فصل 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

At Horbury Chase

Lord Stephen Horbury got up from the breakfast table, left the dining-room, and went upstairs. He was twenty-seven years old, and looked like a typical sportsman. He was also kind-hearted, loyal and very determined.

He knocked on a door and a clear voice cried, ‘Come in.’

Lord Horbury walked into his wife’s bedroom. She was sitting up in bed, opening her letters. Three years ago, her breath-taking beauty had driven him mad with love. Now, he was mad no longer.

‘Stephen?’ she said, surprised.

‘Why are you here, Cicely?’

Lady Horbury shrugged her beautiful shoulders. ‘Why not?’

‘We agreed to stop living together. You have the town house and a generous allowance. As long as you behave yourself, you can go your own way. Why have you come back so suddenly? It’s money, I suppose?’

‘How I hate you. You’re the meanest man alive. You advertised in the newspapers that you would no longer pay my debts. Was that a gentlemanly thing to do?’

‘I warned you. Twice, I paid, but there are limits. It’s because you’ve spent so much of my money that there’s a mortgage on my family’s land.’

‘The land! That’s all you care about! Hunting and shooting and boring old farmers. God, what a life for a woman.’

‘Some women enjoy it.’

‘Women like Venetia Kerr. Well, she’s half a horse herself! You should have married her!’

Lord Horbury walked over to the window. ‘I married you,’ he said, quietly.

‘And you can’t get rid of me!’ Cicely laughed.

‘So, tell me, why have you come here? You hate the place.’

‘I thought it better, just now.’

‘Just now?’ He repeated the words thoughtfully. ‘Cicely, did you borrow from that French moneylender? The woman who was murdered on your plane back from Paris?’

‘Of course not!’

‘Cicely, the police of two countries are working on that murder. If you did do business with this Giselle, they will find out. We must be prepared. You must think of your position.’

Cicely sat up angrily in bed. ‘Why are you so worried about me? You don’t care what happens to me. You hate me. You’d be glad if I died tomorrow!’

‘I care about my family name - an old-fashioned idea which you probably think is ridiculous. But there it is.’

Stephen turned away from her and left the room.