The Incident at Fives Castle (An Angela Marchmont Mystery #5) Read Free Page A

her.’
    ‘Oh, goodness,’ said Miss Foster, who in seven years as part of the Strathmerrick household had never yet managed to get any of her charges to do as she asked. ‘I think you ought to listen to your mother, my dear. I think we should all like a nice, peaceful family party at Fives Castle, without any excitement.’
    ‘Excitement?’ said Gertie. ‘There’s no fear of that.’ She sighed. ‘Don’t worry, Mother, I promise I shall be on my best behaviour. I shall smile sweetly at everyone and pass the salt and look demure and not swear—out loud, at least. And afterwards I shall go upstairs into the attics and scream out my boredom where no-one can hear me.’
    ‘Don’t be silly,’ said Priss. ‘You know you’ll enjoy it, really. You always do.’
    ‘Perhaps it will snow,’ said Gertie. ‘That would be fun. I haven’t been tobogganing in years.’
    ‘I’m sure you will find plenty of things to do,’ said her mother. ‘We shall all have a nice, quiet time of it and return to London quite refreshed.’
    ‘I do hope so,’ said Miss Foster. ‘I don’t like too much excitement.’ She drifted out of the room.
    ‘No fear of that,’ said Gertie again.
     

THREE
     
    Angela Marchmont applied her lipstick with care, and was just about to put on her hat when the telephone-bell rang.
    ‘Hallo, Mrs. M,’ said a familiar voice at the other end of the line. ‘All ready, then?’
    ‘Hallo, Freddy,’ said Angela. ‘Yes, I was about to set off.’
    ‘Good,’ said Freddy Pilkington-Soames. ‘I was just calling to make sure you weren’t going to funk it.’
    ‘Why on earth did you think I was going to funk it?’
    ‘Because I saw your face when Gertie attacked you and insisted on your coming. You wanted to say no but couldn’t think of an excuse on the spot.’
    Angela laughed.
    ‘That’s true enough,’ she said. ‘I’m not in the habit of turning up to stay at the homes of people I barely know. As it happens, however, Lady Strathmerrick personally sent me a very kind invitation, which made me less uneasy about it. She also mentioned that the American Ambassador and his wife will be there, and that clinched the thing, as they’re old friends of mine whom I haven’t seen in years.’
    ‘I see,’ said Freddy. ‘Angela, is there anyone in the world you don’t know?’
    ‘Oh, probably,’ said Mrs. Marchmont. ‘Besides, I might ask the same thing of you.’
    ‘I am known and beloved by everybody, naturally,’ said Freddy. ‘That’s why I get invited everywhere. Not like my friend St. John, who has become persona non grata ever since he went all militant. He was desperate to come to Fives with us as he’s been mooning after Gertie ever since I introduced them a few months ago. She thinks he’s an idiot, but he won’t listen to reason. He just keeps on sending her silly poems and making sheep’s eyes at her in the hope that one day she’ll notice what a dashing fellow he is and go and live with him in a grimy hovel in Whitechapel.’
    ‘I do hope you’re going to behave yourself,’ said Angela. ‘I’ve seen what mischief you and Gertie can get up to in combination.’
    ‘Of course I’m going to behave myself,’ said Freddy. ‘I shall be a paragon of virtue. Difficult to be otherwise, really, in the presence of the parents and family of one’s friends.’
    ‘Are they all as—er—lively as Gertie?’ asked Angela curiously.
    ‘No, nothing like it,’ said Freddy. ‘The Earl and Countess are nice enough but pretty staid, all told. Priss is lovely to look at—and doesn’t she know it! But she’s engaged to a bright young politician, so there’s no fun to be had there.’
    ‘I should think not,’ said Angela.
    ‘Then there’s a younger sister, Clemmie. She’s about eighteen or nineteen. She’s nowhere near Gertie’s equal for tricks, but she shows promise for the future. The last time I saw her she was at the sulky stage and wouldn’t smile. Apparently,