“If you must know, I met Darcy at Crockfords last night and he was telling some other chaps about being assigned to educate the heir to the Duke of Eynsford. And I remembered that was where you had gone and something to do with educating a young Australian. Then one of the chaps at Crockfords said, ‘That family is rolling in dough isn’t it? Isn’t the current duke one of the wealthiest men in the country?’ And then someone else said, ‘And unmarried too. Lucky Australian heir, that’s what I say. Maybe I could claim to be another long-lost cousin or something.’ You know, I’d been about to ask Darcy to deliver your slipper to you, but then I thought, the current duke and the heir, both stinking rich and unmarried. How can a girl go wrong? So I hitched a ride with dear Darcy, and here I am.”

“I suppose it’s preferable to your car conveniently breaking down outside someone’s gate,” I said, mentioning a trick she had tried with great success more than once.

“Yes, here I am. Too bad that one of my options chose today to be murdered.”

“Cedric wouldn’t have looked at you twice. He likes young men,” I said. “I mean, liked. You know, he was rather an unpleasant man but I still feel sorry for him. Nobody deserves to end up that way.”

She nodded. “And now the poor, dear, Australian lad will need guidance and companionship more than ever. I do hope they’ll let me stay for a while. I may have to hint to the police that I know more than I actually do, just so that they forbid me to leave.”

I looked up. Belinda had never struck me as the altruistic sort. “Belinda—you weren’t thinking. . . .”

Belinda grinned.

“He’s a boy, Belinda. A mere boy.”

“He’s twenty. That’s only four years younger than me. Hardly any age difference at all. And he’ll need an older and more experienced wife to guide him and introduce him to the ways of . . . society.”

“And to help him spend his money, if I know you.”

“Darling, one does need to be financially secure. I’m sick of never knowing where the next penny is coming from.”

“Well, so am I. But I wouldn’t dream of seducing poor Jack Altringham, especially while he’s in a state of shock over losing his uncle and becoming the duke within a week of coming halfway around the world.”

“All the more reason to let him know he has a friend in a strange country who will guide him through his shock and confusion. And I’d forgotten that he’s now the duke.” She went over to my mirror, and took out her lipstick case from her purse, carefully shaping her lips in bright red. “A rich duke, young and virile too. What more could a girl want?”