“You have only to let him know if I may be of further service,” Mr. Compton added, then stiffly bowed and departed.
Brodie thanked Mr. Flannery and told him that we would let him know if we had any questions.
“Of course, sir.”
“Do they give instruction to servants in how to be difficult and condescending?” Brodie said in a lowered voice as we proceeded inside the conservatory.
More than a half dozen words? And condescending? I smiled to myself.
If he wasn’t careful, we might have a full-blown conversation, I thought, and simply answered, “Of course. However, some are born to it.”
There was another muttered comment which was obviously in Gaelic.
“Ye canna mean they have that way already about them while still in their nappies?”
I left him with that as I continued along the length of the large gaming table with chairs set about in the center of the room. Smaller tables sat along the two long sides of the conservatory.
One of those was set with a chess board and pieces, another set with a cribbage board, with yet another set with dice and a leather cup.
We each continued down the long sides of the building with those tall windows with palm trees set between.
I made a sketch of the large room, that included the entrance, a set of exit doors at the far end of the conservatory, as well as a barely noticeable side door set into wood panels that lined the wall opposite those windows.
I then sketched the gaming tables, including the large center table where cards still remained, as well as the billiards table toward the far end.
It was now quite bare of cue sticks and gaming balls that had obviously been returned to the cabinet nearby. So much for everything left as it was that last night.
Chairs about the center table were positioned as they might have been the last night, and it appeared that baccarat had been the game of choice.
Thegamingshoewas there, along with cards for what might have been the final game of the night, some turned over, others not, but with a set of cards displayed before the shoe—the obvious winning hand.
“Are ye are familiar with the game?” Brodie asked.
I did know a little about it, learned on one of my travels.
“It’s a game of strategy. One bets on the bank or the player who possesses the shoe.”
“A gentleman’s game,” he commented. “Ye have played it as well?”
“I was a guest of one of the players on one of my travels abroad.”
He then moved around the table where the cards had been left just as they had been played that last game.
When he didn’t reply, I continued to explain what I thought might be useful.
“I was curious about the game, and one of the players who was in our travel party was kind enough to explain it to me.
“There could be something the cards might tell us,” I added. “It is possible that there might have been some disagreement over a winning draw that might have sent Sir Collingwood off,” I suggested.
He didn’t look up as he continued to observe the table. “A substantial bet that was lost?”
“It has happened,” I stated. “The object of the game is to bet which hand will have the greatest value with the highest score ofcards up to a total of nine,” I continued, since I was the only one carrying on this conversation.
“Aye.”
“The tens and face cards are all counted as zero. The Ace is worth one, the two is worth two, and other cards accordingly with the goal of getting as close as possible to a winning draw of nine.
“Bets are placed, then made on the highest count among the players and have been known to be made with jewelry, a prize racehorse, or…”
