The Devious Duchess Read Online Free

course he changed it, but I’ll contest it in the highest court in the land. A murderer can’t profit by his crime—that is a point of law, is it not, Belami?”
    “I believe so, but before taking Sir Nevil to court, don’t you think you ought to notify the coroner?” he asked.
    “Yes, of course. And the minister as well to arrange the funeral. A hatchment for the front door—luckily I still have the one from my husband’s death in the attic. Black gowns— perhaps an arm band for you, Belami, though you ain’t any kin to Dudley.”
    “Shall I call the coroner?” Belami asked, seeing that the duchess was in a state similar to shock, babbling on in all directions.
    “If you would be so kind. Dr. Lethbridge in Banting is the local man. And we’ll need someone to lay my brother out as well. The McIntyre sisters usually do it. Lethbridge can arrange that for us, Belami. There’s no need to go to them. You’ll be needed here for a hundred and one things.”
    Belami had not the least objection to being used in this way. It was preferable to having nothing to do. It hadn’t yet occurred to him that a death in the family might delay his wedding.
    “Shouldn’t we go to the house to be there when the coroner comes? I mean, it doesn’t seem right to leave Uncle Dudley there alone,” Deirdre said.
    “Bother, I suppose we should,” the duchess agreed. She sighed and regretted having to leave her warm hearth, just when she had put two fresh logs on the fire. “I doubt very much whether I’m up to such exertion,” she said. A single glance was all that was needed to remind her that Deirdre, a young and healthy girl, was up to it. But she’d require a chaperone, as Belami would be hanging around and Mrs. Haskell was away. “We must send for Mrs. Haskell as well. I’ll just dash off a few notes, Deirdre, while Belami goes for the coroner, and you skip back to the Grange to keep an eye on things. I. wouldn’t put it an inch past Polly Shard to be rifling his jewelry box this very minute.”
    “You mean I have to go alone?” Deirdre asked, shivering.
    “Of course not, ninny! Take Mrs. Bates with you.” Her housekeeper could be spared, since a death in the family was an excellent excuse for disorganized and scanty meals. “And send her to me before you go,” she added, her eyes narrowing as a dozen other profitable details occurred to her. All the party arrangements canceled, and a few oddments at the Grange that could be claimed as her own and carried home to Fernvale before the authorities arrived to lock things up.
    After a little more conversation, Belami and Deirdre left the duchess to write her notes. It was settled that Belami would deliver Deirdre to the Grange on his way to Banting for the coroner, and Mrs. Bates would join her shortly.
    “I wonder how long I’ll have to stay there,” Deirdre mentioned as they joggled along in the carriage.
    “I think we should either all move over there for a few days or have Dudley laid out at Fernvale,” Belami answered.
    “I’d rather have him laid out at home. The Grange is even worse than Fernvale, Dick. It’s cold and dirty, and the food is wretched. Such a shabby time we’re showing you, and now this!”
    “On the contrary,” he said, hoping to divert her. “You know my hobby is crime, and the duchess has just called Dudley’s death murder.”
    “Pay no heed to that. How could Nevil have killed Uncle? He wasn’t even here.”
    “That’s true. And besides, if he was poisoned, I’d finger the mulligatawny as the culprit. Your aunt took him over a bowl last night, you know.”
    “No, did she?”
    “Certainly she did. Seemed a strange gift to me, if she was hoping to ingratiate him.”
    “Well, it couldn’t have been the mulligatawny’s fault, because we all ate it and are still alive,” she pointed out, but in a joking way.
    “She’d have had to add poison to his portion. If a poison was used, I’d suspect arsenic. The effects could