“This is Miss Rangaswamy. She brought Christopher—I mean, Chris,” he corrected himself, smiling at Christopher, “to England.”
Charles bowed over Rani’s hand. “Charmed, my dear.”
“And this gentleman,” Soothcoor continued, pulling his brother’s attention from Rani, “is Mr. Lewis Martin from Bow Street. He is responsible for finding Chris.”
“Bravo! But I am remiss and seem to have forgotten my manners,” Charles said. He turned to Cecilia. “It is a pleasure, as always, to see you, Lady Branstoke. You have been away from London for too long. However,” he said consideringly, “for the current crop of debutants, that might have been a good thing. None of them can hold a candle to you.”
James rolled his eyes, and Cecilia just smiled. “Enough of the fulsome compliments. Would you like some coffee or something to eat?”
“I ate at an ungodly hour this morning, but coffee would be nice.”
She nodded. She looked across the room. “Nate, please have coffee and tea brought to the parlor.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Rani stood. “I will take Krishan—”
“Chris,” Christopher sternly corrected, arms akimbo.
“Chris,” she dutifully repeated back.
“I hope I haven’t started anything bad!” Charles said.
Rani looked at him. “No, it is fine. I call him Krishan for so long, it will take time to learn again. I will take Chris back to the nursery, as Dr. Seeton is due soon, and he did say only up a short time.”
Cecilia agreed and led the others toward the parlor. The bell rang before she reached the parlor door. It was Dr. Seeton.
While James escorted the others into the parlor, Cecilia escorted Dr. Seeton upstairs.
“Dr. Seeton, a word with you first,” she said. “We have another patient for you—perhaps,” she said. She led him to her sitting room.
“Perhaps?”
“The patient seems to be recovering, thanks to the good offices of Miss Rangaswamy, though it might be well to have your opinion.
“You have me intrigued.”
She gestured for him to take a seat as she sat down on her sofa. “Our maid, Dorothy, accidentally drank some poison last night. Luckily, not much. We got to her before she drank more than a couple of sips.”
“You say accidentally….”
“The poison was in a cup of hot chocolate. The intended victim was Miss Rangaswamy, only she does not like chocolate. She told Dorothy she could have it. Dorothy took it to the kitchen to reheat.”
“I don’t understand. Who would want to kill Miss Rangaswamy?”
Cecilia sighed. She felt her eyes freshening with tears again. She dabbed at them with her handkerchief before answering. “I’m sorry. Just thinking about it again overwhelms me.”
“I can well believe that,” he said kindly.
She nodded. “Our butler—”
“Your butler?!”
“Yes. He mixed a powder into the chocolate to make her unwell. He says he didn’t know what he actually mixed was a poison. Miss Rangaswamy had charcoal amongst her Indian herbal remedies and administered the charcoal to Dorothy.”
“For many poisons, if given soon after ingestion, it is a cure,” he said. “Good for her! Yes, I will see Dorothy after I check on Christopher. What was the poison, do you know?”
“Miss Rangaswamy believes it is Kalihari, which is the Indian name forGloriosa Superba. I have learned that, like foxglove, it can be both a medicine and a poison.”
