The Death of Mrs. Westaway

Hal hears the other funeral guests arrive outside. She watches Abel, Harding, and their families arrive. As she descends the staircase into the house, she sees Ezra and the rest of the family. Treswick introduces her as “Maud’s daughter” (67). Abel and Harding seem shocked; Ezra turns pale. They had no idea that Maud had a daughter, though Treswick confirms that Maud must have told their mother at some time. Harding shakes her hand, while Abel hugs her and welcomes her home.

In a diary entry from 1994, the unnamed narrator worries that “Maud knows” (69). She describes the tension between Maud and Maud’s mother, whom she describes as her aunt. Maud refers to the narrator as Maggie. After an argumentative dinner, Maggie sits in the attic room when Maud visits. Maud complains about her mother Hester’s strict disciplinary attitudes. Maggie tells Maud about her own parents, who are now deceased. Maud hates her mother and thinks about leaving the home. She notes that Hester allowed Ezra to go to boarding school to escape the house. Maud hopes that her exam results will show that she is worthy of attending university, allowing her to leave. Maggie worries what she will do without Maud; she is certain that Maud knows her secret.

Hal endures half an hour of tough but “slightly exhilarating” (72) questions. Harding asks her blunt, direct questions; Abel takes a lighter, friendlier approach; Ezra says nothing; and Hal is surprised when Harding’s wife Mitzi defends her, noting how the barrage of questions is overwhelming. Mitzi leads her away to a quiet sofa and prepares tea. While Mitzi is away, Hal talks to Mitzi’s son Freddie about her tattoo of a magpie. She almost confesses that the magpie tattoo is a tribute to her mother’s name but catches herself just in time. Harding interrupts his son’s blunt questions, so Hal takes the opportunity to ask him questions of her own. She discovers that the house was in the family for generations before Treswick calls for everyone’s attention. He wishes to explain the contents of Hester’s will to all the beneficiaries, which include Hal, Harding, Abel, Ezra, and Mrs. Warren. In addition to £30,000 to Mrs. Warren and £10,000 to each of her grandchildren, Hester left everything to Hal. Harding reacts angrily and intends to challenge the legality of the will. Shocked, Hal faints.

Hal is roused by Mitzi, who is surrounded by the rest of the family. Abel offers to call a doctor but Hal insists that she is “fine” (80). Abel searches for a thermometer while Mitzi fetches painkillers for the bump on the side of Hal’s head. Left alone, Hal tries to make sense of the news about the will. She is most shocked that the will mentions her name and address specifically, wondering whether she really might be Hester’s granddaughter. However, her memory of her mother cautions her to “be skeptical” (80).

Mitzi returns with Abel, who announces that his partner Edward is driving to meet them at the family home. Edward is a doctor and Abel hopes that he can check up on Hal. Meanwhile, Abel and Mitzi discuss the will. Abel empathizes with Harding’s anger, as Harding spent 20 years “trying to prove himself to Mother” (81) but he insists that he grew used to his mother’s disapproval many years ago. Mitzi explains to Hal that Hester cut Abel out of the family due to his sexuality. She is shocked, however, that Ezra received nothing in the will, as he was always regarded as the favorite child. Abel says this favoritism was only in Ezra’s childhood and that Ezra cut himself out of the family. He hints that Ezra did so after Maud ran away, when none of the family knew whether she was alive. Abel asks Hal what happened to Maud; Hal uses the true story of her mother’s death as an explanation and feels guilty for doing so. She tells herself that she has no choice but to continue her lies. Mitzi wonders whether Hester’s guilt over Maud might explain the will, but Abel confesses that he hardly understood his mother’s thought processes. Hal announces that she plans to leave the next day. Abel checks her thermometer and sees she has a fever, so insists that she stay; “after all—this is [Hal’s] house now” (84).

The idea that Hal now owns the house occupies her mind as she lies in bed in the small attic room. Mitzi brings her a bowl of soup and insists that she eat, while Hal can only worry about Harding’s threats of legal action. Edward arrives and Hal assures him that she is feeling better. He offers her unmarked pills, explaining they are painkillers. Hal dismisses her suspicions and reluctantly swallows the pills. After Abel and Edward leave, Mitzi tells her Abel works as “a lobbyist on behalf of various children’s charities” (87). When Mitzi leaves, Hal lies down in bed and worries about the scale of the task ahead of her.

Hal wakes up and feels anxious about her situation. She receives a message from Mr. Smith’s representative, reminding her that she has five days to pay back the interest on her loan. The attic room is cold, so she dresses quickly. She notices that the window has been left slightly open all night, so she reaches through the bars over the window and tries to pull it closed. As she does so, she notices the words “HELP ME” (90) scratched into the glass. She wonders who could have written the words and why, imagining a young girl like herself. Hal pushes the thoughts from her mind and tries to focus on her immediate problems.

Hal leaves her attic room and ventures out into the large house. She finds Mrs. Warren vacuuming “with grim determination” (93); the old housekeeper reacts angrily to Hal’s presence in her private sitting room. Hal leaves, resenting the woman’s hostility and sarcastic remark that Hal was raised to be a “gracious little lady” (94). She wanders through the house, noticing the many rundown parts. Hal finds an abandoned study and explores the dust-covered shelves, finding an album of family photographs. She is interrupted by the sound of distant voices, so rushes out of the study and joins the rest of the family for breakfast.

Harding apologizes for his angry outburst the previous night, though admits that he still has “some concerns about Mother’s state of mind” (96). He quashes any idea that Hal might go back to Brighton any time soon as there is a large amount of paperwork to sort through. Ezra arrives and uses his charm to convince Mrs. Warren to begin breakfast a few minutes early. Harding and Ezra bicker about family matters and then join Mitzi and the children at the breakfast table. The bickering continues until Ezra leaves. After he departs, Harding reluctantly agrees with his brother’s assessment that there is a great deal of family hypocrisy, recalling the funeral where he doubts that there was “one person there who was sorry she was gone” (99). Mrs. Warren overhears the remark and angrily slaps Harding, who is too shocked to react. The scene is interrupted by the ancient toaster catching fire. Harding extinguishes the fire and Mrs. Warren exits silently.

The remainder of breakfast is marked by an awkward silence. Hal finishes her food and decides to walk around the garden. As she explores, she thinks about the “decay and something stranger and more worrying” (101) which seems to have settled over the house and the family. She reaches a cluster of trees at the bottom of the garden and, as she tries to see whatever is between them, Abel appears. He assures Hal that he has no ill feelings toward her regarding the will, but Hal notices that he mentions this often. As he asks her about events at breakfast, he leads her through the garden to show her the maze. Abel explains that Mrs. Warren has always been kinder to Ezra than the other children and mentions that Ezra and Maud were twins. Hal fails to hide her surprise. Abel says that Ezra changed after Maud disappeared; he spent years searching for her. Abel also gifts Hal a family photograph depicting himself, Ezra, Maud, and another woman outside the house. Hal is shocked: The other woman is her mother. Abel explains that the other woman is Maggie, “a sort of distant cousin” (104) who came to live with the family after her parents died. Hal is almost overcome with emotion and returns to the house. Hal shuts herself in the attic bedroom and examines the photograph. She begins to understand how Treswick mistook her for Maud’s daughter, as both Maud and Maggie were really named Margarida Westaway. Hal worries that her likeness to her mother is so obvious that she will inevitably be discovered.

In a diary entry from 1994, Maggie complains of insomnia due to pregnancy. She thinks back to the night when she conceived her child, six months earlier. Both Hester and Mrs. Warren were away, while Abel and Ezra had returned to the house from their schools. They went with Maud, Maggie, and a man named Ed to swim in a lake. Afterward, Ed took a photograph of the four Westaway relations. That night, she and an unnamed man had sex. Maggie is in love with him, but he is no longer with her while she writes the diary.

Hal finally builds up the courage to leave the attic and face the family, but she is surprised by Mrs. Warren waiting in the dark outside her door. Still hostile, Mrs. Warren informs Hal that Harding wishes to see her downstairs. As Hal leaves, Mrs. Warren points to Hal’s tarot deck and remarks “she was into all that muck” (110). When Hal probes her, Mrs. Warren hints that she knows about Hal’s relation to Maggie. As Hal takes her tarot cards and the photograph with her, she realizes that Mrs. Warren was not using her cane. She also notices that the door to the attic room only locks from outside.

Hal searches for the drawing room, where she is supposed to meet Harding. She overhears voices in the room and listens as they discuss her situation. Mitzi defends Hal, while Harding announces his skepticism of her situation and the legitimacy of the will. He speculates about his mother’s motivations, denouncing her as a “bitter, poisonous woman” (113). Harding then shares that a month before her death, his mother wrote him an odd letter with a French phrase at the end. Hal is then caught eavesdropping by Kitty, Harding’s daughter. However, Kitty does not criticize Hal, instead making conversation. Hal struggles to keep up with the teenager’s irreverent approach but they are interrupted by Mitzi, who appears from inside the drawing room. Hal is left alone in the room with Harding. He informs her that a meeting with Treswick is scheduled in 40 minutes, so leads her out to his car where the rest of his family waits. He realizes that there is not enough room in the car, so Ezra offers to drive Hal into the nearby town to meet with Treswick.