The Floating Lady Murder Read Free Page A

the corridor to the kitchen. We arrived just as mother was serving up a steaming bowl of porridge oats, a dish I have never been able to tolerate. I noted with rising alarm that a place had now been set for me.
    “Sit down, boys,” Mother said, pouring out a fresh pot of tea. “It will be cold soon.”
    “Mama,” I said weakly. “I told you that I’d already had breakfast at Mrs. Arthur’s.”
    “And did Mrs. Arthur give you a nice cup of wheat grass tea?” Mother asked sweetly.
    “No, but—”
    “Was there a slice or two of brown toast?”
    “No, but I—”
    “And does Mrs. Arthur give you fresh cream with your porridge?”
    “No, of course not, but—”
    “Then you haven’t had breakfast.” Mama touched the back of my chair and beamed at me. It was a smile that would brook no resistance. “Sit, Theodore,” she said.
    With a sigh, I shrugged my shoulders and took my seat. Harry was already tucking a napkin under his chin. “Why do you fight it, Dash?” he asked, amused by my evident discomfort. “You can’t possibly expect to do a full day of work without one of Mama’s breakfasts.”
    “I’ve already done a day’s work,” I replied. “You’re just too pig-headed to acknowledge it. You just aren’t—” I broke off as Mother leaned in to fill my tea cup. “Thank you, Mama. You just aren’t prepared to be reasonable, Harry.”
    “What’s this all about, Dash?” asked Bess, who had now taken her place next to Harry. “You never did show me the notice.”
    I passed across the newspaper I had rescued from the floor. “ ‘Staff required,’ ” she read. “Why, that’s wonderful! Harry, whatever is the matter with you? Mr. Kellar’s magic show isthe finest in the world! It’s perfect for us! He travels for months at a time, often to exotic foreign countries! Australia! China! Russia! Can you imagine? There might be as much as a full year of steady work for us. Perhaps more!”
    “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell him,” I said. “He won’t hear of it.”
    “I just don’t think it’s quite the right opportunity for us,” my brother said, staring down into his tea cup.
    “Harry,” I said with considerable heat, “you and I are only one step removed from taking up our old positions at the tie factory. It’s the only steady work we’ve had in months. Is that what you want? Do you want to be a tie cutter for the rest of your life?”
    “No, Dash, but neither can I throw myself at every job you find in your newspaper. You’ll have me working as a carnival busker next. Besides, I think that Mr. Kellar’s day has passed.”
    “Indeed?” Bess folded back the newspaper and began to read. “ ‘Mr. Kellar has been entertaining in Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago for the past three seasons. He perplexed the natives of Philadelphia for 323 consecutive performances at the Temple Theater; he amused New York for 179 consecutive performances at the Comedy Theater on Broadway; and at the Grand Opera House in Chicago he found it worth his while, last summer, to give 103 consecutive performances before bringing the run to a close over the strenuous objections of the management.’ ”
    “Sounds like a career in trouble,” I said with lifted eyebrows. “The poor man can probably barely keep body and soul together.”
    “Eat your porridge,” said Harry.
    “ ‘Mr. Kellar’s fame is scarcely less luminous upon distant shores,’ ” Bess continued. “ ‘In recent years he has appeared before Queen Victoria at Balmoral Castle, Emperor Napoleon at the Palace of St. Cloud, the Czar of Russia at the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg, and Dom Pedro II of Brazil at the Imperial Palace of Rio de Janeiro.’ ”
    “That’s absurd!” cried Harry. “Napoleon has been dead for more than fifty years!”
    “I believe it may have been a reference to Napoleon III,” I said.
    “Oh. Well, it’s misleading, in any case.”
    “ ‘The principal appeal of Mr. Kellar’s