. I saw you occasionally.’
‘Yes. You used to take me out from school. I remember that. Gave me some specially good feeds, too. Lovely food you gave me.’
‘You were an unusual child. You liked caviar.’
‘I still do,’ said Celia, ‘though I don’t get it offered to me very often.’
‘I was shocked to read this mention of things in the paper. Very little was said. I gathered it was a kind of open verdict. No particular motive. Nothing to show. No accounts of a quarrel, there was no suggestion of there having been an attack from outside. I was shocked by it,’ said Mrs Oliver, ‘and then I forgot it. I wondered once or twice what could have led to it, but as I was not in the country – I was doing a tour at the time, in America as I’ve said – the whole thing passed out of my mind. It was some years later when I next saw you and naturally I did not speak of it to you.’
‘No,’ said Celia, ‘I appreciate that.’
‘All through life,’ Mrs Oliver said, ‘one comes across very curious things that happen to friends or to acquaintances. With friends, of course, very often you have some idea of what led to – whatever the incident might be. But if it’s a long time since you’ve heard them discussed or talked to them, you are quite in the dark and there is nobody that you can show too much curiosity to about the occasion.’
‘You were always very nice to me,’ said Celia. ‘You sent me nice presents, a particularly nice present when I was twenty-one, I remember.’
‘That’s the time when girls need some extra cash in hand,’ said Mrs Oliver, ‘because there are so many things they want to do and have just then.’
‘Yes, I always thought you were an understanding person and not – well, you know what some people are like. Always questioning, and asking things and wanting to know all about you. You never asked questions. You used to take me out to shows, or give me nice meals, and talk to me as though, well, as though everything was all right and you were just a distant relation of the family. I’ve appreciated that. I’ve known so many nosey-parkers in my life.’
‘Yes. Everyone comes up against that sooner or later,’ said Mrs Oliver. ‘But you see now what upset me at this particular party. It seems an extraordinary thing to be asked to do by a complete stranger like Mrs Burton-Cox. I couldn’t imagine why she should want to know. It was no business of hers, surely. Unless –’
‘You thought it was, unless it was something to do with my marrying Desmond. Desmond is her son.’
‘Yes, I suppose it could have been, but I couldn’t see how, or what business it was of hers.’
‘Everything’s her business. She’s nosey – in fact she’s what you said she was, an odious woman.’
‘But I gather Desmond isn’t odious.’
‘No. No, I’m very fond of Desmond and Desmond is fond of me. I don’t like his mother.’
‘Does he like his mother?’
‘I don’t really know,’ said Celia. ‘I suppose he might like her – anything’s possible, isn’t it? Anyway, I don’t want to get married at present, I don’t feel like it. And there are a lot of – oh, well, difficulties, you know, there are a lot of fors and againsts. It must have made you feel rather curious,’ said Celia. ‘I mean, why Mrs Nosey Cox should have asked you to try and worm things out of me and then run along and spill it all to her – Are you asking me that particular question by the way?’
‘You mean, am I asking you whether you think or know that your mother killed your father or your father killed your mother, or whether it was a double suicide. Is that what you mean?’
‘Well, I suppose it is, in a way. But I think I have to ask you also, if you were wanting to ask me that, whether you were doing so with the idea of giving Mrs Burton-Cox the information you obtained, in case you did receive any information from me.’
‘No,’ said Mrs Oliver. ‘Quite decidedly no.
‘Yes. You used to take me out from school. I remember that. Gave me some specially good feeds, too. Lovely food you gave me.’
‘You were an unusual child. You liked caviar.’
‘I still do,’ said Celia, ‘though I don’t get it offered to me very often.’
‘I was shocked to read this mention of things in the paper. Very little was said. I gathered it was a kind of open verdict. No particular motive. Nothing to show. No accounts of a quarrel, there was no suggestion of there having been an attack from outside. I was shocked by it,’ said Mrs Oliver, ‘and then I forgot it. I wondered once or twice what could have led to it, but as I was not in the country – I was doing a tour at the time, in America as I’ve said – the whole thing passed out of my mind. It was some years later when I next saw you and naturally I did not speak of it to you.’
‘No,’ said Celia, ‘I appreciate that.’
‘All through life,’ Mrs Oliver said, ‘one comes across very curious things that happen to friends or to acquaintances. With friends, of course, very often you have some idea of what led to – whatever the incident might be. But if it’s a long time since you’ve heard them discussed or talked to them, you are quite in the dark and there is nobody that you can show too much curiosity to about the occasion.’
‘You were always very nice to me,’ said Celia. ‘You sent me nice presents, a particularly nice present when I was twenty-one, I remember.’
‘That’s the time when girls need some extra cash in hand,’ said Mrs Oliver, ‘because there are so many things they want to do and have just then.’
‘Yes, I always thought you were an understanding person and not – well, you know what some people are like. Always questioning, and asking things and wanting to know all about you. You never asked questions. You used to take me out to shows, or give me nice meals, and talk to me as though, well, as though everything was all right and you were just a distant relation of the family. I’ve appreciated that. I’ve known so many nosey-parkers in my life.’
‘Yes. Everyone comes up against that sooner or later,’ said Mrs Oliver. ‘But you see now what upset me at this particular party. It seems an extraordinary thing to be asked to do by a complete stranger like Mrs Burton-Cox. I couldn’t imagine why she should want to know. It was no business of hers, surely. Unless –’
‘You thought it was, unless it was something to do with my marrying Desmond. Desmond is her son.’
‘Yes, I suppose it could have been, but I couldn’t see how, or what business it was of hers.’
‘Everything’s her business. She’s nosey – in fact she’s what you said she was, an odious woman.’
‘But I gather Desmond isn’t odious.’
‘No. No, I’m very fond of Desmond and Desmond is fond of me. I don’t like his mother.’
‘Does he like his mother?’
‘I don’t really know,’ said Celia. ‘I suppose he might like her – anything’s possible, isn’t it? Anyway, I don’t want to get married at present, I don’t feel like it. And there are a lot of – oh, well, difficulties, you know, there are a lot of fors and againsts. It must have made you feel rather curious,’ said Celia. ‘I mean, why Mrs Nosey Cox should have asked you to try and worm things out of me and then run along and spill it all to her – Are you asking me that particular question by the way?’
‘You mean, am I asking you whether you think or know that your mother killed your father or your father killed your mother, or whether it was a double suicide. Is that what you mean?’
‘Well, I suppose it is, in a way. But I think I have to ask you also, if you were wanting to ask me that, whether you were doing so with the idea of giving Mrs Burton-Cox the information you obtained, in case you did receive any information from me.’
‘No,’ said Mrs Oliver. ‘Quite decidedly no.
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