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When 1 came to the bay, I could see the ship at once.
safety and looked more beautiful than I had ever seen it. 1 felt,
for the first time, that it was my home. 1 belonged to Manderley
and Manderley belonged to me.
I went through the house and into the library. Jasper was not
there. He must have gone out with Maxim. I suddenly felt very
hungry, and so I asked Robert to bring in the tea. 1 still had a
strange feeling of fear in my heart. I felt that I was waiting for
something - something terrible.
As I sat drinking my tea, Robert came back into the room.
'Captain Searle, the harbour-master
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, is on the phone,
Madam,' he told me. 'He wants to come here and speak to
Mr de Winter at once. He says it's very important.'
'Mr de Winter is not back yet, Robert,' I told him. 'Ask
Captain Searle to come up and wait.'
Robert went out of the room with the message. I wondered
what Captain Searle wanted to say. It must be something to
do with the ship out in the bay. But why did he want to see
Maxim?
Captain Searle came into the library about fifteen minutes
later. He looked at me with his bright blue eyes.
'I'm afraid I've got some bad news for Mr de Winter. I don't
know how to tell him.'
'What sort of news, Captain Searle?' I asked him.
'Well, Mrs de Winter, it's not very pleasant. When we sent
the diver down to look at the ship, he found something else. It
was a little sailing boat. It's the boat that belonged to the late Mrs
de Winter.'
'I'm sorry,' I said. 'Must you tell Mr de Winter? Can't the boat
be left there?'
'The man found something else,' Captain Searle answered
slowly. 'The cabin
5
door was closed, so he broke a window and
looked in. Then he got a terrible fright. There was a body in there
on the cabin floor. I must tell your husband, Mrs de Winter. The
police will have to know too.'
93
This was the reason for the strange fear in my heart. Someone
had been in the boat with Rebecca that night.
'Do we have to tell him?' I asked.
'I've got to do my duty,' Captain Searle said. He stopped. The
door had opened. It was Maxim.
'Hello,' he said. 'Is something the matter, Captain Searle?'
I felt very afraid. I went out of the room quickly and shut the
door behind me. Jasper was in the hall and he walked out on to the
terrace with me. I sat down. I must not fail Maxim now.
I sat on the terrace until I heard Captain Searle's car drive
away. Then I stood up and walked slowly back to the library.
Maxim was standing by the window. I went and stood beside
him. I took his hand and held it against my face.
'I want to help you, Maxim,' I said. 'I've grown up, you know.
I'm not a child any more.'
Maxim put his arm round me and held me closely.
'I was angry with you last night, wasn't I?' he said.
'Maxim,' I asked him, 'can't we start again?'
'It's too late, my darling, too late,' he said. 'We've lost our
chance of happiness. Something has happened. Something I've
dreamt about, night after night. I knew we could never be
happy.'
Maxim held both my hands and looked into my face.
'Rebecca has won,' he said.
I stared at him. My heart began to beat fast. What was Maxim
trying to tell me?
'I always knew this would happen,' Maxim said. 'Rebecca has
kept us apart all this time. I remember how she looked at me before
she died. I remember her smile. She knew this would happen. She
knew she would win in the end.'
'Maxim,' I whispered. 'What are you trying to tell me?
Captain Searle told me about the boat. There was someone
sailing with Rebecca. You have to find out who it was. That's
it, isn't it, Maxim?'
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'No,' he said, 'you don't understand. There was no one with
Rebecca. She was alone.'
I stood there watching his face, watching his eyes.
'It's Rebecca's body lying there on the cabin floor.'
'No,' I said. 'No!'
'The woman buried in the church is not Rebecca. I always
knew that,' Maxim said. 'Rebecca was not drowned. I killed her.
I shot Rebecca in the cottage. I carried her body to the cabin, took
the boat out that night and sank it. It's Rebecca who's lying there
on the cabin floor. Will you look into my eyes and tell me that you
love me now?'
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