Ten
“OH! FOND, OH! FAIR, THE DAYS THAT WERE”
IA t half past eight the next morning there was a smart tap on the door, and in answer to Miss Marple’s “Come in” thedoor was opened and an elderly woman entered, bearing a tray with a teapot, a cup and a milk jug¹ and a small plate ofbread and butter.
“Early morning tea, ma’am,” she said cheerfully. “It’s a nice day, it is. I see you’ve got your curtains drawn³ backalready. You’ve slept well then?”
“Very well indeed,” said Miss Marple, laying aside a small devotional book which she had been reading.
“Well, it’s a lovely day, it is. They’ll have it nice for going to the Bonaventure Rocks. It’s just as well you’re notdoing it. It’s cruel hard on the legs, it is.”
“I’m really very happy to be here,” said Miss Marple. “So kind of Miss Bradbury-Scott and Mrs. Glynne to issuethis invitation.”
“Ah well, it’s nice for them too. It cheers them up to have a bit of company come to the house. Ah, it’s a sad placenowadays, so it is.”
She pulled the curtains at the window rather more fully², pushed back a chair and deposited a can of hot water in thechina basin.
“There’s a bathroom on the next floor,” she said, “but we think it’s better always for someone elderly to have theirhot water here, so they don’t have to climb the stairs.”
“It’s very kind of you, I’m sure—you know this house well?”
“I was here as a girl—I was the housemaid then. Three servants they had—a cook, a housemaid—a parlourmaid—kitchen maid too at one time. That was in the old Colonel’s time. Horses he kept too, and a groom⁴. Ah, those were thedays. Sad it is when things happen the way they do. He lost his wife young, the Colonel did. His son was killed in thewar and his only daughter went away to live on the other side of the world. Married a New Zealander she did. Diedhaving a baby and the baby died too. He was a sad man living alone here, and he let the house go—it wasn’t kept upas it should have been. When he died he left the place to his niece Miss Clotilde and her two sisters, and she and MissAnthea came here to live—and later Miss Lavinia lost her husband and came to join them—” she sighed and shookher head. “They never did much to the house—couldn’t afford it—and they let the garden go as well—”

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