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“I’m so sorry, my dear. A lovely lady. We all miss her. It’s as if a little color of the island had gone away. And…”
“And?” Miriam asked anxiously.
“Well…such a terrible way to die,” the postmistress said softly. “Poor soul. The last person to whom I would have expected…” She tailed off, as if it were too dreadful to say.
Daniel felt his fingers gripping the cards. He was in danger of bending them.
There was silence. He knew Miriam was wondering what to say to draw the rest of the story, without sounding overcurious. The last thing she would want was to turn the postmistress against her.
“All they would tell me was that it was unexpected,” Miriam said at last. “That doesn’t mean anything, not really. I supposed I should have realized it was because they were hiding the truth. Now it makes me more…disturbed.” She took a breath and let it out in a sigh. “People talk. They can be very unkind. All sorts of things are said by people who should…I expect you have heard such things. But I believe she did not deserve it. I would very much like to tell them that I know the truth, and they are talking malicious nonsense. There is no scandal here!”
“There certainly is not!” the postmistress said with rising anger. “She had a sick horse and she rose to tend to it in the night. She went out to the stable and found it in some distress. No one knows exactly what happened, but she must have tripped on something, or lost her balance. The horse was frightened and lost its head. It kicked her, very badly. She must have fallen against it, and that panicked it further. It plunged around and…and she was kicked to death.”
“Oh dear!” Miriam sounded truly distressed. “How very dreadful. Poor woman! I think…I think I will not say exactly that…should I be called upon to say anything at all.”
“Yes. Very wise. No use distressing people. You could always just say her death was quick.”
“Thank you. It must have been very dreadful, but you have put my mind at rest regarding people speaking ill of her now. She was…” Miriam hesitated, as if lost for adequate words.
“Indeed,” the postmistress agreed.
Daniel turned around slowly, until he could see the postmistress’s face. She was smiling, as if at a memory that pleased her.
“She was always collecting stones. Some of them were quite lovely, but all of them interested her. You know the expression ‘marching to a different tune’? Well, I would say Miss Trelawny danced to her own tune.”
“And such a sense of humor,” Miriam added. Daniel knew she was guessing, drawing a word picture of someone she would have liked.
“Oh, yes,” the postmistress agreed heartily, and proceeded to give several examples of it. She and Miriam ended laughing together.
“And she loved the house,” Miriam went on. “I heard there were people interested in buying it from her heir. Will they be taking the animals, too?”
“Oh, bless you, certainly not. The cats have found new homes nearby. The wild birds she fed will forage for themselves. They always could; she just liked it when they came. And the doctor took the horses.”
“That would be Dr….”
“Dr. Mullane. They were good friends, you know. He was very upset by her death.”
“Of course. You have been very kind. I’m afraid I have taken up a lot of your time,” Miriam apologized.
“Not at all,” the postmistress assured her. “But the house is not for sale, you know. Not at any price. She left it to her goddaughter. She was adamant about that.”
“Did the interested party offer a lot for it? Oh! I’m sorry. That is not any of my business.” Miriam sounded shocked that she could have said such a thing.
“Well, I did hear say it was more than twice what it was worth,” the postmistress replied. “Very insistent he was. So I’m told.”
“Young man? Tall? Rather nice-looking, with fair hair?” Miriam asked, taking Daniel’s description of Philip Sidney. “In his late twenties, perhaps.”
“Bless you, no!” The postmistress was amused. “This man must have been fifty, if he was a day.”
“Oh. Then it wasn’t who I thought. Perhaps that’s just as well. Thank you again f
or giving me the ammunition to silence some of the gossips. Good morning.” And Miriam turned and went out the door.
Daniel made up his mind about the cards, bought a couple of sea views and one of a bright, narrow street with garlands of wisteria up the walls, with a mind to give them to Cassie, and then followed Miriam into the street.
She was waiting for him about fifty yards away.
“Excellent,” he said, taking her arm and starting to move farther away from the post office in case the postmistress should come to the door and see them conferring. “Although it’s pretty wretched that May Trelawny died so horribly. I hope Rebecca doesn’t have to know. But…” He stopped. What he had been going to say sounded so cold-blooded.
