Page 98 - Universal

they went out, her husband with his white waterproof coat over his arm, and Ronnie,
her youngest brother, singing ‘Bertie, why do you bound?’ as he always did to tease

her, because she said it got on her nerves. Do you know, sometimes on still, quiet
evenings like this, I almost get a creepy feeling that they will all walk in through that
window.”

She broke off with a little shudder. It was a relief to Framton when the aunt bustled
into the room with a whirl of apologies for being late in making her appearance.

“I hope Vera has been amusing you?” she said.

“She has been very interesting,” said Framton.

“I hope you don’t mind the open window,” said Mrs. Sappleton briskly; “my
husband and brothers will be home directly from shooting, and they always come
in this way. They’ve been out for snipe in the marshes today, so they’ll make a fine
mess over my poor carpets. So like you menfolk, isn’t it?”

She rattled on cheerfully about the shooting and the scarcity of birds, and the
prospects for duck in the winter. To Framton it was all purely horrible. He made

a desperate but only partially successful effort to turn the talk on to a less ghastly
topic, he was conscious that his hostess was giving him only a fragment of her
attention, and her eyes were constantly straying past him to the open window and
the lawn beyond. It was certainly an unfortunate coincidence that he should have

paid his visit on this tragic anniversary.

96