The Power of One Read Online Free Page B

spread the reputation of the recently reopened hotel. Their clientele was rather more upmarket than was typically catered for in Rina’s street.
    â€˜Isn’t it lovely,’ Bethany cooed. ‘Eliza and I think we should find a permanent display for it when Tim’s done. We thought we could put it on the piano, so we can see it and enjoy it whenever we play.’
    â€˜Good idea,’ Rina approved. ‘Tim, your father did a wonderful job.’
    â€˜He did, didn’t he, and the stage at the Palisades is just crying out to be used like this.’ Tim was grinning from ear to ear in his enthusiasm. Sometimes, Rina reflected, he was more like a boy than a man who would not see thirty again, though that impression was, perhaps, enhanced by the fact that everyone else in her household was at least twice his age.
    Rina smiled affectionately. Tim and his father were anomalies in a family that, to a man – and woman – had made their careers in the military. Army, air force, even the odd sailor. Most had then sidestepped on retirement into something equally official, like Tim’s uncle who had joined the Diplomatic Protection Group or his other uncle who’d become some sort of Home Office advisor.
    Tim’s father, on the other hand, had gone to art school and Tim made a rather precarious living as a performer.
    â€˜Matthew, Stephen, is there anything you need me to do?’
    Matthew was bending to remove a tray from the oven, from which rose a wonderful scent of roast lamb and rosemary.
    â€˜It’s all under control, Rina dear. Stephen is just about to see to the gravy and I’ll let the meat rest while he’s doing that. Then I think we’re there, if the ladies would like to lay the table?’
    Eliza and Bethany skittered off to do his bidding and Rina took two large glass pitchers from the wall cupboard and filled them with water, setting them on the kitchen table beside the assorted glassware that displayed the varied preferences held by the members of her disparate household.
    She watched as Matthew lifted the meat on to the serving plate, and then stepped aside to allow Stephen access to the stove. Apart from breakfast, which Rina always took care of, most of the meals at Peverill Lodge were taken care of by the Montmorency twins; Matthew, tall and elegant and hound-like with his mane of silver hair swept back from a thin face and Stephen, short and a little rotund about the waist. Getting very thin on top – though only a very foolish or thoughtless soul would draw attention to the fact.
    The Montmorencys had performed as a double act since both were children and Rina supposed that, once upon a time, their physical differences would have been a source of humour. Over the years though, they had seemed to forget that they were not even blood relatives, never mind being twins. Twindom had become reality for them and Rina had to brief new acquaintances very carefully to ensure the tacit illusion was maintained.
    Mac had, she remembered, been very quick on the uptake.
    The Peters sisters scuttled back in and took the pitchers. Rina followed with the glassware. Eliza and Bethany were actual sisters, another double act whose career spanned that of magician’s assistants to song and dance duo. They were by nature and inclination true vaudevillians, though even at the start of their professional lives, the golden days of variety had, in Rina’s opinion, already passed and she mourned that passing.
    She and her dear husband, Frank, had themselves pounded the boards in little theatres and pier reviews, though after his death just five years after their marriage, Rina had turned to more serious roles, finding small roles with travelling companies and then finally leads. Her big break had come relatively late in her career, the title role on the long-running series ‘Lydia Marchant Investigates’. The television work had brought with it a little more