Read Online The House Above the River by Josephine Bell - Free Book Online

that Monsieur Armitage upsets Madame Davenport. That makes Monsieur Henri very unhappy.”
    Phillipa was suddenly furious. What right had this woman to say such things? To criticise Giles, of all people.
    â€œMonsieur Armitage had no idea he would meet Madame Davenport here,” she said, indignantly. Her instinct had been to say nothing, but Francine was impressive. She was not someone to be ignored. And Giles had told them she had been with Henry since his childhood.
    â€œI wonder,” said Francine, calmly, “if that can be true.”
    Phillipa snatched up her bag and made for the door, but Francine’s solid figure stood there, blocking her path. As she came up to her the old woman put her hand into the large pocket of her apron and pulled out a folded leather photograph frame. She opened it and turned it towards Phillipa.
    â€œMadame keeps this in her room,” she said.
    Phillipa pushed it away.
    â€œThen put it back there!” she protested. There was much more she wanted to add, but her French was not equal to it.
    â€œLet me pass,” she said, fiercely, instead.
    Francine made way for her. She watched her hurry away down the passage. Then she looked again at the photograph in her hand. A younger Giles, a younger Miriam, faced one another from the two sides of the case. Francine closed it and put it back in her pocket.
    â€œWhat a pity,” she said to herself, “that they did not marry.”
    The visit to Tréguier gave the party from Shuna much-needed relief. In spite of the gale, now beginning to blow out, they enjoyed it in the holiday spirit befitting a cruise abroad. Giles was disappointed that their meal had to be eaten inside the hotel, instead of under a gaily-striped umbrella among the magnificent hydrangeas. But the food was as good as ever, and it was largely on account of the food, he explained, that he brought his boat to France so often. They went back to Penguerrec on the bus feeling refreshed and happy.
    Susan was in the hall when they got back. In his present confident mood Giles decided on the spot to settle their difference.
    â€œHaven’t you been out today?” he called to her as she turned, after greeting them, to go upstairs.
    â€œNo. Miriam needed me.”
    â€œBut you’re free now, aren’t you?”
    â€œI think she’s asleep. She had a very bad night.”
    â€œThen you need some air, and I need some exercise after sitting in that bus, and eating a colossal meal. Get your things on and come down to the river to see if Shuna is all right.”
    â€œWhy wouldn’t she be?”
    â€œDon’t argue, girl. Skipper’s orders.”
    She gave him a brief smile, and began to rummage in the big cupboard in the hall.
    â€œBother,” she said, flapping through the coats that hung there. “My mac must be upstairs.”
    â€œBorrow. There are hundreds available.”
    â€œI don’t think Miriam would mind if I wore hers. She won’t be going out.”
    She pulled on gumboots and the mackintosh and joined him at the door.
    They walked away from the house in silence, taking the main path into the woods. Giles had made up his mind. He would end the nonsense, here and now.
    â€œEight years ago,” he said, looking straight ahead down the path, “I was engaged to Miriam. She wrote to me a fortnight before the wedding to say it was off. I couldn’t believe it, at first. I knew she liked making scenes, but they had always ended happily. They never lasted long. This time there was no scene. She refused to see me.”
    â€œOh, no!”
    â€œWhat d’you mean, oh, no? That she didn’t behave like that? Or that you don’t believe any of it?”
    â€œNeither. Miriam told me this morning that you had been engaged, but you broke it off, and had been sorry ever since.”
    Giles swore fiercely.
    â€œYou believed her?”
    â€œI didn’t know what to believe. She