Murder At Rudhall Manor Read Online Free

her shoulders, while her stomach was clenching in hunger.
    She sped down the hallway looking forward to a cup of hot
sweet tea, dry clothes and a roaring fire.
    Alas, it was not to be.
    Hodgson, the butler, sympathetically informed her that she
was to meet Lady Sedley in the morning room at once.
    Reluctantly, she changed directions and arrived outside the
morning room.
    "The governess stole it."
    Lucy's hand that had been about to open the door to the
morning room froze, and her ear immediately plastered itself to the door.
    They were talking about her, and it was only fitting that
she eavesdrop.
    "Why do you think the governess did it? Do you have any
proof?"
    Lucy frowned. That masculine voice … she had heard it
before. It was a rumbly sort of voice. The sort of voice that made her feel odd
in the pit of her stomach. And the words … they were uttered in crisp, cultured
tones with a touch of melody to it. She shivered, and it was only partly
because of the cold.
    "She is the only one missing from the house."
    That was Miss Elizabeth Sedley, the only daughter of Lord
and Lady Sedley, speaking in her distinct throaty voice. Lucy shoved a finger
in her ear and wriggled it about. At least it had sounded like Elizabeth's
voice, but the tone …
    "She left early this evening."
    This time Lucy was certain that it was Elizabeth Sedley speaking.
It was hard to mistake a voice that sounded like it was suffering from a
perpetual cold.
    What had thrown her off was the fact that Elizabeth was five
feet, ten inches of beautifully sculpted ice. The woman never smiled, let alone
simpered, but her current tone had held a definite coyness, a hint of womanly
modesty and even a blob of dashed warmth.
    It was decidedly odd.
    "She has gone to the village." Peter Sedley's soft
voice broke into Lucy's thoughts.
    "She won't be back," Lady Sedley told her eldest
son. "The day I set my eyes on Miss Trotter, I knew she was the wrong
sort. We should have never hired her … I don’t know why we did."
    Lucy frowned and pinned her eye on a spider crawling up the
wall.
    "Who recommended her?" the stranger asked.
    "Lady May. She is a good friend of the family, or
rather was a good friend until she inflicted that girl upon us. She runs a few
orphanages and Miss Lucy Anne Trotter happened to grow up in one of them.
Brooding Cranesbill, it is called. With a name like that …." Elizabeth
shook her head in disgust. "They did say she was well qualified for the
task."
    Lady Sedley moaned. "Alas, it was a rotten day when we
took her up on her offer. Here we thought we were doing some poor unfortunate
girl a good turn, and see where it landed us—in hot water, my lord, in very hot
water. Would you like some tea?"
    "Err, no, thank you. Why did you choose an orphan and
not a relative in need?"
    After a brief silence, Lady Sedley said, "We really
couldn't think of any relative …," she trailed off.
    "They are your late sister's children," the
man remarked.
    "Yes, and with a fair bit of fortune," Lady Sedley
replied with a hint of bitterness. "They are to get it once they come of
age. We hired this girl, this Trotter, to teach the little monsters. Honestly,
Tryphena should have allowed us to have access to the children's money. How she
expected us to care for such evil little gremlins and pay for their
education—"
    "Mother," Elizabeth warned softly.
    Lucy shifted momentarily, trying to get comfortable. She
arched her back and rotated her neck and then stuck her ear back to the door.
    She knew why they had hired her, a girl with no experience …
because she had agreed to work for a mere pittance, and the Sedley family
fortunes were not in the best of health at the moment. But they couldn't
possibly admit such a thing to a stranger, who from the honeyed tones of
Elizabeth and Lady Sedley seemed to be an important personage.
    "She will be back soon," Peter repeated.
    Lucy knew that Peter, the eldest child in the Sedley family,
was currently blushing, for he