Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen Read Free Book Online Page B

little more loving and someone to play with her,” I said. “It can be lonely in the nursery. I certainly found it so. But then I had a really kind nanny.”
    â€œChildren need a strict routine and discipline. One must not be soft with them, Georgiana, as you will find when you have some of your own.”
    â€œI thought I was destined to be a lonely spinster with my bloom gone,” I said with a grin as I headed for the drawing room door.
    As I reached the first landing I jumped as the lavatory door to my right opened about an inch and a voice hissed, “
Pssst
. Is that you, miss?”
    â€œQueenie?” I said, staring at the portion of her moon face visible through the crack in the door.
    â€œCome in here, miss. Sharpish.” She opened the door and almost dragged me inside.
    â€œWhat are you doing in a family bathroom?” I demanded. “You know you are supposed to use the servants’ facilities.”
    â€œYes, well, I had to go in a hurry and they’re all the way down in the basement,” she said.
    That was when I realized that my feet were decidedly damp. The floor had a good inch of water on it and more was slopping over the sides of the lavatory. “What in heaven’s name?” I began.
    â€œSorry, miss. I had a bit of an accident,” she said. “I finished me business, got up and pulled the chain, and the chain sort of flew up and knocked me hat off.”
    â€œYour hat?”
    She gave me a sheepish grin. “I must have forgotten I still had it on. I was worrying about unpacking your clothes like you said and I took off me coat, but forgot about me ’at. Silly me, eh? And now it’s got knocked down the loo.”
    I peered through the depths of murky water and spotted a bright hint of red poking out from the pipe. “It’s still there. Have you tried getting it out?”
    â€œI ain’t putting my hand in there!” she exclaimed in horror. “It’s full of you know what.”
    â€œQueenie, any minute now this water will soak through the floor and start dripping through the ceiling below. And if my sister-in-law sees it and finds out you’ve been using her lavatory, then I’m afraid you’ll be sent packing—sharpish, as you would say.”
    â€œWell, what I am going to do?”
    â€œRun downstairs. Ask for old towels for the floor and see if you can find something to hook out the hat.”
    â€œThen everyone will know it was me,” she wailed.
    â€œQueenie, I am not about to take the blame for flooding a lavatory for you,” I said. “Now either you roll up your sleeve and pull that hat out yourself or you find something to do it with. Go on. Run. Before it’s too late.”
    The best she could manage was a spirited waddle but she soon returned with towels and a poker. “I just said there had been a bit of an accident in her ladyship’s bathroom,” she said. “I didn’t go into details.”
    A few minutes later the hat was retrieved—now a soggy mess of red felt.
    â€œI don’t think I’ll ever get it back in shape, do you, miss?” Queenie said, holding it out mournfully.
    â€œQueenie, you can’t wear a hat that has been down the loo,” I said in exasperation. “Throw it in the dustbin. Immediately. And finish drying the floor too. I’ve a good mind to send you back to your parents today.”
    â€œAccidents can happen to anyone, miss,” she said. “Even you.”
    I sighed. Of course this was true. They happened to me. In moments of duress I had been known to be a trifle clumsy, shall we say. Only they happened rather more frequently to Queenie. Maybe we were destined for each other.
    My nephew greeted me with touching enthusiasm, hugging me fiercely. Even my niece seemed pleased to see me, but that might just have been because I was preferable to Nanny, who was crisp, starchy and not the sort of person