Sally James Read Free

kitchen. After a cursory glance about him he made for the door leading onto a passage that connected with the store room and the butler’s pantry. Here the silence was if anything deeper and Susannah, somewhat alarmed by now, hurried through the baize-lined door to the large hall which was the centre of the house, several hundred years older than the rest, which had been added at various times.
    Ben unhesitatingly walked across to a door which stood open and Susannah caught the sound of a log falling in the grate. She followed the dog and entered the room, to halt abruptly on the sight of her brother sprawled in a big chair before a large fire, a glass half full of wine tilted precariously in his hand as his arm rested on the arm of the chair. Ben went to lay his head on his master’s knee and Julian opened his eyes and stared blearily at the dog.
    ‘Ben? Where’ve you been?’ he asked in a slurred, thick voice and Susannah, exasperated, spoke briskly as she moved into her brother’s line of vision.
    ‘Shut out of the house which is apparently bereft of servants! But, as the master seems to find nothing wrong with being castaway so early in the morning, it is perhaps a trifle too demanding to expect the servants to be at their work!’
    ‘Eh? What? Susannah! Where the devil did you spring from?’
    ‘I came to bring the list of jewels back. I’ve copied it, as you wished. I’ll leave it here on the table and trust you do not throw it into the fire in mistake for another log!’ she said tartly and tossed the rolled sheets of paper onto a table behind her.
    ‘Oh, don’t shout! My head hurts!’
    ‘Hardly surprising!’ she snapped. ‘You’d be better in bed, Julian, if you could find anyone to put you there.’
    ‘They’ve all gone to London,’ he explained slowly and then an attack of sneezing gripped him and for a few moments he was helpless.
    ‘Who have? The servants?’ Susannah demanded when he was once more able to speak.
    ‘Yes. To open the town house for my grandmother. She’s due back from Cheltenham soon.’
    ‘Lady Horder? But you cannot have sent all the servants! There must be someone here. Where’s your man?’
    ‘Carter? How should I know?’ he asked irritably. ‘They haven’t been near me all morning, although I rang the bell.’
    ‘You don’t look capable of walking over to it,’ Susannah said frankly, eyeing him with disgust.
    ‘You don’t understand. I’ve been in bed for the past few days. Caught a fearful cold after getting wet to the skin the other day. The bridge had gone, after the storm. You know the little plank bridge across the river, near Pettit’s farm - ‘
    ‘Of course I do not! I’ve scarcely seen the house above half a dozen times.’
    ‘No, no, of course, forgot,’ he explained. ‘It was gone, and I had to wade through the river. Icy cold it was. Up to my armpits in the middle. Never known it so deep. Everard climbed up a tree and swung across, but the branch broke and so I had to wade in. Not keen on that sort of acrobatics anyway,’ he added thoughtfully, ‘but Everard didn’t seem to mind. Everard - what day is it?’
    Susannah eyed him. fulminating.
    ‘Wednesday,’ she said curtly, ‘though why the day should matter to you I cannot think.’
    Julian was looking at her in dismay.
    ‘Wednesday? You’re sure? Oh, Lord! Where are the servants?’ he added, struggling to his feet and clutching the arm of the chair to save himself from falling, sending the wine glass hurtling to the floor where it shattered into tiny fragments. ‘Carter! Where the devil are you, man? Carter! Swale!’
    ‘What is amiss? Why are you so suddenly concerned over the day? What does it matter if it is Wednesday?’ Susannah asked, puzzled, and turned in some relief as a deprecating cough from the doorway announced that Carter, Julian’s quiet and self-effacing valet, had appeared in response to his master’s summons.
    ‘Because Everard and Percy Tempest are coming to