Nemesis - Agatha Christie [62]
Anthea’s reaction was different. It was quick, excited, almost pleasurable.
‘Verity? Verity, did you say? Did you know her? I’d no idea. It is Verity Hunt you mean?’
Lavinia Glynne said, ‘It’s a Christian name?’
‘I never knew anyone of that name,’ said Miss Marple, ‘but I did mean a Christian name. Yes. It is rather unusual, I think. Verity.’ She repeated it thoughtfully.
She let her purple wool ball fall and looked round with the slightly apologetic and embarrassed look of one who realizes she has made a serious faux pas, but not sure why.
‘I — I am so sorry. Have I said something I shouldn’t? It was only because…’
‘No, of course not,’ said Mrs Glynne. ‘It was just that it is — it is a name we know, a name with which we have — associations.’
‘It just came into my mind,’ said Miss Marple, still apologetic, ‘because, you know, it was poor Miss Temple who said it. I went to see her, you know, yesterday afternoon. Professor Wanstead took me. He seemed to think that I might be able to — to — I don’t know if it’s the proper word — to rouse her, in some way. She was in a coma and they thought — not that I was a friend of hers at any time, but we had chatted together on the tour and we often sat beside each other, as you know, on some of the days and we had talked. And he thought perhaps I might be of some use. I’m afraid I wasn’t though. Not at all. I just sat there and waited and then she did say one or two words, but they didn’t seem to mean anything. But finally, just when it was time for me to go, she did open her eyes and looked at me — I don’t know if she was mistaking me for someone — but she did say that word. Verity! And, well of course it stuck in my mind, especially with her passing away yesterday evening. It must have been someone or something that she had in her mind. But of course it might just mean — well, of course it might just mean Truth. That’s what verity means, doesn’t it?’
She looked from Clotilde to Lavinia to Anthea.
‘It was the Christian name of a girl we knew,’ said Lavinia Glynne. ‘That is why it startled us.’
‘Especially because of the awful way she died,’ said Anthea.
Clotilde said in her deep voice, ‘Anthea! there’s no need to go into these details.’
‘But after all, everyone knows quite well about her,’ said Anthea. She looked towards Miss Marple. ‘I thought perhaps you might have known about her because you knew Mr Rafiel, didn’t you? Well, I mean, he wrote to us about you so you must have known him. And I thought perhaps — well, he’d mentioned the whole thing to you.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ said Miss Marple, ‘I’m afraid I don’t quite understand what you’re talking about.’
‘They found her body in a ditch,’ said Anthea.
There was never any holding Anthea, Miss Marple thought, not once she got going. But she thought that Anthea’s vociferous talk was putting additional strain on Clotilde. She had taken out a handkerchief now in a quiet, non-committal way. She brushed tears from her eyes and then sat upright, her back very straight, her eyes deep and tragic.
‘Verity,’ she said, ‘was a girl we cared for very much. She lived here for a while. I was very fond of her — ’
‘And she was very fond of you,’ said Lavinia.
‘Her parents were friends of mine,’ said Clotilde. ‘They were killed in a plane accident.’
‘She was at school at Fallowfield,’ explained Lavinia. ‘I suppose that was how Miss Temple came to remember her.’
‘Oh I see,’ said Miss Marple. ‘Where Miss Temple was Headmistress, is that it? I have heard of Fallowfield often, of course. It’s a very fine school, isn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ said Clotilde. ‘Verity was a pupil there. After her parents died she came to stay with us for a time while she could decide what she wanted to do with her future. She was eighteen or nineteen. A very sweet girl and a very affectionate and loving