For God's sake, don't lose her. At Ashton's house we found only one of the servants, Mary. She told us that Ashton's bed had not been slept in the previous night, and she hadn't seen him at all that day.
l began to get worried and rang the hospital to speak to Penny'Did you tell your father about us last night?
"Did you tell your father about us last night?' No.
He'd gone to bed when I got in. And he'd gone out when I got up this morning. Why? What's the matter, Malcolm? Has something happened to him"I don't know if anything's happened, but I think you'd better come home now.' "I'm coming at once,' she replied, and put the phone down. I walked into Ashton's study.
On his desk were two envelopes; one addressed to Penny and the other to me. 1 picked up mine and opened it. My dear Malcolm You are too intelligent not to have understood what I have tried to say to you in our recent conversations.
A bad son-in-law? There is an old French saying: "The man who finds a good son-in-law gains a son, but the man who finds a bad one loses a daughter.' Marry Penny and make her happy but, for her sake, be a bad son-in-law.
Yours George Ashton I sat down with a heavy feeling in my stomach and the knowledge that we had made a bad job of looking after Ashton.