Heirs and Graces (A Royal Spyness Mystery) (29 page)

Chapter 33

As you can imagine, the next twenty-four hours were utter chaos. Irene being hauled off, looking regal and stoic, the twins crying and saying that they hadn’t meant any harm.

“What were you thinking, handling cyanide?” Darcy asked them. “You were jolly lucky that you weren’t killed yourselves. It doesn’t take much of the vapor to kill someone.”

“We used Uncle Cedric’s special gloves,” Nick said. “And we only took a tiny drop. We only took a tiny drop of everything. It was only a bit of fun. We didn’t think our potion could possibly do any real harm.”

“Let’s hope that your bit of fun doesn’t wreck both your futures,” Darcy said.

“Did you take some of your own potion to make you sick?” I asked Katherine. “You’re lucky it didn’t kill you.”

“It wasn’t the potion,” she said. “I ate soap. I just wanted people to think I was being poisoned so nobody would suspect us.”

“Do you think we’ll go to prison?” Nick asked. His face was completely white and his eyes looked huge.

“Your grandmother has telephoned her solicitor. He’s an important man. He’ll know what to do,” I said. “I don’t think they send eleven-year-olds to prison.”

“They may send you off to some kind of strict school,” Darcy said.

“Good-oh. A school. That would be brilliant,” Nick said, and he ran off happily with Kat.

* * *

“WHAT HAPPENS NOW?”
Jack asked.

Darcy, Jack and I were walking in the grounds. It was the day after Irene had tried to kill me. Edwina had made an urgent telephone call to Mr. Camden-Smythe, the family solicitor, and he had arrived first thing next morning. His Rolls-Royce stood parked on the forecourt now and he was in conference with Edwina.

“I don’t know,” I said.

It was a glorious, bright, spring day, with a gentle breeze stirring the daffodils and occasional puff-ball clouds drifting across a blue sky. Swans glided across a still, blue lake. Birds were twittering like mad in the trees. It was almost as if nature was mocking our present turmoil at Kingsdowne.

“Do you think the twins will be sent to some kind of reform school?” Jack asked. “They are too young for prison, aren’t they?”

“I overheard Mr. Camden-Smythe saying to Edwina that he thought it would be all right. He said there was clearly no intent to murder. It was just youthful experimentation and the court would understand that two bright children, cut off from normal life and encouraged in scientific experiments by their tutor, were horrified at the result of their experiment. He said he was sure any judge would agree to sending the children to separate boarding schools where they could be well supervised and continuously occupied.”

“So they will get what they wanted,” Jack said. “But their mother won’t get off so easily, will she?”

“She didn’t actually kill anybody,” I said. Although she tried to, a voice in my head whispered. I remembered her blazing eyes—the lioness protecting her young.

“She’ll probably be charged with desecrating a corpse, I should think,” Darcy said. “That is, if she can convince a jury that she knew Cedric was already dead.”

“But deliberately using my knife and trying to pin it on me,” Jack said. “She shouldn’t get off with that, should she? I could have been waiting for the gallows by now, if Georgie hadn’t figured out the truth.”

“That’s true,” I said. “But I rather suspect that a jury would think she did it to take suspicion away from her children.”

“But she didn’t even know they were responsible at that moment,” Darcy said.

“All the same, I suspect that is the tack that her solicitor will want to take. Sympathy, you know. A mother doing anything to protect her young.”

“What a family,” Darcy muttered.

“Poor Edwina,” I said. “I feel sorry for her. Whatever happens to Irene, this family is broken. Things will never be the same.”

“And what about Sissy?” Jack asked suddenly. “She’ll lose everybody.”

“She has her grandmother,” I said. “And she has you.”

“And you’re a rich duke,” Darcy said. “You could pay to send her to Switzerland for the expensive treatment.”

“Is that right?” Jack’s face lit up. “Crikey. I could do that, couldn’t I? She might walk again. And I know she’s only fifteen, but what does English law say about cousins marrying?” His cheeks went rather pink.

“It’s quite legal. Royals do it all the time,” I said, laughing.

“You’ve got a lot of learning and a lot of growing up to do before you think about things like that, my lad,” Darcy said. “You want to become a man of the world first. Find out about life beyond the sheep station.”

“I don’t suppose I can go back home to Australia now, can I?” Jack said. “I’m stuck here whether I like it or not.”

“I wouldn’t say that being the owner of all this is such a hardship.” Darcy smiled as he looked up at Kingsdowne, its stone glowing in the afternoon sunlight.

“If Mr. Carter recovers all right, I hope he’ll stay on and give me a bit of book learning,” Jack said.

“I think it’s quite hopeful that he will recover,” I said. “They got to him in time. Funny, isn’t it? He was branded a coward in the war but he’s just shown us what a brave man he is.”

“How do you mean?” Jack asked.

“He worked out that the twins must have killed their uncle and he took the blame for them.”

Jack nodded then looked from Darcy to me. “You’ll stay on for a while, won’t you? I still haven’t got the hang of which fork to use for what.”

“I’ll be happy to stay,” I said. “Your poor grandmother is going to need our support in the coming weeks. She has essentially lost her family.”

“What about you, Darcy?” Jack turned to him. “Are you going to be here?”

Darcy’s eyes met mine. “I can’t say how long,” he said, “but for the immediate future, anyway.”

And after the horrid events of the past few days, I felt a bubble of hope and happiness forming inside me. Darcy was going to stay for a while. Everything would be all right.

We looked up as we saw Edwina coming across the forecourt to meet us. “Mr. Camden-Smythe says he’ll sort everything out,” she said. “Those poor children. My poor daughter. If I didn’t have you, Jack . . .” and she left the rest of the sentence hanging. Jack went over to her and took her arm. “Don’t worry, Grandmama,” he said. “We’ll get through this.”

She nodded. Then she looked up at us. “And do you know what Mr. Camden-Smythe told me? He said that under the terms of the entailment, the title can only pass to an heir of the body, and failing that, to the next male in the line of succession. So all this stupid talk of adoption was for nothing. So stupid. Such a waste.”

We watched them go back to the house. I went to follow them but Darcy held me back.

“What’s the rush?” he said. “They don’t need us in there, and it’s a lovely evening.”

“What had you in mind?” I smiled up at him.

“I know Edwina wouldn’t approve,” he said, “but I was suggesting a stroll down to the local pub.”

I laughed as I took his hand.