‘Not if it was left at the gates and the — whoever walked round to the side door. Presumably he knew our routine and also that the door into the visitors’ parlour would be unlocked.’
‘And that includes just about everybody in the district. You see what a puzzle it is?’
‘I see that a child has died before his time,’ Sister Gabrielle said bleakly. ‘You know, I was sitting here before, warming myself in the spring sunshine, feeling happy to be alive, yet thinking of that child who will never be able to do what I was doing. We must pray for guidance, Sister. I am convinced that the solution will be found. The solution has to be found if God is to prevail. Now I shall have a little nap, so you may tuck that wretched blanket around me and go and find something useful to do.’
She switched off her hearing aid and closed her eyes with finality. Sister Joan shook a sprinkling of grass from the blanket and tucked it around the bony old frame. She wondered if one day she would sit here and have a younger sister perform the same task on her behalf. There was a quiet continuity in that which was comforting. Then, with shocking clarity, the detective sergeant’s face loomed in her mind, his voice mocking her, ‘I don’t know how you can stand it, Sister.’
She clutched her own well-fingered rosary and sped back towards the convent.
‘Mother Dorothy was most understanding about the very careless way in which I lost my rosary,’ Sister Margaret said happily, turning a rosy face from the cooker as Sister Joan entered the kitchen. ‘She was also very kind about my habit of napping at the end of the day. She reminded me that Saint Therese had had the same habit and had reached the conclusion that there were times when Our Dear Lord wished her to have a little rest. Isn’t that comforting? Though that doesn’t mean that I won’t try very hard to stay awake in future. She has rung the station and the rosary will be returned to me. Now I must try very hard to recall exactly where I dropped it.’
‘If you strain too hard to recall something you generally don’t succeed‚’ Sister Joan said. ‘Why not forget about it and then the answer might pop into your head.’
‘That’s excellent advice, Sister. I shall take it. Now I must get on and finish the baking. Both Sister Hilaria and I are excused from recreation this evening. Mother Dorothy feels it will do the postulants no harm to learn how to cook a decent meal, so they are to come over to the kitchen after supper for a lesson in the art of convent haute cuisine. Doesn’t that sound grand?’
‘What would you like me to do, Sister? I’m at your disposal‚’ Sister Joan asked.
‘Oh, Reverend Mother wishes to see you. I almost forgot about it‚’ Sister Margaret said. ‘Something about a telephone call, she said. You had better go at once. Now where did I put the flour?’
‘You wanted me, Reverend Mother?’ Tapping on the parlour door, entering and briefly kneeling, she was struck by the irrelevant thought that so many of the courtesies of the religious life might be construed as medieval by the modern world. How begin to explain that she and the others knelt not to the Prioress herself but to the Christ her position represented in the community.
‘I managed to get through to Sweden. In fact the cleaning woman answered. She spoke a little English, sufficient to inform me that Mr and Mrs Svenson are on holiday for the next ten days, and that their daughter, Kiki, was in England. I thanked her and left my name and the convent number. At the moment we are in a cul-de-sac as far as that line of questioning is concerned. I see no point in mentioning the matter to the police until we know a little more ourselves.’
‘But surely—’ Sister Joan began.
‘To do so would be to raise suspicions and cast doubts when we have no logical reason for doing so. I would prefer you to talk again to the child — Samantha, draw her out a little. It might even be necessary for you to pay a second visit to her home. Sister Margaret will accompany you. If anything further is said that justifies my taking action then I will do so.’
‘Yes, Reverend Mother.’
‘Sister Margaret cannot remember where she lost her rosary which is a pity but one cannot force these things. She had noticed the links in the chain were weak but, mindful of our vow of holy poverty, had delayed reporting the matter.’
The words ‘false economy’ hovered in the air but were not spoken.
‘I rang up the police station and spoke to Detective Sergeant Mill. He undertook to return the rosary to Sister Margaret, and said that your help had been invaluable to him.’
‘I doubt if it was,’ Sister Joan said. ‘He was merely being polite.’
‘I told him that if he required your assistance again you had my permission to co-operate in any way he deemed necessary.’
‘Yes, Reverend Mother.’ Sister Joan wondered if it would do any good at all to ask that she be excused from any such co-operation. Probably not.
‘Not a very respectful or religious man,’ Mother Dorothy was continuing, ‘but it is always a mistake to judge a book by its cover. Possibly contact with our community will be of benefit to him. The study period is almost upon us. Are you meditating on the four branches of the rule? An essay at some future period might be of help to Sister Hilaria for her postulants. She is often short of new material.’
‘Yes, Reverend Mother.’
‘I suspect,’ said Mother Dorothy unexpectedly, ‘that you find it strange I should
