Cat Among the Pigeons Read Free Page A

beautifully dressed and was a pattern of what a mother should be.
    But there were times when Lady Veronica gave her well-wishers the slip, tanked herself up and made a beeline for her daughters to assure them of her maternal love. The twins had arrived by train early today, but no one had expected Lady Veronica.
    Mrs. Upjohn was still talking. But Miss Bulstrode was not listening. She was reviewing various courses of action, for she recognized that Lady Veronica was fast approaching the truculent stage. But suddenly, an answer to prayer, Miss Chadwick appeared at a brisk trot, slightly out of breath. Faithful Chaddy, thoughtMiss Bulstrode. Always to be relied upon, whether it was a severed artery or an intoxicated parent.
    â€œDisgraceful,” said Lady Veronica to her loudly. “Tried to keep me away—didn’t want me to come down here—I fooled Edith all right. Went to have my rest—got out car—gave silly old Edith slip … regular old maid … no man would ever look at her twice … Had a row with police on the way … said I was unfit to drive car … nonshense … Going to tell Miss Bulstrode I’m taking the girls home—want ’em home, mother love. Wonderful thing, mother love—”
    â€œSplendid, Lady Veronica,” said Miss Chadwick. “We’re so pleased you’ve come. I particularly want you to see the new Sports Pavilion. You’ll love it.”
    Adroitly she turned Lady Veronica’s unsteady footsteps in the opposite direction, leading her away from the house.
    â€œI expect we’ll find your girls there,” she said brightly. “Such a nice Sports Pavilion, new lockers, and a drying room for the swim suits—” their voices trailed away.
    Miss Bulstrode watched. Once Lady Veronica tried to break away and return to the house, but Miss Chadwick was a match for her. They disappeared round the corner of the rhododendrons, headed for the distant loneliness of the new Sports Pavilion.
    Miss Bulstrode heaved a sigh of relief. Excellent Chaddy. So reliable! Not modern. Not brainy—apart from mathematics—but always a present help in time of trouble.
    She turned with a sigh and a sense of guilt to Mrs. Upjohn who had been talking happily for some time….
    â€œ … though, of course,” she was saying, “never real cloak and dagger stuff. Not dropping by parachute, or sabotage, or being acourier. I shouldn’t have been brave enough. It was mostly dull stuff. Office work. And plotting. Plotting things on a map, I mean—not the story telling kind of plotting. But of course it was exciting sometimes and it was often quite funny, as I just said—all the secret agents followed each other round and round Geneva, all knowing each other by sight, and often ending up in the same bar. I wasn’t married then, of course. It was all great fun.”
    She stopped abruptly with an apologetic and friendly smile.
    â€œI’m sorry I’ve been talking so much. Taking up your time. When you’ve got such lots of people to see.”
    She held out a hand, said good-bye and departed.
    Miss Bulstrode stood frowning for a moment. Some instinct warned her that she had missed something that might be important.
    She brushed the feeling aside. This was the opening day of summer term, and she had many more parents to see. Never had her school been more popular, more assured of success. Meadowbank was at its zenith.
    There was nothing to tell her that within a few weeks Meadowbank would be plunged into a sea of trouble; that disorder, confusion and murder would reign there, that already certain events had been set in motion….

One
    R EVOLUTION IN R AMAT
    A bout two months earlier than the first day of the summer term at Meadowbank, certain events had taken place which were to have unexpected repercussions in that celebrated girls’ school.
    In the Palace of Ramat, two young men sat smoking and