Snobbery With Violence - M. C. Beaton [68]
“Did you find a way in?”
“Tell you in a minute.” Harry waited until they were clear of the town and then stopped and turned to her. “I got a copy of the key to the tradesmen’s entrance. I’ll go along tonight.”
I’ll go with you,” said Rose, her eyes shining with excitement.
“No, you most certainly will not.”
“I’d be safer with you than in my room at the castle, policeman or no policeman.”
“We could be the look-out,” said Daisy.
“I don’t know what you were about, singing music-hall songs, Lady Rose,” said Harry.
“King Edward sings music-hall songs,” protested Rose. “His favourite is:
“Hey, hi. Stop, waiter! Waiter! Fizz! Pop! Vm Racketty Jack, no money I lack, And Vm the boy for a spree!”
“But just think if the doctor informs your parents of your behaviour!”
“Then it is up to us to find something dramatic in the records,” said Rose, “so that then no one will be able to think of anything else.”
Dinner was a long and tedious affair, enlivened only by the effect Sir Gerald was having on the grim American, Miss Fairfax. They were seated together and he seemed to consider all her blunt utterances the highest form of wit. The more he laughed, the more Miss Fairfax glowed.
To his amusement, Harry, on the other side of Miss Fairfax, heard Gerald saying at one point, “You really must let me take you around when we are both in London. I see you in midnight taffeta with a high-boned collar, very grande dame.”
“I’ve never bothered about fripperies,” said Miss Fairfax.
“But you must, dear lady,” said Gerald. “And your hair would be magnificent if it were red.”
“Wicked boy,” she said with a great bray of laughter.
So enamoured was Miss Fairfax of Gerald’s company that she only turned once to Harry during the long meal and that was to ask him what the hunting was like in the countryside around. When Harry replied that he did not hunt, she said, “I should have known,” and turned back to Gerald.
Harry had told Rose he would leave the castle at two in the morning. He now wondered whether he should trick her and leave earlier. He had a sudden picture of her standing up in his motor car with her arm around Daisy, singing her heart out. She had looked really young and carefree for the first time since he had known her.
Lady Hedley was complaining that police had been crawling over the roof of the castle all day. “All Lady Rose’s fault,” she said loudly. “The young women of today are prone to fantasies and hysterics.”
Rose felt like shouting a denial down the table but kept quiet. She had told Daisy to use her wiles on Becket and make sure Harry did not change his mind about taking her with him.
Daisy had rummaged in the hamper of costumes for charades and had managed to get two boys’ outfits. Giggling nervously, they put them on and crammed their hair up under a couple of tweed hats. Long overcoats completed their disguise. Before they changed into their costumes, Rose told the constable on duty that she would sleep in her mother’s room that night and suggested he take up his guarding duties outside Lady Had-shire’s door.
Becket had told Rose firmly that if his master planned to leave them behind there was nothing he could do about it. So it was with relief that they saw the car parked on the other side of the moat. They hurried across the drawbridge, Rose clutching Daisy’s arm and looking nervously to right and left.
When they climbed in, Harry let in the clutch and cruised down the slope away from the castle, not switching on the engine until they were well clear. Once out on the road towards Creinton, he stopped the car and got out and lit the headlights, climbed back in and set off again.
Rose found driving in the dark very exciting, fascinated by the square of light the two headlamps created before them.
When Harry reached the outskirts of Creinton, he parked the car under some trees, got out and extinguished the headlamps and said, “Now, Lady Rose, you and Daisy are to stay here with Becket to protect you. I will be as quick as I can.”
“But I wanted to be a burglar,” protested