[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

dancing. Just a brief moment so as to introduce formally the seventh Duke. I
know how you hate a crowd, but you can do that, Marsh, can t you?
 Alistair will make the introduction.
 No, no; Sidney s got his speech all ready.
 Phillida. That was all Marsh said, but the unaccustomed note of complete
authority in his voice got her attention. She blinked, and took another step
inside the room as if to see him more clearly. Her antennae were quivering;
she knew something was up here, just not what it was, or how it would affect
her.
 But Sidney 
 No. I want Ali.
 I don t have the time for this, she fretted.  Oh, very well, Alistair it
is. Just tell him that all he has to do is introduce the seventh Duke of
Beauville. Surely he can handle that.
 Don t worry, Marsh told her.  The seventh Duke will have his introduction.
Now she was certain that he was hiding something from her, and it worried her
deeply.  Marsh, what do you have planned? You re hiding something. I swear,
Marsh, if you do anything to spoil this evening, I ll 
 Phillida, I will not spoil your evening. Your guests will go away happy.
She might have pursued the matter not that it would have done her much good,
since her brother clearly had no intention of explaining further but shouts
and a crash from somewhere back in the house caught her attention.  Oh, Lord,
what s happened now? I have to go. Iris, Mary, keep an eye on him, she
pleaded, an attempt to enlist the sensible minds in the room onto her side a
futile attempt, as our faces told her. She threw up her hands, left the
library, and then stuck her head back inside.  If you see the children, tell
them to go to Miss Paul instantly, or I shall be quite angry.
The door banged shut, and I made to go as well, but stopped when Marsh said,
 Angry with me, do you suppose, or angry with the children?
 Both, I should think, Iris told him.
 In that case, perhaps I should have mentioned to her that they re in the
conservatory.
Iris and I turned sharply in our chairs, to look through the billiards room
Page 207
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
to the glass house beyond. Indeed, after a few seconds, the anaemic vine
jerked as if its roots were under attack.
 I merely told her that I hadn t seen them, Marsh explained placidly.  Which
I hadn t.
 Marsh, you re terrible, Iris scolded.
The liberated duke just shrugged. He looked so pleased with himself, I could
have hugged him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Taking pity on Lady Phillida, Iris and I went out through the conservatory. A
rattle of half-dead shrubbery followed our opening of the door, followed by an
exaggerated stillness.
Iris spoke into the damp, mildewed air.  Your mother wants you to go back to
your nurse.
 She s our governess, protested a voice from the dead palm.
 I don t care if she s your headmistress, your absence is troubling your
mother, who has quite enough on her mind without you two adding to it.
After a minute of whispered consultation, the bushes disgorged two very
untidy children, leaves in their hair, soil to their knees, and rebellion on
their grubby faces.
 They ve taken over all our hiding places, Lenore complained.
 Even the cabinet in the drawing room, Walter added.
 Can t you play somewhere else? Iris asked.
 We re forbidden to go in the stables wing, and Mrs Butter told us that if
she sees us again near the kitchen, we won t eat for a week.
 That leaves a lot of the Hall to hide in. This whole wing.
 It s all bedrooms upstairs, except the old nursery, and all the rooms on the
ground floor we ve been told to keep away from, too.
 I see your problem, Iris said solemnly.  Shall I ask your uncle if you
might be permitted, just this once, to make use of the billiards room, when
no-one else is using it, and the Armoury, if you promise not to touch any of
the weapons?
 Oh, yes, please!
 But first you report to your governess and let her know you re all right.
Then ask if she would mind if you just kept to yourselves, but reported in to
her once an hour. That may be an acceptable compromise.If you keep your side
of the bargain. And brush yourselves clean before she sees you! Iris called
after their rapidly disappearing figures.
A first-rate shot and a woman with negotiating skills I was amazed that
Mycroft had not kept her as one of his own. When the children had left us,
Iris lingered, clearly wanting to talk, but not sure how to begin.
Page 208
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
 It should go all right, I said, more to provide an opening than from any
enthusiasm for Holmes proposed trap.
 Do you honestly think so?
 Well, I said,  the whole thing sounds uncertain, but it has been my
experience that the more solidly constructed a plan looks to be, the more
vulnerable it is. This one has the virtue of simplicity: Whoever is behind
this, hewill want that evidence of marriage, whether it s Gabriel s
certificate that he has locked away in a bank vault somewhere, or the actual
church register in France. And we do have sufficient man-power to go after
him. Both those factors work in our favour.
 And if he s already destroyed both the certificate and the register?
 Then in a few days we let it be known that Helen has a copy, and where, and
lay the trap that way. It s not perfect, Iris; such things rarely are. But if
any group can lay hands on this particular culprit, it s this one. There was
no point in letting her see my uneasiness; if the plan blew up, we should have
to deal with it then. As a reassurance, however, it was inadequate, and Iris
went off not much satisfied.
I spent the rest of the morning doing a certain amount of hide-and-seek
myself, exploring the crannies and crevices of Justice Hall that I had not
seen before. In this search I was aided by the librarian Mr Greene, to whom I
had brought another sprig of winter-tough rosemary and who in return had lent
me the original plans for the house. The volume was bound in green leather
with gilt embossing, and was too cumbersome to be of any use while moving
about the rooms and corridors, but I borrowed the big desk in Marsh s rooms,
and in that relative privacy made copious notes. What the servants thought of
this friend of their duke s creeping up the servants stairways and through
the corridors on the wrong side of the baize doors, I hated to think, but most
of them were far too busy to enquire, or even take notice.
I saw the Darling children once or twice, and was cautious about opening
passages, lest they follow me inside, but they seemed happy enough with the
Armoury and later constructed a fortress beneath the billiards table.
By the afternoon I was satisfied that I knew the ground as well as anyone
could who had not been born and raised in Justice Hall. I even knew where the
secret passages had to be, the concealed doors and the remainder of the spiral
staircase, although lacking keys I could not investigate other than on paper.
I returned the bound drawings to the library and went downstairs to take my
leave of Marsh. To my surprise, he stood up from his conversation with the
head butler.
 If you could wait a minute, Mary, I ll join you. Are we finished, Ogilby?
 Thank you, Your Grace.
Poor man, I thought; what confusion would reign here on the morrow, when
 Your Grace would be a waist-high child with a Canadian accent.  I m happy to
wait.
 Have one of the cars sent around, if you would, Ogilby. I ll be at my [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]