Appointment with Death (3 page)

‘My idea is to be right here at hand if she needs me.'

‘And what, may I ask, is the older Mrs Boynton's attitude towards you?'

Jefferson Cope said slowly: ‘I'm never quite sure about that old lady. As I've told you, she isn't fond of making outside contacts. But she's been different to me, she's always very gracious and treats me quite like one of the family.'

‘In fact, she approves of your friendship with Mrs Lennox?'

‘She does.'

Dr Gerard shrugged his shoulders.

‘That is, perhaps, a little odd?'

Jefferson Cope said stiffly: ‘Let me assure you, Dr Gerard, there is nothing dishonourable in that friendship. It is purely platonic.'

‘My dear sir, I am quite sure of that. I repeat, though, that for Mrs Boynton to encourage that friendship is a curious action on her part. You know, Mr Cope, Mrs Boynton interests me—she interests me greatly.'

‘She is certainly a remarkable woman. She has great force of character—a most prominent personality. As I say, Elmer Boynton had the greatest faith in her judgement.'

‘So much so that he was content to leave his children completely at her mercy from the financial point of view. In my country, Mr Cope, it is impossible by law to do such a thing.'

Mr Cope rose. ‘In America,' he said, ‘we're great believers in absolute freedom.'

Dr Gerard rose also. He was unimpressed by the remark. He had heard it made before by people of many different nationalities. The illusion that freedom is the prerogative of one's own particular race is fairly widespread.

Dr Gerard was wiser. He knew that no race, no country and no individual could be described as free.
But he also knew that there were different degrees of bondage.

He went up to bed thoughtful and interested.

Sarah King stood in the precincts of the Temple—the Haramesh-Sherif. Her back was to the Dome of the Rock. The splashing of fountains sounded in her ears. Little groups of tourists passed by without disturbing the peace of the oriental atmosphere.

Strange, thought Sarah, that once a Jebusite should have made this rocky summit into a threshing floor and that David should have purchased it for six hundred shekels of gold and made it a Holy Place. And now the loud chattering tongues of sightseers of all nations could be heard.

She turned and looked at the Mosque which now covered the shrine and wondered if Solomon's temple would have looked half as beautiful.

There was a clatter of footsteps and a little party came out from the interior of the Mosque. It was the Boyntons escorted by a voluble dragoman. Mrs Boynton
was supported between Lennox and Raymond. Nadine and Mr Cope walked behind. Carol came last. As they were moving off, the latter caught sight of Sarah.

She hesitated, then, on a sudden decision, she wheeled round and ran swiftly and noiselessly across the courtyard.

‘Excuse me,' she said breathlessly. ‘I must—I—I felt I must speak to you.'

‘Yes?' said Sarah.

Carol was trembling violently. Her face was quite white.

‘It's about—my brother. When you—you spoke to him last night you must have thought him very rude. But he didn't mean to be—he—he couldn't help it. Oh, do please believe me.'

Sarah felt that the whole scene was ridiculous. Both her pride and her good taste were offended. Why should a strange girl suddenly rush up and tender a ridiculous apology for a boorish brother?

An off-hand reply trembled on her lips—and then, quickly, her mood changed.

There was something out of the ordinary here. This girl was in deadly earnest. That something in Sarah which had led her to adopt a medical career reacted to the girl's need. Her instinct told her there was something badly wrong.

She said encouragingly: ‘Tell me about it.'

‘He spoke to you on the train, didn't he?' began Carol.

Sarah nodded. ‘Yes; at least, I spoke to him.'

‘Oh, of course. It would be that way round. But, you see, last night Ray was afraid—'

She stopped.

‘Afraid?'

Carol's white face crimsoned.

‘Oh, I know it sounds absurd—mad. You see, my mother—she's—she's not well—and she doesn't like us making friends outside. But—but I know Ray would—would like to be friends with you.'

Sarah was interested. Before she could speak, Carol went on: ‘I—I know what I'm saying sounds very silly, but we are—rather an odd family.' She cast a quick look round—it was a look of fear.

‘I—I mustn't stay,' she murmured. ‘They may miss me.'

Sarah made up her mind. She spoke.

‘Why shouldn't you stay—if you want to? We might walk back together.'

‘Oh, no.' Carol drew back. ‘I—I couldn't do that.'

‘Why not?' said Sarah.

‘I couldn't really. My mother would be—would be—'

Sarah said clearly and calmly:

‘I know it's awfully difficult sometimes for parents to
realize that their children are grown up. They will go on trying to run their lives for them. But it's a pity, you know, to give in! One must stand up for one's rights.'

Carol murmured: ‘You don't understand—you don't understand in the least…'

Her hands twisted together nervously.

Sarah went on: ‘One gives in sometimes because one is afraid of rows. Rows are very unpleasant, but I think freedom of action is always worth fighting for.'

‘Freedom?' Carol stared at her. ‘None of us have ever been free. We never will be.'

‘Nonsense!' said Sarah clearly.

Carol leaned forward and touched her arm.

‘Listen. I
must
try and make you understand! Before her marriage my mother—she's my stepmother really—was a wardress in a prison. My father was the Governor and he married her. Well,
it's been like that ever since
. She's gone on being a wardress—
to us
. That's why our life is just—being in prison!'

Her head jerked round again.

‘They've missed me. I—I must go.'

Sarah caught her by the arm as she was darting off.

‘One minute. We must meet again and talk.'

‘I can't. I shan't be able to.'

‘Yes, you can.' She spoke authoritatively. ‘Come to my room after you go to bed. It's 319. Don't forget, 319.'

She released her hold. Carol ran off after her family.

Sarah stood staring after her. She awoke from her thoughts to find Dr Gerard by her side.

‘Good morning, Miss King. So you've been talking to Miss Carol Boynton?'

‘Yes, we had the most extraordinary conversation. Let me tell you.'

She repeated the substance of her conversation with the girl. Gerard pounced on one point.

‘Wardress in a prison, was she, that old hippopotamus? That is significant, perhaps.'

Sarah said:

‘You mean that that is the cause of her tyranny? It is the habit of her former profession.'

Gerard shook his head.

‘No, that is approaching it from the wrong angle. There is some deep underlying compulsion. She does not love tyranny
because she has been a wardress
. Let us rather say that
she became a wardress because she loved tyranny
. In my theory it was a secret desire for power over other human beings that led her to adopt that profession.'

His face was very grave.

‘There are such strange things buried down in the unconscious. A lust for power—a lust for cruelty—a savage desire to tear and rend—all the inheritance of our past racial memories…They are all there, Miss
King, all the cruelty and savagery and lust…We shut the door on them and deny them conscious life, but sometimes—they are too strong.'

Sarah shivered. ‘I know.'

Gerard continued: ‘We see it all round us today—in political creeds, in the conduct of nations. A reaction from humanitarianism—from pity—from brotherly good-will. The creeds sound well sometimes—a wise régime—a beneficent government—but imposed by
force
—resting on a basis of cruelty and fear. They are opening the door, these apostles of violence, they are letting up the old savagery, the old delight in cruelty
for its own sake
! Oh, it is difficult—Man is an animal very delicately balanced. He has one prime necessity—to survive. To advance too quickly is as fatal as to lag behind. He must survive! He must, perhaps, retain some of the old savagery, but he must not—no definitely he must not—
deify
it!'

There was a pause. Then Sarah said:

‘You think old Mrs Boynton is a kind of sadist?'

‘I am almost sure of it. I think she rejoices in the infliction of pain—mental pain, mind you, not physical. That is very much rarer and very much more difficult to deal with. She likes to have control of other human beings and she likes to make them suffer.'

‘It's pretty beastly,' said Sarah.

Gerard told her of his conversation with Jefferson
Cope. ‘He doesn't realize what is going on?' she said thoughtfully.

‘How should he? He is not a psychologist.'

‘True. He hasn't got our disgusting minds!'

‘Exactly. He has a nice, upright, sentimental, normal American mind. He believes in good rather than evil. He sees that the atmosphere of the Boynton family is all wrong, but he credits Mrs Boynton with misguided devotion rather than active maleficence.'

‘That should amuse her,' said Sarah.

‘I should imagine it does!'

Sarah said impatiently:

‘But why don't they break away? They could.'

Gerard shook his head.

‘No, there you are wrong.
They cannot
. Have you ever seen the old experiment with a cock? You chalk a line on the floor and put the cock's beak on it. The cock believes he is tied there. He cannot raise his head. So with these unfortunates. She has worked on them, remember, since they were children. And her dominance has been mental. She has hypnotized them to believe that
they cannot disobey her
. Oh, I know most people would say that was nonsense—but you and I know better. She has made them believe that utter dependence on her is inevitable. They have been in prison so long that if the prison door stands open they would no longer notice! One of them, at least, no longer
even wants to be free! And they would all be
afraid
of freedom.'

Sarah asked practically: ‘What will happen when she dies?'

Gerard shrugged his shoulders.

‘It depends. On how soon that happens. If it happened
now
—well, I think it might not be too late. The boy and girl—they are still young—impressionable. They would become, I believe, normal human beings. With Lennox, possibly, it has gone too far. He looks to me like a man who has parted company with hope—he lives and endures like a brute beast.'

Sarah said impatiently: ‘His wife ought to have done something! She ought to have yanked him out of it.'

‘I wonder. She may have tried—and failed.'

‘Do you think she's under the spell, too?'

Gerard shook his head.

‘No. I don't think the old lady has any power over her, and for that reason she hates her with a bitter hatred. Watch her eyes.'

Sarah frowned. ‘I can't make her out—the young one, I mean. Does she know what is going on?'

‘I think she must have a pretty shrewd idea.'

‘H'm,' said Sarah. ‘That old woman ought to be murdered! Arsenic in her early morning tea would be my prescription.'

Then she said abruptly:

‘What about the youngest girl—the red-haired one with the rather fascinating vacant smile?'

Gerard frowned. ‘I don't know. There is something queer there. Ginevra Boynton is the old woman's own daughter, of course.'

‘Yes. I suppose that would be different—or wouldn't it?'

Gerard said slowly: ‘I do not believe that when once the mania for power (and the lust for cruelty) has taken possession of a human being it can spare
anybody
—not even its nearest and dearest.'

He was silent for a moment, then he said: ‘Are you a Christian, mademoiselle?'

Sarah said slowly: ‘I don't know. I used to think that I wasn't anything. But now—I'm not sure. I feel—oh, I feel that if I could sweep all this away'—she made a violent gesture—‘all the buildings and the sects and the fierce squabbling churches—that—that I might see Christ's quiet figure riding into Jerusalem on a donkey—and believe in Him.'

Dr Gerard said gravely: ‘I believe at least in one of the chief tenets of the Christian faith—
contentment with a lowly place
. I am a doctor and I know that ambition—the desire to succeed—to have power—leads to most ills of the human soul. If the desire is realized it leads to arrogance, violence and final satiety—and if it is denied—ah! if it is denied—let all the asylums for the insane
rise up and give their testimony! They are filled with human beings who were unable to face being mediocre, insignificant, ineffective and who therefore created for themselves ways of escape from reality so as to be shut off from life itself for ever.'

Sarah said abruptly: ‘It's a pity the old Boynton woman isn't in an asylum.'

Gerard shook his head.

‘No—her place is not there among the failures. It is worse than that. She has succeeded, you see! She has accomplished her dream.'

Sarah shuddered.

She cried passionately: ‘Such things ought not to be!'

Sarah wondered very much whether Carol Boynton would keep her appointment that night.

On the whole she rather doubted it. She was afraid that Carol would have a sharp reaction after her semi-confidences of the morning.

Nevertheless she made her preparations, slipping on a blue satin dressing-gown and getting out her little spirit lamp and boiling up water.

She was just on the point of giving Carol up (it was after one o'clock) and going to bed, when there was a tap on her door. She opened it and drew quickly back to let Carol come in.

The latter said breathlessly: ‘I was afraid you might have gone to bed…'

Sarah's manner was carefully matter-of-fact.

‘Oh, no, I was waiting for you. Have some tea, will you? It's real Lapsang Souchong.'

She brought over a cup. Carol had been nervous and uncertain of herself. Now she accepted the cup and a biscuit and her manner became calmer.

‘This is rather fun,' said Sarah, smiling.

Carol looked a little startled.

‘Yes,' she said doubtfully. ‘Yes, I suppose it is.'

‘Rather like the midnight feasts we used to have at school,' went on Sarah. ‘I suppose you didn't go to school?'

Carol shook her head.

‘No, we never left home. We had a governess—different governesses. They never stayed long.'

‘Did you never go away at all?'

‘No. We've lived always in the same house. This coming abroad is the first time I've ever been away.'

Sarah said casually: ‘It must have been a great adventure.'

‘Oh, it was. It—it's all been like a dream.'

‘What made your—your stepmother decide to come abroad?'

At the mention of Mrs Boynton's name, Carol had flinched. Sarah said quickly:

‘You know, I'm by way of being a doctor. I've just taken my
M.B.
Your mother—or stepmother rather—is very interesting to me—as a case, you know. I should say she was quite definitely a pathological case.'

Carol stared. It was clearly a very unexpected point
of view to her. Sarah had spoken as she had with deliberate intent. She realized that to her family Mrs Boynton loomed as a kind of powerful obscene idol. It was Sarah's object to rob her of her more terrifying aspect.

‘Yes,' she said. ‘There's a kind of disease of—of grandeur—that gets hold of people. They get very autocratic and insist on everything being done exactly as they say and are altogether very difficult to deal with.'

Carol put down her cup.

‘Oh,' she cried, ‘I'm so glad to be talking to you. Really, you know, I believe Ray and I have been getting quite—well, quite queer. We'd get terribly worked up about things.'

‘Talking with an outsider is always a good thing,' said Sarah. ‘Inside a family one is apt to get too intense.' Then she asked casually: ‘If you are unhappy, haven't you ever thought of leaving home?'

Carol looked startled. ‘Oh, no! How could we? I—I mean Mother would never allow it.'

‘But she couldn't stop you,' said Sarah gently. ‘You're over age.'

‘I'm twenty-three.'

‘Exactly.'

‘But still, I don't see how—I mean, I wouldn't know where to go and what to do.'

Her tone seemed bewildered.

‘You see,' she said, ‘we haven't got any money.'

‘Haven't you any friends you could go to?'

‘Friends?' Carol shook her head. ‘Oh, no, we don't know anyone!'

‘Did none of you ever think of leaving home?'

‘No—I don't think so. Oh—oh—we couldn't.'

Sarah changed the subject. She found the girl's bewilderment pitiful.

She said: ‘Are you fond of your stepmother?'

Slowly Carol shook her head. She whispered in a low scared voice: ‘I hate her. So does Ray…We've—we've often wished she would die.'

Again Sarah changed the subject.

‘Tell me about your elder brother.'

‘Lennox? I don't know what's the matter with Lennox. He hardly ever speaks now. He goes about in a kind of daydream. Nadine's terribly worried about him.'

‘You are fond of your sister-in-law?'

‘Yes, Nadine is different. She's always kind. But she's very unhappy.'

‘About your brother?'

‘Yes.'

‘Have they been married long?'

‘Four years.'

‘And they've always lived at home?'

‘Yes.'

Sarah asked: ‘Does your sister-in-law like that?'

‘No.'

There was a pause. Then Carol said:

‘There was an awful fuss just over four years ago. You see, as I told you, none of us ever go outside the house at home. I mean we go into the grounds, but nowhere else. But Lennox did. He got out at night. He went into Fountain Springs—there was a sort of dance going on. Mother was frightfully angry when she found out. It was terrible. And then, after that, she asked Nadine to come and stay. Nadine was a very distant cousin of Father's. She was very poor and was training to be a hospital nurse. She came and stayed with us for a month. I can't tell you how exciting it was to have someone to stay! And she and Lennox fell in love with each other. And Mother said they'd better be married quickly and live on with us.'

‘And was Nadine willing to do that?'

Carol hesitated.

‘I don't think she wanted to do that very much, but she didn't really
mind
. Then, later, she wanted to go away—with Lennox, of course—'

‘But they didn't go?' asked Sarah.

‘No, Mother wouldn't hear of it.'

Carol paused, and then said:

‘I don't think—she likes Nadine any longer. Nadine is—funny. You never know what she's thinking. She tries to help Jinny and Mother doesn't like it.'

‘Jinny is your youngest sister?'

‘Yes. Ginevra is her real name.'

‘Is she—unhappy, too?'

Carol shook her head doubtfully.

‘Jinny's been very queer lately. I don't understand her. You see, she's always been rather delicate—and—and Mother fusses about her and—and it makes her worse. And lately Jinny has been very queer indeed. She—she frightens me sometimes. She—she doesn't always know what she's doing.'

‘Has she seen a doctor?'

‘No, Nadine wanted her to, but Mother said no—and Jinny got very hysterical and screamed, and said she wouldn't see a doctor. But I'm worried about her.'

Suddenly Carol rose.

‘I mustn't keep you up. It's—it's very good of you letting me come and talk to you. You must think us very odd as a family.'

‘Oh, everybody's odd, really,' said Sarah lightly. ‘Come again, will you? And bring your brother, if you like.'

‘May I really?'

‘Yes; we'll do some secret plotting. I'd like you to meet a friend of mine, too, a Dr Gerard, an awfully nice Frenchman.'

The colour came into Carol's cheeks.

‘Oh, what fun it sounds. If only Mother doesn't find out!'

Sarah suppressed her original retort and said instead, ‘Why should she? Good night. Shall we say tomorrow night at the same time?'

‘Oh, yes. The day after, you see, we may be going away.'

‘Then let's have a definite date for tomorrow. Good night.'

‘Good night—and thank you.'

Carol went out of the room and slipped noiselessly along the corridor. Her own room was on the floor above. She reached it, opened the door—and stood appalled on the threshold. Mrs Boynton was sitting in an armchair by the fireplace in a crimson wool dressing-gown.

A little cry escaped from Carol's lips. ‘Oh!'

A pair of black eyes bored into hers.

‘Where have you been, Carol?'

‘I—I—'

‘Where have you been?'

A soft, husky voice with that queer menacing under-tone in it that always made Carol's heart beat with unreasoning terror.

‘To see a Miss King—Sarah King.'

‘The girl who spoke to Raymond the other evening?'

‘Yes, Mother.'

‘Have you made any plans to see her again?'

Carol's lips moved soundlessly. She nodded assent.
Fright—great sickening waves of fright…

‘When?'

‘Tomorrow night.'

‘You are not to go. You understand?'

‘Yes, Mother.'

‘You promise?'

‘Yes—yes.'

Mrs Boynton struggled to get up. Mechanically Carol came forward and helped her. Mrs Boynton walked slowly across the room, supporting herself on her stick. She paused in the doorway and looked back at the cowering girl.

‘You are to have nothing more to do with this Miss King. You understand?'

‘Yes, Mother.'

‘Repeat it.'

‘I am to have nothing more to do with her.'

‘Good.'

Mrs Boynton went out and shut the door.

Stiffly, Carol moved across the bedroom. She felt sick, her whole body felt wooden and unreal. She dropped on to the bed and suddenly she was shaken by a storm of weeping.

It was as though a vista had opened before her—a vista of sunlight and trees and flowers…

Now the black walls had closed round her once more.