Hugh could not deny this, but said: ‘You’re a bit of a menace yourself, if I may say so, Vicky.’
‘Yes, but I have the most beautiful intentions,’ Vicky assured him.
But Mary, when they joined her in the dining-room a quarter of an hour later, seemed unable to perceive the beauty of Vicky’s intentions. She had done what she could do to soothe the Prince’s injured feelings, and had bidden him a most civil farewell upon the doorstep; and she had then been called to Ermyntrude’s side, so that she had a good deal of excuse for being out of temper.
Although Ermyntrude had chosen to have her dinner sent into the drawing-room on a tray, conversation between Hugh and the two girls was necessarily of a spasmodic nature, since the butler was continually coming in and out of the room. This helped to add to Mary’s exasperation, and by the time the dessert was on the table, and they were finally rid of Peake, she was cross enough, and tired enough, to say angrily to Vicky: ‘Well, I hope you’re satisfied with your work!’
‘Artistes are never wholly satisfied, but I must say I thought it went with quite a swing,’ replied Vicky sunnily.
‘It may interest you to know that I think you behaved disgustingly! I was absolutely ashamed of you!’
‘But, darling, be fair!’ begged Vicky. ‘You said only yesterday that you didn’t know how on earth to get rid of Alexis.’
‘I never dreamed you meant to do anything so ill-bred, and – and atr
ocious!’
‘No, but I do rather feel that we couldn’t have got rid of Alexis in a well-bred way. As a matter of fact, I’ve been frightfully bothered about it the whole afternoon, because I found him making the most subtle love to Ermyntrude, and I couldn’t see my way at all. Only he very kindly played right into my hands, setting the police on to me.’
‘I don’t believe he did any such thing!’
‘Oh, I’m pretty sure you’re wrong there, Mary!’ Hugh interposed. ‘Every time I’ve had the privilege of meeting him, he’s managed to cast suspicion on to someone or other.’
‘Next you’ll say that you enjoyed that vulgar exhibition!’ snapped Mary.
‘Well, I did, rather,’ Hugh confessed. ‘You must admit it was epic!’
‘I don’t admit anything of the kind. I feel hot with shame whenever I think of it.’
‘Poor sweet, that isn’t shame: this room’s awfully stuffy. I’ll open a window, shall I?’ suggested Vicky.
‘No! I’m only sorry that you can’t see how badly you’ve behaved. Hugh may think it was very funny, and egg you on, but Maurice didn’t. He said you ought to be smacked!’
‘How dear and mild of him! He’s rather precious, isn’t he? Hugh said I ought to have been drowned at birth.’
‘You can try to turn it into a joke as much as you like, but you won’t succeed in getting me to see the humour of it. You pitchforked us into a perfectly ghastly scene – in front of that Inspector, too! – and though I don’t expect you to care about my feelings, I should have thought you’d have had more consideration for your mother than to have upset her like that.’
‘Darling, you simply can’t imagine how resilient the poor lamb is! Besides, I’ve told Robert to look in this evening. To catch her first bounce, you know, because I quite agree it would be fatal for her just to trickle away to some frightful person on the boundary.’
‘Vicky, how can you talk like that?’
Vicky stretched out a hand towards a dish of grapes. ‘But, dearest pet, I don’t see that it would be a bit helpful of me to pretend that Ermyntrude isn’t the sort of darling idiot who’ll make the most unparalleled muck of things, if not cherished by a Good Man. Well, I mean to say, just look at the way she fell for Wally, who was an utter loss! Naturally, you don’t see it as I do, because she isn’t your mother; but it’s no good expecting me to sit back in a well-bred way while she lets a boa-constrictor like Alexis coil himself all round her.’
‘You’re impossible,’ said Mary hopelessly. ‘Did it occur to you, when you deliberately played on her feelings, that the one thing she’s been dreading, ever since Sunday, was that you’d be accused of having had something to do with Wally’s death?’
‘Oh, then that was why she reacted so superbly! I must say, I didn’t expect her to turn on Alexis quite so fiercely. Now you come to mention it, though, I did think something was weighing on her mind. Did she tell you about it?’
‘Just now. Perhaps you’ll soothe her yourself the next time you elect to drive her into hysterics!’
‘I don’t suppose I will,’ said Vicky, considering it. ‘You’re so much better at it than I am. Are you going to the Inquest tomorrow?’
‘No, and I hope you’re not either!’
‘Well, I am, because it seems to me I’m a very interested party, and I want to see what’s likely to happen next.’
‘I shouldn’t go, if I were you,’ said Hugh. ‘I’ll let you know if anything startling comes out. Not that it’s likely to. The police are sure to ask for an adjournment.’
‘I should like,’ said Vicky, dipping her fingers in the cut-glass bowl before her, ‘to find out why Harold White wanted to see Wally on Sunday, and what they were going to do with that five hundred pounds.’