Mrs Meade nodded, and an expression of grim satisfaction spread over her wrinkled old face.
‘They was,’ she said. ‘Mr Gideon went pale as a sheet, and shrank away from me like an actor on the stage – Dr Whitby stood there stupid like, his eyes gone all fishy and his mouth hanging open . . .’ She shook her head. ‘You could see there was guilt there,’ she said, ‘if not in deed, in the heart – the German gentleman was the only one to stay his natural colour.’
‘And then?’ Meggie hardly recognized her own voice, so toneless was it.
‘Then he come up to me,’ the old woman continued, with a return of indignation in her voice. ‘Slowly he come and put his great heavy face close to mine. “You be off,” said I, but that didn’t stop him. “How much have you heard?” said he. “All of it,” says I, “and what’s more I’m going to bear witness.” ’
Mrs Meade took a deep breath.
‘That did it,’ she said. ‘He put his hand over my mouth and the next moment Dr Whitby had jumped forward and opened the cupboard by the fire-place. “Put her in here,” said he; “we can see to her after we’ve got him upstairs.” ’
‘You struggled, of course,’ said Abbershaw. ‘It’s extraordinary someone in the house didn’t hear you.’
Mrs Meade regarded him with concentrated scorn.
‘Me struggle, young man?’ she said. ‘Not me. If there’s going to be any scrabbling about, I said to myself, better leave it to my son who knows something about fighting, so as soon as I knew where I was I hurried up the stairs and shut myself in here. “You can do what you like,” I said to the German gentleman through the door, “but I’m staying here until Wednesday if needs be, when my son’ll come for me – then there’ll be summat to pay, I can tell you!” ’
She paused, her pale cheeks flushing with the fire of battle, as she remembered the incident. ‘He soon went away after that,’ she went on, wagging her head. ‘He turned the key on me, but that didn’t worry me – I had the bolts on my side.’