Free Mrs. Malory and A Time To Die by HAZEL HOLT Page B

head. It doesn’t necessarily affect you straightaway. So he probably got up and went into the office to phone for help and then—then collapsed.”
    Her voice shook slightly and Rosemary said quickly, “Oh, Jo, I’m so sorry. This must be awful for you, to go over it like this.”
    Jo shook her head. “No,” she said, “it’s all right. Somehow when I talk about it, it doesn’t seem as if I’m talking about Charlie, just some other person. And really, you know, it’s such a blessing.”
    “A blessing?” I asked.
    “Yes. When I thought he’d been killed by someone, deliberately and violently, that was almost the worst thing of all. Do you see what I mean? Charlie—who loved everyone and whom everyone loved—it seemed a sort of negation of all he’d been, his whole life, a terrible ending to it. But now I can accept it for what it was, an accident that could have happened to anyone.”
    “Will you get Dan Webster to take the horse away?” Rosemary asked.
    “No, why should I? It wasn’t Tarquin’s fault; he didn’t mean to do it. Actually, we’ve been making a lot of progress with him. He’s a good horse at bottom; it’s just that he hasn’t been treated properly. Liz has been working with him and he’s taken to her very well. I really believe we can get him sorted out. Charlie would have wanted us to try, anyway.”
    “Well,” Rosemary said, “I think you’re being marvelous. I don’t know how you can be so strong.”
    Jo smiled. “You carry on. The stables mean—meant—a lot to Charlie and me. It’s never been just a business. It’s the people and the horses and—oh, I don’t know—the whole way of life, I suppose. He wouldn’t want me to let everything go, now would he? Talking of which, I’d better get on; I’ve got a class waiting for me. See you later perhaps.”
    She moved away, down to the lower ring where Liz was putting up the jumps.
    “She is amazing,” Rosemary said. “Not getting rid of the horse and everything. How could she do it?”
    “Well, I understand about the horse,” I said, “and about being glad that it was an accident, but I do admire the calm way she goes about things.”
    “She’s never been one to show her feelings, of course. I don’t know how these things work, but I suppose all that sort of thing went into her acting.”
    “Oh yes,” I said, “there was plenty of feeling there. Do you remember the way she spoke the willow cabin speech in Twelfth Night and the ‘patience on a monument’ bit? So moving!”
    “And the young girl in The Seagull , goodness, that was fantastic. She was really brilliant. I can’t imagine how she could bear to give it up!”
    “Oh well. Charlie. It was a—what’s the phrase?—a coup de foudre . She was simply bowled over by him, and stayed that way to the end. That’s why it’s so extraordinary that she’s taking it so well.”
    We moved back towards the stables as Alice was coming back on Cracker.
    “Gran, Gran, did you see me? Can you watch me dismount? You take both your feet out of the stirrups at once and then you get off like this!”
    Peggy led the pony away as Delia appeared from the stables and said to Rosemary, “Can I stay for an extra hour? Liz said I could help her mix the feeds and fill the hay nets.”
    “I’m sorry, darling; I’ve got to be back before four,” Rosemary said. She turned to me. “Mother’s expecting me. She’s got these two old chums coming to tea and I promised to take her some cream for the scones.”
    “Oh, Gran!” Delia said. “They’re so busy here with it being a Saturday and they do need some help, especially now that Charlie . . .”
    “It’s all right,” I said to Rosemary, “I can wait and take Delia back. I’ll just give Jilly a ring and say we’ll be a bit later. And you’d better go. Mustn’t keep your mother waiting for the cream!”
    Rosemary pulled a face and went.
    On the way back in the car later on, I said to Delia, “What exactly is