02 - Murder at Dareswick Hall by Margaret Addison Read Free Book Online Page A

servant’s room ready. As if I haven’t
enough to do what with all the bother as to whether to arrange a room for Miss Isabella’s
guest to be got ready in the gentlemen’s corridor or in the ladies’, and then
Miss Josephine deciding after all that we’d better get both ready just to be on
the safe side. And jolly good it is that we did too, otherwise his lordship
would be laying his head down in the Pink Room!’
    ‘I am
afraid Pearl is correct, Mrs Hodges,’ said Crabtree with a sigh, ‘insofar as
Lord Sneddon has brought a servant with him. I was just on my way to
tell you.’
    ‘Were
you now?’ said Mrs Hodges allowing some scepticism to enter her voice as she
eyed the empty whisky glass suspiciously. ‘And what precisely do you mean by
that, Mr Crabtree?’ She continued getting more and more frustrated by the
situation. ‘Either he’s a valet or he’s not. Can’t think what he can be if he
isn’t, unless his lordship saw fit to bring his chauffeur with him.’
    ‘No,
indeed,’ agreed the butler. ‘What I meant, Mrs Hodges, is that the man purports
to be Lord Sneddon’s valet but that he bears no resemblance to any valet that I
have ever had the experience of knowing.’
    ‘Why’s
that, then?’ demanded the housekeeper, interested despite the threat of
additional work for her already overstretched staff. ‘Do you think he’s a footman
acting up to be a valet, or what?’
    ‘No,
not even that,’ said Crabtree pausing for a moment before continuing so as to create
maximum suspense. ‘I would be very surprised if the man has ever set foot in a
grand house such as this before, let alone ever worked as a servant in one. But
don’t just take my word for it, Mrs Hodges, have a look at the young man
yourself and let me know what you think.’
    Feeling
rather apprehensive and curious in equal measure, the housekeeper marched into
the servants’ hall and was brought up short by the scene that unfolded before
her eyes. A young man of dubious appearance was seated on a chair, his tie
askew and his hair sticking up all over the place, with his arm trying to
encircle the waist of Doris, the under housemaid and persuade her to sit on his
knee. Doris in turn was shrieking and giggling for all she was worth as she
dodged his advances.
    ‘Stop
that at once!’ bellowed Mrs Hodges. ‘You, my girl,’ she said, pointing a finger
at the unfortunate Doris, ‘can get out of here and finish your dusting or
whatever else you’ve got left to do. And as for you,’ the housekeeper turned to
glare at the dishevelled young man, ‘you should know better. Call yourself a
valet. I’d expect better behaviour from the boot boy!’
    ‘Ah,
come off it, missus,’ protested the young man seemingly unfazed at being
admonished by the housekeeper. ‘We was only having a bit of fun. That don’t
harm anyone, do it? We was just having a laugh, like.’
    ‘My
goodness,’ exclaimed Mrs Hodges, hands on hips. ‘Wherever were you brought up?
Have you never heard of speaking the King’s English?’
    ‘I talk
all right, so I do,’ the young man replied sulkily. ‘I don’t hold with all
those airs and graces and bowing and scraping. That all went out with the War,
so it did. I’m as good as the next man, I am.’
    ‘Then
why, pray, are you a valet by profession if you don’t agree with being in
service?’
    ‘’Cause
it suits me, that’s why.’
    ‘Have
you been in service long,’ enquired Crabtree, appearing suddenly at Mrs Hodges’
elbow and making her jump. ‘Do you know the first thing about what the job
entails?’
    ‘No and
no,’ replied the young man moodily. ‘But I’m a quick learner; that’s why his
lordship took me on. Besides,’ he continued, looking at them slyly, ‘I’m good
at doing other things apart from valeting.’
     
    It was
inevitable, Rose supposed, that she and the baron would run out of things to
say and that he would feel obliged to let her turn to speak to the gentleman on
her