The Scandal at 23 Mount Street (An Angela Marchmont Mystery Book 9) Read Online Free Page A

of fact, I came to say goodbye.’
    ‘Oh?’ said Angela. ‘Are you going away again?’
    ‘Yes, and for good this time. I dare say that will be something of a relief to you.’
    ‘But why? You said something about retiring—unless I misheard you. Is it to do with that?’
    ‘No, you didn’t mishear. I have decided to retire.’
    ‘But why?’ she said again.
    ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘After I was shot I had a little time to think while I was recovering, and I started to realize that it’s not fun any more—I’m not quite sure why. Perhaps it’s just that I’m getting too old for all this sort of nonsense.’
    ‘ Was it fun, once?’
    ‘Oh, terribly good fun to start with. You can’t imagine what a kick I got out of it. But I was a young man then, and I’d taken a few knocks that hurt me rather, and I felt the world owed me something. Very arrogant of me, I know, but there’s youth for you. I was dreadfully complacent and full of myself for a very long time. I’m starting to tire of it all now, though. I can’t go on doing it until I’m an old man. Sooner or later I won’t have the energy to run any more.’ He paused, then went on ruefully. ‘And much as I hate to admit it, I appear to be developing a rudimentary conscience in my old age.’
    ‘Dear me, how unfortunate for you,’ said Angela. ‘Where did that spring from?’
    ‘I rather think it all started last May,’ he said. ‘There’s a woman, you see,’
    ‘Is there?’ said Angela, raising her eyes to his.
    ‘Yes,’ he said, holding her gaze. ‘It’s all her fault. I met her in Italy and we got along rather well. She’s a much better person than I am, but she refuses to take on the job of reforming me.’
    ‘Does she? I’m not surprised. I don’t think it’s possible to reform someone. I think they have to reform themselves.’
    ‘That’s what she said, and I dare say she’s right. Still, she is acting as my temporary conscience at present—just until mine grows strong enough to shift for itself.’
    She laughed.
    ‘Do you think it will?’ she said.
    ‘Who knows?’ he said.
    They smiled, then she said quietly:
    ‘I’m glad.’
    ‘Thank you. I hoped you would be. Of course, that doesn’t alter the fact that I have done some rather dubious things in the past. It’s not as though I can just come out into the open and settle down in the country with a wife and children. I’m willing to experiment with honesty but I draw the line at giving myself up.’
    ‘Then what shall you do?’ said Angela. Now she noticed for the first time that he seemed on edge too. He did not glance about as frequently as she did, but there was a nervousness about him that she had never seen before.
    ‘I must leave,’ he said. ‘One unfortunate effect of this sort of life is that one mixes with people who have a tendency to resolve any little difficulty that may arise with violence. You saw it yourself in Italy. I’m afraid there’s a good chance that I may have—er—offended someone, so I think the best thing will be for me to make myself scarce.’
    ‘You’re in danger?’
    ‘It’s entirely possible,’ he admitted.
    ‘Then where will you go?’
    ‘I shall lie low for a month or two in France until the commotion dies down, then I shall go somewhere far away—perhaps South America. I believe they breed horses there. That’s what I always meant to do, before—other things intervened.’
    ‘South America? That’s a long way,’ said Angela.
    ‘It is, but I expect it’s pleasant enough. Naturally, I shall miss the old country, but it’s not as though I spend much time here these days anyway.’
    ‘I suppose not,’ said Angela. The remark brought Davie back into her mind and she glanced around again.
    ‘You’re still nervous,’ he said.
    She shook herself.
    ‘I oughtn’t to be,’ she said. ‘Davie mentioned hiring a private detective, but of course they’re very expensive and he hasn’t that sort of