‘What did you think of Miss Murchan?’
‘Personally, do you mean?’
‘Yes, and as a member of your staff.’
‘Personally, I found her rather colourless. She was inclined to be timid and deprecating.’
‘A “burglars under the bed” sort of woman?’
‘An apt description. Also — we must be perfectly frank, I take it — I regretted having felt obliged to make her Senior Mistress, as she detested and feared responsibility. But she was so much the oldest member of the staff that I felt I had no option, particularly as I enjoy very good health, and there was little reason to suppose that I should have to be away from school for any length of time, and leave her to cope, as it were.’
‘Thank you very much. So that, if Miss Murchan had been in possession of a very horrid secret, you think she would have become very nervous about it?’
‘Good gracious, yes. But what are you telling me, Mrs Bradley? The verdict at the inquest…’
‘Suppose she knew — having walked along your gymnasium gallery after school that evening — that one of the staff was responsible — directly responsible — for that poor child’s death, what do you suppose would have been her reactions?’
‘I see you are determined to ask questions, but not to answer them, but you will forgive me if I disagree completely with your premises. However…’ She hesitated and then added: ‘One cannot, of course, be certain, but I should think she would go to that member of the staff — she was a very loyal comrade, I am sure — and tell what she had seen, and suggest, I feel, that they should both come to me about it’
‘But that did not happen? I know you will be frank. I am to take it that you know nothing except what actually came out at the inquest?’
‘That is true. But you have no evidence that Miss Murchan did see the accident, have you?’
‘Except that I cannot otherwise account for her disappearance. Didn’t you lose your Physical Training mistress at about the same time that Miss Murchan gave in her resignation?’
‘Yes, she decided to go. She said that although the coroner’s court attached no blame to her in the matter, she felt she could not stay. I was sorry, as I am sure she was not to blame in the slightest for what had happened. The child was very naughty and disobedient to have been at school at all at such an hour. It is true we were having a gymnastic competition during the following week, as I think I told you before, but that hardly excuses her, does it?’
‘I don’t know. I remember the point about the competition, though. Where do the grandparents live? — Or have they moved?’
‘I have the address in my Admissions. I’ll give it to you as soon as we get back to my room. I don’t think they’ve moved. The poor wretched grandfather went into a mental hospital immediately after his outburst at the inquest, you remember.’
‘Yes. Now the Physical Training mistress — her name was Paynter-Tree, I believe? — ’
The headmistress smiled.
‘Yes; Paynter-Tree. Although I happen to know that she was nicknamed Flak — Royal Air Force slang, I believe.’
‘Could you describe her to me?’
‘She was of medium height, wide-shouldered, slim, dark.’
‘She was not the only Physical Training mistress, I believe? I think you told me last time I was here…’
‘Well, she was the only one specially trained for the work. Three of the other mistresses used to help with the games; one helped with the hockey; she had captained her College for two years; one helped with the swimming (she was reserve for one of the Olympic Games’ teams) and Miss Murchan helped with the tennis; although what her qualifications were, beyond a keen interest in the game, I do not know. I believe she had learned fencing, but that is hardly the same thing.’
‘The accident itself,’ said Mrs Bradley, when they were seated in the headmistress’s room and she had been supplied with the address she had asked for, ‘was rather remarkable. I did not think sufficient was made of that point at the inquest. What are the rules about the apparatus?’
‘Well, the girls are forbidden to touch the booms unless the mistress is there. But I don’t agree with what you say. The school was sadly called over the coals at the inquest. It was pointed out — rightly, too, and I think that is what decided Miss Tree to send in her resignation — that the ropes and pulleys of the gymnasium apparatus should be tested and inspected frequently. The rope must somewhere have worn through, although I cannot think how or why, and neither could Miss Tree. Still, I think she acted hastily in resigning over a thing like that, particularly as, in the end, we were completely exonerated.’
‘I never met the child’s grandparents. Was the grandfather a widower?’ Mrs Bradley inquired.
‘A widower? Oh, dear, no! There is a very puritanical, tight-lipped grandmother. We had lots of trouble with her, as a matter of fact, whilst the child was here. She did not approve of the physical training being taken in shorts and blouses; she wanted the girl to wear stockings; she did not want her to be included in games teams, in case she became hoydenish, and a lot of old-fashioned nonsense of that sort’
‘And the grandfather? Was he equally prudish?’
‘I don’t know much about the grandfather, poor man. He went mad, as you know, after the inquest.’
‘He is recovered, I believe?’
‘Happily, yes. He’s been at home now for about six months.’
‘Which hospital did he go to?’
‘I’ve really no idea. I know his wife refused to visit him, wherever it was. That was an open scandal all over the town, where, of course, everybody knows everybody else’s business.’
