Mrs Bantry shifted her inquiry to Mark Gaskell. Mark said deliberately,
"Common or garden gold digger. And she knew her stuff.
She'd got her hooks into Jeff all right."
Both of them called their father-in-law 'Jeff'.
Sir Henry thought, looking disapprovingly at Mark, indiscreet fellow. Shouldn't be so outspoken. He had always disapproved a little of Mark Gaskell. The man had charm, but he was unreliable, talked too much, was occasionally boastful not quite to be trusted, Sir Henry thought. He had sometimes wondered if Conway Jefferson thought so too.
"But couldn't you do something about it?" demanded Mrs Bantry.
Mark said dryly,
"We might have, if we'd realized it in time." He shot a glance at Adelaide and she coloured faintly. There had been reproach in that glance. She said, "Mark thinks I ought to have seen what was coming." "You left the old boy alone too much, Addie.
Tennis lessons and all the rest of it."
"Well, I had to have some exercise." She spoke apologetically. "Anyway, I never dreamed -"
"No," said Mark, "neither of us ever dreamed.
Jeff has always been such a sensible, level-headed old boy."
Miss Marple made a contribution to the conversation.
"Gentlemen," she said with her old maid's way of referring to the opposite sex as though it were a species of wild animal, "are frequently not so level-headed as they seem."
"I'll say you're right," said Mark. "Unfortunately, Miss Marple, we didn't realize that.
We wondered what the old boy saw in that rather insipid and meretricious little bag of tricks.
But we were pleased for him to be kept happy and amused.
We thought there was no harm in her.
No harm in her! I wish I'd wrung her neck."
"Mark," said Addie, "you really must be careful what you say."
He grinned at her engagingly.
"I suppose I must. Otherwise people will think I actually did wring her neck.
Oh, well, I suppose I'm under suspicion anyway.
If anyone had an interest in seeing that girl dead, it was Addie and myself."
"Mark," cried Mrs Jefferson, half laughing and half angry, "you really mustn't!"
"All right, all right," said Mark Gaskell pacifically. "But I do like speaking my mind.
Fifty thousand pounds our esteemed father-in-law was proposing to settle upon that half-baked, nit-witted little sly puss -"
"Mark, you mustn't! She's dead!"
"Yes, she's dead, poor little devil.
And after all, why shouldn't she use the weapons that Nature gave her?
Who am I to judge? Done plenty of rotten things myself in my life. No, let's say Ruby was entitled to plot and scheme, and we were mugs not to have tumbled to her game sooner."
Sir Henry said, "What did you say when Conway told you he proposed to adopt the girl?"
Mark thrust out his hands.
"What could we say? Addie, always the little lady, retained her self-control admirably. Put a brave face upon it. I endeavoured to follow her example." "I should have made a fuss!" said Mrs Bantry. "Well, frankly speaking, we weren't entitled to make a fuss.
It was Jeffs money. We weren't his flesh and blood.
He'd always been damned good to us.
There was nothing for it but to bite on the bullet." He added reflectively, "But we didn't love little Ruby."
Adelaide Jefferson said,
"If only it had been some other kind of girl.
Jeff had two godchildren, you know.
If it had been one ofthem well, one would have understood it." She added with a shade of resentment, "And Jeffs always seemed so fond of Peter."
"Of course," said Mrs Bantry. "I always have known Peter was your first husband's child, but I'd quite forgotten it.
I've always thought of him as Mr Jefferson's grandson."
"So have I," said Adelaide.
Her voice held a note that made Miss Marple turn in her chair and look at her.
"It was Josie's fault," said Mark "Josie brought her here."
Adelaide said, "Oh, but surely you don't think it was deliberate, do you?
Why, you've always liked Josie so much." "Yes, I did like her. I thought she was a good sport." "It was sheer accident, her bringing the girl down." "Josie's got a good head on her shoulders, my girl." "Yes, but she couldn't foresee -" Mark said, "No, she couldn't. I admit it.
I'm not really accusing her of planning the whole thing.
But I've no doubt she saw which way the wind was blowing long before we did, and kept very quiet about it."