Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman (34 page)

“So Lord Haversham didn't know anything about this at all, m'lady,” Mrs. Jackson said, so that they did not have to linger over the Violet business.

“Nothing! Lord Haversham's head is always firmly in the clouds.” Lady Montfort laughed and Mrs. Jackson watched her turn and fill two glasses from the decanter on the table next to her. “I know you have a soft spot for amontillado.” Lady Montfort offered her a glass of sherry. “Here is to your very good health, Jackson, and my heartfelt thanks for everything you have so cleverly achieved. Well done!” She raised her glass to her housekeeper.

“Thank you, m'lady. It was nothing at all.” Mrs. Jackson took a small sip of sherry; it warmed her throat as it slid down, such delicious stuff, amontillado. She was barely listening as her ladyship continued.

“Yes, Lord Haversham is in the clear all right; except of course he is in hot water with his father. Silly boy has gone and got himself a job, as he calls it, flying for a friend who makes…”

Mrs. Jackson nodded her head obediently as she acknowledged Lord Haversham's little ways. She thought perhaps she might pop down to the sunken garden and find Mr. Stafford tomorrow morning. She had a lot to thank him for. Without his prompting she would never have made that trip to London. For the first time, she didn't feel hesitant about him.

“… Lord Haversham will just have to write and put him off.” Lady Montfort's voice brought her back to the present.
Good Lord,
Mrs. Jackson thought as she put down her glass on the side table next to her chair,
how on earth could I have forgotten?

“There is just one more thing…” Mrs. Jackson rose to her feet.

“Surely there can't be!” Lady Montfort exclaimed. “Haven't we got it all tied up?”

From her pocket Mrs. Jackson took out Mr. Teddy's silver cigarette case. She opened it and offered it to Lady Montfort. “I'm not quite sure what do with this.”

A perplexed Lady Montfort stared at the cigarette case until she saw what was neatly folded within it. “Oh, really no, it can't be!” She looked at Mrs. Jackson, who said nothing at all. Lady Montfort burst out laughing. “Ah, I see it is. Well, I know what to do with it. Just take that awful thing downstairs to the furnace and sling it in.”

 

Read on for a sneak peek of the sequel of
Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman

Death Sits Down to Dinner

Available in March

 

Clementine was turning to smile her appreciation to Hermione when she noticed the footman, who had been in attendance by the door, start in surprise, lean his head toward the paneling of the door, and then swiftly turn and open it. From downstairs there came up to them a cry of such magnitude that Clementine was afterward surprised that no one else had heard it. But Hermione's guests were clustered, unheeding to the harsh sound of a voice far less musical than that of Lady Ryderwood, around the diminutive soprano standing at the far end of the room. Miss Kingsley, however, leaped to her feet with surprising agility for a woman of her years and pushed the footman away from the door.

“Is that Jenkins?” Hermione cried as she took Clementine by the arm. “What on earth…?” she exclaimed as she pulled her through the open door.

As they started down the stairs to the inner hall, Clementine was immediately aware that Hermione's elderly butler was leaning against the wall outside the dining room, palms braced to stop himself from falling.

“What is it, Jenkins?” cried his mistress, halfway down the stairs. “Jenkins, what has happened, are you all right?”

But all the poor man could do was wave to the dining room and gasp the words, “The cloth … all over … the bloody … cloth.”

 

About the Author

TESSA ARLEN, the daughter of a British diplomat, had lived in or visited her parents in Singapore, Berlin, the Persian Gulf, Beijing, Delhi, and Warsaw by the time she was sixteen. She came to the United States in 1980 and worked as an HR recruiter for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee for the 1984 Olympic Games, where she interviewed her future husband for a job.
Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman
is Tessa's first novel. She lives in Bainbridge Island, Washington.

Visit her Web Site at
www.tessaarlen.com
.

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

 

DEATH OF A DISHONORABLE GENTLEMAN.
Copyright © 2014 by Tessa Arlen. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

 

www.thomasdunnebooks.com

www.minotaurbooks.com

 

Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein

 

Cover art by Tom Hallman

 

Cover photographs: house © Matthew Collingwood /
Shutterstock.com
; flowers © Ruud Morijn Photographer /
Shutterstock.com

 

eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].

 

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Arlen, Tessa.

    Death of a dishonorable genteman: a mystery / Tessa Arlen—First edition

        pages  cm

    ISBN 978-1-250-05249-0 (hardcover)

    ISBN 978-1-4668-5427-7 (e-book)

  1.  Countesses—Fiction.   2.  Great Britain—History—Edward VII, 1901–1910—Fiction.   I.  Title.

    PS3601.R5445D43 2015

    813'.6—dc23

2014032395

 

e-ISBN 9781466854277

 

First Edition: January 2015