A Kiss in the Dark Read Free Page B

prating of would be a dumpy, moldy little place.”
    “This is not where we are staying, Beau,” she said.
    “Let us have tea and you can tell me all about it,” he said as Mrs. Armstrong came through little door bearing a loaded silver tray. The tantalizing aroma of fresh gingerbread rose from the tray.
    “I have sent Jennet up to deal with your cousin,” Tory informed Cressida.
    Cressida discovered that the drive had given her an appetite, and enjoyed a good tea, starting with hot buns, clotted cream, and strawberries, and working her way through to the gingerbread.
    “How did you find this place?” Cressida asked Beau.
    “I went to the castle. Lord Dauntry directed me here.”
    Cressida put down her teacup with a clatter. “Lord Dauntry? What was he doing there?”
    “Your wits are gone begging, my girl. He owns the place.”
    “But he said he had to leave at once for a meeting of the parish council. He could not even wait to accompany me here.”
    “He must have got back sooner than he expected.”
    “There has not been time. He never left. He was lying to me. There is something strange going on here, Beau. He said the little cottage I want is falling apart. I stopped there. It is in perfect repair, and with such a sweet little iron table and chairs on the balcony.”
    “You are better off here, if you want my opinion. A dashed bargain. The place is a toy castle.”
    “I don’t want a castle!” she said petulantly. “I want the cottage—and I mean to get it.”
    “Well, if that ain’t just like you, Sid, wanting what you can’t have. You are becoming spoiled in your old age. All the attention you have been getting in London is going to your head. That is half your trouble. Why, we shall be merry as grigs here. The Sea Dog is on her way. Before the week is out we shall be out on the bounding main. I’ll teach you to sail.”
    This was something to look forward to. Cressida knew she would not find any cottage to suit her better so late in the season, and had decided to remain at the dower house—until she removed to the Swiss cottage.
    “Have you decided how many of your servants you’ll need?” he asked. “Muffet is fighting it out in the kitchen now with Mrs. Armstrong.”
    Muffet was Lady deCourcy’s butler, and in a pinch, general factotum. It had been decided that he was the only servant who would accompany Cressida to the cottage. Miss Wantage insisted she would act as lady’s maid, for she liked to make herself useful. Lady Dauntry had offered the service of a few servants who were familiar with the ways of the cottage, its stove, washing dolly, et cetera.
    “Mrs. Armstrong seems capable. I believe I shall leave my housekeeper at Tanglewood to keep an eye on things there. She will need the maids, as there will be a deal of dust and muss with the repairs going forth.” And when she removed to the smaller cottage, she would need fewer servants.
    “Let us go and settle in, then. I want a ride to look over the place before dinner.”
    “Ride past the cottage and see if there is anyone about,” Cressida said. “I saw a man there earlier. Lord Dauntry said it is not occupied. I should like to know what a bottle of wine and two glasses were doing on the table.”
    Beau left and Lady deCourcy went abovestairs to speak to Miss Wantage. She found her propped up in the bed with a fully loaded tea tray before her. Miss Wantage hastily drew the sandwich she had been devouring under the coverlet and sighed.
    “I feel I owe it to you to try to eat a bite to build up my strength,” she said. “I wonder if you would just bring that water basin by my bedside, in case I cast up my accounts. I fear I am a notoriously poor traveler. The faintest jarring of the coach upsets my stomach. But I will be better in a day or two, Cressie. Just leave me in peace and quiet. Who is to get out your night things, I’m sure I don’t know, for the girl who brought up this tray is as close to an idiot as makes no