Dance to Your Daddy

'Unburdening herself? Dear me! To what extent?'

'According to Kirstie, to some considerable extent. She has told her the whole history of the toy trumpet, the radio set, the cat, the monkey and the baby doll. Kirstie, who's a sensible, level-headed kid, as befits Gavin's niece, dismissed the revelations as a lot of boloney, but what do you think?'

'That Rosamund, lacking the stimulus of being the misunderstood and persecuted heroine, is seeking compensation.'

'I thought you liked her, and felt sorry for her.'

'I feel sorry for anybody who is under sentence of death. As for liking her, well, as you know, I like very few people, and poor Rosamund has never been among them.'

'Well, you could have fooled me. In fact, you jolly well did. I thought you disapproved of my disapproval of her.'

'I have overwhelming faith in your intuition.'

'Well, be that as it may-and there's no need to pull my leg-what do we do, if anything, about these disclosures? Kirstie, far from being sworn to secrecy, was told that it had been great fun leading us up the garden and that she could jolly well tell us so. When did you begin to rumble Rosamund?'

'First, when it was clear that she had the run of Galliard Hall. Secondly, when she refused to allow me to see her room there.'

'Well, Romilly thought it was dreadfully untidy, you told me.'

'I think the real reason was that she had plenty of ordinary clothes locked away there, as well as her fancy costumes.'

'Wouldn't Romilly and Judith have known that?'

'Judith did know it. She mentioned the matter to me. At first I think they must have believed she was playing into their hands by her eccentric behaviour in the matter of dress. Later, of course, it was borne in upon Romilly that for him to inherit the fortune outright would be infinitely preferable to administering it on Rosamund's behalf if she were found incapable of managing her own affairs. At that stage I was called in for the purpose of certifying that she was of sound mind. Rosamund, whose intelligence is not to be gainsaid, had realised that this was the plan and that, if it succeeded, her life was in danger once she attained her twenty-fifth birthday. I will now confront her with what she has told Kirstie, and see how she reacts, but I shall not do this until we are back at the Stone House.'

They left immediately after breakfast, reached Salisbury at lunch-time, visited the Cathedral, which Rosamund had not seen before, and then made uneventful progress to Ringwood and Brockenhurst, and, from there, to the village of Wandles Parva and so home.

'Did you finish giving me your reasons for thinking that Rosamund isn't the sweet, persecuted innocent she pretends to be?' asked Laura, late that night, after Rosamund had gone to bed.

'Not quite. I was unfavourably impressed by her unnecessary histrionics.'

'Oh, you mean when she took Ophelia on her. Yes, that was rather on the lines of gilding the lily, wasn't it. Anything else?'

'It is understandable that she confessed to your niece the very things which she denied when I talked to her.'

'Yes. What do you make of that?'

'That she was play-acting again. There are matters on which I should like more information. I may get it when I question her tomorrow.'

'What sort of things do you want to know?'

'Details of her life with Felix Napoleon and what was her relationship with Willoughby Lestrange.'

'You think Romilly may have killed Willoughby not only because he was in a position to expose him as an imposter, but because Willoughby would champion Rosamund and see that she came to no harm? Well, that's quite possible, I suppose, isn't it?'

'Decidedly possible, but not, I fancy, very probable. If that were the case, one would be justified in wondering why Willoughby had not come to the girl's rescue long ago, and removed her from Romilly's jurisdiction.'

'Well, I suppose it was difficult, if Romilly had made himself her guardian.'

'We have no proof that such was the case, you know. On the contrary, Rosamund appears to have gone with him willingly.'

'But we've always kept in mind the possibility that Romilly may have kidnapped her after Felix Napoleon's death.'

'Yes,' said Dame Beatrice doubtfully. 'Is it really so simple a matter to run off with an heiress without her consent? After all, it isn't as though Rosamund had been alone in a private house. She was staying-living, in fact- at an hotel. There was plenty of assistance at hand. An abduction, as such, was surely out of the question.'

'She may have been tricked into going off with Romilly, I suppose, without realising what she was letting herself in for.'

'Tomorrow I shall ask her to tell me all about it.'

'Do you want me to sit in on the interview and take notes?'

'I think it might answer my purpose better if you were not present. The antipathy between you and Rosamund is mutual, if I am any judge, and she is likely to speak more freely in your absence.'

'Just as you say. When do you want to have her to yourself?'

'Immediately after breakfast. At the conclusion of the meal I shall send you on some errand which will