"I'm sorry," I said, "but when I saw you sitting there below the Gratten I knew I had to do it. It was my last chance. And I'm glad I did, because now the whole thing is done with, finished. No more temptation. No more desire to lose myself in the other world. I told you Roger was free, and so am I."

  He did not answer. He was still staring at the empty measure.

  "Now," I said, "before we put through a call to Dublin airport and ask if Vita is there, supposing you tell me what else was written in that report John Willis sent you?"

  He picked up the stick, and replacing the measure screwed on the top and gave it back to me.

  "I burned it," he said, "with the flame from my lighter, when you were on your knees in the basement reciting that prayer for the dying. Somehow it seemed to me the right moment, and I preferred to destroy it rather than have it lying in the surgery among my files."

  "That's no answer," I told him.

  "It's all you're going to get," he replied.

  The telephone started ringing from the lobby in the hall. I wondered how many times it had rung before.

  "That will be Vita," I said. "Now for the count-down. I'd better get on my knees again. Shall I tell her I got locked in the gents and I'll join her tomorrow?"

  "It would be wiser," he said slowly, "if you told her you hoped to join her later, perhaps in a few weeks' time."

  "But that's absurd," I frowned. "There's nothing to hold me back. I've told you it's all over and I'm free."

  He did not say anything. He just sat there staring at me.

  The telephone went on ringing, and I crossed the room to answer it, but a silly thing happened as I picked up the receiver. I couldn't hold it properly; my fingers and the palm of my hand went numb, and it slipped out of my grasp and crashed to the floor.

  About the Author

  Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989) was born in London, the daughter of the actor Sir Gerald du Maurier and granddaughter of the author and artist George du Maurier. Her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931, but it would be her fifth novel, Rebecca, that made her one of the most popular authors of her day. Besides novels, du Maurier wrote plays, biographies, and several collections of short fiction. Many of her works were made into films, including Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, My Cousin Rachel, "Don't Look Now," and "The Birds." She lived most of her life in Cornwall, and was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1969.

  Books by Daphne du Maurier

  Novels

  The Loving Spirit

  I'll Never Be Young Again

  Julius

  Jamaica Inn

  Rebecca

  Frenchman's Creek

  Hungry Hill

  The King's General

  The Parasites

  My Cousin Rachel

  Mary Anne

  The Scapegoat

  Castle Dor

  The GlassBlowers

  The Flight of the Falcon

  The House on the Strand

  Rule Britannia

  Short Stories

  The Birds and Other Stories

  The Breaking Point: Stories

  Don't Look Now and Other Stories

  Nonfiction

  Gerald: A Portrait

  The du Mauriers

  The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte

  Golden Lads: A Study of Anthony Bacon, Francis, and Their Friends

  The Winding Stair: Francis Bacon, His Rise and Fall

  Myself When Young

  The Rebecca Notebook and Other Memories

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  For more about this book and author, visit Bookish.com.

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Welcome

  Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  Family Tree

  Map

  Foreword

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  About the Author

  Books by Daphne du Maurier

  Newsletters

  Copyright

  Copyright

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright (c) 1969 by Daphne du Maurier Foreword copyright (c) 2003 by Celia Brayfield Cover design by Susan Zucker

  Cover image by Arcangel

  Cover copyright (c) 2013 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected] Thank you for your support of the author's rights.

  Little, Brown and Company

  Hachette Book Group

  237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

  littlebrown.com

  twitter.com/littlebrown

  facebook.com/littlebrownandcompany

  First Little, Brown ebook edition: December 2013

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  ISBN 978-0-316-25299-7

  E3

 


 

  Daphne Du Maurier, The House on the Strand

  (Series: # )

 

 


 

 
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