‘That’s what I’ve been saying all along,’ said Corin.
‘On the other hand,’ said Corinna, wavering, ‘perhaps we should tell Great-aunt and leave her to see what she makes of it. After all, she’s had lots of experience of these things, and we don’t owe all that much to old Romilly.’
‘It may not concern him,’ said Giles. ‘He may have had nothing to do with it. He talked as though he was as surprised as anybody.’
‘He’s a cagey old bird,’ said Corin. ‘I wouldn’t trust him an inch. We really know nothing about him.’
‘I myself,’ admitted Dame Beatrice, ‘knew nothing about him either before I was invited here.’
‘Did he make you any promises?’ asked Corin. ‘Poor old Humphrey was livid about that job he was promised …’
‘Not a job; only an interview, wasn’t it?’ said Giles. ‘I’m not too pleased with Romilly myself.’
‘He lent you a horse.’
‘He promised to lend me enough to buy a share in some racing-stables.’
‘Tancred isn’t very pleased with him, either,’ said Corinna, forgetting her agitation and beginning to giggle. ‘He’s terribly funny when he’s cross. But you haven’t given Great-aunt a chance to answer the question. Do tell us, Aunt Adela. Did he promise you anything?’
‘Not in the sense you mean, but I feel that my visit here has been amply rewarded. I have made the acquaintance of Rosamund.’
‘How delightful for you,’ said Corin ironically. ‘To my mind, she’s just about the most fishy young female I’ve ever encountered. I’m pretty sure that at some time or other she’s been on the stage. She’s the hammiest half-baked pro who ever gave up the business to become an old man’s darling. Once you’ve been on the stage yourself, you can’t be deceived by another who has ever worn the buskins.’
‘I myself have sometimes thought that Rosamund was putting on the motley for our benefit. How long have you known Romilly Lestrange?’ asked Dame Beatrice, apparently changing the subject. ‘You say you know nothing about him, and you are certainly not old enough to have known him before he emigrated to Kenya. I wonder whether Luke was in service with him there?’
‘It’s no good, Great-aunt Adela,’ said Corinna, looking alarmed. ‘You can’t get us back to the subject of – to the subject that way. We’re not going to say any more. It’s my secret, and, although I’ve told the boys about it, they can’t, in decency, give it away unless I agree, and I don’t agree, and I’m sorry I said as much as I did. Corin’s right, I am a panicky fool.’
‘I myself had come to the conclusion that there is a secret,’ said Dame Beatrice, ‘and I have already set my wits to work. You see, perhaps there are three other wise monkeys in this house besides yourselves.’ She leered benignly at Corinna, who said, nervously:
‘Maybe there are, and maybe there aren’t, but, if there are, I don’t believe they’ll be much inclined to talk, either. It isn’t their business, anyway. I just got in a panic.’
‘You were asking how long we’d known Uncle Romilly,’ said Corin, under the impression that he was changing the subject. His sister scowled at him, but he went on: ‘Not so very long, actually. We’ve been here once before, that’s all, to what he called his house-warming. He’d just rented Galliard Hall and wanted to show it off.’
‘And were all his relatives invited?’
‘I suppose all the younger ones were, except for Willoughby and Hubert. At any rate they didn’t turn up. Mother and father weren’t asked, I do know that, because we had rather a toss-up with mother about it, and grandma sent for us and read us the riot act, and said what a scoundrel Uncle Romilly was. I asked whether he was rich, and she said that his gains, whether considerable or not, were bound to be ill-gotten. I said that wouldn’t matter, provided he cut us in on them. She wasn’t pleased, and Corinna and I were shown the door, and got very sticky letters from grandma later on.’
‘Did you know the late Felix Napoleon Lestrange?’
‘Never heard of him,’ said Corin.
‘Oh, I have!’ exclaimed Corinna. ‘Grandma once let fall a derogatory remark about him when I was about ten and she didn’t know I was in the room. I had hidden behind the curtains while they were having dinner, in the hope of sneaking out and securing some of the marrons glacés and crystallised ginger and grapes and things, before the servants came in to clear the table.’
‘Greedy little beast!’ said Corin. ‘I don’t remember that you shared anything with me. Marrons glacés, indeed!’
‘I didn’t get what I was after. Pilbrick spotted the bulge behind the curtain and said, “Now just you come out of there, Miss Clotilda, and pop straight up to bed, else I’ll tell your mamma about you, see if I don’t.” Pilbrick was an old beast.’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Corin. ‘He lent me five pounds once, when dad had already supplemented my allowance and I dared not go to him for any more. Speak as you find is my motto. Anyway, I’d prefer Pilbrick any day to the Sweeny Todd they’ve got here.’ As he made this statement, he winked conspiratorially at Dame Beatrice. His sister intercepted the wink and confirmed Dame Beatrice’s suspicions by shouting:
‘You promised! You promised! Don’t you dare give me away!’
‘Of course I shan’t,’ said Corin. ‘Soit tranquille. Je suis chevalier d’honneur, moi.’
‘I’ve never noticed it. Oh, Lord! I wish that wretched policeman would take himself off. I want to get out of this house! We simply must rehearse that new number, and there isn’t a piano in the place except for the one Judith plays, and she won’t let us touch that.’
At this moment Kirkby knocked at the door and was invited to come in.
‘If you’ll give me a list of your theatrical engagements for the next few weeks, sir,’ he said, addressing Corin, ‘I need not keep you any longer.’
‘You mean we can just simply go?’ asked Corinna.
‘That is what I mean, miss. I see no reason at present to trouble you any further, but I must know where I can find you if I want you. I may say that the same applies to you, Mr Provost. I have your address. You won’t change it without letting me know, I hope.’
‘Are you leaving the house, then?’ asked Giles.
‘For the moment, yes, sir, but my enquiries will still be centred on the neighbourhood.’
‘Oh, well, of course.’
‘I, too, will leave you,’ said Dame Beatrice.
‘You’ve nothing to report, I suppose?’ asked Kirkby, when he and she were in the hall.
‘Ask me again tomorrow. I make no promises, but there is a small matter I wish to investigate. It may lead to nothing, but I have a faint hope that it may be a little bit of help. However, it is not a thing capable of proof, so it can be nothing but a pointer, I fear.’
Hearing their voices, Romilly came into the hall.
‘You are off, then, Inspector?’ he said. ‘Are we to expect you tomorrow?’
‘Not unless anything else turns up, sir. You say you’ve still no news of Mr Willoughby Lestrange, so there’s nothing more I can do until we trace him. You may be wanted when they resume the inquest, sir.’
‘Whatever for? I have already identified the body! What more can I do?’
‘The poor young gentleman was not in clerical garb, sir. What made you so certain that he was the Reverend Hubert? Did you know him very well?’
‘Not to say very well, but well enough to know who he was,’ said Romilly. ‘Most young clergymen on holiday leave the dog-collar at home nowadays.’
‘Oh, yes, sir, that’s right, of course. They do.’
‘I’ll see you to your car,’ said Romilly affably. Dame Beatrice waited until he and Kirkby were descending the broken steps which led to the drive, and then she made a bee-line for the kitchen, where lunch was being prepared. She was warmly greeted by Amabel.
‘Well, Oi declare now, ef et eddn’ Dame Beatrice! Anythen us can do, mum? Be ee stayen or goen?’
‘Going, I’m afraid.
This is only a flying visit. I wonder whether, when you tidied my room, you found my fountain pen? It was a particular favourite of mine, although I have others. I may have dropped it somewhere else, of course, but, as I wanted to visit Mr Romilly and let him know at first hand how Rosamund was getting on, I thought I would ask you whether you had seen it.’
‘No, that Oi haven’t, mum, and oi’m sure our Voilert haven’t, neether, else her’d have told Oi. Can you get on with they veg, Voilert, whoile Oi goes up to help Dame Beatrice have a search round, loike?’
‘Ent no pen up there,’ said Violet flatly, ‘else Oi’d a-found et, wouldn’t Oi? But go up and see, for your satesfaction, loike. Eddn nothen to do but they tetties.’
Arrived in the room which Dame Beatrice had occupied, she told Amabel to close the door.
‘Now,’ she said loudly, ‘if you wouldn’t mind having an extra good look round. As I say, it’s quite likely I did not leave it here, but I wish to be certain. A fountain pen is such a small thing that it could slip down anywhere.’
‘Very good, Dame Beatrice, mum,’ said Amabel. ‘Let’s have the bed to bets first.’
Dame Beatrice allowed her to begin stripping the bed and then she stepped across to the shutter which blocked out the squint. As she did so, there was the slight sound of a door being very softly closed. She darted to her own door, opened it and was in time to see the back of Judith as its owner reached the main staircase. She allowed several seconds to go by, then she tip-toed to the door of the adjoining room. There had been no sound of a key, but the door, it seemed, was self-locking and she found that she could not open it. She went back to her room and said:
‘Go on with what you are doing. There is something I want to ask you which I do not wish anyone to overhear. Amabel, you are hiding something from me. At least, you think you are. I am going to tell you what it is, so that, if ever the subject comes up, you will be able to say, with truth, that you did not tell me about it.’
‘Oh, no, please, now, Dame Beatrice, mum! Oi don’t want to get into no trouble!’
‘Were you in service when Mr Romilly gave what he called his house-warming party?’
‘When he first took over Galliard Hall? Why, yes, mum, me and Voilert and cook, we was all here, haven been bespoke by Messus Judeth to get the house ready for hem and Messus Trelby.’
‘Do you remember who came to the party?’
‘Why, the same as this toime, ’cepten for yourself, Dame Beatrice, mum.’
‘I see. So the Reverend Mr Lestrange was not present?’
‘No, mum. I reckon he weren’t envoited.’
‘Nor his brother, Mr Willoughby?’
‘No, mum. It were loike Oi say.’
‘Yes, I see. And the Reverend Hubert and Mr Willoughby were not invited this time, either, were they?’
‘Oh, Dame Beatrice, mum, how would Oi know a theng loike that, then? Teddn no business of moine who get envoited to the house!’ Her voice held a pleading tone.
‘Is it Luke’s business, then? Luke takes the letters down to the post-box at the gates, doesn’t he?’
‘That eddn nothen to do with Oi!’ But Amabel looked scared.
‘Look, Amabel, a man has been murdered.’
‘That eddn nothen to do with Oi, neether!’
‘It will be, you know, if you withhold information from the police. Luke made a remark, didn’t he, before anything dreadful happened? He meant no harm by it, I’m sure. I want you to tell me what it was.’
Amabel had given up stripping the bed. She now sat down upon the mattress.
‘Oi don’t want nothen to do with the police,’ she said sullenly. ‘Oi don’t know nothen, so I can’t say nothen, can Oi?’
‘Then I shall ask Violet.’
‘Her won’t say nothen, neether. Teddn no business of ourn, I tell ee. Best ee leave et alone.’
‘And Luke won’t admit to me what he said to you both, of course. Luke is Mr Romilly’s creature. Did cook hear the remark Luke passed?’
‘No, her was haven her afternoon off.’
‘So Luke did pass a remark.’
‘You’re setten traps for me!’
‘I’ll tell you what Luke said, if you like. You can confirm it, or you can deny it. It will not make the slightest difference because, you see, I know.’
‘Well,’ said Amabel, ‘ef ee knows, ee knows, so what call have ee to bidger-badger me loike thes here? Oi never thought, when Oi just mentioned it casual-loike to Mess Corenna ——’
‘I won’t badger you any more, Amabel. At some time or other – it is immaterial when – Luke overheard Mr Romilly say that he could not understand why the Reverend Hubert and Mr Willoughby had neither turned up nor sent a note of explanation, but Luke remarked to you and Violet that he did not see why they should have done either, since he knew for a fact that neither of them had been sent a note of invitation to join the house-party. That is so, isn’t it? He always reads the envelopes before he posts the letters, and he knew that nothing had been sent to Mr Hubert or Mr Willoughby Lestrange. Why, then, should Mr Romilly have appeared so concerned at their non-appearance when he knew perfectly well that they had not been invited? That was the substance of Luke’s remark, I think, and that is what you told Miss Corinna, isn’t it? Well, you’ve done more good than harm to Mr Romilly, so do not worry any more about it.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Oxdansen—Crowner’s Quest
‘He’s for a jig, or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps.’
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
* * *
(1)
‘An odd circumstance has cropped up, Dame Beatrice,’ said Kirkby. ‘You remember, I suppose, that Mr Romilly Lestrange identified the body as that of Mr – or, rather, the Reverend – Hubert?’
‘Indeed I do.’
‘Well, it seems much more likely to have been that of his brother, Mr Willoughby.’
‘Really?’
‘You don’t seem particularly surprised. Don’t tell me you’d thought so, all along.’
‘Oh, no, I certainly had not thought that. As to my not appearing to be surprised, well, when we were told that Willoughby had disappeared, I assumed that he, too, had been murdered, because, according to my reading of the case, that would have been the obvious thing to have happened. As I told you, I made it my business to find out why neither of the brothers, the sons of the illegitimate Mr Caesar Lestrange, had attended the family reunion. It seems clear that they did not go for the very obvious reason that they had not been invited.’
‘You told me that that is what you thought. The interesting thing now, in view of this violent death, is to find out why they, among all the members of both families, should have been left out.’
‘Exactly. And why, having been left out, one of them should have been more or less in the vicinity of Galliard Hall and should have been murdered. What makes you think that the body is that of Mr Willoughby and not that of the Reverend Hubert?’
‘Because a member of his parish, which was in Buckinghamshire, has come to us with evidence that the Reverend Hubert went out to take up a position as vicar of the English church in Bella Luganti, on the Italian Riviera, where there is a flourishing community of English exiles in retirement. We’ve checked on this, and it’s true. He’s there, all right, and is greatly concerned to learn of his brother’s death.’
‘Is he returning to this country?’
‘We shall ask him to attend the inquest and positively identify the body, as Mr Romilly seems to have been in error.’
‘In that case, I hope you will promise him police protection when he comes.’
‘You think that will be necessary?’
‘I think it would be a wise precaution.’
‘Against whom? I can see that you have somebody very much in mind, Dame Beatrice.’
‘Yes, I have. In fact, I have three persons in mind, two who might be in collusion, and the third who might be unconnected with them, in so far as motive is
concerned.’
‘No use asking you, I suppose, who they are?’
‘Well, I hesitate to name persons against whom I have no real evidence. I can merely think of a possible motive for their wishing to have the two brothers out of the way.’
‘But evidence of motive would help us enormously, Dame Beatrice.’
‘When I used the words I was ill-advised. Evidence of motive is too strong and exact a term. All I meant was that, if certain suppositions of mine are right, then a motive would appear to emerge, but that is as far as I ought to go. The evidence given at the inquest should make the issue clearer.’
‘And with that I shall have to be satisfied, I suppose.’
‘Only for the time being. I must confess, though, that, in the interests of his own safety, I wish you could have found some evidence of the identity of the corpse other than the testimony of the Reverend Hubert.’
‘You don’t mean he’ll say it’s his brother’s body if it isn’t, surely! You don’t mean he’s your lone wolf of a suspect? It’s established that he’s been on the Riviera for quite a little time, you know.’
‘No, he is not my third suspect, but I fear for his safety, even if you give him police protection, should he put in an appearance at the inquest.’
‘If we protect him, Dame Beatrice, he’ll be all right, I assure you.’
‘In England, yes. In Italy?’
‘Oh, I see. But to whose advantage would it be to liquidate him?’
‘I am still not prepared to mention names, but you can see that it might be to the advantage, perhaps, of the person or persons who killed his brother.’
‘If it is his brother, as I say. The next problem is that, if Romilly Lestrange was wrong, why was he wrong?’
‘Presumably because he did not know either of the brothers particularly well, and that is readily conceivable, especially if he had been introduced to both of them, we will say, at the same time, and a great number of years ago, perhaps. He has been living in Kenya until fairly recently, you know.’
Dance to Your Daddy (Mrs Bradley) Page 14
