02 - Murder at Dareswick Hall Read Online Free Page B

preserved the original Georgian gilding or the large
marble fireplace with its early Victorian grate of polished steel and brass. She
barely saw the wing chairs and sofas, richly upholstered in heavy damask,
velvet or shot silk trimmed with silk fringe; or the solid parquet floor on
which were a number of rich Persian rugs. She had eyes only for Cedric.
    She
felt herself utter a sigh of relief for at first glance he was as she
remembered him. He was still tall and slender with finely chiselled features
and there was still something of the matinee idol about him. But as she rushed
up to him, she was aware of subtle changes too. The blond hair that was slicked
back from a side parting was peppered with a few strands of grey; gone was the
tanned looking skin of summer, replaced instead with pale skin tinged with
grey. She noticed too that while he smiled at her in the way he had always
done, there were a few fine lines around his eyes where there had been none.
The events at Ashgrove had undoubtedly taken their toll, for the man that stood
before her seemed to have aged more than the two or three months that had
elapsed since she had last set eyes on him.

Chapter Three
     
    ‘I
cannot tell you how good it is to see you at last,’ Cedric said, clasping her
hands in his. After a quick cup of tea and slice of cake both Hallam and
Josephine had made their excuses and left on the pretext of chores and tasks
that needed completing before dinner, leaving Rose and Cedric alone at last.
‘It is the only thing that has kept me going, knowing that you are there for me
and that I should see you again before too long.’
    ‘Was it
very awful?’ asked Rose, leading him to a sofa where they sat down, hands still
clutched, each not taking their eyes from the other. ‘I tried not to read what
they said about it in the newspapers…’
    ‘Yes,
it was jolly beastly. It would have been a good deal more so though, if it
hadn’t been for Inspector Deacon. I have to say he was an absolute brick, that
man. He did his very best to hush things up. I’m not sure that anyone has really
swallowed that story of a shooting accident. But hopefully the newspapers and
public will soon tire of speculating about what happened. There would be those
who would argue that justice had not been done if they knew the truth; the
murderer did not hang.’
    ‘Yes, but
Inspector Deacon must be satisfied with the outcome, otherwise he wouldn’t have
played along. Tell me, Cedric, thinking about Ashgrove, where is Lavinia now?
You made scarce mention of her in your letters.’
    ‘She’s
on the Continent on an extended visit. We have some relatives in Switzerland
and then I think she plans to do a tour of the Italian lakes and then to stay
in Paris for a while to improve her French. She’s taken it all very badly, I’m
afraid. She went away to escape it all. She thinks her chances of meeting a
suitable husband are now ruined unless she seeks one in America. It would not
surprise me very much if she never returns to England, although I suppose it’s
still early days and anything might happen.’
    ‘Does
she still blame me for everything?’ asked Rose with a heavy heart.
    ‘Yes,
but me just as much as you. In time I’m hopeful that she’ll come round. She and
I were very close and she considered you a good friend once, so I think there’s
still hope.’ There was a pause of a few minutes, as both became lost in their
own thoughts.
    ‘Anyway,
enough of this, Rose,’ Cedric said, sounding resolutely cheerful. ‘I have done
nothing but think about what happened at Ashgrove to the exclusion of all else
for these past few months.  I refuse to think about it anymore, at least while
we are here at Dareswick. Don’t you agree? We should try and put it all behind us
and look to the future.’
    Rose
nodded slowly, looking serious; it was easier said than done.
    ‘Right,
my girl, we’re going to have a jolly fine time here at Dareswick. The Athertons
are old