↓Philomel Cottage

Philomel Cottage
Alix Martin is a woman in her mid-thirties who has worked as a shorthand typist for fifteen years. For most of that time she has had an understanding with a fellow clerk by the nameof Dick Windyford but as both are short of funds and, at various times having family dependants, romance and marriage have been out of the question and never spoken of. Two events happen suddenly; adistant cousin of Alix dies leaving her enough money to give her an income of a couple of hundred pounds a year however her financial independence seems to annoy Dick, and at much the same time Alixmeets and has a whirlwind romance with Gerald Martin, a man she meets at a friend's house and they are engaged within a week and married soon after. Dick is furious and warns Alix that she knowsnothing whatsoever about her new husband...
A month after they are married, Gerald and Alix are living at Philomel Cottage, a picturesque cottage. It is isolated but fitted with all modern conveniences.Alix has some anxieties – she has a recurring dream in which Gerald lies dead on the floor, Dick stands over him having committed the deed of murder but Alix is grateful for the act. She is troubledthat the dream is a warning. By coincidence Dick phones her. He is staying at a local inn and wishes to call on her. She puts him off, afraid of what Gerald's reaction might be. After the call she chatsto the gardener, George, and during the course of the conversation is told two strange things; Gerald has told George that Alix is going to London the next day and he doesn't know when she'll bereturning (although she knows nothing about this) and that the cost of the cottage was two thousand pounds. Gerald had told Alix that it was three thousand and she gave him part of her inheritance to makeup the difference. Alix finds Gerald's pocket diary dropped in the garden and looks through it, seeing her husband's meticulous entries for everything he does in his life. An appointment is marked...