Lesson 6. & chapter eleven: the accident happens

& Chapter Eleven: THE ACCIDENT HAPPENS

The rendezvous for the great accident party was fixed at a spot about a mile from Staverley village where the road to Staverley branched off from the main road to Andover.

All three arrived there safely, though Frankie's Standard had shown unmistakable signs of decrepitude at every hill. The time fixed had been one o'clock.

" We don't want to be interrupted when we're staging the thing, " Frankie had said. " Hardly anything ever goes down this road, I should imagine, but at lunchtime we ought to be perfectly safe."

They proceeded for half a mile on the side road, and then Frankie pointed out the place she had selected for the accident to take place.

" It couldn't be better in my opinion, " she said. " Straight down this hill, and then, as you see, the road gives a sudden very sharp turn round that bulging bit of wall. The wall is actually the wall of Merroway Court. If we start the car and let it run down the hill it will crash straight into the wall and something pretty drastic ought to happen to it."

" I should say so, " Bobby agreed. " But one of us ought to be on the lookout at the corner to be sure nobody is coming round it from the opposite direction."

" Quite right, " said Frankie. " We don't want to involve anybody else in a mess up and perhaps maim them for life. George can take his car down there and turn it as though he were coming from the other direction. Then when he waves a handkerchief it will show that all is clear."

" You're looking very pale, Frankie, " said Bobby anxiously. " Are you sure you're all right? "

" I'm made up pale, " * explained Frankie. " Ready for the concussion. You don't want me to be carried into the house blooming with health."

" How wonderful women are! " said Bobby appreciatively. " You look exactly like a sick monkey."

" I think you're very rude, " said Frankie. " Now then, I shall go and prospect at the gate into Merroway Court. It's just this side of the bulge. There's no lodge fortunately. When George waves his handkerchief and I wave mine, you start her off."

" Right, " said Bobby. " I'll stay on the running-board to guide her until the pace gets too hot and then I'll jump off."

" Don't hurt yourself, " said Frankie anxiously.

" I shall be extremely careful not to. It would complicate matters to have a real accident on the spot of the faked one."

" Well, start off, George, " said Frankie.

George nodded, jumped into the second car, and ran slowly down the hill. Bobby and Frankie stood looking after him.

" You'll — look after yourself, won't you, Frankie? " said Bobby with sudden gruffness. " I mean — don't go doing anything foolish."

" I shall be all right. Most circumspect. By the way, I don't think I'd better write to you direct. I'll write to George or my maid or someone or other to pass on to you."

" I wonder if George is going to be a success in his profession? "

" Why shouldn't he? "

" Well, he doesn't seem to have acquired a chatty bedside manner yet."

" I expect that will come, " said Frankie. " I'd better be going now. I'll let you know when I want you to come down with the Bentley."

" I'll get busy with the mustache. So long, Frankie."

They looked at each other for a moment and then Frankie nodded and began to walk down the hill.

George had turned the car and then backed it round the bulge. Frankie disappeared for a moment, then reappeared in the road waving a handkerchief. A second handkerchief waved from the bottom of the road at the turn. Bobby put the car into third gear, then, standing on the footboard, he released the brake. The car moved grudgingly forward — impeded by being in gear. The slope, however, was sufficiently steep. The engine started. The car gathered way. Bobby steadied the steering-wheel. At the last possible moment he jumped off.

The car went on down the hill and crashed into the wall with considerable force. All was well — the accident had taken place successfully.

Bobby saw Frankie run quickly to the scene of the crime and plop down amid the wreckage. George in his car came round the corner and pulled up.

With a sigh Bobby mounted his motorcycle and rode away in the direction of London.

At the scene of the accident things were busy.

" Shall I roll about in the road a bit? " asked Frankie. " To get myself dusty? "

" You might as well, " said George. " Here, give me your hat."

He took it and inflicted a terrific dent on it. Frankie gave a faint anguished cry.

" That's the concussion, " explained George. " Now then, lie doggo just where you are. I think I heard a bicycle bell."

Sure enough, at that moment, a boy of about seventeen came whistling round the corner. He stopped at once, delighted with the pleasurable spectacle that met his eyes.

" Ooer! " he ejaculated. " 'As there been an accident? " *

" No, " said George sarcastically. " The young lady ran her car into the wall on purpose."

Accepting, as he was meant to do, this remark as irony rather than the simple truth which it was, the boy said with relish, " Looks bad, don't she? * Is she dead? "

" Not yet, " said George. " She must be taken somewhere at once. I'm a doctor. What's this place in here? "

" Merroway Court. Belongs to Mr. Bassington-ffrench. He's a J.P., * he is."

" She must be carried there at once, " said George authoritatively. " Here, son, leave your bicycle, and lend me a hand."

Only too willing, the boy propped his bicycle against the wall and came to assist. Between them George and the boy carried Frankie up the drive to a pleasant, old-fashioned-looking manor house.

Their approach had been observed, for an elderly butler came out to meet them.

" There's been an accident, " said George curtly. " Is there a room I can carry this lady into? She must be attended to at once."

The butler went back into the hall in a flustered way. George and the boy followed him up closely, still carrying the limp body of Frankie. The butler had gone into a room on the left and from there a woman emerged. She was tall, with red hair, and about thirty years of age. Her eyes were a light, clear blue.

She dealt with the situation quickly. " There is a spare bedroom on the ground floor, " she said. " Will you bring her in there? Ought I to telephone for a doctor? "

" I am a doctor, " explained George. " I was passing in my car and saw the accident occur."

" Oh! How very fortunate. Come this way, will you? " She showed them the way into a pleasant bedroom with windows giving on the garden.

" Is she badly hurt? " she inquired.

" I can't tell yet."

Mrs. Bassington-ffrench took the hint and retired. The boy accompanied her and launched out into a description of the accident as though he had been an actual witness of it.

" Run smack into the wall, she did. Car's all smashed up. There she was lying on the ground with her hat all dinted in.* The gentleman he was passing in his car —" He proceeded ad lib.* till got rid of with a half crown.*

Meanwhile Frankie and George were conversing in careful whispers.

" George, darling, this won't blight your career, will it? They won't strike you off the register, or whatever it is, will they? "

" Probably, " said George gloomily. " That is, if it ever comes out."

" It won't, " said Frankie. " Don't worry, George. I shan't let you down." She added thoughtfully, " You did it very well. I've never heard you talk so much before."

George sighed. He looked at his watch. " I shall give my examination another three minutes, " he said.

" What about the car? "

" I'll arrange with a garage to have that cleared up."

" Good."

George continued to study his watch. Finally he said with an air of relief, " Time! "

" George, " said Frankie, " you've been an angel. I don't know why you did it."

" No more do I, " said George. " Damn fool thing to do." He nodded to her. " Bye-bye. Enjoy yourself."

" I wonder if I shall, " said Frankie. She was thinking of that cool impersonal voice with the slight American accent.

George went in search of the owner of it, whom he found waiting for him in the drawing-room.

" Well, " he said abruptly. " I'm glad to say it's not so bad as I feared. Concussion very slight and already passing off. She ought to stay quietly where she is for a day or so, though." He paused. " She seems to be a Lady Frances Der-went."

" Oh, fancy! " said Mrs. Bassington-ffrench. " Then I know some cousins of hers, the Draycotts, quite well."

" I don't know if it's inconvenient for you to have her here, " said George. " But if she could stay where she was for a day or two —" Here George paused.

" Oh, of course. That will be quite all right, Doctor —"

" Arbuthnot. By the way, I'll see to the car business. I shall be passing a garage."

" Thank you very much. Doctor Arbuthnot. How very lucky you happened to be passing! I suppose a doctor ought to see her tomorrow just to see she's getting on all right."

" Don't think it's necessary, " said George. " All she needs is quiet."

" But I should feel happier. And her people ought to know."

" I'll attend to that, " said George. " And as to the doctoring business* — well, it seems she's a Christian Scientist* and won't have doctors at any price. She wasn't too pleased at finding me in attendance."

" Oh, dear! " said Mrs. Bassington-ffrench.

" But she'll be quite all right, " said George reassuringly. " You can take my word for it."

" If you really think so, Doctor Arbuthnot, " said Mrs. Bassington-ffrench rather doubtfully.

" I do, " said George. " Good-by. Dear me, I left one of my instruments in the bedroom."

He came rapidly into the room and up to the bedside. " Frankie, " he said in a quick whisper, " you're a Christian Scientist. Don't forget."

" But why? "

" I had to do it. Only way."

" All right, " said Frankie. " I won't forget."

@ Questions and Tasks

1. Find the words and expressions in the chapter, translate the sentences.

to be fixed at to be interrupted by

It couldn’t be better to involve smb in a mess

to wave smth by the way

to be a success So long.

to nod a bulge

to put the car into 3d gear to release the brake (the clutch)

the steering-wheel amid

to come to assist fortunate

inconvenient to attend to

You can take my word for it

2. Find answers to the following questions based on details.

1) Where was the spot for the accident fixed?

2) What was the time of the accident?

3) What did Bobby compare Frankie with?

4) What was the appointed signal for the accident to begin?

5) What was Bobby going to stand on while the car was going down the hill?

6) Who did not acquire a chatty bedside manner?

7) What did Bobby go back to town by (after the accident)?

8) How old was the boy who first came to the place of the accident?

9) What room was assigned to Frankie?

10) What was the doctor’s surname?

3. Prepare 10 wrong statements to the chapter

4. What was Bobby and Frankie’s plan of the accident? Give a detailed description.

5. Describe the accident itself.

6. What happened at the house of the Bassington-ffrenches?

7. Why did the doctor have to say that Frankie was a Christian Scientist?

& Chapter Twelve: IN THE EN EMY'S CAMP

Well, here I am, thought Frankie. Safely in the enemy's camp. Now it's up to me, *

There was a tap on the door and Mrs. Bassington-ffrench entered.

Frankie raised herself a little on her pillows. " I'm so frightfully sorry, " she said in a faint voice. " Causing you all this bother."

" Nonsense, " said Mrs. Bassington-ffrench. Frankie heard anew that cool, attractive, drawling voice with a slight American accent, and remembered that Lord Marchington had said that one of the Hampshire Bassington-ffrenches had married an American heiress. " Doctor Arbuthnot says you will be quite all right in a day or two if you just keep quiet."

Frankie felt that she ought at this point to say something about 'error' or 'mortal mind' but was frightened of saying the wrong thing.

" He seems nice, " she said. " He was very kind."

" He seemed a most capable young man, " said Mrs. Bassington-ffrench. " It was very fortunate that he just happened to be passing."

" Yes, wasn't it? Not, of course, that I really needed him."

" But you mustn't talk, " continued her hostess. " I'll send my maid along with some things for you and then she can get you properly into bed."

" It's frightfully kind of you."

" Not at all."

Frankie felt a momentary qualm as the other woman withdrew. A nice kind creature, she said to herself. And beautifully unsuspecting.

For the first time she felt that she was playing a mean trick on her hostess. Her mind had been so taken up with the vision of a murderous Bassington-ffrench pushing an unsuspecting victim over a precipice that lesser characters in the drama had not entered her imagination.

Oh, well, thought Frankie, I've got to go through with it now. But I wish she hadn't been so nice about it.

She spent a dull afternoon and evening lying in her darkened room. Mrs. Bassington-ffrench looked in once or twice to see how she was, but she did not stay.

The next day, however, Frankie admitted the daylight and expressed a desire for company and her hostess came and sat with her for some time. They discovered many common acquaintances and friends, and by the end of that day Frankie felt, with a guilty qualm, that they had become friends.

Mrs. Bassington-ffrench referred several times to her husband and to her small boy, Tommy. She seemed a simple woman, deeply attached to her home; yet for some reason or other Frankie fancied that she was not quite happy. There was an anxious expression in her eyes sometimes that did not argue a mind at peace with itself.*

On the third day Frankie got up and was introduced to the master of the house. He was a big man, heavy-jawed, with a kindly but rather abstracted air. He seemed to spend a good deal of his time shut up in his study. Yet Frankie judged him to be very fond of his wife, though interesting himself very little in her concerns.

Tommy, the small boy, was seven, and a healthy, mischievous child. Sylvia Bassington-ffrench obviously adored him.

" It's so nice down here, " said Frankie with a sigh. She was lying out on a long chair in the garden. " I don't know whether it's the bang on the head, or what it is, but I just don't feel I want to move. I'd like to lie here for days and days."

" Well, do, " said Sylvia Bassington-ffrench in her calm, incurious tones. " No, really, I mean it. Don't hurry back to town. You see, " she went on, " it's a great pleasure to me to have you here. You're so bright and amusing. It quite cheers me up."

So she needs cheering up, flashed across Frankie's mind. At the same time she felt ashamed of herself.

" I feel we really have become friends, " continued the other woman.

Frankie felt still more ashamed. It was a mean thing she was doing — mean — mean — mean. She would give it up! Go back to town —

Her hostess went on. " It won't be too dull here. Tomorrow my brother-in-law is coming back. You'll like him, I'm sure. Everyone likes Roger."

" He lives with you? "

" Off and on. He's a restless creature. He calls himself the ne'er-do-well of the family, * and perhaps it's true in a way. He never sticks to a job for long — in fact, I don't believe he's ever done any real work in his life. But some people just are like that — especially in old families. And they're usually people with a great charm of manner. Roger is wonderfully sympathetic. I don't know what I should have done without him this spring when Tommy was ill."

" What was the matter with Tommy? "

" He had a bad fall from the swing. It must have been tied on to a rotten branch, and the branch gave way. Roger was very much upset because he was swinging the child at the time — you know, giving him high ones such as children love. We thought at first Tommy's spine was hurt, but it turned out to be a very slight injury and he's quite all right now."

" He certainly looks it, " said Frankie smiling, as she heard faint yells and whoops in the distance.

" I know. He seems in perfect condition. It's such a relief. He's had bad luck in accidents. He was nearly drowned last winter."

" Was he really? " said Frankie thoughtfully. She no longer meditated returning to town. The feeling of guilt had abated. Accidents! Did Roger Bassington-ffrench specialize in accidents, she wondered.

She said, " If you're sure you mean it, I'd love to stay a little longer. But won't your husband mind my butting in- like this? "

" Henry? " Mrs. Bassington-ffrench's lips curled in a strange expression. " No, Henry won't mind. Henry never minds anything — nowadays."

Frankie looked at her curiously. If she knew me better she'd tell me something, she thought to herself. I believe there are lots of odd things going on in this household.

Henry Bassington-ffrench joined them for tea, and Frankie studied him closely. There was certainly something odd about the man. His type was an obvious one — a jovial, sport-loving, simple country gentleman. But such a man ought not to sit twitching nervously, his nerves obviously on edge, now sunk in an abstraction from which it was impossible to rouse him, now giving out bitter and sarcastic replies to anything said to him. Not that he was always like that. Later that evening, at dinner, he showed out in quite a new light. He joked, laughed, told stories, and was, for a man of his abilities, quite brilliant. Too brilliant, Frankie felt. The brilliance was just as unnatural and out of character.

He has such queer eyes, she thought. They frighten me a little.

And yet surely she did not suspect Henry Bassington-ffrench of anything? It was his brother, not he, who had been in Marchbolt on that fatal day.

As for the brother, Frankie looked forward to seeing him with eager interest. According to her and to Bobby, the man was a murderer. She was going to meet a murderer face to face.

She felt momentarily nervous. Yet, after all, how could he guess? How could he, in any way, connect her with a successfully accomplished crime?

You're making a bogy for yourself out of nothing, she reflected.

Roger Bassington-ffrench arrived just before tea on the following afternoon. Frankie did not meet him till tea-time. She was still supposed to 'rest' in the afternoon.

When she came out onto the lawn where tea was laid, Sylvia said, smiling, " Here is our invalid. This is my brother-in-law — Lady Frances Derwent."

Frankie saw a tall, slender young man of something over thirty with very pleasant eyes. Although she could see what Bobby meant by saying he ought to have a monocle and a toothbrush mustache, she herself was more inclined to notice the intense blue of his eyes. They shook hands.

He said, " I've been hearing all about the way you tried to break down the park wall."

" I'll admit, " said Frankie, " that I'm the world's worst driver. But I was driving an awful old rattletrap. My own car was laid up, and I bought a cheap one second-hand."

" She was rescued from the ruins by a very good-looking young doctor, " said Sylvia.

" He was rather sweet, " agreed Frankie.

Tommy arrived at this moment and flung himself upon his uncle with squeaks of joy. " Have you brought me a horn by train? You said you would. You said you would! "

" Oh, Tommy, you mustn't ask for things! " said Sylvia.

" That's all right, Sylvia. It was a promise. I've got your train all right, old man." He looked casually at his sister-in-law. " Isn't Henry coming to tea? "

" I don't think so." A constrained note was in her voice. " He isn't feeling awfully well today, I imagine." Then she said impulsively, " Oh, Roger, I'm glad you're back! "

He put his hand on her arm for a minute. " That's all right, Sylvia, old girl."

After tea, Roger played trains with his nephew. Frankie watched them, her mind in a turmoil. Surely this wasn't the sort of man to push people over cliffs! This charming young man couldn't be a cold-blooded murderer!

But then — she and Bobby must have been wrong all along. Wrong, that is, about this part of it. She felt sure now that it wasn't Bassington-ffrench who had pushed Pritchard over the cliff. Then who was it? She was still convinced he had been pushed over. Who had done it? And who had put the morphia in Bobby's beer?

With the thought of morphia, suddenly the explanation of Henry Bassington-ffrench's peculiar eyes came to her, with their pinpoint pupils. Was Henry Bassington-ffrench a drug fiend? *

@ Questions and Tasks

1. Choose 10 words and expressions from the chapter, which may be unknown to you and your fellow students.

2. Ask your fellow students to translate them into Russian and transcribe them on the blackboard.

3. Ask questions with these expressions.

4. Find the description of the members of Bassington-ffrench’s family in the chapter.

5. What were the relations between the Bassington-ffrenches

6. What new information did Frankie manage to find out?

7. Restore and dramatize the conversation between Frankie and Mrs.

Bassington-ffrench.

8. Write down the gist of the chapter using the active vocabulary (3-4 sentences).

9. Retell the chapter as if you were a) Mrs. Bassington-ffrench, b) Mr. Bassington-ffrench.