the woods.
The Coroner asked why Mrs. Lee was not in Court. He understood that she'd been summoned to attend. He was told, however, that Mrs. Lee had left the village some days ago – nobody knew exactly when. She had not left any address behind. It was not her habit to do so, she often went away and came back without notifying anyone. So there was nothing unusual about this. In fact one or two people said they thought she'd already left the village before the day the accident happened. The Coroner asked the old man again.
'You think, however, that it was Mrs. Lee you saw?'
'Couldn't say, I'm sure. Wouldn't like to be certain. It was a tall woman and striding along, and had on a scarlet cloak, like Mrs. Lee wears sometimes. But I didn't look particular. I was busy with what I was doing. Could have been she, it could have been someone else. Who's to say?'
As for the rest he repeated very much what he had said to us. He'd seen the lady riding nearby, he'd often seen her riding before. He hadn't paid any particular attention. Only later did he see the horse galloping alone. It looked as though something had frightened it, he said. 'At least, it could be that way.' He couldn't tell what time that was. Might have been eleven, might have been earlier. He saw the horse much later, farther away. It seemed to be returning towards the woods.
Then the Coroner recalled me and asked me a few more questions about Mrs. Lee. Mrs. Esther Lee of Vine Cottage.
'You and your wife knew Mrs. Lee by sight?'
'Yes,' I said, 'quite well.'
'Did you talk with her?'
'Yes, several times. Or rather,' I added, 'she talked to us.'
'Did she at any time threaten you or your wife?'
I paused a moment or two.
'In a sense she did,' I said slowly, 'but I never thought -'
'You never thought what?'
'I never thought she really meant it,' I said.
'Did she sound as though she had any particular grudge against your wife?'
'My wife said so once. She said she thought she had some special grudge against her but she couldn't see why.'
'Had you or your wife at any time ordered her off your land, threatened her, treated her roughly in any way?'
'Any aggression came from her side,' I said.
'Did you ever have the impression that she was mentally unbalanced?'
I considered.
'Yes,' I said, 'I did. I thought she had come to believe that the land on which we had built our house belonged to her, or belonged to her tribe or whatever they call themselves. She had a kind of obsession about it.'
I added slowly, 'I think she was getting worse, more and more obsessed by the idea.'
'I see. She never offered your wife physical violence at any time?'
'No,' I said, slowly, 'I don't think it would be fair to say that. It was all – well, all a sort of gipsy's warning stuff. 'You'll have bad luck if you stay here.' 'There'll be a curse on you unless you go away'.'
'Did she mention the word death?'
'Yes, I think so. We didn't take her seriously. At least,' I corrected myself, 'I didn't.'
'Do you think your wife did?'
'I'm afraid she did sometimes. The old woman, you know, could be rather alarming. I don't think she was really responsible for what she was saying or doing.'
The proceedings ended with the Coroner adjourning the inquest for a fortnight. Everything pointed to Death being due to Accidental Causes but there was not sufficient evidence to show what had caused the accident to occur.
He would adjourn the proceedings until he had heard the evidence of Mrs. Esther Lee.
Chapter 20
The day after the inquest I went to see Major Phillpot and I told him point-blank that I wanted his opinion. Someone whom the old peat-cutting man had taken to be Mrs. Esther Lee, had been seen going up towards the woods that morning.
'You know the old woman,' I said. 'Do you actually think that she would have been capable of causing an accident by deliberate malice?'
'I can't really believe so, Mike,' he said. 'To do a thing like that you need a very strong motive. Revenge for some personal injury caused to you. Something like that. And what had Ellie ever done to her? Nothing.'
'It seems crazy, I know. Why was she constantly appearing in that queer way, threatening Ellie, telling her to go away? She seemed to have a grudge against her, but how could she have a grudge? She'd never met Ellie or seen her before. What was Ellie to her but a perfectly strange American? There's no past history, no link between them.'
'I know, I know,' said Phillpot. 'I can't help feeling, Mike, that there's something here that we don't understand. I don't know how much your wife was over in England previous to her marriage. Did she ever live in this part of the world for any length of time?'
'No, I'm sure of that. It's all so difficult. I don't really know anything about Ellie. I mean, who she knew, where she went. We just – met.' I checked myself and looked at him.
I said 'You don't know how we came to meet, do you? No,' I went on, 'you wouldn't guess in a hundred years how we met.' And suddenly, in spite of myself, I began to laugh. Then I pulled myself together. I could feel that I was very near hysteria.
I could see his kind patient face just waiting till I was myself again. He was a helpful man. There was no doubt of that.
'We met here,' I said. 'Here at Gipsy's Acre. I had been reading the notice board of the sale of The Towers and I walked up the road, up the hill because I was curious about this place. And that's how I first saw her. She was standing there under a tree. I startled her – or perhaps it was she who startled me. Anyway, that's how it all began. That's how we came to live here in this damned, cursed, unlucky place.'
'Have you felt that all along? That it would be unlucky?'
'No. Yes. No, I don't know really. I've never admitted it. I've never wanted to admit it. But I think she knew. I think she's been frightened all along.' Then I said slowly, 'I think somebody deliberately wanted to frighten her.'
He said rather sharply, 'What do you mean by that? Who wanted to frighten her?'
'Presumably the gipsy woman. But somehow I'm not quite sure about it… She used to lie in wait for Ellie, you know, tell her this place would bring her bad luck. Tell her she ought to go away from it.'
'Tcha!' He spoke angrily. 'I wish I'd been told more about that. I'd have spoken to old Esther. Told her she couldn't do things like that.'
'Why did she?' I asked. 'What made her?'
'Like so many people,' said Phillpot, 'she likes to make herself important. She likes either to give people warnings or else tell their fortunes and prophesy happy lives for them. She likes to pretend she knows the future.'
'Supposing,' I said slowly, 'somebody gave her money. I've been told she's fond of money.'
'Yes, she was very fond of money. If someone paid her – that's what you're suggesting – what put that idea into your head?'
'Sergeant Keene,' I said. 'I should never have thought of it myself.'
'I see.' He shook his head doubtfully.
'I can't believe,' he said, 'that she would deliberately try to frighten your wife to the extent of causing an
