The Devious Duchess Read Online Free Page A

point that way.”
    “Oh, dear, you’ve chosen the one poison Auntie keeps around the house!” She laughed. “There’s been a little envelope of white arsenic in that tall flower vase on the china cabinet for as long as I can remember. I don’t know why it’s there, because it’s never been used. Not to kill rats or anything. It’s just always been there, like the brass sword handle that has lost its blade. Auntie has kept it in the drawer of the hall table forever, too.”
    “She’s not one to throw out anything that could possibly be used,” he answered. “Mama is just the opposite. She throws out everything she doesn’t require immediately. In that way, she can go shopping so much more often,” he explained.
    “Will you come to the Grange with the coroner?” she asked as the carriage pulled up to the front door. “I don’t relish being there alone with Uncle Dudley’s remains.”
    “Actually, I’ve asked Réal to deliver Dr. Lethbridge. There’s no reason for me to do it personally. I wouldn’t mind having a look around the place before he gets there.”
    “You don’t really suspect foul play,” she said, blinking in surprise.
    “Not suspect, exactly. The odds are about a thousand to one against it, but since I’m here I might as well practice my sleuthing skills. Sir Nevil does have a bit of a bad reputation. I know, you’re going to tell me Nevil wasn’t here, but he had been here. A clever scoundrel might arrange something if he was eager to get his hands on the money.”
    "I suppose he could,” Deirdre said, but her desultory tone revealed that she didn’t believe it.
    Belami didn’t actually believe it either, though the fact of Dudley’s having been sick to his stomach raised a doubt. A heart seizure didn’t have that effect.
    Réal pulled up in front of the Grange and waited for any further instructions his master might have for him. “Are we h’involved in a case?” he asked hopefully. Of course he had learned by the servants’ grapevine of the death of Lord Dudley.
    “C’est possible, Réal. I’d like you to stay here when you deliver Dr. Lethbridge just in case I have any more errands.”
    “We’ll talk,” Réal told him, sagely nodding his head to indicate that such conversation that would pass between them wouldn’t be for the young lady’s ears. Réal was vastly relieved that a case had come up to lighten the tedium of Fernvale. It was Réal's custom to perform all his duties beyond the expectations of the most demanding master in the land, which Belami was not by any means. As he whipped Belami’s bloods along, he cudgeled his brains to discover in what manner he could amaze Belami with his brilliance. Before he had gone a mile, a smile settled on his saturnine face. A murder required a constable, obviously. Belami had forgotten to request one, but he, Pierre Réal, would tend to it.
    “I’m going to speak to Polly,” Deirdre said as soon as they had hung up their coats. “Would you like her to bring you some coffee, Dick?”
    “I don’t relish drinking with a corpse. I’ll join you later.”
    Deirdre knew that it was her duty to chide the servants for the lackadaisical way they’d been running the house in Mrs. Haskell’s absence. She hadn’t much heart for it, but she took herself in hand and went to the kitchen. Polly and Anna sat together at the table, their faces pale and worried. They jumped to their feet when Deirdre entered.
    “Sit down,” she said, putting on her strictest face. “Now, girls, I want to know how it happens that my uncle was left all night alone at the dining room table. Who is responsible for cleaning up after dinner, and why wasn’t it done?”
    “It’s her fault!” Anna declared, pointing a not overly clean finger at her colleague. Anna was one of life’s drones. She was not at all attractive—a slim, pale, haggard woman of nineteen years who had been in service with Lord Dudley for seven years of her life. It was