Free The House Above the River by Josephine Bell Page A

reached the house.
    â€œI would prefer you not to tell Miriam what has happened,” Henry said, in the hall.
    â€œI wouldn’t dream of it,” Susan answered. “I have some sense.”
    â€œYou’ll have to account for that arm,” said Giles. “Do let me fix it in a sling.”
    â€œI’ll use one of my own scarves,” said Susan, quietly, but with meaning. He understood, and admired her quick wits as much as he enjoyed their mild conspiracy.
    â€œThank you,” Henry said, aware again of Susan’s injury. “Is there anything … I mean, do you want anything …”
    â€œGive the girl a good stiff drink!” Giles burst out, harshly, “and stop nattering about your wife.”
    He checked at once, furious with himself for having spoken in this way. “I beg your pardon,” he said, stiffly, and moved off towards the stairs. Susan looked at him as he passed her. Her eyes were clouded and she did not speak. He went upstairs to find his friends.
    Tony and Phillipa heard his story with some dismay and great astonishment.
    â€œHow could the cover get off the entrance hole?” Tony asked.
    â€œDid Henry actually say it had a cover?”
    â€œHe did. And he certainly ordered the gardener chap or whatever he was, who came along with the rope, to look for something. He went about with his nose to the ground, obviously searching.”
    â€œThen it must have been taken off deliberately?”
    â€œQuite deliberately.”
    â€œWhy are you so sure?”
    â€œI’ll tell you. That seat was not in its proper place.”
    â€œCome again.”
    â€œThe seat, the memorial seat, was in a postion where it did not command the view through the gap. I thought this was peculiar at the time. It ought to have been over the top of the hole.”
    â€œCan you be sure?”
    â€œQuite sure. When I was clinging on to Susan, moving back slowly, and sticking my toes into the ground as I moved, I struck up against something solid, and hooked my instep round it. I had a look at it just before we left the clearing. It was a short iron rod, fixed upright in the ground, with a screw thread at the top. There was another on the other side of the hole. The seat has rings at the side of the base. I don’t mind betting they fit over those rods with a nut to screw down over them. I’ll have a look tomorrow. But I expect the seat will be back over the hole by then.”
    Phillipa was horrified.
    â€œA deliberate trap?” she said, incredulous. “Someone laid a trap for … someone?” she ended, lamely.
    â€œFun, isn’t it?” Giles said. “There was a fifty foot drop, as Henry so kindly told us.”
    â€œIt can’t have been meant for Susan,” said Tony.
    â€œI hope not. Or for me. No one knew we would use that path. But Henry appeared very smartly at the precise moment it was about to happen. I don’t remember him calling out any warning. But that could mean several things. Perhaps he was there because he thought I was with Miriam. Perhaps he thought she was with me, coming up the path. Susan was wearing her mackintosh.”
    â€œAnd hat?” asked Phillipa.
    â€œNo hat.”
    â€œThen he couldn’t have mistaken her for his wife.”
    â€œThe hair, you mean? All the same, the clearing is a favourite spot of Miriam’s.”
    â€œIt doesn’t look too good for Henry,” agreed Tony.

Chapter Six
    The sun shone the next day, though the wind still drove as hard as before. Thin white clouds raced across the blue overhead; above the horizon the sky was white with a yellow tinge.
    â€œIt will blow out today,” Henry told his guests at breakfast time. “But the sea will not begin to go down until tomorrow. You must be patient for another day.”
    â€œWe really can’t impose on you any longer,” Giles said. “It’s been marvellous, sitting out the gale in