Marcus Grenville seemed not to recognise the sarcasm. ‘I suppose so,’ he said. ‘ But this was different. The caller seemed to know an awful lot about the affair. Got the interpretation all wrong, of course. He implied that I’d killed Ursula because she’d found out we were using poison on the estate. How could he know about that scene of Friday night? My friend put the reporter off – said they couldn’t make anything of an uncorroborated, anonymous call like that, but the journalist was interested and wanted to follow it up. You can’t blame him. I suppose it looks like a good story.’

‘And you’re afraid he’ll persuade his editor to let him investigate the accuracy of the allegations.’

‘No, not that. Not old Henry. He wouldn’t publish anything to cause me embarrassment. But I’m worried the mischief maker might have tried another paper, somewhere not so scrupulous. It wouldn’t take much – a melodramatic headline, a few innuendos calculated to make the reader think the worst – to turn me into a murderer overnight. And the national press would pick it up in no time.’

‘Have you any idea who might be behind the rumours?’ George asked the question quietly. It was followed by a silence. Marcus and Olivia looked at each other. There was a battle of wills. Olivia, inevitably, triumphed.

‘I think it was Craven,’ she said. ‘I’ve never liked him. I don’t know why Marcus continues to employ him.’

Molly was surprised by the intensity of the malice in Olivia’s voice. Surely it was beneath her dignity to concern herself so deeply with a junior employee. The outburst disturbed Grenville too.

‘Look here,’ he said gruffly. ‘ Don’t be too hasty. We shouldn’t make allegations either without proof. I know Craven’s not an easy chap to get on with but I’ve always found him quite straight, you know. I don’t think he’d play that sort of trick.’

He was flushed and uncomfortable. He fumbled for a handkerchief and wiped his forehead.

‘I don’t understand,’ George said, ‘ what motive Craven would have. Has there been an incident on the estate, Mrs Grenville, which has made you suspect him, or any problem with his work?’ He turned to Grenville. ‘You’ve not threatened to sack him?’

‘No,’ Grenville said. ‘ There’s been nothing like that. He can be insolent, bad tempered. That’s why Olivia has taken against him. But he’s a good worker and this estate needs two keepers.’

‘All the same …’ Olivia said spitefully, ‘ I think if Mr Palmer-Jones is looking into this problem for us he should be aware of our suspicions.’

There was a pause. ‘Your suspicions,’ Grenville said. ‘ Your imagined suspicions.’

It was a public rebuke and Molly felt embarrassed for her but Olivia gave no response. She sat, quite still and upright at the end of the polished table, silent, commanding their attention.