The Death of Mrs. Westaway

Hal can’t afford a train ticket to Penzance. As she considers her options, she receives a message from Harding and Treswick with an offer to pay for her travel as a necessary expense. Though she is thankful, she feels an increasing guilt about her lies. On the train ride, Hal wonders whether her mother kept her father’s identity a secret as a way “to protect her” (163). Abel meets her at Penzance station and drives her back to Trepassen House. In the car, she thanks Abel for the photograph, and he promises to search for others, even though that period of his life was not particularly happy. However, he tells her that Ezra shot the photograph and reacts strangely to her suggestion the photographer might have been a man named Edward.

They arrive at Trepassen House, which seems dark and deserted. Harding greets Hal warmly but announces that Mitzi, the children, and Edward have already left. Amid the welcome, Hal feels a sense of longing for the extended family that she never had. For all her warm feelings, however, Hal cannot help but worry about Mrs. Warren. The housekeeper seems to know the truth about Hal’s ancestry; Hal does not understand her silence on the matter. Abel and Harding retire to bed, but leave the front door unlocked because they are unsure of Ezra’s whereabouts. Hal returns to the attic room in darkness. As she crawls into bed, she notices that someone has removed the bulb from the light in the room.

At breakfast the next morning, Hal announces her plan to walk to a nearby village named St. Piran. She has time, as the meeting with Treswick isn’t until the next day. Abel offers her his jacket, as well as the opportunity to call him if she needs a ride. Once outside, she enters an address into her phone’s map application and begins the four-mile walk. She thinks about the possibility that Abel is her father, adding him to the list of possible suspects. The question about her parentage makes her reflect on her relationship with her mother. On the train ride, she read the letters between Maggie and Maud in which they planned to run away together. The most recent letter contains an address belonging to a former employee at Trepassen House named Lizzie, the same address Hal entered her map.

Hal reaches the small village of St. Piran. She arrives at Lizzie’s supposed address and rings the doorbell. A plump middle-aged woman answers the door and confirms that she is Lizzie. Hal introduces herself by telling the truth, that Lizzie may have known her mother. Lizzie invites her into the house and Hal tells her story, including the ways in which she has deceived the Westaway family. Lizzie agrees that she is in “a right old pickle” (172). She tells Hal what she remembers about Maggie, who arrived at Trepassen House in 1994 but seemed lonely for a long time. Maggie and Lizzie were friends, much to Hester’s chagrin. Maggie struggled to make friends as Maud was a reserved, complicated, but kind young girl. Lizzie speculates that Maggie was sad during her time at the house but was only there for a few months before her pregnancy was discovered and she was confined to her room. Lizzie struggles to remember anyone matching the description of the man Hal has gathered from Maggie’s letters. She does remember that the relationship between Maggie and Hester became untenable while Maud was away, interviewing for a university. Maud announced that she was offered a place at a university but used the excuse of a second interview to stay away from Trepassen House as much as she could. While away from home, she continued exchanging letters with Maggie with Lizzie’s help. Lizzie only remembers one letter, in which Maggie confessed to Maud that she told the father of her child about the pregnancy. Maggie pleaded with Maud to help her, as the father did not react well. One night, Maggie and Maud fled Trepassen House. Hester was furious but did not call the police. Lizzie recalls one letter which came from either Maggie or Maud which Hester read and then burned. Other than a short message of thanks written on a postcard, Lizzie never heard from either girl again. However, she remembers Maggie returned to the house after giving birth. Lizzie knows nothing about the meeting but claims that neither returned to the house after that.

Hal slowly walks back to Trepassen House, trying to sort through her thoughts, and decides that she must confess the truth to Harding, Abel, and Ezra. Her confession to Lizzie means that she has no choice. However, Hal is still confused about Maud’s fate. She cannot believe that her mother never mentioned such an important friend and worries that the only explanation is that Maud is dead.

After walking home through the rain, Hal returns to Trepassen House and takes a bath while rehearsing the conversation with her uncles. Afterward, she returns to her room and passes Harding in the hallway. He explains to her that, as an executor of the will, Ezra has refused to allow the possibility that Hal could give up her inheritance. That evening, Hal joins the three brothers in the drawing room. She finds them seated around a table, drinking whiskey. They offer her a glass. Hal proposes a toast to her mother and the men all raise a glass “to Maud” (181). The whiskey gives Hal the courage to announce that she has something to say. Carefully, Hal explains that Maud was not her mother. The men are shocked as they try to piece together the truth about what has happened. Hal admits that the prospect of finally having a family of her own blinded her to the reality of the situation. When Mrs. Warren arrives to announce dinner, Harding explains the situation to her. The housekeeper insists that she already knew but refuses to answer any questions. The men exit the room, leaving Hal alone. As she stands by the fire, Mrs. Warren appears. Hal tries to move past Mrs. Warren, who mutters under her breath. She warns Hal to “get out—if you know what’s good for you… while you still can” (185).

Hal goes to bed early, exhausted by everything. She wakes up before dawn and feels thirsty, so she creeps through the dark, cold house to refill her glass with water. In the dark, she trips and falls down the stairs, cracking her phone screen and smashing her glass. She notices that she is bleeding and, her body throbbing with pain, she crawls back up the stairs rather than try and pick her way through the smashed glass in bare feet. As she does so, she notices that a piece of string has been drawn across the top of the stairs. Hal realizes that someone set the trap for her. Back in her room, she desperately tries to deduce who might want to kill her. She feels that there is something wrong in her mother’s history and she determines to stay at Trepassen House until she finds out the truth.

Hal lies awake in bed for two hours until she feels compelled to act. Using her phone, she researches the Westaway family. She begins with Maud, who may be either dead or alive. She remembers a client who desperately wanted to know whether her husband was dead; Hal uses the same research methods to track down any information about Maud’s potential death. Hal pauses her research and goes downstairs. On the way, she notices that the string that tripped her is gone, and she wonders whether she imagined it. Hal carefully exits the house and walks around the garden. As she walks, she thinks about the absurdity of the murder plot. Without meaning to, she arrives at the lake. She thinks about her mother’s diary, about the entry of the day Hal was conceived, and the mention of a man named Ed who may be her father. Hal enters the boat house and feels a sense of foreboding among the rotten wooden planks, half-sunk boats, and brackish water. Hal leaves and returns to the house for breakfast without looking back.

Treswick reflects on the “awkward” (196) result of his misidentification of Hal as Maud’s daughter. He blames himself but notes that the issue is particularly problematic because Hal is specifically named, along with her address. She is correctly identified, even if this identity was not quite the one that Hester intended. The matter will be left to the lawyers to resolve. Hal leaves the lawyer’s office and notes that Treswick seems to have wanted to say something more.