‘I’d like to have that – but perhaps the person whom it belonged to, and who gave it to her, would want to have it back.
I think we ought to ask her ?’ Miss Packard interrupted. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Mrs Beresford, I’m afraid we can’t do that. It was a Mrs Lancaster who gave it to Miss Fanshawe and she isn’t with us any longer.’ ‘Isn’t with you?’ said Tuppence, surprised. ‘A Mrs Lancaster?
The one I saw last time I was here – with white hair ‘ brushed back from her face. She was drinking milk in the sitting-room downstairs. She’s gone away, you say?’ ‘Yes. It was all rather sudden. One of her relations, a Mrs Johnson, took her away about a week ago. Mrs Johnson had returned from Africa where she’s been living for the last four or five years – quite unexpectedly. She is now able to take care of Mrs Lancaster in her own home, since she and her husband are taking a house in England. I don’t think,’ said Miss Packard, ‘that Mrs Lancaster really wanted to leave us. She had become so – set in her ways here, and she got on very well with everyone and was happy. She was very disturbed, quite tearful about it – but what can one do? She hadn’t really very much say in the matter, because of course the Johnsons were paying for her stay here. I did suggest that as she had been here so long and settled down so well, it might be advisable to let her remain ‘ ‘How long had Mrs Lancaster been with you? asked Tuppence.
‘Oh, nearly six years, I think. Yes, that’s about it. That’s why, of course, she’d really come to feel that this was her home.’ ‘Yes,’ said Tuppence. ‘Yes, I can understand that.’ She frowned and gave a nervous glance at Tommy and then stuck a resolute chin into the air.
‘I’m sorry she’s left. I had a feeling when I was talking to her that I’d met her before – her face seemed familiar to me. And then afterwards it came back to me that I’d met her with an old friend of mine, a Mrs Blenkinsop. I thought when I came back here again to visit Aunt Ada, that I’d fred out from her if that was so. But of course if she’s gone back to her own people, that’s different.’ qmte understand, Mrs Beresford. Ifaray of our visitors can get in touch with some of their old friends or someone who knew their relations at one time, it makes a great difference to them. I can’t remember a Mrs Blenkinso ever having been mentioned by her, but then I don’t suppose that would be likely to happen in any case.’ ‘Can you tell me a little more about hex% who her relations were, and how she came to come here.>’ ‘There’s really Very little to tell. As I said, it was about six years ago that we had letters from Mrs Johnson inquiring about the Home, and then Mrs Johnson herself came here and inspected it. She said she’d had mentions of Sunny Ridge from a friend and she inquired the terms and all chat and – then she went away. And about a week or a fortnight later we had a letter from a firm of solicitors in London making: further inquiries, and finally they wrote saying that they would like us to accept Mrs Lancaster and that Mrs Johnson would bring her here in about a week’s time if we had a vacancy. As it happened, we had, and Mrs Johnson brought Mrs Lancaster here and Mrs Lancaster seemed to like the place and liked the room that we proposed to allot her. Mrs Johnson said that Mrs Lancaster would like to bring some of her own.th—,s.. I quite agreed, because people usually do that and f’md they re much happier.
So it was all arranged very satisfactorily. Mrs Johnson explained that Mrs Lancaster was a relation of her husband’s, not a very near one, but that they felt worried about her because they themselves were going out to Africa – to Nigeria I think it was, her husband was taking up an appointment there and it was likely they’d be there for some years before they returned to England, so as they had no home to offer Mrs Lancaster, they wanted to make sure that she was accepted in a place where she would be really happy. They were quite sure from what they’d heard about this place that that was so. So it was all arranged very happily indeed and Mrs Lancaster settled down here very well.’ ‘I see.’