Page 41 of A Sense of Paradise
‘Your fault?’ Eloise stopped walking and stared at her new friend. ‘How can that be?’
‘Lord Avery is a cohort of my estranged father’s, which is enough of a reason. Anyway, you will not be aware that Scotland Yard detectives are now anxious to speak with Lord Avery.’
‘They are?’ Eloise blinked, totally shocked. ‘Why?’
‘There has been a murder. The bishop’s nephew, who made a nuisance of himself a few months back. Archie actively discouraged his attentions in a very public manner.’
Eloise gasped. ‘Surely these silly detectives do not think that Archie killed the man.’
‘They are far from silly. Lord Riley Rochester is the man in charge. Archie is acquainted with him and holds him in high regard. Anyway, he came to speak to me about the incident and then went on to see Archie. A clumsy attempt was made by the murderer to implicate Archie, but Lord Riley is not taken in by it. It’s all to do with my father and his ambitions, you see. I am an impediment to them.’
‘Because you live here, alone and unmarried?’
‘I cannot say much else on the subject,’ Flora replied, avoiding a direct answer, Eloise noticed, ‘other than to say that my father and Lord Avery are associates, for want of a better word. Lord Avery has his own reasons for wanting to discredit Archie, and we think that Yardley, the murder victim, might have been killed for those reasons. Archie doesn’t have to have killed him; society just needs to think that he had reason to. Rumours will spread like wildfire and will be sufficient to destroy his reputation. Naturally, I am not prepared to allow that to happen.’
Eloise felt excluded and indignant. ‘Archie did not send word to tell me any of this.’
‘He knew that I would be seeing you today and asked me to tell you.’
‘You have seen him again since the other day?’
Flora sent Eloise an imperious look. ‘I beg your pardon.’
Eloise somehow resisted the urge to stamp her foot in frustration. ‘He really is avoiding me,’ she muttered.
‘Surely your first thought should be for your brother, who is an innocent caught up in someone else’s quarrel.’
There was an edge to Flora’s voice, and Eloise knew that she must appear very selfish and self-obsessed. ‘Yes, of course. Pray excuse me. This is all so strange, especially since I cannot think why Lord Avery would want to destroy Archie.’
‘You must take my word for it. There are factors at play that I cannot reveal, but with Scotland Yard on the case I hope it will not take long for Lord Avery’s whereabouts to be discovered, and your brother’s too.’
‘Yes, by all means, let us…’ Eloise smiled, glad of the distraction when a white cat stalked up to them. She had offended Flora by being overfamiliar, which had not been her intention—had it? ‘Who is this?’
‘Zeus was the countess’s cat. He is not very sociable, I’m afraid,’ Flora said when the cat hissed at Eloise, twitched his rigid tail and took himself off.
Eloise smiled. ‘So I see.’
‘Hello,’ Flora smiled when Melanie bounded up to them with a sunny smile and an air of youthfuljoie de vivre.Eloise smiled too, wondering if she had ever been that young and carefree. It seemed like a lifetime ago and she wished, not for the first time, that she possessed the ability to turn the clock back. ‘Where’s Alice?’
‘She got tired so Polly has taken her into the house.’
‘Playing with her so frequently must use up some of her energy, for which I am sure Polly is very much obliged.’
‘Oh, it isn’t the least trouble. She is such a sweet little thing and almost never cries. Did I cry a lot when I was younger?’
‘No, darling, hardly ever.’ Flora threw an arm around her sister’s shoulders as the three of them headed back to the house. ‘Crying was not permitted in our household.’
‘No, of course it was not. How silly of me.’ Melanie skipped towards the stairs. ‘It’s time to change for dinner,’ she pointed out.
‘So it is. Don’t make a special effort,’ Flora said, turning to Eloise. ‘It is just the three of us ladies and so there is no need to stand on ceremony.’
Chapter Eleven
Relieved to have set Flora’s mind at rest regarding his constancy, Archie nonetheless felt particularly unsettled on Sunday morning. He sensed that they had overlooked something vital, but couldn’t for the life of him think what it might be. Worried that he may have unwittingly placed Flora in danger, he cursed the fact that he couldn’t be on hand to offer her his personal protection, such as it was, and sent his injured leg a withering look.
Archie loved his contrary and annoyingly independent wife-to-be more than life itself, and even though she had agreed to a date for their wedding—or at least a season—he would still have to keep his distance in order to maintain appearances. Flora had a point to prove. Naturally the locals must speculate about her dispute with her father, the more spiteful among them doubtless placed the blame squarely upon Flora’s slender shoulders.
Archie’s occasional visits to Flora’s cottage could not remain completely secret, and those visits no doubt kept the wheels of the local rumour mill turning. The announcement of their engagement would put paid to the efforts of those who sought to tarnish Flora’s reputation. She must be aware of the occasional snide asides directed her way but refused to have her decisions judged in the court of public opinion.
