“You also wanted to stop him then, Countess?”

“Of course I did. I have great family pride, Inspector. How could I stand by idly while my brother disgraced our whole family by adopting a French valet? It was unthinkable.”

“If your brother had succeeded in adopting this French valet, it would have presumably cut you and your children out of any inheritance too?”

Irene gave a dry, cold laugh. “Obviously you know little about inheritance laws, Chief Inspector. This estate is entailed. That means that the title and property goes from eldest son to eldest son. And failing that, to the oldest male relative of the line. The rest of us inherit nothing. And since my brother did not think it was his job to spend any family money on me or my children, then I could hardly have been worse off with a new duke who was an ex-valet. In fact, he would probably have been a good deal more sympathetic to my current condition.”

The chief inspector suddenly swung around to face Jack. “So it seems, young man, that the only person with a strong motive for getting your uncle out of the way in a hurry would be you—the very person who admits to wandering in the grounds early this morning. The very person whose knife was found sticking out of your uncle’s back.”

“That’s a load of old cod’s wallop,” Jack said. “I told you, I never wanted to be a duke in the first place. I wasn’t the one who contacted the family. They came looking for me. I’d have been quite happy to stay working with sheep all my life. At least I knew who I was there. At least I knew who I could trust.”

“I’ll need to have my men take your fingerprints, sir,” the inspector said. “In fact, I’ll need fingerprints from everyone in this room.”

“Outrageous,” the dowager duchess said. “Do we look like the sort of people who go around sticking knives into people? My sisters and I are elderly ladies. Even if we were murderously inclined, I hardly think that we possess that kind of strength.”

“A matter of formality, Your Grace,” Fairbotham said. “This young man has told me that you took the knife from him and then made him put it in the tack room. So one might expect to find your fingerprints on the knife handle. And if this blade is as sharp as I think it is, then it would not take a great deal of strength to stab someone—especially if you were lucky enough to penetrate between the ribs.”

“Goodness me.” Princess Charlotte fanned herself again. “In my young days, one did not discuss this sort of thing, especially the mention of body parts in front of ladies.”

“I take it you’d like to find out who murdered your nephew, Princess,” the inspector said.