the front door. He was met in the hall by a short, stout man very correctly dressed in black jacket and pin-striped trousers, with a jovial face and a thick head of grey hair.
His ‘Good evening, sir,’ was cheerful. ‘A splendid summer evening,’ he observed. ‘I’ve put the drinks on the patio, sir, seeing as how a breath of fresh air would do you no harm.’
Mr Tait-Bouverie thanked him, picked up his letters from the console table and took himself and his bag off to the study. ‘Any messages, Mudd?’ he paused to ask, and braced himself as the door at the back of the hall was thrust open and a golden Labrador came to greet him. ‘Prince, old fellow, come into the garden—but first I must go to the study…’
‘Lady Cowder phoned,’ said Mudd. ‘Twice. She said she would be glad if you would telephone her as soon as you return home, sir.’
Mr Tait-Bouverie nodded absently and sat down behind his desk in the study, with Prince beside him. There was nothing in the post to take his attention and he went into the sitting room at the back of the house and out onto the small patio facing the narrow walled garden. A drink before dinner, he decided. He would ring his aunt later.
It was a pleasant little garden, with its borders stuffed with flowers and a small plot of grass in its centre. The walls were a faded red brick and covered in climbing roses, veronica and clematis. Mr Tait-Bouverie closed his eyes for a moment and wished he was at his cottage in Bosham—roomy, old and thatched, at the end of Bosham Lane beyond the avenue of oaks and holly trees, within sight and sound of the harbour.
He spent his free weekends there, and brief holidays, taking Mudd and Prince with him, sailing in the creek, working in his rambling garden, going to the pub and meeting friends there… Perhaps he could manage this weekend, or at least Saturday. He had a list next Monday and he had no free time at all until Saturday, but it was only Monday now—he had the whole week in which to arrange things to his satisfaction.
He ate the dinner Mudd set before him and went to his study to phone his aunt.
‘James, I was beginning to think you would never telephone. I’ve tried twice to get you.’ She paused, but not long enough for him to reply.
‘Something so exciting. Dear Julia Travers’s daughter, Claudia—my god-daughter, you know—is coming to stay for a week. Such a dear girl, and so pretty. It’s all rather sudden.’ She gave a little laugh. ‘But I’m doing my best to plan a pleasant stay for her. I’ve arranged a dinner party for Wednesday evening—just a few friends, and you, of course. Do say that you can come…eight o’clock. Black tie.’
Mr Tait-Bouverie listened to this patiently for he was a patient man. A list of possible excuses ran through his head but he discarded them. He didn’t want to go, but on the other hand a drive down to Thame in the middle of the week would make a pleasant break.
‘Provided there is no emergency to keep me here, I’ll accept with pleasure,’ he told her. ‘I may need to leave directly after dinner, though.’
‘Splendid. I’m sure it will be a delightful evening.’
He thought it unlikely. His aunt’s friends weren’t his, and the evening would be taken up with time-wasting chat, but the drive back to London in the evening would compensate for that.
Lady Cowder talked for another five minutes and he put down the phone with an air of relief. A few minutes later he let himself out of his house with Prince and set off on his evening walk, Wednesday’s dinner party already dismissed from his mind. He had several cases for operation lined up for the week and he wanted to mull them over at his leisure. Much later he went to his bed to sleep the sleep of a man whose day had gone well.
Kate, going to her bed, reflected that her day hadn’t gone well at all. After she had given Lady Cowder her lunch and eaten a hasty snack herself, she’d got into the car and driven to Thame, where she’d spent an hour or more shopping for the elaborate food decided upon for the dinner party. When she got home she had been summoned once more—dear Claudia, she was told, would arrive before lunch on the following day, so that meal must be something special, and Kate was to make sure that there was a variety of cakes for tea. Moreover, dinner must be something extra special too.
Unlike Mr Tait-Bouverie’s, Kate’s day had not gone well.
Claudia arrived mid-morning, driving her scarlet Mini. She was small and slender and pretty—a chocolate-box prettiness—with china-blue eyes, a pert nose, pouting mouth and an abundance of fair curls. She looked helpless but Kate, carrying in her luggage, reflected that she seemed as hard as nails under that smiling face. She had wasted no time on Kate, but had pushed past her to embrace Lady Cowder with little cries of joy which made Kate feel quite sick.
Kate took the bags up to the guest room, fetched the coffee tray and retired to the kitchen where Mrs Pickett was cleaning vegetables.
‘Pretty as a picture,’ she observed. ‘Like a fairy. And such lovely clothes, too. She won’t stay single long, I’ll warrant you.’
Kate said, ‘Probably not,’ adding silently that Claudia would stay single just as long as it took her to find a man with a great deal of money who was prepared to let her have her own way, and indulge every whim. And if I can see that in five minutes, she thought, why can’t a man?
Her feelings, she decided, mustn’t get in the way of her culinary art. She presented a delicious lunch and forbore from uttering a word when she handed Claudia the new potato salad and had it thrust back into her hands.
‘I couldn’t possibly eat those,’ cried Claudia. ‘Vegetables which have been smothered in some sauce or other; it’s a sure sign that they’ve been poorly cooked and need disguising.’
Lady Cowder, who had taken a large helping, looked taken aback. ‘Oh, dear, you don’t care for devilled potatoes? Kate, fetch some plain boiled ones for Miss Travers.’
‘There aren’t any,’ said Kate. ‘I can boil some, but they will take at least twenty minutes…’
‘Well, really… You should have thought of it, Kate.’
‘If Miss Travers will give me a list of what she dislikes and likes I can cook accordingly.’
Kate sounded so polite that Lady Cowder hesitated to do more than murmur, ‘Perhaps that would be best.’
When Kate had left the room Claudia said, ‘What an impertinent young woman. Why don’t you dismiss her?’
‘My dear, if you knew how difficult it is to get anyone to work for one these days… All the good cooks work in town, where they can earn twice as much. Kate is a good cook, and I must say she runs the house very well. Besides, she lives locally with a widowed mother and needs to stay close to her home.’
Claudia sniggered. ‘Oh, well, I suppose she’s better than nothing. She looks like a prim old maid.’
Kate, coming in with home-made meringue nests well-filled with strawberries, heard that. It would be nice, she thought, serving the meringues with an impassive face, to put a dead rat in the girl’s bed…
Claudia Travers wasn’t the easiest of guests. She needed a warm drink when she went to her room at night, a special herb tea upon waking, a variety of yoghurts for breakfast, and coddled eggs and whole-meal bread—all of which Kate provided, receiving no word of thanks for doing so. Claudia, treating her hostess
