nodded. “A most useful adjunct of modern science, Major, and used by quite a lot of my pupils, especially those with inherently pale skins who feel they might improve themselves by a little—hmm!—tan.”
“My daughter is never to use one!” Major Hasleigh declared harshly.
Maria raised her eyebrows. “My dear Major, it is purely a matter of personal choice. None of my pupils is forced to use ultraviolet. If your daughter does not wish to make use of the treatment, that is her own affair entirely.”
“I am worried that she may be forced into it. There is that kind of thing to reckon with among girls.”
“I presume,” Maria said, rather coldly, “that there is a definite reason for this rather—er—arbitrary request?”
“A medical one. Something she doesn’t know about.”
Maria shrugged. “As you wish, Major. I will give definite instructions of your wishes to the Housemistress and the physical instructor.… Now, shall we proceed?”
“Yes, of course.”
But for the major all interest seemed to have gone. Besides, Maria took him from place to place with such speed that he had hardly time to absorb the virtues of the swimming bath, the dining room, the chapel, and other amenities. He was quite breathless by the time he was conducted back to the steps of the main building and given Maria’s firm handclasp as his farewell.
From the top of the School House steps she watched him go across the quadrangle—then she returned to her study and sat down.
Pondering, she studied the cheque again. Finally she made up her mind and rang up the bank itself in Elmington, Surrey, and for some reason she felt quite rebuffed when she learned that the account of Major Hasleigh was completely in order.
“Extremely peculiar,” she muttered. “Maybe I need the opinion of a second person—”
Once again she summoned Miss Tanby over the house telephone, and like the slave of the lamp the Housemistress reappeared with silent promptness.
“I have had to leave the Sixth Form in the middle of its history lesson, Miss Black,” she announced anxiously.
Maria smiled. “My dear Miss Tanby, with history changing every day I am sure it will have to be rewritten anyway.… Sit down, please. I feel the need of one of our little confabs.”
“Very well, Miss Black,” Tanby answered, folding her angular figure on to a chair.
“You know, for instance, that I have the rather disturbing weakness of being in love with criminology—”
“Yes, Miss Black, I know all about your private hobby—your study of crime, your deductive capacities, your passion for the unusual.… I even remember,” she added in a hushed voice, “how you solved the mystery of your brother’s death in America last summer—calling yourself ‘Black Maria’ and enlisting the help of a—er—Bowery thug for the purpose.”
“That,” Maria sighed reminiscently, “was a truly glorious vacation, and I really did enjoy myself in the company of Mr. ‘Pulp’ Martin. However, that is behind us, Miss Tanby, and thanks to your silence no girl in this school—or the public either—knows that I solved that mystery. It would hardly do for the girls to know: they might start calling me ‘Black Maria’ to my face!”
Miss Tanby shifted uneasily.
“Tell me, Miss Tanby, what do you think of a man whose high colour smears when he gets warm?”
Miss Tanby frowned. She had never studied the colour of men very closely: they had never given her the chance. “I don’t quite understand, Miss Black—”
“I am referring to our departed friend, Major Hasleigh. There is something distinctly peculiar about that upright military gentleman! Something that arouses my suspicions.…”
“I thought he seemed a very respectable gentleman,” Tanby said timidly.
“Respectable, I grant you—but most unorthodox! I was struck from the moment I first saw him by his very high colour. It was not the pink and purple bloom of cardiac trouble, nor the brick-red or nut-brown of exposure to the elements. No, it was an odd shade of matt red, rather like the colouring matter some young ladies put on their legs in these days of stocking shortage.…” Maria coughed a little and halted. “It was utterly unnatural! So, rather at the expense of my own legs and heart, I gave him a miniature marathon round the school’s appointments to see what happened when he really became warm,” Maria smiled wickedly. “As he left I was rewarded with the amazing sight of seeing white trickles in the redness about his forehead! His colour was applied, and in places perspiration removed it. Normally I should think he is fairly pale.”
Tanby simply sat and said nothing. Maria gave her an irritated look. “Well?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, Miss Black, but I was just wondering if there is really anything significant about it. Presumably the major thinks sunburn powder makes him attractive.”
“Sunburn powder?” Maria repeated.
“Quite different from the lotion used for legs,” Tanby explained. “The leg lotion doesn’t have to smear because of rain; but sunburn powder is used very often by people with pale skins to—er—enhance their attractiveness.…” Tanby stopped as though she were astonished at her own revelations; then she added mildly, “I’ve seen the powder and the lotion both advertised.”
“And no doubt have used them,” Maria commented drily. “However, we are not here to discuss feminine frivolities or the virtues of cosmetics. What I want to know is why a military man should be so effeminate as to use such a powder. I suspect, too, that his hair was powdered, though I could not exactly blow on it to find out. So, Miss Tanby, a man with powdered face and hair and an intense dislike for ultraviolet equipment suddenly arrives and places his daughter with us, leaving a year’s fee in advance. It is, to say the least of it—peculiar.”
“Surely, then, you should have refused to take his daughter?” Tanby asked, rather bluntly.
“I could hardly do that because her father powders his face and hair, could I? He paid the fees by cheque, which I find is quite genuine.…” Maria gave a little sigh, “I suppose that I am so accustomed to looking for peculiarities in people that I am making a mountain out of a molehill.… All the same, I would like to know why he doesn’t wish his daughter to undergo ultraviolet ray treatment at any time. It is such a stimulating process, too. There have been times when the girls have been in class when I have myself— Hmm, we have no need to go into that.… You will see to it, Miss Tanby, that the girl does not have the treatment if you can prevent it, and if any of the girls try and make her, she is to report it to me.”
“Yes, Miss Black,” Tanby nodded.
“Thank you for listening to my little—er—investigative talk. I find you a great help at such times. Amongst other things, keep your eye on this girl Frances. If she proves as unique as her father, she will be well worth watching.”
Tanby waited, then seeing the imperious nod of the hair bun she went out silently.… Alone again, Maria’s thoughts were not on the biology class she was due to take at three o’clock. They were on the address of Hasleigh’s sister-in-law, which she had scribbled down.
