'Yes?' I said.

  There was a pause. 'I shall be bringing Frank and Colonel Julyan back to lunch at one o'clock,' he said.

  'Yes,' I said.

  I waited. I waited for him to go on. "They were able to raise the boat,'

  he said. 'I've just got back from the creek.'

  'Yes,' I said.

  'Searle was there, and Colonel Julyan, and Frank, and the others,' he said. I wondered if Frank was standing beside him at the telephone, and if that was the reason he was so cool, so distant.

  'AH right then,' he said, 'expect us about one o'clock.'

  I put back the receiver. He had not told me anything. I still did not know what had happened. I went back again to the terrace, telling Frith first that we should be four to lunch instead of two.

  An hour dragged past, slow, interminable. I went upstairs and changed into a thinner frock. I came down again. I went and sat in the drawing-room and waited. At five minutes to one I heard the sound of a car in the drive, and then voices in the

  hall. I patted my hair in front of the looking-glass. My face was very white. I pinched some colour into my cheeks and stood up waiting for them to come into the room. Maxim came in, and Frank, and Colonel Julyan. I remembered seeing Colonel Julyan at the ball dressed as Cromwell. He looked shrunken now, different. A smaller man altogether.

  'How do you do?' he said. He spoke quietly, gravely, like a doctor.

  'Ask Frith to bring the sherry,' said Maxim. 'I'm going to wash.'

  'I'll have a wash too,' said Frank. Before I rang the bell Frith appeared with the sherry. Colonel Julyan did not have any. I took some to give me something to hold. Colonel Julyan came and stood beside me by the window.

  'This is a most distressing thing, Mrs de Winter,' he said gently. 'I do feel for you and your husband most acutely.'

  'Thank you,' I said. I began to sip my sherry. Then I put the glass back again on the table. I was afraid he would notice that my hand was shaking.

  'What makes it so difficult was the fact of your husband identifying that first body, over a year ago,' he said.

  'I don't quite understand,' I said.

  'You did not hear, then, what we found this morning?' he said.

  'I knew there was a body. The diver found a body,' I said.

  'Yes,' he said. And then, half glancing over his shoulder towards the hall, 'I'm afraid it was her, without a doubt,' he said, lowering his voice. 'I can't go into details with you, but the evidence was sufficient for your husband and Doctor Phillips to identify.'

  He stopped suddenly, and moved away from me. Maxim and Frank had come back into the room.

  'Lunch is ready; shall we go in?' said Maxim.

  I led the way into the hall, my heart like a stone, heavy, numb. Colonel Julyan sat on my right, Frank on my left. I did not look at Maxim. Frith and Robert began to hand the first course. We all talked about the weather.

  'I see in The Times they had it well over eighty in London yesterday,'

  said Colonel Julyan.

  'Really?' I said.

  'Yes. Must be frightful for the poor devils who can't get away.'

  'Yes, frightful,' I said.

  'Paris can be hotter than London,' said Frank. 'I remember staying a weekend in Paris in the middle of August, and it was quite impossible to sleep. There was not a breath of air in the whole city. The temperature was over ninety.'

  'Of course the French always sleep with their windows shut, don't they?'

  said Colonel Julyan.

  'I don't know,' said Frank. 'I was staying in a hotel. The people were mostly Americans'

  'You know France of course, Mrs de Winter?' said Colonel Julyan.

  'Not so very well,' I said.

  'Oh, I had the idea you had lived many years out there.'

  'No,' I said.

  'She was staying in Monte Carlo when I met her,' said Maxim. 'You don't call that France, do you?'

  'No, I suppose not,' said Colonel Julyan; 'it must be very cosmopolitan.

  The coast is pretty though, isn't it?'

  'Very pretty,' I said.

  'Not so rugged as this, eh? Still, I know which I'd rather have. Give me England every time, when it comes to settling down. You know where you are over here.'

  'I dare say the French feel that about France,' said Maxim.

  'Oh, no doubt,' said Colonel Julyan.

  We went on eating awhile in silence. Frith stood behind my chair. We were all thinking of one thing, but because of Frith we had to keep up our little performance. I suppose Frith was thinking about it too, and I thought how much easier it would be if we cast aside convention and let him join in with us, if he had anything to say. Robert came with the drinks.

  Our plates were changed. The second course was handed. Mrs Danvers had not forgotten my wish for hot food. I took something out of a casserole covered in mushroom sauce.

  'I think everyone enjoyed your wonderful party the other night,' said Colonel Julyan.

  'I'm so glad,' I said.

  'Does an immense amount of good locally, that sort of thing,' he said.

  'Yes, I suppose it does,' I said.

  'It's a universal instinct of the human species, isn't it, that desire to dress up in some sort of disguise?' said Frank.

  'I must be very inhuman, then,' said Maxim.

  'It's natural, I suppose,' said Colonel Julyan, 'for all of us to wish to look different. We are all children in some ways.'

  I wondered how much pleasure it had given him to disguise himself as Cromwell. I had not seen much of him at the ball. He had spent most of the evening in the morning-room, playing bridge.

  'You don't play golf, do you, Mrs de Winter?' said Colonel Julyan.

  'No, I'm afraid I don't,' I said.

  'You ought to take it up,' he said. 'My eldest girl is very keen, and she can't find young people to play with her. I gave her a small car for her birthday, and she drives herself over to the north coast nearly every day. It gives her something to do.'

  'How nice,' I said.

  'She ought to have been the boy,' he said. 'My lad is different altogether.

  No earthly use at games. Always writing poetry. I suppose he'll grow out of it.'

  'Oh, rather,' said Frank. 'I used to write poetry myself when I was his age. Awful nonsense too. I never write any now.'

  'Good heavens, I should hope not,' said Maxim.

  'I don't know where my boy gets it from,' said Colonel Julyan; 'certainly not from his mother or from me.'

  There was another long silence. Colonel Julyan had a second dip into the casserole. 'Mrs Lacy looked very well the other night,' he said.

  'Yes,' I said.

  'Her dress came adrift as usual,' said Maxim.

  'Those Eastern garments must be the devil to manage,' said Colonel Julyan,

  'and yet they say, you know, they are far more comfortable and far cooler than anything you ladies wear in England.'

  'Really?' I said.

  'Yes, so they say. It seems all that loose drapery throws off the hot rays of the sun.'

  'How curious,' said Frank; 'you'd think it would have just the opposite effect.'

  'No, apparently not,' said Colonel Julyan.

  'Do you know the East, sir?' said Frank.

  'I know the Far East,' said Colonel Julyan. 'I was in China for five years.

  Then Singapore.'

  'Isn't that where they make the curry?' I said.

  'I'm fond of curry,' said Frank.

  'Ah, it's not curry at all in England, it's hash,' said Colonel Julyan.

  The plates were cleared away. A soufflé was handed, and a bowl of fruit salad. 'I suppose you are coming to the end of your raspberries,' said Colonel Julyan. 'It's been a wonderful summer for them, hasn't it? We've put down pots and pots of jam.'

  'I never think raspberry jam is a great success,' said Frank; 'there are always so many pips.'

  'You must come and try some of ours,' said Colonel Julyan. 'I don't think we have a great lot of pips.'

  'We're going to have a mass of apples this year at Manderley,' said Frank.

  'I was saying to Maxim a few days ago we ought to have a record season.

  We shall be able to send a lot up to London.'

  'Do you really find it pays?' said Colonel Julyan; 'by the time you've paid your men for the extra labour, and then the packing, and carting, do you make any sort of profit worth while?'

  'Oh, Lord, yes,' said Frank.

  'How interesting. I must tell my wife,' said Colonel Julyan.

  The soufflé and the fruit salad did not take long to finish. Robert appeared with cheese and biscuits, and a few minutes later Frith came with the coffee and cigarettes. Then they both went out of the room and shut the door. We drank our coffee in silence. I gazed steadily at my plate.

  'I was saying to your wife before luncheon, de Winter,' began Colonel Julyan, resuming his first quiet confidential tone, 'that the awkward part of this whole distressing business is the fact that you identified that original body.'

  'Yes, quite,' said Maxim.

  'I think the mistake was very natural under the circumstances,' said Frank quickly. "The authorities wrote to Maxim, asking him to go up to Edgecoombe, presupposing before he arrived there that the body was hers. And Maxim was not well at the time. I wanted to go with him, but he insisted on going alone. He was not in a fit state to undertake anything of the sort.'

  "That's nonsense,' said Maxim. 'I was perfectly well.'

  'Well, it's no use going into all that now,' said Colonel Julyan. 'You made that first identification, and now the only thing to do is to admit the error. There seems to be no doubt about it this time.'

  'No,' said Maxim.

  'I wish you could be spared the formality and the publicity of an inquest,'

  said Colonel Julyan, 'but I'm afraid that's quite impossible.'

  'Naturally,' said Maxim.

  'I don't think it need take very long,' said Colonel Julyan. 'It's just a case of you re-affirming identification, and then getting Tabb, who you say converted the boat when your wife brought her from France, just to give his piece of evidence that the boat was seaworthy and in good order when he last had her in his yard. It's just red-tape, you know.

  But it has to be done. No, what bothers me is the wretched publicity of the affair. So sad and unpleasant for you and your wife.'

  'That's quite all right,' said Maxim. 'We understand.'

  'So unfortunate that wretched ship going ashore there,' said Colonel Julyan, 'but for that the whole matter would have rested in peace.'

  'Yes,' said Maxim.

  'The only consolation is that now we know poor Mrs de Winter's death must have been swift and sudden, not the dreadful slow lingering affair we all believed it to be. There can have been no question of trying to swim.'

  'None,' said Maxim.

  'She must have gone down for something, and then the door jammed, and a squall caught the boat without anyone at the helm,' said Colonel Julyan. 'A dreadful thing.'

  'Yes,' said Maxim.

  'That seems to be the solution, don't you think, Crawley?' said Colonel Julyan, turning to Frank.

  'Oh, yes, undoubtedly,' said Frank.

  I glanced up, and I saw Frank looking at Maxim. He looked away again immediately but not before I had seen and understood the expression in his eyes. Frank knew. And Maxim did not know that he knew. I went on stirring my coffee. My hand was hot, damp.

  'I suppose sooner or later we all make a mistake in judgement,' said Colonel Julyan, 'and then we are for it. Mrs de Winter must have known how the wind comes down like a funnel in that bay, and that it was not safe to leave the helm of a small boat like that. She must have sailed alone over that spot scores of times. And then the moment came, she took a chance

  - and the chance killed her. It's a lesson to all of us.'

  'Accidents happen so easily,' said Frank, 'even to the most experienced people. Think of the number killed out hunting every season.'

  'Oh, I know. But then it's the horse falling generally that lets you down.

  If Mrs de Winter had not left the helm of her boat the accident would never have happened. An extraordinary thing to do. I must have watched her many times in the handicap race on Saturdays from Kerrith, and I never saw her make an elementary mistake. It's the sort of thing a novice would do. In that particular place too, just by the ridge.'

  'It was very squally that night,' said Frank; 'something may have happened to the gear. Something may have jammed. And then she slipped down for a knife.'

  'Of course. Of course. Well, we shall never know. And I don't suppose we should be any the better for it if we did. As I said before, I wish I could stop this inquest but I can't. I'm trying to arrange it for Tuesday morning, and it will be as short as possible. Just a formal matter. But I'm afraid we shan't be able to keep the reporters out of it.'

  There was another silence. I judged the time had come to push back my chair.

  'Shall we go into the garden?' I said.

  We all stood up, and then I led the way to the terrace. Colonel Julyan patted Jasper.

  'He's grown into a nice-looking dog,' he said.

  'Yes,' I said.

  'They make nice pets,' he said.

  'Yes,' I said.

  We stood about for a minute. Then he glanced at his watch.

  "Thank you for your most excellent lunch,' he said. 'I have rather a busy afternoon in front of me, and I hope you will excuse me dashing away.'

  'Of course,' I said.

  'I'm so very sorry this should have happened. You have all my sympathy.

  I consider it's almost harder for you than for your husband. However, once the inquest is over you must both forget all about it.'

  'Yes,' I said, 'yes, we must try to.'

  'My car is here in the drive. I wonder whether Crawley would like a lift.

  Crawley? I can drop you at your office if it's any use.'

  'Thank you, sir,' said Frank.

  He came and took my hand. 'I shall be seeing you again,' he said.

  'Yes,' I said.

  I did not look at him. I was afraid he would understand my eyes. I did not want him to know that I knew. Maxim walked with them to the car. When they had gone he came back to me on the terrace. He took my arm. We stood looking down at the green lawns towards the sea and the beacon on the headland.

  'It's going to be all right,' he said. 'I'm quite calm, quite confident.

  You saw how Julyan was at lunch, and Frank. There won't be any difficulty at the inquest. It's going to be all right.'

  I did not say anything. I held his arm tightly.

  'There was never any question of the body being someone unknown,' he said.

  'What we saw was enough for Doctor Phillips even to make the identification alone without me. It was straightforward, simple. There was no trace of what I'd done. The bullet had not touched the bone.'

  A butterfly sped past us on the terrace, silly and inconsequent.

  'You heard what they said,' he went on; 'they think she was trapped there, in the cabin. The jury will believe that at the inquest too. Phillips will tell them so.' He paused. Still I did not speak.

  'I only mind for you,' he said. 'I don't regret anything else. If it had to come all over again I should not do anything different. I'm glad I killed Rebecca. I shall never have any remorse for that, never, never.

  But you. I can't forget what it has done to you. I was looking at you, thinking of nothing else all through lunch. It's gone for ever, that funny, young, lost look that I loved. It won't come back again. I killed that too, when I told you about Rebecca... It's gone, in twenty-four hours.

  You are so much older ...'

  chapter twenty-two

  That evening, when Frith brought in the local paper, there were great headlines right across the top of the page. He brought the paper and laid it down on the table. Maxim was not there; he had gone up early to change for dinner. Frith stood a moment, waiting for me to say something, and it seemed to me stupid and insulting to ignore a matter that must mean so much to everyone in the house.

  'This is a very dreadful thing, Frith,' I said.

  'Yes, Madam; we are all most distressed outside,' he said.

  'It's so sad for Mr de Winter,' I said, 'having to go through it all again.'

  'Yes, Madam. Very sad. Such a shocking experience, Madam, having to identify the second body having seen the

  first. I suppose there is no doubt then, that the remains in the boat are genuinely those of the late Mrs de Winter?'

  'I'm afraid not, Frith. No doubt at all.'

  'It seems so odd to us, Madam, that she should have let herself be trapped like that in the cabin. She was so experienced in a boat.'

  'Yes, Frith. That's what we all feel. But accidents will happen. And how it happened I don't suppose any of us will ever know.'

  'I suppose not, Madam. But it's a great shock, all the same. We are most distressed about it outside. And coming suddenly just after the party.

  It doesn't seem right somehow, does it?'

  'No, Frith.'

  'It seems there is to be an inquest, Madam?'

  'Yes. A formality, you know.'

  'Of course, Madam. I wonder if any of us will be required to give evidence?'

  'I don't think so.'

  'I shall be only too pleased to do anything that might help the family; Mr de Winter knows that.'

  'Yes, Frith. I'm sure he does.'

  'I've told them outside not to discuss the matter, but it's very difficult to keep an eye on them, especially the girls. I can deal with Robert, of course. I'm afraid the news has been a great shock to Mrs Danvers.'

  'Yes, Frith. I rather expected it would.'

  'She went up to her room straight after lunch, and has not come down again.

  Alice took her a cup of tea and the paper a few minutes ago. She said Mrs Danvers looked very ill indeed.'

  'It would be better really if she stayed where she is,' I said. 'It's no use her getting up and seeing to things if she is ill. Perhaps Alice would tell her that. I can very well manage the ordering. The cook and I between us.'

  'Yes, Madam. I don't think she is physically ill, Madam; it's just the shock of Mrs de Winter being found. She was very devoted to Mrs de Winter.'