Penelope Goes to Portsmouth

by M C Beaton

  She danced a creditable minuet with Sir George and then sat at his side, where she enjoyed watching the other guests, too happy to be aware that speculative eyes were being cast in her direction and various dowagers were wondering sourly if that confirmed bachelor, Sir George, had fallen at last.

  And then there was the carriage ride home in the small hours of the morning, the air of Covent Garden full of the smells of fruit and vegetables from the nurseries of Kensington as the market prepared for the morning’s trade.

  But nothing, nothing at all in that whole magical evening could match the moment when Sir George helped Hannah down from his carriage in South Audley Street and raised her hand to his lips.

  Benjamin was waiting at the top of the stairs to take Hannah’s cloak, to lead her to a seat by the fire, to lean forward and watch her lips as she poured out all the glories of the evening.

  When she had at last fallen silent, Benjamin wrote down, ‘When will you see him again?’

  Hannah clasped her hands. She knew she could not bear to wait in London hoping he would call. If he did not call, then she felt her heart would break.

  ‘After Brighton,’ she said. ‘We will go to Brighton, and then I shall see him again.’

  Titles by M.C. Beaton

  The Travelling Matchmaker series

  Emily Goes to Exeter • Belinda Goes to Bath

  Penelope Goes to Portsmouth • Beatrice Goes to Brighton

  Deborah Goes to Dover • Yvonne Goes to York

  The Edwardian Murder Mystery series

  Snobbery with Violence • Hasty Death

  Sick of Shadows • Our Lady of Pain

  The Agatha Raisin series

  Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death • Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet

  Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener • Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley

  Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage

  Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist

  Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death

  Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham

  Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden

  Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam

  Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell

  Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came

  Agatha Raisin and the Curious Curate • Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House

  Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance • Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon

  Agatha Raisin and Love, Lies and Liquor

  Agatha Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye

  Agatha Raisin and a Spoonful of Poison • Agatha Raisin: There Goes the Bride

  Agatha Raisin and the Busy Body

  The Hamish Macbeth series

  Death of a Gossip • Death of a Cad

  Death of an Outsider • Death of a Perfect Wife

  Death of a Hussy • Death of a Snob

  Death of a Prankster • Death of a Glutton

  Death of a Travelling Man • Death of a Charming Man

  Death of a Nag • Death of a Macho Man

  Death of a Dentist • Death of a Scriptwriter

  Death of an Addict • A Highland Christmas

  Death of a Dustman • Death of a Celebrity

  Death of a Village • Death of a Poison Pen

  Death of a Bore • Death of a Dreamer

  Death of a Maid • Death of a Gentle Lady

  Death of a Witch • Death of a Valentine

  Death of a Sweep

  About the Author

  M.C. Beaton is the author of the hugely successful Agatha Raisin, Hamish Macbeth and Edwardian murder mystery series, all published by Constable & Robinson. She left a full-time career in journalism to turn to writing, and now divides her time between the Cotswolds, Paris and Istanbul.

  Copyright

  Constable & Robinson Ltd

  3 The Lanchesters

  162 Fulham Palace Road

  London W6 9ER

  www.constablerobinson.com

  First published in the US by St Martin’s Press, 1991

  First published in the UK by Robinson, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2011

  Copyright © M.C. Beaton 1991

  The right of M.C. Beaton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

  ISBN: 978–1–84901–908–8