“Yes,” said Maxim.
“And Favell will follow us in his?”
“Right on your tail, my dear fellow, right on your tail,” said Favell.
Colonel Julyan came up to me and took my hand. “Good night,” he said. “You know how I feel for you in all this, there’s no need for me to tell you. Get your husband to bed early, if you can. It’s going to be a long day.” He held my hand a minute and then he turned away. It was curious how he avoided my eye. He looked at my chin. Frank held the door for him as he went out. Favell leaned forward and filled his case with cigarettes from the box on the table.
“I suppose I’m not going to be asked to stop to dinner?” he said.
Nobody answered. He lit one of the cigarettes, and blew a cloud of smoke into the air. “It means a quiet evening at the pub on the highroad then,” he said, “and the barmaid has a squint. What a hell of a night I’m going to spend! Never mind, I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Good night, Danny old lady, don’t forget to turn the key on Mr. de Winter, will you?”
He came over to me and held out his hand.
Like a foolish child I put my hands behind my back. He laughed, and bowed.
“It’s just too bad, isn’t it?” he said. “A nasty man like me coming and spoiling all your fun. Don’t worry, it will be a great thrill for you when the yellow Press gets going with your life story, and you see the headlines ‘From Monte Carlo to Manderley. Experiences of murderer’s girl-bride,’ written across the top. Better luck next time.”
He strolled across the room to the door, waving his hand to Maxim by the window. “So long, old man,” he said, “pleasant dreams. Make the most of your night behind that locked door.” He turned and laughed at me, and then he went out of the room. Mrs. Danvers followed him. Maxim and I were alone. He went on standing by the window. He did not come to me. Jasper came trotting in from the hall. He had been shut outside all the evening. He came fussing up to me, biting the edge of my skirt.
“I’m coming with you in the morning,” I said to Maxim. “I’m coming up to London with you in the car.”
He did not answer for a moment. He went on looking out of the window. Then “Yes,” he said, his voice without expression. “Yes, we must go on being together.”
Frank came back into the room. He stood in the entrance, his hand on the door. “They’ve gone,” he said, “Favell and Colonel Julyan, I watched them go.”
“All right, Frank,” said Maxim.
“Is there anything I can do?” said Frank, “anything at all? Wire to anyone, arrange anything? I’ll stay up all night if only there’s anything I can do. I’ll get that wire off to Baker of course.”
“Don’t worry,” said Maxim, “there’s nothing for you to do—yet. There may be plenty—after tomorrow. We can go into all that when the time comes. Tonight we want to be together. You understand, don’t you?”
“Yes,” said Frank. “Yes, of course.”
He waited a moment, his hand on the door. “Good night,” he said.
“Good night,” said Maxim.
When he had gone, and shut the door behind him, Maxim came over to me where I was standing by the fireplace. I held out my arms to him and he came to me like a child. I put my arms round him and held him. We did not say anything for a long time. I held him and comforted him as though he were Jasper. As though Jasper had hurt himself in some way and he had come to me to take his pain away.
“We can sit together,” he said, “driving up in the car.”
“Yes,” I said.
“Julyan won’t mind,” he said.
“No,” I said.
“We shall have tomorrow night too,” he said. “They won’t do anything at once, not for twenty-four hours perhaps.”
“No,” I said.
“They aren’t so strict now,” he said. “They let one see people. And it all takes such a long time. If I can I shall try and get hold of Hastings. He’s the best. Hastings or Birkett. Hastings used to know my father.”
“Yes,” I said.
“I shall have to tell him the truth,” he said. “It makes it easier for them. They know where they are.”
“Yes,” I said.
The door opened and Frith came into the room. I pushed Maxim away, I stood up straight and conventional, patting my hair into place.
“Will you be changing, Madam, or shall I serve dinner at once?”