God Save the Queen! by Dorothy Cannell Read Free Book Online

being an exact science, it is rarely one-hundred-percent successful, even in places with the shadowy history of Gossinger Hall. And it would not have lightened Mr. Ferncliffe’s emotional load to know that Boris Smith was blithely unaware that he was in deep trouble.
    This was typical of young Boris, who tended to live entirely in the present. He had promised his grandmother Edna to behave himself on the school trip. And at the time he had meant every word. He had agreed that although her bleached blond hair might be deceiving, she was getting too old for any more shocks to her nervous system. He had also promised that he would not go telling any of the kids in his class that his Great-Aunt Mabel was her Ladyship of Gossinger Hall. Gran had explained that if the board of governors got hold of that piece of information they might order her to cough up the school fees for the last four terms. And then where would they be? Out on the street with a mattress and a saucepan, that’s where. Boris had assured Gran, before heading off to join his classmates, that he understood completely.
    But, typically, he had forgotten his promises. He modestly refrained from taking credit for getting into mischief with Edward Whitbread, because his had only been a supporting role, requiring little more than a promise that he would keep his mouth shut about their visit to the medieval toilet and subsequent high jinks.
    And afterward, in the spirit of camaraderie, Boris had told Edward about Great-Auntie Mabel. The other boy had crossed his heart and promised not to blab and Boris almost trusted him; but suddenly it seemed to him that, given the chance that this afternoon’s activities would catch up with him, he might as well go whole hog against Gran’s wishes and beard the old bat, otherwise known as Lady Gossinger, in her lair. Perhaps he could squeeze five pounds out of her.
    Boris had been about to open the door marked “Private” when it swung open with a groan that startled him into sitting smartly down on his bottom and scooting under a table covered with pamphlets to avoid getting barked in the shins. Before he could get up, two men came out and started talking, and he decided to stay where he was rather than be ordered to scram and in all likelihood lose his opportunity to sweeten up Great-Aunt Mabel.
    “Must say I feel the most frightful cad,” said the elderly man with the bald head and the stoutish build of one who rarely, if ever, refuses custard with his pudding. “Hate to see a woman cry.”
    “Afraid it came as a bit of a blow to her, Uncle Henry,” responded the younger man, who looked to Boris like a real toff.
    “I suppose you think I should have told her in private, eh, Vivian? No need really for you or Sophie to be there. Knew that, of course. But I’m a coward by nature.” The elderly man looked deeply sorrowful. “Always have been, always will be, I suppose. That’s why I married Mabel in the first place, if you want the whole truth of it.”
    “There’s no need to bare your soul to me. Some things best left unsaid, Uncle Henry.”
    Boris realized these two starchy-mouthed geezers were talking about Gran’s one and only sister, his Great-Aunt Mabel.
    “Hang it all, Vivian,” the older man said, “got to talk to someone. Made a damn silly mistake the day I met Mabel. Thought she’d come after the job as housekeeper. Been advertising for one all week in the paper. Never occurred to me she was part of a tour group. She looked the part, do you see? Like a housekeeper, I mean. And she wasn’t wearing the headphones, so you can understand, can’t you, m’boy, how I got the wrong end of the stick?"
    “I don’t get what you’re saying, Uncle Henry.”
    “Know it sounds damn odd, m’boy, but when I asked her if she’d be happy at Gossinger, she thought I was popping the question. So what was there for a chap to do?”
    “You could have told her she’d misunderstood.”
    “There is that.” Sir Henry