Page 145 of Strangers in Time

Oliver looked out to the Channel. “Do you usually see people who just walk in the door?”

“No—never, in fact. But your wife, well, she intrigued me. Remarkable for intelligence. But, if you don’t mind my saying so, she clearly had her demons.”

“And she jumped off a cliff somewhere around here, you mentioned?”

“Not somewhere,” said Stephens surprisingly. He pointed with his pipe to a spot on the coast where the land rose high. “There.”

Oliver looked where he was indicating and inwardly shuddered.

“We had several who saw her go up to that very spot. One person even tried to talk her down. But failed.”

“Is that person still here?” said Oliver quickly.

“Yes, it was Dr. Foyle, actually. In fact, I have asked him to meet with you tonight to discuss it.”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t make the connection with the name until Dr. Stephens mentioned it,” said Foyle, as he and Oliver sat in the doctor’s office. It was in the evening after a sparse dinner, and both men looked tired and strained.

“That’s all right. But what can you tell me about that day?”

Foyle lit up a cigarette and offered one to Oliver, who declined.

“I actually never smoked until I got here.”

“I can understand that,” said Oliver.

Foyle picked a flake of tobacco off his tongue and sat forward, his long back bowed. “I had just finished a difficult surgery and wastaking a walk, just to unwind a bit. I was heading up to the cliff—I like the view from there—when I saw her. There were several other people about, a nurse or two and a gardener. And a patient getting some air with her attendant. But I was the closest because she and I were heading to the same spot, apparently.”

“What drew your attention to her?”

“I didn’t recognize her, for one thing. And she was walking with such purpose. I’ve been dealing with mental issues for quite a while now. And I just read something in her body language that set off warning bells in my head. So I called out to her.”

“What did she do?”

“She didn’t stop, not at first. She walked right up to the edge of the cliff and then turned to look at me. She seemed coolly defiant, I guess you could say. I drew a bit closer and asked her who she was.”

“What did she say?”

“She said she was a ‘conscientious objector.’ ‘To what?’ I asked her. ‘You’re a woman, you’re not going to be called up to fight.’”

“And her response?”

“She said she wasn’t objecting to the war, although she said she had very good grounds to do so. She said she was objecting to her…existence.”

Oliver’s expression became pained.

Foyle noted this. “Yes, quite. Not what you wanted to hear, I know.” He paused and puffed thoughtfully on his cigarette before resuming. “I told her that I was medically trained in helping people like her and if she would come to my office I would do whatever I could to assist her.”

“And?”

“And she thanked me, most graciously and most eloquently. But she said she was beyond redemption. That was the word she used, ‘redemption.’ Do you know what she meant by that?”

Oliver shrugged and slowly shook his head.

“And then she told me that if, let me think, right, she said ifIggyever asked, that I should tell him he was the most wonderful thingher life had ever discovered. Quite an interesting way to phrase it. I assume that ‘Iggy’ was referring to you, Ignatius?”

“Yes, it was her pet name for me.”

“She added that if there was any way she could have managed it, she would have gone back to him, or you, as it were. But she never found a way to do so that seemed…equitable, yes, that was the word she used.” Foyle stopped and drew in a deep breath. “And then before I could say another word, or take a step toward her, she turned and… jumped. By the time I got to the edge, she had already reached the water.” He paused and then added, “I will carry the guilt to my grave that I did nothing to stop her.”

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