The Earl and Countess of Hadshire arrived the following day. Maisie Chatterton’s mother came, then the Petersons’ aunt, and so the arrivals continued. A harassed Lady Hedley was glad that it was only the girls who had summoned parents and relatives.
Servants were run ragged trying to find accommodation for the new guests and for their servants.
“We should never have let you come here,” said Rose’s mother, Lady Polly. “Most weird. I learn there has been no proper protocol with regard to the seating at the dining-table. And when that poor gel was found dead, not even a bit of half mourning.”
“Did you pay Hedley to invite me?” asked Rose.
“Pay? Why should we do that?”
“I learned that he had charged the girls’ parents – the ones that were failures at the last season – for the invitation, promising to find them husbands. The men were charged for a chance at getting their hands on the Americans’ dowries.”
“We must leave at once!”
“We can’t,” said Rose. “The police are not letting anyone leave until everyone has been thoroughly questioned.”
“My maid tells me a story about the deaths is in the
“I am sure some of the castle servants have relatives in that run-down village,” Rose said, “and one of the villagers saw a way to make some much-needed money.”
“Shocking! And why didn’t Hedley do something about the housing of his tenants? There is republicanism afoot, not to mention Bolshevism, and bad landlords just play into their hands. Your father has had strong words with Hedley about it.”
“I am glad you are here, Ma, but I am not an invalid. I cannot stay in bed the whole time. I am going to rise and go down for luncheon.”
Lady Polly listened in horror as Rose gave instructions to Daisy to find one of her divided skirts and a plain white blouse. “You must
“It’s a corselet.”
“Where is your long corset? A woman should be properly
Rose decided to he. “The doctor said my clothes should be as loose as possible.”
“Oh, in that case…but not a blouse and skirt for luncheon. The tea-gown, Daisy. The pink one. No padding, Rose? You will look most odd. Still, I am sure they will excuse your appearance. Perhaps a little rouge, Daisy.”
“No rouge,” said Rose. “And Daisy, just brush my hair and tie it back with a ribbon. I am, just for once, not going to have the weight of those pads on my head.”
¦
Luncheon was a fairly silent affair. The Petersons’ aunt, a Miss Fairfax, had been overheard to say loudly and forcefully that her nieces should never have been allowed to visit such a monstrous place and the men were hopeless and dilettante. She was a large, raw-boned woman with square hunting shoulders, a prominent nose and sharp grey eyes. Her voice had an American twang, which might have been pleasing to the ear had she not used her voice to condemn everything in sight. Hers was practically the only voice raised at the table, where everyone was now seated in correct order of precedence.
Rose was seated on the marquess’s left:and her mother on his right. At the other end of the table, her father was on the marchioness’s right and Lady Sarah Trenton’s father, Viscount Summertown, on her left. Harry was with the least-distinguished in the middle of the table. He had Maisie Chatterton on one side and Mrs. Jerry Trumpington on his other.
At last, over the pudding, Margaret Bryce-Cuddlestone raised her voice. “Is there no end to
Everyone looked at her. Her voice was high and strained. “Questions, questions, questions,” she raged. “Tin sick of policemen. Lord Hedley, can’t you use your influence and get rid of them?”
“Fve tried,” he said heavily. “But now the press are baying for blood, there’s no way of removing Kerridge. I phoned the Prime Minister several times but his secretary keeps telling me he’s busy.”
Rose found her voice. “Don’t you think it would be better to help the police all we can? I mean, it looks as if the maid was killed and we don’t know about Mary Gore-Desmond.”
Inspector Judd appeared in the doorway. He whispered something to the butler, Curzon, who approached Lord Hedley and inclined his head, murmuring in a low voice.
“Tell Kerridge I’ll be with him shortly,” said the marquess. “This is all I needed.”
“What’s happened?” asked Lady Polly.
“The maid’s suitcase has been dredged up from the moat. Her belongings were all in it and it had been weighted down with bricks.”
Looking down the table, Rose saw that the enormity of the situation they were in had struck all the guests at once.
And Mrs. Fairfax made matters worse. “So someone here’s a murderer,” she said.
? Snobbery with Violence ?
Nine
– EDGAR SMITH
Bertram-Brookes was the first to find his voice. “You cannot mean one of us, surely.”
“Who else?” demanded Mrs. Fairfax.
“My dear lady,” drawled Bertram, screwing his monocle into one eye and glaring at her through it, “it appears to have escaped your attention that we are surrounded by servants. The lower orders, Mrs. Fairfax. All prone to violence and nastiness.”
“Hear, I say,” mumbled Harry Trenton, rolling an anguished eye in the direction of the wooden-faced butler.
“Seems obvious to me,” said Mrs. Fairfax. “Servants seem regular enough. You lot don’t.”
“The weather really has turned cold,” said Lady Hedley, “but the autumn colours are quite beautiful.”
“Quite,” several voices agreed.
“It’s no use changing the subject,” said Mrs. Fairfax. “Someone kills Mary Gore-Desmond. Her maid knows who it is and ends up in the moat.”
“It wasn’t
“Oh, really? How interesting.” Mrs. Fairfax glared at Margaret. “Well, if you ask me, who else would want a maid hushed up but her mistress?”
There was a shocked silence. Margaret, her face white, fled the table.
Sir Gerald Burke, his eyes alight with malice, smiled at Mrs. Fairfax and said, “Amazing. Quite amazing.”
“What is?” she demanded.
“Americans are always being damned as vulgar and coarse. I never believed it before. After all, your nieces, ma’am, are a delight. But now, here you are, a prime example of everything that is coarse and unrefined.”
“Take that back, you whipper-snapper!”
Lady Hedley rose to her feet as a signal for the ladies to join her, seemingly ignoring the fact that the dessert had not yet been served.
To everyone’s relief, Mrs. Fairfax announced loudly that she was going to He down.
Once the ladies were gathered in the drawing-room, Mrs. Jerry Trumpington said, “Wouldn’t it be too marvellous to be like that? I mean, to say exactly what one is thinking?”
