Dr. Calgary here.' She turned towards him gratefully.
'So at last,' said Calgary , 'I have done something to help, though rather late in the day.'
'Too late,' said Mary, bitterly. 'Too late! Oh, why didn't we know — why didn't we guess?' She turned accusingly on Hester. 'I thought it was you. I always thought it was you.'
'He didn't,' said Hester. She looked at Calgary .
Mary Durrant said quietly: 'I wish I were dead.'
'My dear child,' said Leo, 'how I wish I could help you.'
'Nobody can help me,' said Mary. 'It's all Philip's own fault, wanting to stay on here, wanting to mess about with this business. Getting himself killed.' She looked round at them. 'None of you understand.' She went out of the room.
Calgary and Hester followed her. As they went through the door, Calgary , looking back, saw Leo's arm pass round Gwenda's shoulders.
'She warned me, you know,' said Hester. Her eyes were wide and scared. 'She told me right at the beginning not to trust her, to be as afraid of her as I was of everyone else…'
'Forget it, my dear,' said Calgary . 'That is the thing you have to do now. Forget. All of you are free now. The innocent are no longer in the shadow of guilt.'
'And Tina? Will she get well? She is not going to die?'
'I don't think she will die,' said Calgary . 'She's in love with Micky, isn't she?'
'I suppose she might be,' said Hester, in a surprised voice. 'I never thought about it. They've always been brother and sister, of course. But they're not really brother and sister.'
'By the way, Hester, would you have any idea what Tina meant when she said 'The dove on the mast.''
'Dove on the mast?' Hester frowned. 'Wait a minute. It sounds terribly familiar. The dove on the mast, as we sailed past, Did mourn and mourn and mourn. Is that it?'
'It might be,' said Calgary .
'It's a song,' said Hester. 'A sort of lullaby song. Kirsten used to sing it to us. I can only remember bits of it. 'My love he stood at my right hand,' and something, something, something. 'Oh, maid most dear, I am not here, I have no place no part, No dwelling more by sea nor shore, But only in thy heart.''
'I see,' said Calgary . 'Yes, yes, I see…'
'Perhaps they'll get married,' said Hester, 'when Tina gets well, and then she can go out to Kuwait with him. Tina always wanted to be somewhere where it's warm. It's very warm in the Persian Gulf , isn't it?'
'Almost too warm, I should say,' said Calgary .
'Nothing's too warm for Tina,' Hester assured him.
'And you will be happy now, my dear,' said Calgary , taking Hester's hands in his. He made an effort to smile.
'You'll marry your young doctor and you'll settle down and you'll have no more of these wild imaginings and terrific despairs.'
'Marry Don?' said Hester, in a surprised tone of voice. 'Of course I'm not going to marry Don.'
'But you love him.'
'No, I don't think I do, really… I just thought I did. But he didn't believe in me. He didn't know I was innocent. He ought to have known.' She looked at Calgary . 'You knew! I think I'd like to marry you.'
'But, Hester, I'm years older than you are. You can't really –' 'That is — if you want me,' said Hester with sudden doubt. 'Oh, I want you!' said Arthur Calgary.
