Callander Square - Anne Perry [43]
“Christina still not better?” he said with a touch of anxiety. “Why hasn’t she seen a doctor? Get Freddie to look at her, if Meredith can’t come.”
“Not necessary,” Augusta replied, reaching for cold salmon. “It’s only a chill. Cook prepared her a tray. Have some of the salmon. It’s one Brandy caught last weekend in Cumberland. Very good, don’t you think?”
He took some and tasted it.
“Excellent. Are you sure it’s nothing worse? She’s been in bed for a long time.”
“Quite sure. A spell in bed will do her no harm. She’s been overdoing it lately. Too many parties. Which reminds me, have you remembered we are dining with the Campbells this evening?”
He had not remembered. Still, it could have been worse. Garson Campbell was an interesting fellow, dry humor, if a little cynical; and Mariah was a more than usually sensible woman. Hardly ever heard her indulge in gossip or the endless flirtations that so many women seemed to engage their emotions with.
“Was that Reggie Southeron here this morning?” Augusta asked.
“Yes.”
“What did he want, on a Saturday morning?”
“Nothing really. In a bit of a lather about the police upsetting the servants with a lot of questions and insinuations.”
“Upsetting the servants?” she said incredulously.
He looked at her across the salmon.
“Yes. Why not?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Brandon. Reggie never gave a hoot about the servants, his own or anybody else’s. What did he intend you should do about it anyway?”
He smiled in spite of himself.
“What makes you think he intended me to do anything about it?”
“He didn’t come here to drink your Madeira. You always give him the worst, and he knows it. What did he want?”
“He suggested I should speak to Robert Carlton to see if he can persuade the police to let the thing lie. They’ll probably never discover the truth, anyway, all they can achieve is to waste their time, and stir up a lot of gossip. He could be right.”
“He is right,” she agreed tartly. “But I doubt that is why he is concerned. And I would be surprised if that odd young man—Pitt, I think his name is—will let it die until he has explored a good deal further than he has so far. But you can try, by all means, if you wish. Don’t let Reggie make a fool of himself. It will rub off on all of us. Apart from the embarrassment to Adelina, poor creature.”
“Why should Reggie make a fool of himself?” He had no intention of telling her about Dolly. It was not a matter for a decent woman to know of.
Augusta sighed.
“Sometimes, Brandon, I wonder if you affect to be obtuse merely to annoy me. Reggie wishes to keep the police from questioning his own servants too closely, which you must know quite as well as I do.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” He did not wish to have to explain to her something which would both shock and distress her. She would find it sordid; as indeed perhaps it was, but a common human failing which women were apt, since the offense was against them, to view differently, and without the compassion a man might feel.
Augusta snorted and pushed away her empty plate. The pudding was brought in and served. When they were alone again she looked at him coolly.
“Then perhaps I had better tell you, before you unwittingly say something clumsy and embarrass us all. Reggie sleeps with all his parlormaids, so no doubt he is afraid the police will discover it, and be less than discreet about it. They may even think he has wandered farther afield.”
He was stunned. She was speaking about it as if it hardly mattered!
“How on earth do you know?” he said hoarsely.
“My dear Brandon, everybody knows. One doesn’t discuss it, of course; but one knows.”
“Adelina?”
“Of course she knows. Do you take her for a fool?”
”Doesn’t she—mind?”
“I’ve no idea. One doesn’t ask, and naturally she doesn’t mention it.”
He was stunned. He could think of no reply adequate to his confusion. He had always known that women’s minds and emotions worked on lines not comprehensible to men, but never before had it been so forcibly