out at the garden, ‘I suppose we might as well go across to the club house now, if we’re going to eat there.’
‘I’ll go and get my coat,’ Hugo announced, leaning over Pippa to point out a card as he passed her. Pippa, really furious by now, leaned forward and covered the cards with her body, as Hugo turned back to address Jeremy. ‘What about you, my boy?’ he asked. ‘Coming with us?’
‘Yes,’ Jeremy answered. ‘I’ll just go and get my jacket.’ He and Hugo went out into the hall together, leaving the door open.
‘You’re sure you don’t mind dining at the club house this evening, darling?’ Clarissa asked Sir Rowland.
‘Not a bit,’ he assured her. ‘Very sensible arrangement, since the servants are having the night off.’
The Hailsham-Browns’ middle-aged butler, Elgin, came into the room from the hall and went across to Pippa. ‘Your supper is ready in the schoolroom, Miss Pippa,’ he told her. ‘There’s some milk, and fruit, and your favourite biscuits.’
‘Oh, good!’ Pippa shouted, springing to her feet. ‘I’m ravenous.’
She darted towards the hall door but was stopped by Clarissa, who told her sharply to pick up her cards first and put them away.
‘Oh, bother,’ Pippa exclaimed. She went back to the cards, knelt, and slowly began to shovel them into a heap against one end of the sofa.
Elgin now addressed Clarissa. ‘Excuse me, madam,’ he murmured respectfully.
‘Yes, Elgin, what is it?’ Clarissa asked.
The butler looked uncomfortable. ‘There has been a little—er—unpleasantness, over the vegetables,’ he told her.
‘Oh, dear,’ said Clarissa. ‘You mean with Miss Peake?’
‘Yes, madam,’ the butler continued. ‘My wife finds Miss Peake most difficult, madam. She is continually coming into the kitchen and criticizing and making remarks, and my wife doesn’t like it, she doesn’t like it at all. Wherever we have been, Mrs Elgin and myself have always had very pleasant relations with the garden.’
‘I’m really sorry about that,’ Clarissa replied, suppressing a smile. ‘I’ll—er—I’ll try to do something about it. I’ll speak to Miss Peake.’
‘Thank you, madam,’ said Elgin. He bowed and left the room, closing the hall door behind him.
‘How tiresome they are, servants,’ Clarissa observed to Sir Rowland. ‘And what curious things they say. How can one have pleasant relations with the garden? It sounds improper, in a pagan kind of way.’
‘I think you’re lucky, however, with this couple—the Elgins,’ Sir Rowland advised her. ‘Where did you get them?’
‘Oh, the local Registry office,’ Clarissa replied.
Sir Rowland frowned. ‘I hope not that what’s-its-name one where they always send you crooks,’ he observed.
‘Cooks?’ asked Pippa, looking up from the floor where she was still sorting out cards.
‘No, dear. Crooks,’ Sir Rowland repeated. ‘Do you remember,’ he continued, now addressing Clarissa, ‘that agency with the Italian or Spanish name—de Botello, wasn’t it?—who kept sending you people to interview, most of whom turned out to be illegal aliens? Andy Hulme was virtually cleaned out by a couple he and his wife took on. They used Andy’s horsebox to move out half the house. And they’ve never caught up with them yet.’
‘Oh, yes,’ Clarissa laughed. ‘I do remember. Come on, Pippa, hurry up,’ she ordered the child.
Pippa picked up the cards, and got to her feet. ‘There!’ she exclaimed petulantly as she replaced the cards on the bookshelves. ‘I wish one didn’t always have to do clearing up.’ She went towards the door, but was stopped by Clarissa who, picking up what was left of Pippa’s bun from the table, called to her, ‘Here, take your bun with you,’ and handed it to her.
Pippa started to go again. ‘And your satchel,’ Clarissa continued.
Pippa ran to the easy chair, snatched up her satchel, and turned again towards the hall door.
‘Hat!’ Clarissa shouted.
Pippa put the bun on the table, picked up her hat, and ran to the hall door.
‘Here!’ Clarissa called her back again, picked up the piece of bun, stuffed it in Pippa’s mouth, took the hat, jammed it on the child’s head, and pushed her into the hall. ‘And shut the door, Pippa,’ she called after her.
Pippa finally made her exit, closing the door behind her. Sir Rowland laughed, and Clarissa, joining in, took a cigarette from a box on the table. Outside, the daylight was now beginning to fade, and the room was becoming a little darker.
‘You know, it’s wonderful!’ Sir Rowland exclaimed. ‘Pippa’s a different child, now. You’ve done a remarkably good job there, Clarissa.’
Clarissa sank down on the sofa. ‘I think she really likes me now and trusts me,’ she said. ‘And I quite enjoy being a stepmother.’
Sir Rowland took a lighter from the occasional table by the sofa to light Clarissa’s cigarette. ‘Well,’ he observed, ‘she certainly seems a normal, happy child again.’
Clarissa nodded in agreement. ‘I think living in the country has made all the difference,’ she suggested. ‘And she goes to a very nice school and is making lots of friends there. Yes, I think she’s happy, and, as you say, normal.’
Sir Rowland frowned. ‘It’s a shocking thing,’ he exclaimed, ‘to see a kid get into the state she was in. I’d like to wring Miranda’s neck. What a dreadful mother she was.’
‘Yes,’ Clarissa agreed. ‘Pippa was absolutely terrified of her mother.’
He joined her on the sofa. ‘It was a shocking business,’ he murmured.
Clarissa clenched her fists and made an angry gesture. ‘I feel furious every time I think of Miranda,’ she said. ‘What she made Henry suffer, and what she made that child go through. I still can’t understand how any woman could.’
‘Taking drugs is a nasty business,’ Sir Rowland went on. ‘It alters your whole character.’
They sat for a moment in silence, then Clarissa asked, ‘What do you think started her on drugs in the first place?’
‘I think it was her friend, that swine Oliver Costello,’ Sir Rowland declared. ‘I believe he’s in on the drug racket.’
‘He’s a horrible man,’ Clarissa agreed. ‘Really evil, I always think.’
‘She’s married him now, hasn’t she?’
‘Yes, they married about a month ago.’
Sir Rowland shook his head. ‘Well, there’s no doubt Henry’s well rid of Miranda,’ he said. ‘He’s a nice fellow, Henry.’ He repeated,
