“When Uncle Frank died, less than six months ago, Frank came back to High Barn from South Africa. He had been away about two years.”
“Possibly he did not get on well with his father?”
Madeline smiled sadly.
“I am afraid that no two Whitmarsh men ever did get on well together,” she admitted.
“Your father and young Frank, for instance?”
“Their lands adjoin; there were always quarrels and disputes,” she replied. “Then Frank had his father’s grievance over again.”
“He wished to mine?”
“Yes. He told me that he had had experience of coal in Natal.”
“There was no absolute ostracism between you then? You were to some extent friends?”
“Scarcely.” She appeared to reflect. “Acquaintances.... We met occasionally, of course, at people’s houses.”