Murder at the Castle Read Free

to her like this before. She didn’t like it, and she didn’t know how to cope with it. Naked honesty was not her way of dealing with him. Her foot started swinging again.
    â€˜I would like an answer, Delia.’ And then suddenly he knew. ‘It was the music, wasn’t it? Your real passion. Not me, the music.’
    â€˜All right! Yes!’ She sprang to her feet. ‘You are a famous conductor. I was an unknown singer. Now the world begins to know me. I am good, and I get better all the time. This you have helped me do!’
    He had not thought the pain would be so great. He had thought she had killed his love for her. It was a moment before he could say, very gently and quietly, ‘Do you want a divorce, my dear? Now that I’ve given you the start you wanted?’
    â€˜Divorce! No! Not ever! It would make a scandal! And besides . . .’ She stopped abruptly.
    â€˜Ah.’ He paused again, until he had his voice under control. ‘I see. I am your security. You don’t make enough money yet to support yourself, at least not . . .’ He made a gesture that took in their luxurious surroundings.
    â€˜You married me! You made promises. Now you wish to break your promises, to throw me out on the street?’ She stamped her foot. ‘Never will I allow you to do this!’
    John struggled to remain calm. ‘I will not throw you out on the street. I will, and I do, ask you to remember that you, too, made some promises.’
    â€˜I have been faithful to you! Do not dare to accuse me—’
    He held up his hand and, amazingly, she stopped in mid-tantrum. ‘Technically, perhaps, you have been faithful to me. In every other way you have shown me, and everyone else, how little you care for me.’ Again he struggled for control. ‘Delia, we made a bad bargain, you and I. I believed I could bring you to love me. You believed you could endure me for the sake of what you wanted: wealth and fame. We were both wrong.’
    He waited for her to speak. She was silent.
    â€˜I made a decision this afternoon, Delia. We can’t go on this way. I don’t care for divorce, but if you wanted one, I was prepared to give it to you. Since you don’t, there is another solution. It is best if we live separately. When we get home, I will take steps to set up a legal separation.’
    She opened her mouth, her colour rising. Again he held up his hand, and again she subsided.
    â€˜I will make sure you have enough to live comfortably. Not, perhaps, as comfortably as we have been living, but well enough. You will soon earn enough to make up the difference, and we will both be much happier living apart.’ He stood. ‘Now, we won’t talk about it any more tonight. Go and get dressed for the Captain’s party, my dear, and enjoy yourself.’
    Without a word she turned and went into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

TWO
    T hey avoided each other at the Captain’s party. It was not the sort of entertainment that John enjoyed. He knew no one on board, except Delia, and she was, as usual, the centre of an admiring crowd of men. John sat at a distant table, sipping at a very pale drink made with inferior whisky, and heartily wished this ill-conceived voyage were over.
    â€˜Who is that girl, anyway?’ A middle-aged woman garbed in unflattering sequins sat down at the table. American by accent, she was in a belligerent mood.
    She is my wife.
John didn’t say it. ‘I believe she is a singer of some fame.’
    â€˜Hmph! A hussy, that’s what she is. And if that’s an old-fashioned word, it’s the right one, anyway. Every young man on the boat’s buzzing around her like bees to honey.’
    â€˜She is very beautiful,’ said John neutrally.
    â€˜Beautiful is as— What was
that
?’
    A hard shudder rattled the room. John’s glass slid off the table and crashed to the floor. The string quartet in the