Death in Berlin Read Online Free PDF Page B

laugh. ‘In fact if it hadn’t been for me, we should none of us be sitting here now. You see, I stayed at Stella’s house while the authorities were trying to trace my next-of-kin, who turned out to be mother’s brother, General Melville. Uncle David rushed over to see me, but he was just off to the battle, and as Aunt Frances was dead and their son - that’s Robert here - was fighting
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    somewhere in the Middle East, he was in a bit of a flap as to what to do about me, and he simply jumped at Stella’s noble offer to keep me for the duration. I never saw him again, because he got killed about a year later, but when the war was over Robert turned up to collect the family burden, and stayed and married Stella instead. And Stella and Robert asked me if I’d like to spend a month with them in Berlin - and so here we all are!’
    ‘And there you have the end of your story,’ said Stella.
    Brigadier Brindley turned and looked at her, smiling. ‘The end of your story, my dear Mrs Melville. But not the end of the story I have just told you. It is only another small piece of that story.’
    ‘I see what you mean, sir,’ said Robert. ‘Your story won’t end until the Ridders are discovered.’
    ‘Perhaps they will never be discovered,’ said Brigadier Brindley. ‘And if so, no one will ever know the end. Perhaps they are dead
    - blown up by some bomb among the ruins of some broken city. I think it is very likely.’
    ‘Why, sir?’
    ‘Because if they were not dead, one of them at least should have been easy to trace. Frau Use had a deformity that was not a common one. The second and third fingers of her left hand were joined together. She had never attempted to have them operated on and was, curiously enough, rather proud of the fact, for she wore a specially made ring on the double finger. It was this ring that was largely responsible for establishing the ownership of the jewels found in - er - Wilhelmina.’
    ‘But surely she could have had an operation performed?’ said Robert. ‘That sort of thing is not so unusual, after all. I’ve known of a case myself, a child who
    ‘Ah, a child,’ interrupted the Brigadier with a tolerant smile. ‘If it is done in childhood it does not leave quite so noticeable a scar. But to perform such an operation on a grown woman would be a more difficult matter, since it would undoubtedly leave scars that would be impossible to disguise. And that is why I feel sure that Frau Use, at least, is dead. A physical defect or peculiarity is like
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    an illuminated sign: it attracts attention. And not only that. Once seen it is not forgotten. It sticks in the memory of the observer when all else has faded to a blur. One seldom fails to notice, or remember, a freak of nature.’
    Miranda saw Mademoiselle’s spine stiffen and her sallow face flush a painful shade of puce. The governess was one of those distressing persons who appear to be perpetually taking offence, and on this occasion she had obviously taken the Brigadier’s words as a personal affront, since she herself possessed a noticeable physical peculiarity in that her eyes were of different colour
    - the left being blue and the right a grey that verged on hazel. A deviation from the normal that afforded Lottie and her young friends endless amusement. Mademoiselle had suffered a good deal from their uninhibited questions and comments, and Miranda, suspecting as much, smiled consolingly at her across the table. But Mademoiselle refused to be comforted. Her mouth narrowed into an offended line and she returned Miranda’s smile with a frosty stare, and turned to Stella.
    ‘If you will excuse, Madame, I would go now to find me some hot milk for the thermos. The little Charlotte will sleep better in the train if she drink the cup of hot milk when she is ready for bed.’ She rose from the table and rustled away, wounded feelings in every line of her back.
    Miranda suppressed her smile and turned again to Brigadier