帷幕19

II

I was still there, dazed and helpless, unable to think out my next course ofaction, some quarter of an hour later.

I was there when Elizabeth Cole and Norton found me.

They were, I realized later, very kind to me. They saw, they must haveseen, that I was in a state of great mental perturbation. But tactfullyenough they made no slightest allusion to my state of mind. Instead theytook me with them on a rambling walk. They were both nature lovers.

Elizabeth Cole pointed out wild flowers to me, Norton showed me birdsthrough his field-glasses.

Their talk was gentle, soothing, concerned only with feathered beingsand with woodland flora. Little by little I came back to normal, althoughunderneath I was still in a state of the utmost perturbation.

Moreover I was, as people are, convinced that any happening that oc-curred was connected with my own particular perplexity.

So, therefore, when Norton, his glasses to his eyes, exclaimed: ‘Hullo, ifthat isn’t a speckled woodpecker. I never –’ and then broke off suddenly, Iimmediately leapt to suspicion. I held out my hand for the glasses.

‘Let me see.’ My voice was peremptory.

Norton fumbled with the glasses. He said, in a curious hesitating voice: ‘I– I – made a mistake. It’s flown away – at least, as a matter of fact, it wasquite a common bird.’

His face was white and troubled, he avoided looking at us. He seemedboth bewildered and distressed.

Even now I cannot think I was altogether unreasonable in jumping tothe conclusion that he had seen through those glasses of his somethingthat he was determined to prevent my seeing.

Whatever it was that he had seen, he was so thoroughly taken aback byit that it was noticeable to both of us.

His glasses had been trained on a distant belt of woodland. What had heseen there?

I said peremptorily: ‘Let me look.’

I snatched at the glasses. I remember he tried to defend them from me,but he did it clumsily. I seized them roughly.

Norton said weakly: ‘It wasn’t really – I mean, the bird’s gone. I wish –’

My hands shaking a little, I adjusted the glasses to my eyes. They werepowerful glasses. I trained them as nearly as I could on the spot where Ithought Norton had been looking.

But I saw nothing – nothing but a gleam of white (a girl’s white dress?)disappearing into the trees.

I lowered the glasses. Without a word I handed them back to Norton. Hedid not meet my eyes. He was looking worried and perplexed.

We walked back to the house together and I remember that Norton wasvery silent all the way.

 

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