Several
times, coming from doing her cooking in the basement, she found Mr. King
slinking along the top landing, but did not associate him with Louis.
Several times she thought she smelt whisky, but told herself angrily
that she was dreaming. Then, one day, coming in from the Post Office,
she found Louis gone. One thing she noticed as she came along the
landing was an empty bottle in the dark corner behind the door. As soon
as she opened the door she saw three whisky bottles, empty, on the
mantelpiece. On a piece of paper he had written:
"Get all the satisfaction you can out of these, old girl. I'm off."
She felt cold with horror, but there was nothing she could do. Mrs. King
said that she had seen him go out at two o'clock. And that was all she
could learn. For the rest of the afternoon and evening she was almost
frantic with fear. But the money was not touched. She could not imagine
what had happened until Mrs. King told her that Mr. King had confessed
to getting letters containing money from the Post Office for Louis, and
buying him whisky. Marcella ran out of the house, almost crazed with
fright, to look for him. When she had only gone a few hundred yards she
ran back, afraid he might come in and need her. It was not until after
midnight that a violent knocking on the front door roused Mrs.
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