Free Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne

Once, I remember, a child got pneumonia in one of the tinker’s tents on the shore between here and the north lodge. She nursed it herself and paid for medical attendance. When the parish officer wanted to have it removed to the Poor’s House at Lochgilphead she resisted him with all her might because she believed that these people cannot live within four walls. She was told that if the child died, its death would be laid to her charge, but that kind of threat was the least likely to influence her in any way. The case aroused a lot of interest in Ardmore. When the child got well everybody felt that she had saved its life.”
    Dr. Hailey nodded.
    â€œI see. In that case her personal reputation was at stake, so to speak.”
    â€œYes. And there was no question of sin.” John MacCallien sighed. “She was merciless where sinners were concerned,” he added, “if their sins were of the flesh. I fancy she might have found excuses for a thief— these tinkers are all thieves, you know.”
    â€œProvided he had not sinned?”
    â€œExactly. Mind you, that view wasn’t confined to her. It was my father’s also.”
    â€œYour father’s view was shared by everybody else in this neighbourhood, wasn’t it?”
    â€œYes. By everybody.”
    MacCallien sat up. He shook his head rather sadly. “When my brother and I were children,” he said, “we often met Miss Gregor out driving. Our nurse, on these occasions, always told us to take our hats off and that became a burden. One day, just as the carriage was passing, we put out our tongues instead. I can still see the horror on the dear woman’s face. She stopped the carriage, got out, and read us a lecture on good manners We didn’t mind that so much but she wrote as well to our father. I remember thinking, while we were being punished, that she wasn’t my idea of a saint.”
    He smiled faintly and then looked surprised when he saw how attentive Dr. Hailey had become.
    â€œHow old was Miss Gregor at that time?”
    â€œShe must have been quite young. In her twenties or early thirties, I suppose.”
    â€œWhat happened the next time you met her?”
    â€œOh, we took our hats off, of course.”
    â€œAnd she?”
    â€œI fancy she bowed to us as she had done formerly. Funnily enough, though, I can’t remember much about her after that.”
    â€œDid you know Duchlan’s wife?”
    â€œOh, yes, rather.” MacCallien’s voice became suddenly enthusiastic. “She was an awfully good sort. We loved her. I remember my brother saying once that Mrs. Gregor would never have told our father if we had put our tongues out at her. She had a short married life, poor woman.”
    â€œEoghan Gregor’s wife is supposed to be like her in appearance, isn’t she?” Dr. Hailey asked.
    â€œYes. I think with reason too, though a child’s memory is always unreliable. I know that, when I saw Mrs. Eoghan for the first time, I wondered where I had met her before. And it’s certain that I had never met her before. There must be some quality in the characters of Duchlan and his son which draws them to Irish women.” He paused and then added: “Not a very robust quality perhaps.”
    â€œWhy do you say that?”
    â€œI’m afraid neither of these marriages has been conspicuously successful. I suppose the qualities which Miss Gregor represents are the dominants in all the members of her family. Duchlan’s wife, like Mrs. Eoghan, was more concerned with men and women than with ‘ladies’ and ‘gentlemen’.”
    â€œIt must have been very difficult for her to have her sister-in-law always beside her, don’t you think?”
    Dr. Hailey frowned as he spoke. His companion nodded a vigorous assent.
    â€œIt must have been dreadful. No wife could hope to be happy in such circumstances. As a matter of fact, I believe Miss