The Classic Mystery Collection - Arthur Conan Doyle [1432]
Arrived at the top of the kitchen stairs, she noted a slight change. The door below, which she had heard banged on first entering her aunt's room, now stood open. She called to Mrs. Ellmother. A strange voice answered her. Its accent was soft and courteous; presenting the strongest imaginable contrast to the harsh tones of Miss Letitia's crabbed old maid.
"Is there anything I can do for you, miss?"
The person making this polite inquiry appeared at the foot of the stairs--a plump and comely woman of middle age. She looked up at the young lady with a pleasant smile.
"I beg your pardon," Emily said; "I had no intention of disturbing you. I called to Mrs. Ellmother."
The stranger advanced a little way up the stairs, and answered, "Mrs. Ellmother is not here."
"Do you expect her back soon?"
"Excuse me, miss--I don't expect her back at all."
"Do you mean to say that she has left the house?"
"Yes, miss. She has left the house."
CHAPTER XIV.
MRS. MOSEY.
Emily's first act--after the discovery of Mrs. Ellmother's incomprehensible disappearance--was to invite the new servant to follow her into the sitting-room.
"Can you explain this?" she began.
"No, miss."
"May I ask if you have come here by Mrs. Ellmother's invitation?"
"By Mrs. Ellmother's request, miss."
"Can you tell me how she came to make the request?"
"With pleasure, miss. Perhaps--as you find me here, a stranger to yourself, in place of the customary servant--I ought to begin by giving you a reference."
"And, perhaps (if you will be so kind), by mentioning your name," Emily added.
"Thank you for reminding me, miss. My name is Elizabeth Mosey. I am well known to the gentleman who attends Miss Letitia. Dr. Allday will speak to my character and also to my experience as a nurse. If it would be in any way satisfactory to give you a second reference--"
"Quite needless, Mrs. Mosey."
"Permit me to thank you again, miss. I was at home this evening, when Mrs. Ellmother called at my lodgings. Says she, 'I have come here, Elizabeth, to ask a favor of you for old friendship's sake.' Says I, 'My dear, pray command me, whatever it may be.' If this seems rather a hasty answer to make, before I knew what the favor was, might I ask you to bear in mind that Mrs. Ellmother put it to me 'for old friendship's sake'--alluding to my late husband, and to the business which we carried on at that time? Through no fault of ours, we got into difficulties. Persons whom we had trusted proved unworthy. Not to trouble you further, I may say at once, we should have been ruined, if our old friend Mrs. Ellmother had not come forward, and trusted us with the savings of her lifetime. The money was all paid back again, before my husband's death. But I don't consider--and, I think you won't consider--that the obligation was paid back too. Prudent or not prudent, there is nothing Mrs. Ellmother can ask of me that I am not willing to do. If I have put myself in an awkward situation (and I don't deny that it looks so) this is the only excuse, miss, that I can make for my conduct."
Mrs. Mosey was too fluent, and too fond of hearing the sound of her own eminently persuasive voice. Making allowance for these little drawbacks, the impression that she produced was decidedly favorable; and, however rashly she might have acted, her motive was beyond reproach. Having said some kind words to this effect, Emily led her back to the main interest of her narrative.
"Did Mrs. Ellmother give no reason for leaving my aunt, at such a time as this?" she asked.
"The very words I said to her, miss."
"And what did she say, by way of reply?"
"She burst out crying--a thing I have never known her to do before, in an experience of twenty years."
"And she really asked you to take her place here, at a moment's notice?"
"That was just what she did," Mrs. Mosey answered. "I had no need to tell her I was astonished; my lips spoke for me, no