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we a tore May Bianca Stapiean had Goren asking * was killed in the war, were Melinda « when her mother | would arrive an inquiry which later became significant. . amy, we oF + at anreasonably, Melinda - . q was extremely ppast. € tale ze ‘at spend the week-end with then. Jo im ia : a Tt was forthis reason that Mac- Jewed Bin sito Rene heer = THE GUE ' lean. had taken the Saturday pyjamas and shaving gear On ‘Thursday, May 24 the . morning off. fay. before his thirtyceighth - airthday, Donald teld Melinda that a fdend of his named Roger Styles—ef whom she wad dons buf tq accept the un- wanted guest with good gre abd the next morning Melinc tbhked Maclean. a birthday ca abd prepared a special dinney. i P " | é THE HOUSE AT TATSFIELD * Beaconshaw, the house where the strange events eccurred, Standing on the lawn is Fergus, the elder son of Donald and Melinda Maciea not previously heard~would Sole Weeeiean not only spe a be coming down fo dinner the the Friday—until the evenidg ! next evening. me 4 married meannee. except i was annoyed, Her Possbly that his luncheon was ~ pat es vonly Yhree works more elaborate and. prolonged ahead. She was feeling than fisual, nut his manner was wretched and in no’ condition Purely normal, to enterlain, especially some , He caught his usual trai, ane sie did nat Enow. 2 6.28 from. Victoria to Oxted, . Her small boys had measles, and even ia orginary ciream- sianves,. with @niy one daily servant who went home at tea~ jime, Beaconshaw was not an” easy house to run. it was a “relic of the opnlent pre-war days when servants Were easy ¥ , to gel mo - BRS someone on business. rm In a@dition, Maclean's sister boing to take & tow pemdthe Son wan fend her American eee have to SPeERrn Me daagd Mrs. Mary Maclean, 225% : low of an elder brother who j the usa id artived. home at 4 yne-—usual, that is to say, those evenings straight heme from the ofiee: Before ais guest arrived he - gaid to Melinda: “ Atter dinger Hoger and I have to go out to TOT eal us ¥ Ln cee pe ep a Pag nr oP ape nin 4 ¥ ‘his ‘tn ‘Daddy ? E stand at the windew and watcht you got’ They were the last), “words he spake to his father when. he went aOR. Tha not going fay Le ee See See a a Se Set ‘- * ewig ges ge ed Ona he, ee Nee Fn Te pian FTES ae ERIN i xe Panel cee ate Ce Te REO So a briefcase, and they There was nothing to. be argued. It wag too bad that he had » iovited an unknown friend for la biethday dinner which she ‘had been Feolishly heping 4 BDET,, alone with Bim. Bat. it wak intolerable ff he and §lg fridnd were then going to leave her alone at home for they evening. : : ‘And he was not even sure! that he would spend the night! r at Beaconshaw. His relatives: were arriving the vext morn- jing. Did he realise there would be a great deal of work to be? done which she conid not: ‘manage alone? * ; WHY? A child asks — Putling up beds in the guest. rooms ? Looking after the ocen- tral ,neating 7 household jobs? For thes were his small share in helping to run the house, : Melinds begged him not to gc. He said that he had to. And idlinda stormed. out of the room. and: went downetairs. Then occurred a pathetic Hithe- incident. which only. came / put two years later -~ when ‘young Fergus told his. granc-| mother, His father’s and mother's voices faised in | argument. had wakened the litte boy, : who slept in an adjoining oom, and after his mother & ane downstairs, he got out of is bed and went in to see his father. ; “* Wh: are you wing awash * he aeeen. * Can for at least two years and four months. Maclean replied, “You get hack into your bed, you Hith shall be Beck soon” AH the other ~ _ So charming This conversation fixed iteelf fmperishably an the. geven- yearold boy’a memory — for, despite his promise, his fathe did not “come back san.” And then, half an hour late*, uy Burgess arrived at, Beaconshaw in a car he. bad, hired ia the morning in his.ows} name. Maciesn introduced him to Melinda at Roger Styles, She found him charming and eagy io falk 6. He-seems to have gone out of his way to be pleasant to her and she. wae definitely attracted by him, © So far as. shea could judge, and it must be reneembered that she had never met bim before, his “Mariner was pe fectly moriial. : There was certainly nO} obvious. _constraini Re appeared: neither worried nor i he Ter at ease, Neither pe ee an ey ee athe Maclean that evening gave the iapression ofa manon the brink of deserting Ris family, hig. friends, his country. and his. very way of life, probably for ever. There ig gne curious point. Going over the events of Utat never-to-be-fargotien evening, Melinda said afterwards that she had:a vague feeling, based : on nothing she could remember or fix positively, that Donaid and Burgess bad in fact travelled down from London together. Had they done se it is not easy io see why they pre- tended to have “some weparately. lg might be that after drop: ‘ping Maclean—«either at the station, where he would. have P picked up his own car, or else near Beaconshaw—Burgess had driven off to Sea someone who lived near, Dinner was a normal meal, with three civilised people talk+ ing casuafly and amicably. with no apparent signe of the menial aairmoi) through which two of | them must surely have been passing. There was certainly tie. hint thet evening TODOS vatastrophic stata which was - . RRS Ee eA Yel