Rose followed him out of the room and down the stairs. ‘We’ll go out onto the terrace at the back,’ said Mr Jerry. ‘You know, I didn’t want to come. I told my wife I had business in the City to attend to. But she did screech so. She doesn’t like me, so why she wanted me along is beyond me. Ah, here we are. Nice and cool. Let’s sit down instead while you explain why you were spying. You were thick as thieves last year with Captain Cathcart during that business at Telby Castle, so I suppose the pair of you are up to something.’

Rose decided it would be better to tell the truth. ‘Your wife paid Mr Pomfret the sum of ten thousand pounds. I think Pomfret might have been blackmailing her.’

‘I challenged my wife over that. She said it was a loan.’

‘Mrs Stockton and Lord Alfred also paid Pomfret ten thousand pounds each,’ said Rose.

‘Blackmail! Oh, my dear, if only that were true,’ he exclaimed.

‘Why?’

‘Don’t you see, if it were indeed something so awful that she paid out that great sum of money and if I got my hands on it, I could divorce her. Captain Cathcart is investigating the murder, is he not?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then I shall offer to pay him anything he wants to find me proof.’

‘Can you think what it might be?’

‘A man, perhaps. But what man? I mean, look at my wife. I will go back and search for you. And I will talk to Captain Cathcart later.’

‘I am so sorry I hid in your room.’

‘Don’t worry about it. You have given me hope.’

CHAPTER NINE

Even if we take matrimony at its lowest, even if we regard it as no more than a sort of friendship recognised by the police . . .

Times are changed with him who marries; there are no more by-path meadows, where you may innocently linger but the road lies long and straight and dusty to the grave.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Dinner on the previous nights had been long, dull affairs. The guests mostly concentrated on the delicious food and largely ignored each other.

Lady Glensheil did not notice, mainly because she liked the sound of her own voice and filled in the long gaps with monologues about the state of the nation, the weather, and the difficulties of getting good outdoor staff. She would probably have complained about the difficulty of getting good indoor staff had not so many of them been waiting on the guests.

That evening, however, began badly over the soup and proceeded to get worse. Mr Jerry Trumpington had already been drinking quite a lot. His shoulders were usually hunched like a man expecting another blow, but for once he was sitting up straight. There were two hectic red circles on his cheeks.

‘What a jolly bunch we are!’ he cried.

‘Oh, do be quiet, dear,’ admonished his wife.