Four Strange Women by E.R. Punshon Read Free Book Online

in an oblique direction towards the rear of the house. He bore a strong resemblance to Becky but was much better looking; his features more regular and better shaped; his hair, where hers had been a light golden brown, almost of a pure gold tint and with the same fascinating wave to it; his eyes, though they lacked that clear fire of penetration hers had seemed to show, large, soft and luminous, with long, silky lashes. A young Apollo, he looked, as he came with long strides across the lawn, and yet with little about him of that air of strength and dark resolve his sister showed, even though his expression at the moment was fully as hostile and angry. From the window the colonel called to him:—
    â€œLen, have you and Becky been quarrelling again?” The young man halted and looked angrily at his father. “I’ll lay her out for good one of these days,” he said. ‘‘I’ll not stand that tongue of hers. Let her mind her own blasted business. I’m fed up, her and her dirt.” He walked on. He had not seen Bobby or probably he would have spoken less freely. The colonel turned round and seated himself. Bobby was absorbed in his sherry. One would have thought his glass of sherry was an object of such interest as never before had the world presented to him. There was silence for a moment or two. The colonel said abruptly:—
    â€œI suppose Biddle was trying to hide our family skeleton.”
    â€œI’m sorry, sir,” muttered Bobby, more embarrassed than ever, and he wondered what demon of bad luck was presiding over the beginnings of this new appointment from which at first he had hoped so much but that now he felt was going to turn out a complete fiasco. Most likely Colonel Glynne was already considering how best to get rid of him. He would have to go back to the Yard with his tail between his legs and of course every one would always for ever inevitably believe that he had failed to show he possessed the qualifications needed for a responsible post. More sensible, he supposed, to have held his tongue about the little family scene of which he had been the unlucky witness. But that would hardly have been fair to Biddle, who had plainly been trying to be loyal to his employers, and again, if he was to act as confidential assistant to his chief, he mustn’t start by keeping things hidden from him. The colonel said:—
    â€œThe tennis ball was a lie. Len did it.”
    Bobby felt more awkward still. He supposed he might as well go back to London at once. The colonel went on:— “You may as well know the whole story, Owen. It’s no secret, and anyhow you would have heard all about it before you had been here a month. Len used to be in the R.A.F. Becky met one of the other men in Len’s flight—Cadman, his name was, Charley Cadman. They fell in love rather violently. They got engaged. Len didn’t like it. He never said why. He and Becky quarrelled—badly. He told her he wasn’t going to allow her to marry Cadman. She asked him how he thought he was going to stop it. He told her to wait and see. A week later Cadman crashed. He was killed. At the inquiry it was proved that the machine wasn’t in a fit condition for use, that Len ought to have known it, and ought to have stopped Cadman. He was found guilty of neglect of duty, made worse by proof that he was the worse for drink at the time. He was allowed to resign. Now he has taken up commercial flying. He doesn’t do much. He doesn’t seem to want to. The accident has warped both their lives.”
    Bobby made no comment. There was none he could make. A tragic story, he thought, and he felt he could do nothing but receive it in silence. He wondered why the colonel had told it in such detail, but supposed he knew that, as he had said, Bobby would be sure to hear the tale sooner or later and so had thought it best to give him the truth. Bobby wondered, too, if it was the truth, or