Free Wicked Uncle by Patricia Wentworth

to be so very convenient for you to marry Martin. But it was rather a case of the wish being father to the thought, and I’ve got a feeling that the courts wouldn’t be very sympathetic about it. Let me see—how long had you been hoping I was dead before you married Martin—six months?… Oh, nine? Well, I don’t say that I should have expected to be mourned for longer than that. But the law is so conventional that I’m afraid it takes rather a poor view of bigamy.”
    He wondered whether he had pushed her too far, because she did scream then. It wasn’t a loud scream—too frightened for that—but a scream of any kind is quite a difficult thing to explain away. He changed his bantering tone to a frank and simple one.
    “Look here, Linnet, you don’t have to be frightened of me. I don’t want a show-down any more than you do—it wouldn’t suit my business plans. Of course I haven’t broken the law, and you have. But I don’t want my plans upset, so I’ve no reason to want to upset your marriage. You’ve got a boy, haven’t you?”
    She looked at him with a new terror in her eyes.
    “Oh—Marty—”
    “All right, all right—nobody’s going to hurt him. Now you just listen to me! Do you think you can hold your tongue?”
    “Oh, yes—”
    “Well, I shouldn’t suppose you could for a moment if it were about anything else. But with everything you’ve got in this world at stake, you will at any rate try. No sobbing it all out on Martin’s shoulder, because if you do, he’ll put you out in the street and I’ll put you in court for bigamy. The first word you say to him or to anyone, you’re for it. Have you got that?”
    “Yes, Glen—”
    “And don’t you go calling me Glen, or you’ll do it by mistake one day. Remember my name’s Gregory Porlock, and my friends call me Greg. You’d better start thinking about me as Greg and talking about me as Greg until it comes natural and you don’t want to do anything else. And for any sake stop looking as if I was going to murder you!”
    She did look just like that—like a creature that sees the knife coming nearer and knows there is no help—every muscle strained and taut, the fixed terror in the eyes. There was a sick wincing every time any movement brought him nearer. He made such a movement now, reaching forward to pat her on the shoulder.
    “My dear girl, you never did have much in the way of brains, but if you’ll just take a pull on yourself and listen to what I’m going to say you ought to be able to take it in, and once you’ve got hold of it you’ll feel a whole lot better. Now listen! I don’t want to upset your marriage to Martin Oakley. Got that?”
    She gave a brief shaky nod.
    “Well, hold on to it! There’s no need for anyone to know we’ve ever met before. If you hold your tongue, I’ll hold mine. If you go blabbing to Martin, or to any other living soul, the bargain’s off, because the minute anyone knows, I shall be bound to take proceedings. Got that?”
    Another of those trembling nods.
    “It’s a bargain which is entirely in your favor. You keep Martin and Martin’s money, you keep your position and reputation, you keep your child and you keep out of prison. It’s quite a lot—isn’t it? In return I only ask you to do two things. The first is to hold your tongue. It will be quite interesting to see if you can do it. The second—” He paused, looking at her with smiling intensity.
    Some of the terror had left her. It was like a pain which has ebbed, but which may begin again at any moment. As he sat back in his sofa corner and looked at her in that smiling way, she felt the preliminary stab.
    “Listen, Linnet! The second thing is something I want you to do for me. It’s quite simple and easy, and when you’ve done it I won’t bother you any more. Martin and I are in a business deal together. Naturally each of us has his own interest to think of. Now it would be to my advantage if I knew something which Martin