‘Has madam said anything to you? About calling in the police, I mean?’ Mrs Field began tentatively, perceiving that she had been given some encouragement to continue. ‘She’s gone that quiet on the subject. After all that tearing apart of the house yesterday, looking in all the nooks and crannies, it doesn’t seem right. I could have told her at the time she’d find nothing. Martha and Agnes are good girls. When they clean a room, they do it proper. They don’t go about banging into the furniture and knocking things on to the floor or hiding things under the carpet.’
‘Madam has not breathed a word about the matter to me since yesterday,’ admitted the butler guardedly. He might have added that this caused him disquiet, but thought better of it. One had to be very careful not to be seen to give Mrs Field any morsel which might be used to fuel the flames.
‘Perhaps she’s found it and is that embarrassed to say so after all that fuss she caused,’ said the housekeeper, getting into her stride. ‘Fancy making us search the servants’ bedrooms and have us question them like we were the police.’
‘That was all very proper, Mrs Field, and just as it should be,’ said the butler, quickly applying the rein.
‘That’s as may be, but the girls were that upset. One or two of them might not be that bright, but they did not miss the insinuation that they were thieves.’ Mrs Field leaned forward and spoke hurriedly before the butler could stop her. ‘If you want to know what I think, Mr Mason, I’ve half a mind that madam took the necklace herself, perhaps with a view to pawning it or accidently losing it. And I can’t say I blame her either. Fancy the master giving his new wife the necklace that he gave to Miss Sophia on her wedding day. It don’t seem right.’
‘It is not up to the likes of us to question what the master does or does not do,’ the butler said, eyeing her coldly. ‘And to suggest that madam would behave in such a fashion … well really, Mrs Field, I’m surprised at you. Words fail me, they really do.’
‘All I’m saying, Mr Mason, is that we don’t know anything about madam,’ Mrs Field said quietly, her eyes averted, well aware that she had overstepped the line, but stubbornly still wanting to make her point nevertheless. ‘We don’t know where she comes from or what she was before she came here as Mrs Grayson-Smith.’
‘And we are not likely to either, Mrs Field. It is not any of our business. She is the master’s wife and she is our mistress, that’s all we have to remember.’
‘For all we know, she might have been a parlour maid –’
‘Mrs Field!’
‘All I’m saying is that it doesn’t seem right not knowing anything about her. She’s never had servants before, that I can tell you.’ She glanced at the butler who now looked fit to explode. ‘And if she didn’t take the necklace that means one of the staff must have done. And if it was one of the servants, well you know as well as I do which one it was.’
The butler made an involuntary start. It was almost enough to still the housekeeper’s tongue, but not quite.
‘And it’s no use you trying to protect him, Mr Mason. I’m sure you thought you were doing right by him last time, but bad will out, that’s what I say.’ She drew herself up in the chair as best she could. ‘And if you don’t mind my saying, he’s a wrong ’un, that one, through and through. You might not want to hear it, but it’s the truth. And the master will have to know about it this time. Otherwise there’ll be uproar in the servants’ hall. They don’t like it, being under suspicion, no more than you or I do.’
The butler had visibly paled. If Mrs Field had happened to observe him closely, she would have noticed that the hand which held his cup also trembled slightly, as if he suddenly found its contents were too heavy for him to hold. However, Mrs Field was oblivious to all this. Having had her say and been slightly more forthright in her opinions than she had intended, she had considered it advisable to return to the servants’ hall. She therefore left the butler to sit on alone and in silence while he finished his tea.
‘What you are saying is that Mrs Grayson-Smith would like me to question her servants about the theft of her diamond necklace?’ Rose stared at Lavinia, aware that her mouth was slightly open coupled with a puzzled frown upon her face.
‘Yes, she would,’ said Lavinia, smoothing her hair with her fingers, though it was difficult to suppose, after all the mirror gazing, that the girl could possibly imagine a curl to be out of place. ‘It’s not really that surprising, is it? You have gained something of a reputation for being an amateur detective, solving all those murders and whatnot.’
‘I just happen to have been in a position to help the police with one or two of their investigations, that’s all.’
‘Nonsense,’ retorted Lavinia, ‘and you know it. Why, if it hadn’t been for you, the cases wouldn’t have been cracked at all, or at least it would have taken the police simply ages. I don’t know why you always insist on being so modest about it. If I were in your shoes, I’d simply be telling everyone.’
‘That I don’t doubt for a minute,’ Rose said. ‘But I still don’t understand how Millicent Grayson-Smith would know about what you call my sleuthing. She might well have read in the press about my unfortunately being present in two or three houses where murders occurred. But how would she know that I had helped the police with their enquiries? As far as I am aware, no mention of my detecting skills, or whatever you may wish to call them, has been made in the newspapers, for which I am extremely grateful. Can you imagine it? The ‘countess detective’ or something equally frightful. It would be awful.’
‘Well,’ said Lavinia, suddenly finding that the pattern on the carpet required immediate and greater scrutiny. ‘That may have been my fault. It’s just possible that I may have been talking about your sleuthing at the tea party, the one that I was telling you about. I really can’t remember if I was, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if I had been waxing lyrical about your various achievements.’
‘Oh, Lavinia, you didn’t!’
‘It’s no good looking at me like that, Rose,’ Lavinia said, a defiant look on her face. ‘Having an amateur detective for a future sister-in-law is quite the most exciting thing. All my friends think so, they’re frightfully jealous. You should see some of the hideous and boring women their brothers have married.’
‘And it goes a little towards making up for the fact that, until recently, I was nothing more than a common or garden shop girl?’
‘Well, there is that as well, of course,’ admitted Lavinia. ‘You may call me a snob, and I don’t doubt for a minute that you are right, but if you had been obliged to suffer what I’ve had to this past month when your engagement was announced, then you too would have gone out of your way to stress that the future Countess of Belvedere had something a little more about her than working in a dress shop. Really, women can be so catty about that sort of thing.’
‘I see,’ said Rose, laughing in spite of herself. ‘I suppose I ought to feel offended.’
Lavinia had the grace to blush. Rose herself was fully aware that, initially at least, Lavinia had harboured some reservations about her relationship with Cedric, being firmly of the view that her brother should marry someone within his own class and station in life. With that in mind, and knowing her friend’s character as well as she did, on reflection it did not surprise her one jot that Lavinia had exaggerated to her peers what had become something of an interesting occupation for Rose of late.
‘But, Mrs Grayson-Smith can’t really be serious, can she?’ said Rose, returning to their original topic of conversation before they had digressed. ‘There would be no obligation on the part of her servants to answer my questions and really, why should she think I would have any more luck with them than she has had? I take it that she has questioned them herself?’
‘In a manner of speaking,’ said Lavinia. ‘She delegated the task to her butler and her housekeeper. I understand she did personally demand an explanation from Cooper, her lady’s maid, whom she considers in all likelihood to be the cu
lprit. But the girl is quick-witted and devious, according to Millicent, so she did not get anything out of her, certainly nothing in the manner of a confession.’
‘If she is certain the necklace has been stolen, and has not just been mislaid, then she ought to call in the police to investigate the theft,’ Rose said firmly.
‘I agree with you. But she doesn’t want to do that. You see, she wants to handle the matter as quietly as possible. If you ask me, she’s rather scared of her servants and she’s simply terrified of Edwin finding out that the necklace is missing. It was a gift to his first wife and he gave it to Millicent, would you believe?’ Lavinia sniffed. ‘If I had been her, I think I might have deliberately lost the necklace, but unfortunately she doesn’t feel the same way about it as I do.’
‘I see. When did all this take place?’
‘The theft? Yesterday morning. I’ll say this for Millicent, she didn’t waste any time in telephoning me. She’s hopeful of recovering the necklace. The thief is unlikely to have had an opportunity to dispose of it yet.’
‘What is she proposing exactly? That I arrive unannounced and commence an interrogation of her staff, or am I to pretend that I am an old friend come down to stay for a few days?’
‘Oh, the latter of course,’ said Lavinia. ‘And she suggested that I come as well to make a bit of a house party of it.’
Rose grimaced and said somewhat wearily: ‘I feel I have been to rather too many house parties and gatherings of late. I’ve had enough of people regarding me inquisitively, wondering what it is about me that has induced a man in Cedric’s position to choose me for his bride. To be honest, I was rather hoping for a few days of quiet before the wedding.’
‘You’ll be bored to tears.’ Lavinia said. ‘It can’t be much fun having all those letters of congratulation come dropping in and having to acknowledge them promptly. Though, I daresay you and your mother are writing a few replies every day.’
‘Yes,’ said Rose, fully aware that despite this diligent approach, a mountain of correspondence still required answering. How many times she had written the words: ‘Thank you so very much for your kind letter about my engagement. I am indeed very happy …’ she did not know. Certainly the words had a tendency to appear to her even in her sleep as if they were ingrained on her brain.
‘If it were me,’ Lavinia was saying, ‘I’m sure that I would let them accumulate into a frightening pile. I have always tended to wilt, as a rule, at the thought of putting pen to paper. But I suppose it must be done. The wedding presents will be beginning to arrive soon, and really nothing annoys people more than to have their gift unacknowledged for so long that an apology has to accompany the letter of thanks.’
The recollection of her unanswered correspondence should certainly have had the effect of reminding Rose of her duty to stay and pen her replies. Conversely, it had the opposite effect. If anything, a visit to Crossing Manor, which had only a few minutes ago held little attraction, now seemed distinctly appealing. However, the issue still remained that the visit was unlikely to produce any tangible results with regard to securing the return of the necklace. Rose reiterated this point to Lavinia. To her surprise she discovered that her friend was in agreement.
‘Oh, absolutely. It wouldn’t work at all. I doubt whether you’d get a word out of any one of the servants. Of course, they’d be perfectly polite and deferential and there would be nothing that you could actually put your finger on, but you’d still know they were withholding information. They wouldn’t want to be perceived as telling tales, you see.’
‘I suppose poor Mrs Grayson-Smith must have been rather upset when you told her that it wouldn’t be any good, us coming to stay, I mean?’
‘I expect she would have been dreadfully upset,’ Lavinia said brightly, ‘if I had told her that. But you see, I said nothing of the sort. I promised I would be coming to Crossing Manor tomorrow. I informed her that, due to a prior engagement, you were unable to join me immediately. I was however quite certain you would follow in a day or two.’
‘Why ever did you tell her that?’
Rose felt at once a sense of apprehension. Lavinia was smiling like anything, her eyes bright, her cheeks flushed. It was quite clear, even to the most casual observer, that the girl was up to something.
‘Well, you see, the most brilliant idea occurred to me while I was having tea with Millicent,’ Lavinia said, clapping her hands together. ‘It just floated into my mind as I was taking a mouthful of scone.’
‘Oh, did it indeed?’
Rose could feel the girl’s excitement as if it was a tangible thing. She could also hear it in Lavinia’s voice. It occurred to her that, with all her preamble, Lavinia had been leading up to this very moment.
‘Servants gossip like anything,’ Lavinia was saying. ‘You should hear Eliza on the subject. I expect that’s why servants are always among the first to be interviewed by the police when anything occurs, don’t you? Nothing can happen in a house without the servants knowing about it. Do you see what I’m getting at, Rose? Millicent’s servants must have some idea as to the identity of the thief, particularly if it’s one of them. Of course, while they wouldn’t dream of mentioning a word about it upstairs, I expect it’s all the talk in the servants’ hall. I doubt they gossip about anything else.’
‘I don’t see –’
‘Don’t you? It seems to me so very obvious.’ Lavinia’s voice lowered and became conspiratorial, though it was an unnecessary precaution given that they were alone in the room, no footman in sight. ‘You must come to Crossing Manor with me, but not as yourself. You must come in disguise.’
‘Disguise?’
‘Yes, you must come to Crossing Manor as a servant. My lady’s maid to be precise.’
Chapter Four
‘Oh.’
An inadequate little word, but one that expressed everything Rose felt in those first few moments, foremost of which was surprise. Whatever proposal she had been expecting Lavinia to put forward, it had not been that she arrive at Crossing Manor disguised as a servant. It was such a ludicrous idea any further words escaped her and Rose could do nothing more than laugh and then gape at Lavinia in what she knew to be a ridiculous fashion. The girl in question, meanwhile, stood before her, beaming like the Cheshire cat. It occurred to Rose that Lavinia would, in all probability, have been a most mischievous child. She had given forth her suggestion very much in the manner of a child discussing a game that it knew might not be well received by the grown-ups.
Rose stared at Lavinia’s beaming face, at the shining eyes that swam with merriment, at the hands clasped together in barely contained excitement. There was something about the boundless enthusiasm that was contagious and, in spite of herself, she began to sway. Of course, if she were to be entirely sensible, it was easy to dismiss the idea out of hand and yet, much to her annoyance, there was a certain logic to it which Rose found she could not deny. Furthermore, the idea was beginning to appeal to her. There were, however, certain practicalities to overcome and which could not be swept aside. In the end it was to these that she gave voice.
‘Lavinia, whatever you may think to the contrary, I have never been in service.’ Rose frowned. ‘Regardless of the merits of your scheme, I should never be able to convince anyone, least of all the other servants, that I was a lady’s maid.’
‘Well, I have already given that some thought,’ Lavinia said quickly, clapping her hands together.
Rose groaned inwardly, wondering what was to follow.
‘I daresay you wouldn’t make a very good lady’s maid,’ Lavinia conceded. ‘Not your fault, but there it is. But I have come up with a marvellous idea though I say so myself. We can pretend that Eliza is ill with a head cold or some such thing, and that you are a cousin of hers whom she has suggested attend to me until she is well.’
‘Wouldn’t you be more likely, under those circumstances, to contact an agency and engage a proper lady’s maid?’
‘We could say that
you’re only looking after me for a few days at most. That would explain why I hadn’t contacted an agency to obtain the services of a fully trained maid. If it was only to be for a few days, and Eliza had a willing cousin to hand, there would be no need, you see.’
‘I suppose so,’ said Rose, not fully convinced.
‘I daresay you’re feeling rather apprehensive at the ghastly prospect of being with all the other servants in the servants’ hall. I know I would be, though I would have thought you’d find it rather fun. I’ve discussed it with Eliza, and she says you are not to worry. You see, you’ll be an upper servant. You won’t have to wait on the other servants, they’ll probably wait on you. They’ll serve you dinner and bring you a cup of tea in the morning, that sort of thing. You’ll probably take your coffee in the housekeeper’s sitting room or butler’s pantry with the other upper servants.’ Lavinia gave a high little laugh. ‘I must say, it sounds rather fun, doesn’t it?’
‘I don’t know –’
‘In the evening you’ll sit about doing some sewing and mending. It will be an opportunity for you to question the servants informally. I expect you can always pretend to sew if you don’t really want to do it. Clutch a bit of material and jab at it with a needle, I mean. Eliza can give you some embroidery that she’s made which you can produce if anyone looks inquisitive. And of course, you’ll spend a lot of time with me helping me dress and doing my hair.’ Lavinia held up her hand in anticipation of a protest. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t require you to do anything complicated with my hair. And the frocks I’ll take with me won’t need much pressing. Really, you’ll hardly have to do a thing at all in the way of work.’
Murder in the Servants' Hall Page 3