Elizabeth is Missing

Maud is at home, puzzling over various items in a drawer and the unfamiliar rooms, when Peter bursts through the door shouting about Maud’s missing persons ad about Elizabeth. Maud doesn’t recognize him and asks him if he knows how “stairs moved like this” (240). She confuses him with her reference to Douglas. Once she recognizes it’s Peter, she says, “Was it you who moved the stairs? [...] It’s exactly the kind of spiteful thing you would do” (240).

When Helen comes in, Peter tells her about the ad. Helen apologizes to Peter and he storms off. When Helen asks Maud why she did it, Maud denies it but then says, “Women. Contact your husbands” (242). She’s remembering the article in the local paper during World War II, reminding women who had run away from their husbands to let them know that they were still alive.

Maud had kept every article and ad about a missing person when Sukey was first missing; the idea of Sukey having run away comforted Maud: “It meant there was a chance, that one day we might find her again” (242-43). One night, she showed her newspaper clips to Frank while at the pub.