Adders on the Heath

'The cause, I understand, was Mavis Wight.'

'Rivalry in love, you mean?'

'I doubt whether some members of the club would understand the meaning of the word love, but I am told that both wanted to-what is that disagreeable modern expression...?'

'Wanted to date her?' suggested Laura. Miss Calne nodded.

'That's it.'

'And to which did the young woman give preference?' asked Dame Beatrice.

'I could not say. Deirdre Bath, who used to be one of my pupils, was my informant, but I was not particularly interested and the subject was soon changed.'

'Is this Miss Bath a member of the club?'

'Mrs Bath. She married the treasurer, but, yes, she is still an active member. She jumps.'

'Indeed?' Dame Beatrice looked puzzled.

'Long or high?' demanded Laura, coming to the aid of her employer.

'Oh, long, long. I am told she stands a chance of being selected for the County. She is one of the reasons why the club was not at all anxious to merge itself with the Southampton people. It was felt that the Scylla and District should bask alone in Deirdre's reflected glory.'

'Quite reasonable, at that,' said Laura. 'But what about Bunt and Colnbrook?'

'I am afraid I can tell you very little more about either of them.'

'Have you Mrs Bath's address?' asked Dame Beatrice.

Miss Calne supplied this, and Dame Beatrice and Laura drove to a large village along one of the most beautiful main roads in the Forest. On either side the way was thickly wooded behind a broad border of grass well cropped by numerous ponies. The road ran fairly straight, was mildly undulating and, at that time of year, was not particularly heavy with traffic. Numerous signs indicated the need for caution in respect of straying animals and the undesirablity of feeding these in the interests of the ponies' own safety on the roads, and further signs, sponsored by a display of birch brooms, warned against the risk of forest fires.

At the entrance to the village the car took the Totton road between the golf course and Fox Hill and pulled up at a row of semi-detached bungalows.

Mrs Bath was doing her ironing in the parlour into which the front door opened. Two innocent-eyed and slightly dirty-faced children were playing on the floor, but suspended their game to stare at the visitors. Dame Beatrice apologised for having arrived at an inconvenient time and suggested that she and Laura should return later.

'If it's the H.P. for next-door's telly,' said Mrs Bath, 'you'll get it all right next week. Her husband's getting a bonus, and, anyway, I can't pay it for her.'

Dame Beatrice explained that it was not the H.P. for the television set, but that Miss Calne had given her Mrs Bath's address. Miss Calne's name appeared to have a magic significance, for Mrs Bath, who had switched off the electric iron in order to answer the door, now stood the iron up on end, invited the visitors in, spat skilfully on to each youthful face and gave it a scrub on the tea-cloth she had just finished ironing, and then offered her callers chairs.

'It'll be about the club, I expect,' she said. 'Arthur, leave Jenny's dolly alone, else I'll take away your bricks and lock 'em up.'

'Well, it is in connection with two members-or, rather, with two ex-members-of the club,' Dame Beatrice admitted. 'Two, in fact, who are no longer with us in the flesh.'

'Oh? Bert Colnbrook and that there Bunt,' said Mrs Bath. 'Well, I don't suppose you're police, else my husband would have told me, being tipped off by his brother Alf.'

Arthur kicked his small sister's rag doll and came over to Laura.

'My Uncle Alf's a policeman,' he said.

'Jolly good,' said Laura. She hoisted him on to her knee. 'So is my husband.'

Mrs Bath looked slightly apprehensive.

'So you are police,' she said.

'No, no, but we are working with the police for a special reason which, when I explain it, I am certain you will appreciate,' said Dame Beatrice. She told as much of the story as was necessary. 'So, you see,' she said in conclusion, 'anything which will remove suspicion from this young man and, possibly, from my own grand-nephew, who was with him when the body of Mr Colnbrook was found in the place to which the foresters had removed it, will undoubtedly relieve their minds and ours.'

'Yes, I see that,' said Mrs Bath, 'though I shouldn't have thought, myself, that they had anything to be afraid of, being strangers to the club and all that.'

'Ah, but that is the trouble. Mr Richardson was by no means a stranger to the club. He had not only met Mr Colnbrook on two previous occasions; he had quarrelled with him.'

'I'm not surprised. That Bert Colnbrook was a nasty piece of work. I was always warning Mavis Wight against him. 'If you must have one of them,' I said to her, 'you better pick that Bunt.' Arthur, you sit still on the lady's lap, else off you get.'

Arthur wriggled to the floor, trotted over to his sister and gave her a hearty push. His mother landed a slap on the seat of his pants and the two children immediately settled down to the amusements with which they had been occupied when the visitors arrived.