And then she married someone in California. They’ve got a yacht and go about places, I think. Died two or three years ago and only sixty-two. Pity dying so young, you know,” “You’ve been to a lot of different parts of the world yourself, haven’t you?” said Mrs. Oliver. “India, Hong Kong, then Egypt, and South America, wasn’t it?” “Ah, yes, I’ve been about a good deal.” “I remember,” said Mrs. Oliver, “when I was in India, you were with a service family then, weren’t you? A General somebody. Was it—now wait a minute, I can’t remember the name—it wasn’t General and Lady Ravenscroft, was it?” “No, no, you’ve got the name wrong. You’re thinking of when I was with the Barnabys. That’s right. You came to stay with them. Remember? You were doing a tour, you were, and you came and stayed with the Barnabys. You were an old friend of hers. He was a judge.” “Ah, yes,” said Mrs. Oliver. “It’s difficult a bit. One gets names mixed up.” “Two nice children they had,” said Mrs. Matcham. “Of course they went to school in England. The boy went to Harrow and the girl went to Roedean, I think it was, and so I moved on to another family after that. Ah, things have changed nowadays. Not so many ayahs, even, as there used to be.
Mind you, the ayahs used to be a bit of a trouble now and then. I got on with our one very well when I was with the Barnabys, I mean. Who was it you spoke of? The Ravenscrofts ?
Well, I remember them. Yes–I forget the name of the place where they lived now. Not far from us. The families were acquainted, you know. Oh, yes, it’s a long time ago, but I remember it all. I was still out there with the Barnabys, you know. I stayed on when the children went to school to look after Mrs. Barnaby. Look after her things, you know, and mend them and all that. Oh, yes, I was there when that awful thing happened. I don’t mean the Barnabys. I mean to the Ravenscrofts. Yes, I shall never forget that. Hearing about it, I mean. Naturally I wasn’t mixed up in it myself, but it was a terrible thing to happen, wasn’t it?” “I should think it must have been,” said Mrs. Oliver.
“It was after you’d gone back to England, a good long time after that, I think. A nice couple they were. Very nice couple and it was a shock to them.” “I don’t really remember now,” said Mrs. Oliver.
“I know. One forgets things. I don’t myself. But they said she’d always been queer, you know. Ever since the time she was a child. Some early story there was. She took a baby out of the pram and threw it in the river. Jealousy, they said.
Other people said she wanted the baby to go to heaven and not wait.” “Is it–is it Lady Ravenscroft, you mean?” “No, of course I don’t. Ah, you don’t remember as well as I do. It was the sister.” “Her sister?” “I’m not sure now whether it was her sister or his sister.
They said she’d been in a kind of mental place for a long time, you know. Ever since she was about eleven or twelve years old. They kept her there and then they said she was all right again and she came out. And she married someone in the Army. And then there was trouble. And the next thing they heard, I believe, was that she’d been put back again in one of them loony-bin places. They treat you very well, you know. They have a suite, nice rooms and all that. And they used to go and see her, I believe. I mean the General did or his wife. The children were brought up by someone else, I think, because they were afraid-like. However, they said she was all right in the end. So she came back to live with her husband, and then he died or something. Blood pressure I think it was, or heart. Anyway, she was very upset and she came out to stay with her brother or her sister—whichever it was—she seemed quite happy there and everything, and ever so fond of children, she was. It wasn’t the little boy, I think.