The Paying Guests

As the week wears on, Frances feels a mixture of intense relief and anxiety for Spencer Ward. Each day, more newspaper headlines are published about him. In one article, his uncle vouches for his innocence, placing the blame on Billie Grey instead. Frances worries that Billie will now be implicated. Frances feels slightly betrayed by Leonard’s infidelity, that “he had been, at heart, a greater liar than she” (408).

Frances and Mrs. Wray argue about Spenser. Frances says that war, poverty, and the newspapers turned Spenser into what he is. The boy “comes from a world where killing a man is something to boast about,” and again compares this to the war, where “they were doling out medals for the same thing” (409). But she cannot answer her mother’s question: if not Spencer, then who killed Leonard?

Frances visits Lilian but regrets it immediately: all desire to be with her fades when she sees her. When Lilian says she has not been following the papers, Frances is scornful. Lilian looks at her “in a way she never had before: a level, wounded, let-down way” (409). They are interrupted before Frances can apologize.

The newspapers continue building a case against Spencer; Frances likens it to a game of hangman.

The hearing is worse than the police inquest. Spenser’s lawyer, Mr. Strickland, does not inspire confidence. The prosecuting lawyer is more impressive. A series of peripheral witnesses are called, including the woman who heard the struggle in the lane with her boyfriend. She had heard a voice in the alley; she thought it was a woman, but later decided it was a man’s voice.

The police surgeon, Mr. Palmer, is called to give testimony. The hairs were no better than a fair match for Spencer. The blood was “‘almost certainly human.’ The laboratory couldn’t be more precise than that” (411). The cosh seems to fit the wound on Leonard’s head, and had been used with a great deal of violence. There is no way that it was used in self-defense: Leonard had been attacked from behind. Frances is astounded: the case “had taken on a life of its own” (412). She thinks of how she and Lilian could destroy the version of Leonard’s death that the police and prosecution have constructed; but she does nothing.

The trial goes on for two weeks without resolution. Frances goes through waves of anxiety and sick relief. Leonard’s father and Spencer’s Mother appear to be aging rapidly, as is Mrs. Wray. Frances does not know when the opportune moment to confess would be. She and Lilian now argue about it every time they meet. Their passion has faded to the point where Frances wonders if it was ever real. Without rental income, the Wrays slip into debt again.

Frances thinks of the 500 pounds Lilian received from Leonard’s death. She thinks that Lilian came out of the situation well: she rid herself of the baby, of Leonard, and pinned it on Spencer. She feels guilty for helping her. She jolts from bed one night to reread Lilian’s letter, focusing on the line “I am ready to do any desperate thing” (415). Increasingly paranoid, she wonders if Lilian had been cheating on her. She burns all of the mementos she has received from Lilian, including the letter. She remembers the button she buried in the potted plant, and rushes downstairs to try to find it. She digs through the soil and finds the nondescript button. Her mother finds her in the kitchen in the morning, covered in dirt and sobbing.

The family doctor visits that day and concludes Frances is suffering from nerve strain. Frances confines herself to bed for several days. Lilian unexpectedly returns one Sunday.

Frances is surprised to see her; she is disheveled and wishes she could have gotten ready for Lilian. Their encounter is awkward. Lilian only came to collect her clothing. Frances feels a rush of abandonment. Lilian is nervous to go upstairs alone so she asks Frances to join her.

Being back in her apartment feels unreal to Lilian, but it makes Leonard’s death feel more concrete. She begins musing about Leonard and Billie until Frances cuts her off, telling her sharply that she is not in the mood to hear her complain about her husband. Lilian is taken aback; Frances does not know why she said it. Lilian begins packing quickly.

Lilian gives Frances an envelope full of money: the rent she has missed paying since Leonard’s death. Frances feels as if their life was “being mercilessly spooled back on to a reel” (421). Frances does not want the money, even though she needs it. It is from Leonard’s insurance payout. Lilian leaves the envelope on the dresser; Frances can do with it what she likes.

Lilian hates the money too. She knows Leonard took the policy out for her sake, but also that Leonard cared for Billie more. Frances asks her why she cares. Lilian tells Frances to stop bullying her. They argue until Lilian embraces her. She wants to know that they will be all right after everything is over.

When they kiss, it is awkward at first; but then some of their old passion returns. They clumsily grasp each other, gradually transitioning into lovemaking while standing. But the passion drains away. Lilian fails to orgasm. They lie down together.

Frances is suddenly struck with bitterness. She looks at the money and says “‘I’m afraid you didn’t quite get your money’s worth’” (426). Lilian is confused. Frances insinuates that the payment is hush money to prevent her from going to the police. Lilian jolts out of bed and starts dressing and grabbing her things.

Lilian tells Frances, “‘I’m sorry if you’re not as brave as you thought you were,’” and “‘If I want punishing I’ll go to Inspector Kempe and get it for something I deserve’” (426). She reminds Frances that she gave up her baby for her. Frances, realizing she has crossed a line, tries to get her to stay. When Lilian smacks her in the face. For a moment, they are both stunned in horror. Then Lilian leaves.

The jury brings back “a verdict of willful murder” (427). Spencer’s trial at the Old Bailey set in two weeks’ time. 

Frances only sees Lilian once before the trial. They meet with the lawyer: Lilian is to give evidence for the prosecution. The prosecutor will Humphrey Ives, KC, an experienced and famous lawyer. The defense lawyer is Mr. Tresillian, an untried man and something of a wildcard. Lilian is cold to Frances in the brief exchange they have. However, she wants Frances beside her in the courtroom.

As the days pass, Frances’s house begins to fall apart due to neglect. She wonders what will become of her mother if she and Lilian have to turn themselves in. She decides to rely on Mrs. Playfair if it comes to it. The “sheer waste and futility” of all the events that have come to pass make her break down and cry.

On the first day of the trial, Frances goes to pick up Lilian from Mrs. Viney’s house. Lilian firmly puts an end to her family’s protests that they should go with them. As the taxi takes them toward the Old Bailey, they are shocked to see the size of the crowd of onlookers. The biggest shock is the “scale and grandeur of it all” (432).

Frances and Lilian are immediately separated, and Frances winds up sitting with Leonard’s family, who greet her gravely. Frances is intimidated by the history of the Old Bailey. The proceedings make her feel tiny, insignificant.

The trial begins. Frances is in such a state of fear it feels unreal. Ives opens the prosecution, rehashing the evidence against Spenser that Frances has already heard. The same witnesses are called as in the police trial. Grotesque evidence is displayed, including the cosh and “photographs of Leonard’s broken head” (434). Tresillian makes the point that the blood on the cosh has not been definitively proven to be Leonard’s, nor has the hair been determined to be Spencer’s. Frances is disconcerted by Tresillian’s apparent nonchalance about the proceedings; Mr. Ives seems like a more proper barrister.

After a lunch break, Charlie Wismuth is called to give testimony. He enters “limping, with his arm in a sling and bruises on his face” (437). Mrs. Grey’s husband apparently beat him up. He gives the testimony that Inspector Kempe relayed in the police trial.

 Lilian’s turn comes next. Frances is nervous, but Lilian is calm as she takes the stand. Frances can barely look at her as she gives her testimony; she knows Lilian’s calm comes from “a devastating indifference to what might happen to her now […] she had become stripped and smooth and colorless” (437). When she is finished, she sits beside Leonard’s father.

Billie Grey is called to the stand. She is dressed inappropriately for the occasion. Ives guides her though her testimony “patiently as he might have done a child” (438). She corroborates the evidence against Spencer and describes the falling out that led Leonard to knock out one of her teeth. Frances begins to notice the similarities between Billie and Lilian. She thinks Billie is like “Lilian at eighteen, Lilian unmarked by the hurried marriage, the still-born baby, the disappointment” (439).

Tresillian is not patient with Billie like Ives was. Through his interrogation, Billie describes her relationship with Leonard. She says Leonard’s “marriage wasn’t a proper one. There was no heart in it” (440). Tresillian’s interrogation and his insistence that Billie’s and Leonard’s relationship was squalid elicits a snort of laughter from the crowd; this makes her break down. Spenser tries to give her his handkerchief, but he is prevented from doing so by the judge. Court is adjourned soon after.

The second day of the trial is easier “only in the sense that they knew what to expect” (442). More evidence is called and analyzed. Ives hits especially on the life insurance policy he claims Leonard took it out suspecting Spencer would attack him.

Spencer is called to the stand and Frances realizes all of her hope has been pinned on this moment. Spencer again and again says he did not kill Leonard. Frances waits; it is like “watching a torture […] knowing that with a word they could stop it” (443).

Spencer’s mother takes the stand and claims he went to bed early with a headache, and only carried the cosh for fun. Her testimony is feeble and has no other professional reference to back it up.

However, the next witness, a neighbor of Spencer and his mother, provides more convincing evidence. He is an old veteran who failed to come forward with evidence at first because he was grifting money from his work: he was supposed to be on a work trip, but he kept the money and stayed home. The neighbor saw and heard Spencer through their apartment window that night; he was nowhere near Leonard. He disliked Spencer but hated to see him go to the hangman for a crime he knows the boy did not commit. Douglas shouts that he is a liar; the judge silences him.

Frances returns home at the end of the day. She goes to the Barbers’ apartment and thinks of Leonard. She and Mrs. Wray discuss the shock of loss. Frances sees how old her mother looks. She asks Mrs. Wray if she would ever despise her.

Mrs. Wray thinks Frances is worried about the house; she says its heart died long ago. She is not worried about leaving it. She only ever wanted for “such ordinary things: a husband, a home, a family” for Frances. She thinks Lilian took advantage of Frances’s kindness.

The final day of the trial arrives; it is dedicated to the prosecution and defense’s closing speeches. Ives rehashes the evidence. Tresillian says “the Crown in this case had failed in its first duty: that of establishing guilt beyond any particle of doubt” (453). The judge goes through each detail of the crime once again before sending the jury to deliberate.

The jury is gone for more than an hour. Frances begins to panic, imagining turning herself in. To everyone’s surprise, Lilian goes across the hall to speak with Billie. Frances cannot hear her conversation. She tells Frances that she told Billie she is sorry for her; she thinks the money should be hers and thinks about leaving it in her will because “‘She’ll get it soon enough that way’” (457).

Lilian does not think there is hope. Frances pours her heart out in apology for her actions in the past few weeks. They look each other and “for a moment the room, the trial, Leonard, the whole summer, their whole affair—it was as if none of it had yet happened” (458). Just then, the trial’s conclusion is called. They go back to the courtroom.

The jury finds Spenser not guilty. The courtroom erupts. Frances is in shocked disbelief; Lilian is crying. They are swept out of the room. Inspector Kempe and Sergeant Heath apologize to Lilian for the outcome; they are disgusted.

Frances and Lilian are separated. Frances feels light, but “The lightness was the lightness of ash. She was scorched, dried out” (461). She thinks of Spencer’s neighbor: he is the one that saved them. She meets Lilian’s eyes for a moment; it seems she turned away. Frances thinks this is the end of their relationship. She leaves the Old Bailey.

She follows the road along the river. She is safe, but “it was the kind of safety that came after a war” (462). At Blackfriar’s Bridge, she briefly considers throwing herself off, but merely sits down. When she turns, Lilian is there.

Lilian asks why Frances left, and Frances tells her she did not think Lilian could look at her; she cannot look at herself. After all they went through, all of Lilian’s “treacly loveliness had faded” (464). Lilian regrets everything, but not kissing Frances for the first time.

They stand together as the sun sets. They have each other, and for now, that is enough.