03 - Murder at Sedgwick Court Read Free Page B

they don’t. It’s
either brewed so strong you’d swear it was treacle, or so milky you’d never
think it had seen a tea leaf.’
    ‘That
doesn’t surprise me, Miss Denning, so it doesn’t. They prefer coffee on the Continent,
so I’ve heard. Horrible, strong, bitter stuff too. Now, you just sit there and
take the weight off your feet, and Dolly here will get you a nice cup of tea,
won’t you, girl? Why, I think I might join you.’
    She
glanced at the kitchen maid, who scuttled off to fulfil the task assigned to her.
Presently two steaming cups of tea and their accompanying saucers were
deposited in front of the two women, and Eliza took a grateful sip.
    ‘Ah,
that’s better. Honestly, Mrs Broughton, I think half the time those foreigners don’t
even let the water boil, the number of lukewarm cups of tea I’ve drunk since
I’ve been away.’
    ‘Well,
you’re back home now,’ said the cook comfortingly, taking a sip of her own tea,
‘and that’s all that matters. Things can return to normal, or as normal as they
can be with a new master in place. You’ll feel as if you’ve never been away, so
you will.’
    ‘But will
they?’ asked Eliza, removing her hat and depositing the hat pins on the table.
‘Return to normal, that is? I’m not so sure about that. You’ve probably not
heard from Mrs Farrier yet, but her ladyship’s only gone and invited her new friends
from the Continent to come and stay, hasn’t she?’   
    ‘No!’ The
cook looked clearly alarmed. ‘Why, Mrs Farrier’s said nothing to me about it.’
    ‘I expect
she’s only just been told about it herself. I did beg m’lady to write, but
she’d have none of it. She wanted to surprise her brother, so she did. Although
I’d say she’s had something of a nasty surprise herself, what with Miss Simpson
being here. I’m not one to gossip, as you know, but I rather think she was
hoping that his lordship might set his cap at quite another young lady of her
acquaintance.’
    ‘Indeed?’
said Mrs Broughton, leaning towards her conspiratorially. ‘And who might she
be, when she’s at home, this young lady to whom you’re referring?’
    ‘Miss Emmeline
Montacute, that’s who, heiress to the Montacute fortune. You must have heard of
her surely, or her father at least? He, no I tell a lie, his father I think it
was, was the founder of those great Montacute department stores you hear so
much about. Them that sell readymade clothing and household items and the like.
Travelling on the Continent, she was, she and her companion, just like m’lady,
and they got to talking. Quite taken with each other they were. Before long
everything was “Miss Emmeline thinks this” and “Miss Emmeline thinks that” as
if Lady Lavinia had known her for years. Still, I was pleased to see some
colour come back into m’lady’s cheeks.’
    ‘Well, I
never. And is she one of them, then, that’s coming to stay here at Sedgwick?
Mrs Farrier will be tearing her hair out getting the rooms ready.’ The cook
paused as her thoughts went to the housekeeper who’d already been into the
servants’ hall to grumble about Lavinia’s unexpected arrival.
    ‘She is
indeed, Mrs Broughton. And happen we’ll have one of those foreign counts
staying under our roof as well! I tell you, it’s going to be all go here, so it
is!’ 
    ‘Yes,’
grumbled the cook rousing herself. ‘And like as not I’ll have to go about
changing the menus. What suits a shop girl and the like, is hardly likely to
meet with the approval of an heiress and a count, even if he’s foreign, to say
nothing of Lady Lavinia. Her ladyship likes her food all fine and dandy, so she
does, not like his lordship.’ She gave a heavy sigh. ‘Well, I can’t stay here
gossiping, Miss Denning. Not when there’s work to be done.’ And she was gone to
round up the scullery and kitchen maids, to inform them in no uncertain terms
that they’d have to work their knuckles to the bone over the coming days,