Page 42 of Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure
“Rubbish,” she said, but she opened the first door cautiously. There was a flapping sound. Something white brushed past her face. She let out a scream, her heart thumping, and retreated hastily from the room, until she saw that roof tiles must have fallen off in one corner. Theceiling had come down there, and pigeons had found their way in. There were copious droppings on the floor and on a single bed frame with quilts and pillows piled at one end.
As she went to close the door again, another figure was standing behind her. As a second scream was about to escape, she saw that it was only Dora.
“Oh goodness, you startled me,” she said.
“I heard you scream, so I came up to check on you.”
“You shouldn’t have come up these stairs,” Ellie said. “I’m sorry. I opened that door, and something flew in my face.”
“Heavens. What was it?”
“Only pigeons.” Ellie grinned. “The roof has a hole in it, and they got in. It’s rather a mess in there, I’m afraid.”
“Perhaps we should retreat again without looking any further,” Dora said. “Who knows what we might find?”
“Oh no. I have to see,” Ellie said. “You go on down. I don’t want you in any danger.”
“Nonsense. If you’re going to look, so am I,” Dora said.
They opened the door to the second bedroom at the front. It was large and contained a double bed, its eiderdown folded on it, a wardrobe and dressing table.
“This is a nice room,” Dora said. “I wonder if it was hers?”
“More likely his. It has a masculine feel to it, don’t you think?”
“They slept in separate rooms? Hardly likely.” Dora snorted.
Ellie closed the door again, and they moved over to the bedrooms facing the sea. As she opened a door, she heard Dora give a little gasp.
“Oh, what a perfect view.”
The cream-coloured silk drapes were tied back, and the whole coastline spread out below them. “I should die happy if that was the last thing I saw,” Dora said. “This must have been her room. Look at the bed.”
It was a huge brass bed piled high with quilts. There was also an enormous wardrobe. Ellie opened this, still cautious, and saw it was fullof women’s clothes ... long silk gowns, light wool two-piece suits, all from the early days of the century.
“She didn’t take her clothes with her,” Dora said. “So either the opera singer was wealthy enough that she didn’t need to take her clothing with her, or something prevented her from returning.”
“There are lovely things here,” Ellie agreed, fingering a brocade ballgown. “It is a puzzle.”
The last rooms on the floor were a bathroom complete with an enormous clawfoot tub and a rather fearsome-looking contraption to heat water, and next door was a WC, its walls also painted with an elegant beach scene.
“Madame, is all well up there?” Monsieur Danton called. “I heard you call out.”
“It was only pigeons.” Ellie walked back at the top of the stairs. “I was startled.”
“You see, the place is decaying. Wild creatures have gained entry,” Monsieur Danton said. “Please come down before something befalls you.”
“But that’s not true.” Ellie came down the stairs slowly, making sure Dora was behind her. “Most of it is not too bad. Oh, I can see where the rain has come in through a window, and the paint and paper are peeling, but overall it’s survived remarkably well.” She came down the stairs carefully to see the other women watching her from the bottom.
“We heard you cry out,” Mavis said. “We thought you’d seen the ghost.”
“I thought so, too, for a moment,” Ellie admitted, laughing now, “but pigeons had found a way in. One of them flapped past me.”
“You have now seen enough?” Monsieur Danton asked, his eyes darting for the way out.
“I think so,” Ellie said. She followed him out. “So, monsieur, what do you think the owner might say if we wanted to rent this for a while?”
Monsieur Danton gaped at her. “Rent this place? Madame, you cannot be serious. You have seen with your own eyes. It will fall on your heads.”
