Dance to Your Daddy

Amabel applied to her father, who produced the piece of paper which Romilly had left with him.

'He told us you moight be comen,' he said. 'He said as how you moight care to see Messus Trelby's room. The gals could show ee whech one et were.'

Rosamund's room was on the second floor.

'Something a bit like Bluebeard's chamber about all this,' muttered Laura, as they traversed the gallery and followed their guide up the second flight of stairs. 'Of course, anything we find in the room could have been planted there since Rosamund left, I suppose.'

'What do you expect to find?' Dame Beatrice enquired. Laura laughed.

'The .22 rifle and a selection of modern clothes, perhaps,' she said.

'By the way, Amabel,' said Dame Beatrice, as the maid halted at a door on the second-floor landing, 'did Luke realise which particular letters were missing? Did he mention that they were those addressed to the Reverend Hubert and Mr Willoughby Lestrange?'

'I coulden say. He never mentioned any special names, Dame Beatrice, mum. He just said how could Mester Romelly expect eight to come when only sex had had the envoite.'

'What has happened to the cook?'

'Her wented home. Weren't no sense in her stoppen. Nothen for her to do weth our mam here.'

'I suppose it did not occur to Luke, or to either of you, that she might have purloined the letters?'

'What for would her do a theng loike that, then?'

'I cannot imagine. Well, let us take a look at Miss Rosamund's room. This is it, I assume?'

The room was large and gloomy. It was panelled in oak from the floor to within a foot or so of the ceiling, the woodwork topped by a plaster frieze. The ceiling itself was plain, unlike the heavily-decorated ceilings of the first-floor and ground-floor rooms. The furnishings consisted of a modern three-foot bed, a bedside cabinet, an enormous wooden chest, an armchair, a dressing-table with a low stool, a bookcase and a double wardrobe.

'Be locked, I daresay,' observed Amabel, as Dame Beatrice went towards the massive piece of furniture. This proved to be so. 'Don't ee fret, then,' the maid continued. There's the twen to thes un en Mester Romelly's room. Oi'll breng ee the key.'

Romilly's key fitted, and they soon had the wardrobe open. It contained a fair selection of dresses and suits and a couple of long coats. On the shelf above these were two or three hats.

'Can you date these garments?' Dame Beatrice asked Laura.

'Not the newest fashions, obviously,' Laura replied, 'but quite wearable if you shortened the skirts a bit, I suppose. The hats-well, they didn't come out of the ark.'

'You mean that anyone appearing in these garments in public at the present day would not cause hurtful comment?'

'Oh, no, of course not. You'd easily pass in a crowd if you went out in them.'

Dame Beatrice was looking for maker's tabs. There were none, but there was blood on one of the coats.

'Amabel,' she said, 'when you and your sister first came here, the family, I believe you once told me, were not already in the house.'

'That's roight, Dame Beatrice, mum. Our vecar, he come to our cottage and told our mam as he'd had a letter to say Galliard Hall was let at last, and there was a place for two maids, and he was be-en asked ded he know of any loikely young women, so he gev us first go, knowen us respectable, loike, and be-en chrestened in church and all that.'

'Were you out of a job at the time, then?' asked Laura.

'No, but us dedden loike et where us was, and me and Voilert, us allus wanted to be together, so both of us gev notece and vecar had been sent key of the house, so us went along and cleaned up and aired out, and our mam helped and so ded our dad.'

'You and Violet were here to receive the incoming tenants, then?' asked Dame Beatrice. 'Do you remember how Miss Rosamund was dressed?'

'Oh, yes, of course Oi do.' She touched a tweed costume and indicated a coarse straw hat. 'They there was what her had on.'

'What impression did you get of her?'

'Oh, quiet loike-nothen much to say. Her brought a rare lot of luggage, though-trunks and suitcases and packen cases-took our dad and Luke all their toime to get et all up the stairs.'

'Packing-cases?'

'Ah, too and all. What the fancy dresses come en, Oi daresay.'

'I suppose they are in that large chest.' They went over to it and Laura lifted the lid, for the chest had no lock. 'Did Miss Rosamund ever refer to these?' Dame Beatrice continued, indicating the theatrical costumes which lay neatly stowed away, with Joan of Arc's mimic armour on top.

'Oh, yes, her said her loiked to take part, but her dedden suppose there'd be much chance down in these parts.'

'She didn't say whether she had been on the professional stage, I suppose?'

'No. Come to thenk of et, her covered up a lettle bet, Oi reckon. When Oi was helpen her onpack and that, her says, 'Fancy dress dances, Oi mean,' her says. 'London an't loike this old hole,' her says. 'Us be gay and