she was forced to become the chief’s head wife. Dr. Haydock was with an expedition and rescued her.”
For a moment excitement was rife, then Miss Marple said reproachfully, but with a smile: “Naughty girl!”
She tapped Griselda reprovingly on the arm.
“Very unwise thing to do my dear. If you make up these things, people are quite likely to believe them. And sometimes that leads to complications.”
A distinct frost had come over the assembly. Two of the ladies rose to take their departure.
“I wonder if there is anything between young Lawrence Redding and Lettice Protheroe,” said Miss Wetherby. “It certainly looks like it. What do you think, Miss Marple?”
Miss Marple seemed thoughtful.
“I shouldn’t have said so myself. Not Lettice . Quite another person I should have said.”
“But Colonel Protheroe must have thought—”
“He has always struck me as rather a stupid man,” said Miss Marple. “The kind of man who gets the wrong idea into his head and is obstinate about it. Do you remember Joe Bucknell who used to keep the Blue Boar? Such a to-do about his daughter carrying on with young Bailey. And all the time it was that minx of a wife of his.”
She was looking full at Griselda as she spoke, and I suddenly felt a wild surge of anger.