Jury had taken out his notebook and made a note of this, and then said, “I was wondering, Lady Summerston, about your husband’s relationship with Flora’s husband—the man shot at Watermeadows.”

She looked perplexed, or tried to, Jury thought.

He said, “Frank Flood hinted that you didn’t like Servino, but that your husband did.”

She waved her hand over the tea service, as if waving away Frank Flood. “I have no idea what he’s talking about, except that of course Flora and her husband had dinner here a few times.”

Jury smiled slightly. “Well, I expect that’s something of what Frank Flood is talking about.” In addition to the elaborate tea service, on the table sat a box of chocolates, the same brand of chocolates he’d seen at Flood’s. He commented on this. “Both you and Mr. Flood like the same chocolates.”

“Oh, those. Actually, it was one of my late husband’s few indulgences. He loved these chocolates; he found them in Paris and started a sort of running account. They come every so often. I still get them and give some to Frank.” She poured the tea.

“From Paris? That reminds me: when your husband was ill, you used this Malraux Agency that handles, almost exclusively, French servants or at least applicants who are very experienced, have served for long periods of time in one or more posts and come highly recommended. Of course, given the agency’s fees, I expect that anyone they send out is both experienced and highly recommended.”

“You seem to have researched the Malraux Agency rather thoroughly.” Her smile was a bit sour.

Jury matched it. “As I should.”

“She was just a nurse, Mr. Jury.”

“She was just murdered, Lady Summerston.”

Eleanor Summerston’s response missed being a brief laugh. “Yes. I’m sorry. So I expect you’d want to know as much as possible about her.”

“I would. One thing I wonder about is why you chose an employment firm that handles French staff almost exclusively.”

“It’s because of my late husband’s experience in hospital. He’d been wounded in the war and was for some reason deployed to a hospital in Paris. He had several different nurses dancing attendance on him, I imagine.”

Her eyes and voice sparkled as she imagined. “Gerald was very attractive to women. As a matter of fact I had to get rid of two different maids because they were showing entirely too much interest in him.”

“And did he encourage the interest?”

Jury expected a flat No! so was surprised when she said, “Well, I will admit that Gerald loved women. I don’t think he could help himself but to flirt a little. Like any man. After all.”

Not “any man,” thought Jury. A lot of men could avoid a flirtation with a housemaid. After all.