The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey Page A

opportunity—and I know a lot about girls. Betty has never given me a moment’s anxiety.”
    â€œYes, I know. Everyone reports excellently of her. Is your son’s fiancée a school fellow of hers?”
    â€œNo, she is a stranger. Her people have come to live near here and he met her at a dance.”
    â€œDoes Betty go to dances?”
    â€œNot grown-up dances. She is too young yet.”
    â€œSo she has not met the fiancée?”
    â€œTo be honest, none of us had. He rather sprang her on us. But we liked her so much we didn’t mind.”
    â€œHe must be very young to be settling down?”
    â€œOh, the whole thing is absurd, of course. He is twenty and she is eighteen. But they are very sweet together. And I was very young myself when I married and I have been very happy. The only thing I lacked was a daughter, and Betty filled that gap.”
    â€œWhat does she want to do when she leaves school?”
    â€œShe doesn’t know. She has no special talent for anything as far as I can see. I have a notion that she will marry early.”
    â€œBecause of her attractiveness?”
    â€œNo, because—” she paused and apparently changed what she had been going to say. “Girls who have no particular bent fall easily into matrimony.”
    He wondered if what she had been going to say had any remote connection with slate-blue eyes.
    â€œWhen Betty failed to turn up in time to go back to school, you thought she was just playing truant? Although she was a well-behaved child.”
    â€œYes, she was growing bored with school; and she had always said—which is quite true—that the first day back at school is a wasted one. So we thought she was just ‘taking adventure’ for once, as they say. ‘Trying it on’ as Leslie said, when he heard that she hadn’t turned up.”
    â€œI see. Was she wearing school clothes on her holiday?”
    For the first time Mrs. Wynn looked doubtfully at him; uncertain of his motive in asking.
    â€œNo. No, she was wearing her week-end clothes. . . . You know that when she came back she was wearing only a frock and shoes?”
    Robert nodded.
    â€œI find it difficult to imagine women so depraved that they would treat a helpless child like that.”
    â€œIf you could meet the women, Mrs. Wynn, you would find it still more difficult to imagine.”
    â€œBut all the worst criminals look innocent and harmless, don’t they?”
    Robert let that pass. He wanted to know about the bruises on the girl’s body. Were they fresh bruises?
    â€œOh, quite fresh. Most of them had not begun to ‘turn’ even.”
    This surprised Robert a little.
    â€œBut there were older bruises as well, I take it.”
    â€œIf there were they had faded so much as to be unnoticeable among all the bad new ones.”
    â€œWhat did the new ones look like? A whipping?”
    â€œOh, no. She had actually been knocked about. Even her poor little face. One jaw was swollen, and there was a big bruise on the other temple.”
    â€œThe police say that she grew hysterical when it was suggested that she should tell them her story.”
    â€œThat was when she was still ill. Once we had got the story out of her and she had a long rest it was easy enough to persuade her to repeat it to the police.”
    â€œI know you will answer this frankly, Mrs. Wynn: Has there never been any suspicion in your mind that Betty’s story might not be true? Even a momentary suspicion?”
    â€œNot even a momentary one. Why should there be? She has always been a truthful child. Even if she hadn’t, how could she invent a long circumstantial story like that without being found out? The police asked her all the questions they wanted to; there was never any suggestion of accepting her statement as it stood.”
    â€œWhen she first told her story to you, did she tell it all in a piece?”
    â€œOh, no;