Latter End by Patricia Wentworth Read Free Book Online

know—not how it was done anyhow. He thinks she’s had to go to the infirmary because of her leg.”
    Julia said in a surprised voice,
    “Why didn’t you tell him?”
    “It wouldn’t do any good. It’s the sort of thing that’s happening all the time, only Jimmy can’t see it. Lois puts it her way, and he can’t see anything else. She wants old Hodson’s cottage for some friends of hers, and you’ll see she’ll get it.”
    “Jimmy wouldn’t do that.”
    “She’ll make him. You don’t know Lois like I do. She’ll persuade him that it’s much better for old Hodson to go and live with his widowed daughter-in-law in London, where he’ll hate every minute of it and go right down the drain. But of course that doesn’t matter to Lois—she’ll get her way, and her friends will get their week-end cottage.”
    There was a silence. There were a great many things which Julia could have said. She thought perhaps she had better not say them. Soothing down was what Ellie wanted, not raking up. She held her tongue because she couldn’t think of anything soothing to say.
    After a moment Ellie burst out again.
    “It will be just the same about Ronnie—you see if it isn’t! Jimmy will say yes to me, and to you, and to Antony, and then Lois will get hold of him and he’ll say no, because she’ll make him believe that it’s much better for Ronnie to be in a hospital or a convalescent home, just as it’s much better for Mrs. Marsh to be in the institute, and for poor old Hodson to be in London with a daughter-in-law who doesn’t want him. I wouldn’t mind so much if she was honest about it. She isn’t. She’s got to pretend that it’s what’s best for everyone, instead of saying bang out that it’s just what she wants.”
    Julia said in her deep voice,
    “Stop shaking, Ellie. And stop working yourself into a state over Lois. It doesn’t do any good, and it wears you out. She’s poison all right—I always knew she was. But she’s here, and she’s Jimmy’s wife. Something can be done about Ronnie. That’s why I’m here. Now the first thing that suggests itself is a job where they would let you have him with you.”
    Ellie caught her breath.
    “It isn’t any good. I’ve tried. I put in an advertisement, with a box number. There were only two answers, and they were both from slave drivers. All the work of a house— cooking and everything. I couldn’t have done it and looked after Ronnie too.”
    “What did you say in the advertisement?”
    “I tried to make it stand out—there were such a lot of people wanting things. So I put, ‘I want a domestic job where I can have my husband with me. He has lost a leg.’ ”
    “And you only got two answers?”
    “That’s all.”
    Julia lay frowning in the half-light. The moon had risen. She could see the footrail of her bed and of Ellie’s bed. She could see the black mass of the old-fashioned wardrobe against the wall beyond. The three bright windows showed the illumined sky. She said slowly,
    “Ellie—”
    “Yes?”
    “If Ronnie could go to a really nice convalescent home, mightn’t it be better for him than having rows with Lois, here?”
    She felt Ellie’s hand jerk and pull away.
    “I shouldn’t see him—”
    “But if it made him well? He would be able to take up his job, and you would be together all the time.”
    Ellie said in a muffled voice,
    “I didn’t think you’d be against me too.”
    “I’m not.”
    It was like Julia not to make protestations.
    “You don’t understand.”
    “Then hadn’t you better explain?”
    Ellie’s hand crept back, catching at hers.
    “We’re not getting a chance. We had a month together, and after that two week-ends, and since then he’s been in hospital. It isn’t giving us a chance. I go over there, and I’m tired before I start. I haven’t got any go or any colour, and half the time I can’t think of anything to say. I can’t be amusing, or gay, or any of the things he needs.” She