Scene One

(In Sir Wilfred's office. Mr. Mayherne and his client, Leonard Vole, come to Sir Wilfred's office. Mr. Mayherne urges Sir Wilfred to take up the case of Leonard Vole, who may be arrested any minute on the charge of murdering Mrs. Emily French. Mrs. Emily French, a wealthy widow, was murdered two days ago. Mrs. French left 80,000 to Leonard Vole. Leonard Vole had visited Mrs. French earlier in the evening on the night of the murder. It is quite obvious that he is regarded as the principal and logical suspect in the case.

Sir Wilfred hesitates — he has not yet recovered from a serious heart attack, with which he has been laid up in hospital for two months. The doctors have forbidden him to take up criminal cases. Miss Plimsoll, a trained nurse, sees to it that he follows the doctors' instructions. There-

fore Sir Wilfred refuses to take Leonard Vole's case. He starts to go up to his bedroom — he has to have an after-lunch nap. Suddenly he sees two cigars in Mr Mayherne's vest pocket. He is tempted — he is not allowed to smoke. He returns and invites Mayherne into his study, saying he would like to give him a word of advice.)
Mayherne: It's the case of Mrs Emily French. You've probably seen the reports in the press. She was a middle-aged widow, rather well-off, living with a housekeeper at Hampstead. Mr Vole had been with her earlier in the evening. When the housekeeper returned from her day off, she found her mistress dead, struck on the back of the head and killed.
Sir Wilfred: I see.
Mayherne: Vole seems a harmless chap caught in the web of circumstantial evidence. Perhaps if I were to give you more of the details you might suggest the strongest line of defence.
Sir Wilfred: Probably I'd think better if you gave me one of those cigars.
Mayherne (giving him a cigar): Of course, there are no previous convictions naturally. He's a man of good character with an excellent war record. You'd like him a lot.
Sir Wilfred: Give me a light, please.
Mayherne: I am sorry I haven't got any matches. Let me get you some. (Starting for the door): Mr Vole may have some matches.
Sir Wilfred: Lord, no. You don't know Miss Plimsoll. This will take all our cunning. (Opening the door, to Leonard Vole): Young man, come here, please. Your solicitor and I feel you may be able to enlighten me on a rather important point.
(Vole comes in.)
Sir Wilfred: Give me a match.
Vole: Sorry, I never carry them.
Sir Wilfred: What? (To Mayherne): You said I'd like him.
Vole: But I do have a lighter.
Sir Wilfred: You are quite right, Mayherne, I do like him. (Returning
the lighter): Thank you. Can you imagine Miss Plimsoll's face if
she saw me now! Vole: Then let's make absolutely sure that she doesn't. (He turns the
key in the lock.) Sir Wilfred: Splendid! All the instincts of a skilled criminal.
Vole (smiling): Thank you, sir.
Sir Wilfred: Sit here. Young man, you may or may not have murdered a middle-aged widow, but you've certainly saved the life of an elderly barrister.
Vole: I haven't murdered anybody. It's absurd! Christine, tha't's my wife, she thought I might be implicated and that I needed a lawyer. That's why I went to see Mr Mayherne. Now he thinks he needs a lawyer and now I have two lawyers. It's rather silly, don't you think?
Mayherne: Vole, I am a solicitor. Sir Wilfred is a barrister.
Only a barrister can actually plead a case in court.
Vole: Oh, I see. Well, I saw in a paper that poor Mrs French had been found dead with her head bashed in. It was also said in the papers that the police were very anxious to interview me since I visited Mrs French that evening. So naturally I went along to the police station.
Sir Wilfred: Did they caution you?
Vole: I don't quite know. They asked me if I'd like to make a statement and said they'd write it down and that it might be used against me in court. Were they cautioning me?
Sir Wilfred: Well, it can't be helped now.
Vole: They were very polite. They seemed quite satisfied.
Mayherne: They seemed satisfied. Mr Vole, you think you made a statement and that's the end of it. Isn't it obvious to you, Mr Vole, that you will be regarded as the principal and logical suspect in this case? I am very much afraid you'll be arrested.
Vole: But I 've done nothing. Why should I be arrested?
Mayherne: Relax, Mr Vole. I am putting you in the hands of the finest and most experienced barrister in London.
Sir Wilfred: No, Mayherne, let's get this straight. I may have done something highly unethical. I've taken your cigar. I am not taking your case. I can't, it's forbidden. My doctors would never allow it. (To Vole): I am truly sorry, young man. However, if you'd like the case handled by someone of these chambers I recommend Mr Bro-gan-Moore. (To Mayherne): You know Brogan-Moore?
Mayherne: Yes, I do, a very able man. I second Sir Wilfred's recommendation.
Vole: All right, sir, if you say so.

Unit THREE
TEXT
From W.S.
By L. P. Hartley
Leslie Poles Hartley (1895—1972), the son of a solicitor, was educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford and for more than twenty years from 1932 was a fiction reviewer for such periodicals as the Spectator, Sketch, Observer and Time and Tide. He published his first book, a collection of short stories entitled "Night Fears" in 1924. His novel "Eustace and Hilda" (1947) was recognized immediately as a major contribution to English fiction; "The Go-Between" (1953) and "The Hireling" (1957) were later made into internationally successful films. In 1967 he published "The Novelist's Responsibility", a collection of critical essays.
Henry James was a master he always revered; and, like James, he was frequently possessed by ideas of guilt and solitude and evil. As a contemporary reviewer remarked, "not only does he portray the exterior of social life with a novelist's sharp eye for detail, but he also explores the underworld of fears and fantasies through which we wander in our ugliest dreams."
L.P. Hartley was a highly skilled narrator and all his tales are admirably told. "W.S." comes from "The Complete Short Stories of L.P. Hartley" published posthumously in 1973.
The First postcard came from Forfar. "I thought you might like a picture of Forfar," it said. "You have always been so interested in Scotland, and that is one reason why I am interested in you. I have enjoyed all your books, but do you really get to grips with people? I doubt it. Try to think of this as a handshake from your devoted admirer, W.S."
Like other novelists, Walter Streeter was used to getting communications from strangers. Usually they were friendly but sometimes they were critical. In either case he always answered them, for he was conscientious. But answering them took up the time and energy he needed for his writing, so that he was rather relieved that W.S. had given no address. The photograph of Forfar was uninteresting and he tore it up. His anonymous correspondent's criticism, however, lingered in his mind. Did he really fail to come to grips
with his characters? Perhaps he did. He was aware that in most cases they were either projections of his own personality or, in different forms, the antithesis of it. The Me and the Not Me. Perhaps W.S. had spotted this. Not for the first time Walter made a vow to be more objective.
About ten days later arrived another postcard, this time from Berwick-on-Tweed. "What do you think of Berwick-on-Tweed?" it said. "Like you, it's on the Border. I hope this doesn't sound rude. I don't mean that you are a borderline case! You know how much I admire your stories. Some people call them other-worldly. I think you should plump for one world or the other. Another firm handshake from W.S."
Walter Streeter pondered over this and began to wonder about the sender. Was his correspondent a man or a woman? It looked like a man's handwriting — commercial, unself-conscious — and the criticism was like a man's. On the other hand, it was like a woman to probe — to want to make him feel at the same time flattered and unsure of himself. He felt the faint stirrings of curiosity but soon dismissed them: he was not a man to experiment with acquaintances. Still it was odd to think of this unknown person speculating about him, sizing him up. Other-worldly, indeed!¹ He re-read the last two chapters he had written. Perhaps they didn't have their feet firm on the ground. Perhaps he was too ready to escape, as other novelists were nowadays, into an ambiguous world, a world where the conscious mind did not have things too much its own way. But did that matter? He threw the picture of Berwick-on-Tweed into his November fire and tried to write; but the words came haltingly, as though contending with an extra-strong barrier of self-criticism. And as the days passed he became uncomfortably aware of self-division, as though someone had taken hold of his personality and was pulling it apart. His work was no longer homogeneous, there were two strains in it, unreconciled and opposing, and it went much slower as he tried to resolve the discord. Never mind, he thought; perhaps I was getting into a groove. These difficulties may be growing pains, I may have tapped a new source of supply. If only I could correlate the two and make their conflict fruitful, as many artists have!
The third postcard showed a picture of York Minster. "I know you are interested in cathedrals," it said. "I'm sure this isn't a sign of megalomania in your case, but smaller churches are sometimes more rewarding. I'm seeing a good many churches on my way south. Are you

busy writing or are you looking round for ideas? Another hearty handshake from your friend W. S."
It was true that Walter Streeter was interested in cathedrals. Lincoln Cathedral² had been the subject of one of his youthful fantasies and he had written about it in a travel book. And it was also true that he admired mere size and was inclined to under-value parish churches. But how could W.S. have known that? And was it really a sign of megalomania? And who was W.S. anyhow?
For the first time it struck him that the initials were his own. No, not for the first time. He had noticed it before, but they were such commonplace initials; they were Gilbert's³, they were Maugham's, they were Shakespeare's — a common possession. Anyone might have them. Yet now it seemed to him an odd coincidence and the idea came into his mind — suppose I have been writing postcards to myself? People did such things, especially people with split personalities. Not that he was one, of course. And yet there were these unexplained developments — the cleavage in his writing, which had now extended from his thought to his style, making one paragraph languorous with semicolons and subordinate clauses, and another sharp and incisive with main verbs and full stops.
He looked at the handwriting again. It had seemed the perfection of ordinariness — anybody's hand — so ordinary as perhaps to be disguised. Now he fancied he saw in it resemblances to his own. He was just going to pitch the postcard in the fire when suddenly he decided not to. I'll show it to somebody, he thought.
His friend said, "My dear fellow, it's all quite plain. The woman's a lunatic. I'm sure it's a woman. She has probably fallen in love with you and wants to make you interested in her. I should pay no attention whatsoever. People whose names are mentioned in the papers are always getting letters from lunatics. If they worry you, destroy them without reading them. That sort of person is often a little psychic,⁴ and if she senses that she's getting a rise out of you she'll go on."
For a moment Walter Streeter felt reassured. A woman, a little mouse-like creature, who had somehow taken a fancy to him! What was there to feel uneasy about in that? It was really rather sweet and touching, and he began to think of her and wonder what she looked like. What did it matter if she was a little mad? Then his subconscious mind, searching for something to torment him with, and assuming the authority of logic, said: Supposing those postcards are a lunatic's, and you are writing them to yourself, doesn't it follow that you must be a lunatic too?
He tried to put the thought away from him; he tried to destroy the postcard as he had the others. But something in him wanted to preserve it. It had become a piece of him, he felt. Yielding to an irresistible compulsion, which he dreaded, he found himself putting it behind the clock on the chimney-piece. He couldn't see it but he knew that it was there.
He now had to admit to himself that the postcard business had become a leading factor in his life. It had created a new area of thoughts and feelings and they were most unhelpful. His being was strung up in expectation of the next postcard.
Yet when it came it took him, as the others had, completely by surprise. He could not bring himself to look at the picture. "I hope you are well and would like a postcard from Coventry," he read. "Have you ever been sent to Coventry?⁵1 have — in fact you sent me there. It isn't a pleasant experience, I can tell you. I am getting nearer. Perhaps we shall come to grips after all. I advised you to come to grips with your characters, didn't I? Have I given you any new ideas? If I have you ought to thank me, for they are what novelists want, I understand. I have been re-reading your novels, living in them, I might say. Another hard handshake. As always, W.S."
A wave of panic surged up in Walter Streeter. How was it that he had never noticed, all this time, the most significant fact about the postcards — that each one came from a place geographically closer to him than the last? "I am coming nearer." Had his mind, unconsciously self-protective, worn blinkers? If it had, he wished he could put them back. He took an atlas and idly traced out W.S.'s itinerary. An interval of eighty miles or so seemed to separate the stopping-places. Walter lived in a large West Country town about ninety miles from Coventry.
Should he show the postcards to an alienist? But what could an alienist tell him? He would not know, what Walter wanted to know, whether he had anything to fear from W.S.
Better go to the police. The police were used to dealing with poi-sonpens. If they laughed at him, so much the better. They did not laugh, however. They said they thought the postcards were a hoax and that W.S. would never show up in the flesh. Then they asked if there was anyone who had a grudge against him. "No one that I know of," Walter said. They, too, took the view that the writer was probably a woman. They told him not to worry but to let them know if further postcards came.

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