Read Online Ladies’ Bane by Patricia Wentworth - Free Book Online Page A

forward, caught both Allegra’s hands in hers, and said in her most arresting voice,
    “Ally, what have you been taking?”
    The hands were cold. They tugged feebly to get away, and were held in a strong, warm clasp. The eyelashes fluttered and came down over the telltale eyes. When the question had been repeated even more firmly, Allegra moved her head in protest.
    “Taking?”
    “You heard me.”
    “I don’t know what you mean. Io, you’re hurting me!”
    “No, I’m not! I said, ‘What have you been taking?’ and you are going to tell me! When I got here last night you were like a dead fish. Now you’re like someone in a fever, and the pupils of your eyes have gone away to practically nothing at all. One of the things that does that is morphia. Why are you taking morphia?”
    Allegra shook back her hair and gave a little tinkling laugh.
    “Io, how funny you are! That’s just my medicine. I went up to see a doctor in London, and he said I needed a tonic. I feel marvellous after it. But Geoffrey doesn’t like me taking it. That is why I was so flat last night-he took away the bottle and locked it up. We had quite a quarrel about it, and of course that upset me too. I just can’t bear it when Geoffrey is angry. And he very seldom is-except just about my medicine. And you know, I do think that is unreasonable-don’t you? Because I feel wonderful after I’ve taken it, and you’d think he’d be pleased about that, wouldn’t you?”
    She was gazing at Ione now out of those over-bright eyes with their effect of being all iris.
    “What was your doctor’s name, Ally?”
    “The one here-or the one in London?”
    “Both.”
    “The one here is Dr. Whichcote. He’s rather old, but very kind. The one in London -no, do you know, I’ve forgotten. Geoffrey wanted me to go and see him, and Dr. Whichcote fixed it up. I only saw him once, and his name has gone right out of my head, but he gave me my lovely medicine, and he said, just like Dr. Whichcote does, that I’m quite all right, so there’s no need for anyone to fuss. And now will you please let go of my hands, Io?” Ione let them go. She wasn’t satisfied-no one could possibly have been satisfied with this shallow empty tale. She would have to take it to Geoffrey and have a show-down. That Allegra was being drugged was apparent. Neither Ally’s own denials nor those of anyone else were going to shake Ione about that. And if Geoffrey hadn’t a very good explanation, she was prepared to bring the family about his ears. What she could not understand was why he should have let her come here, knowing as he must have known that Allegra’s state could hardly pass unnoticed. Her visit had been postponed often enough. There had been excuse after excuse. And then suddenly she was not only invited, but positively urged to come. Was she considered to be such a fool that she couldn’t put two and two together? Or had things come to such a point that Geoffrey no longer cared whether she guessed or not?
    Allegra’s tongue ran on. She had left the subject of her medicine and was talking about the house.
    “It’s terribly old, isn’t it? I expect all these old houses have stories about them. Geoffrey says they are just nonsense-but-I don’t know-” Her voice dragged on the words. She looked over her shoulder and back again. Then she leaned forward and whispered, “Do you know what they call this house in the village? It was made into a dower house when the eighteenth-century Falconers built the big place which was burnt down in the blitz. They changed the name then from the Manor House to the Ladies’ House. But that’s not what they call it in the village. They never have, and they never will. Florrie told me about it-she is the daily housemaid, and she is a chattering kind of girl. She didn’t want to tell me, but I got it out of her. Her family has lived in Bleake almost as long as the Falconers have, so she
knows
. And she says even when it was the Manor