Deborah Goes to Dover

  Benjamin noticed her haunting South Audley Street followed by her maid. He, in turn, followed Mrs Courtney, marked where she lived, and then waited until he saw the maid, Janet, emerge alone. Benjamin, with the fear of Lady Carsey still in his mind, wanted to make sure they were not being spied on by one of her friends.

  He followed Janet for some distance, waited until she went into a shop, and when she came out, pretended to bump into her.

  ‘I beg your parding,’ he said. ‘That I should harm such beauty.’

  Janet giggled and then recognized Benjamin as being the footman of that woman her mistress had been trying to find out about. So when Benjamin pressed her to take a glass of ale with him, she readily agreed.

  Benjamin quickly found out that Janet’s mistress was a Mrs Courtney and that Mrs Courtney was interested in Sir George and therefore in Miss Pym. Benjamin deftly flirted and flattered the maid, plying her with drink, while his busy mind thought out how to turn this to Miss Pym’s advantage.

  ‘You see,’ said Janet confidingly, ‘I may as well tell you the truth, for Mrs Courtney is an old cat. She is furious because Sir George was seen out with this Miss Pym who she says is nothing more than a servant. She reads about you being Miss Pym’s footman and decides some rich man is keeping Miss Pym and that Sir George should know about it.

  Benjamin had a bold idea. If it did not work, and Miss Pym ever found out about it, she would never forgive him. But then, there was the fear of that dreadful poking hole in the country that she might take him to.

  He grinned. ‘Mrs Courtney ain’t going to like this,’ he said. ‘Is she a great gossip?’

  ‘The worst,’ said Janet, round-eyed.

  ‘You see, the gent wot is keeping my Miss Pym is Sir George himself.’

  ‘Lawks!’ cried Janet.

  ‘You reek like a brewery,’ snapped Mrs Courtney, when her maid returned.

  ‘All in a good cause,’ said Janet with a genteel hiccup. She related Benjamin’s news while Mrs Courtney stared at her open-mouthed and then got out her book and carefully scored out Sir George’s name. Sir George had dared to be rude to her, Mrs Courtney; nay, he had run away from her in the Park. He should be made to suffer.

  It was a prime piece of gossip. The very best gossip.

  ‘You are a jewel, Janet,’ said Mrs Courtney, and with a burst of democracy added, ‘a real friend.’

  As Hannah Pym sadly began to pack her bags for a journey to York, for Mrs Clarence must be found and Sir George must have more stories, the buzz of gossip ran round and round London.

  It was not to reach the ears of Sir George until Hannah was well on her way.

  Benjamin heard the gossip from the other servants in the Running Footman, a pub hard by, and rubbed his hands.

  Sir George would have to make an honest woman of Hannah Pym. Gossip was as damning as the real thing.

  He whistled loudly as he went to pack his own bags until Hannah’s voice from the other room shouted to him to stop and then she came in to remind him severely of the duties of a proper footman. ‘And what are you grinning at?’ she finished.

  ‘I warn’t grinning,’ said Benjamin piously. ‘I was thinking o’ the Bible. Cast thy bread upon the waters. Well, I’ve just cast the whole bleeding loaf!’

  ‘Benjamin,’ said Hannah, shaking her head. ‘Sometimes I think you are stark, staring mad!’

  About the Author

  M.C. Beaton is the author of the hugely successful Agatha Raisin, Hamish Macbeth and Edwardian murder mystery series, all published by Constable & Robinson. She left a full-time career in journalism to turn to writing, and now divides her time between the Cotswolds, Paris and Istanbul.

  Titles by M.C. Beaton

  The Travelling Matchmaker series

  Emily Goes to Exeter

  Belinda Goes to Bath

  Penelope Goes to Portsmouth

  Beatrice Goes to Brighton

  Deborah Goes to Dover

  Yvonne Goes to York

  The Edwardian Murder Mystery series

  Snobbery with Violence

  Hasty Death

  Sick of Shadows

  Our Lady of Pain

  The Agatha Raisin series

  Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death

  Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet

  Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener

  Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley

  Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage

  Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist

  Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death

  Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham

  Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden

  Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam

  Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell

  Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came

  Agatha Raisin and the Curious Curate

  Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House

  Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance

  Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon

  Agatha Raisin and Love, Lies and Liquor

  Agatha Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye

  Agatha Raisin and a Spoonful of Poison

  Agatha Raisin: There Goes the Bride

  Agatha Raisin and the Busy Body

  The Hamish Macbeth series

  Death of a Gossip

  Death of a Cad

  Death of an Outsider

  Death of a Perfect Wife

  Death of a Hussy

  Death of a Snob

  Death of a Prankster

  Death of a Glutton

  Death of a Travelling Man

  Death of a Charming Man

  Death of a Nag

  Death of a Macho Man

  Death of a Dentist

  Death of a Scriptwriter

  Death of an Addict

  A Highland Christmas

  Death of a Dustman

  Death of a Celebrity

  Death of a Village

  Death of a Poison Pen

  Death of a Bore

  Death of a Dreamer

  Death of a Maid

  Death of a Gentle Lady

  Death of a Witch

  Death of a Valentine

  Death of a Sweep

  Copyright

  Constable & Robinson Ltd

  3 The Lanchesters

  162 Fulham Palace Road

  London W6 9ER

  www.constablerobinson.com

  First published in the US by St Martin’s Press, 1992

  First published in the UK by Robinson, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2011

  Copyright M.C. Beaton 1992

  The right of M.C. Beaton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

  ISBN : 978–1–84901–913–2

 

 

 
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