REBECCA - CHAPTER 10

Did Ben tell you

the door was open?

My good child, what am I supposed

to excuse myself about?

The mark of lipstick.

She had rubbed her lips with the handkerchief,

that the vanished scent upon the handkerchief was the same

as the crushed white petals of the azealas in the Happy Valley

as i rubbed it across my hand the scent rose to me,

sweet and strong, vivid as the living tree from which it came

made turbulent with song,

pursuing us as we wandered down into the valley

This at last was the core of Manderley,

the Manderley I would know and learn to love

And the vast house too, the silence of that ehoing hall, the

uneasy stillness of the west wng wrapped in dust sheets

Max smiled down at me,

watching the bewilderment on my face