Claudia cast her eyes to heaven.“You asked us that before.The answer is still no.”
“Why, did you hear the noises again?”Hale asked.
April nodded.
Piers said, “So did I this time.We think the sounds are travelling through the chimneys, though from where, I don’t know.”
“Do you think it was the sound of someone quarrelling with the footman?”the professor asked.
Piers shrugged.“I don’t know.I heard things earlier this morning, too.”
“Not more falling bodies, I hope,” Hale said tartly.
“So do I, though it didn’t sound much like that.”Piers was drumming his fingers on the table as he sometimes did when deep in thought.With what looked like a deliberate effort, he reached for his teacup instead and changed the subject.“So what was your thesis idea, Mal?”
April, having devoured her entire plateful of food, decided to leave them to it.Excusing herself, she slipped away to the kitchen.
There, she was surprised to discover a stranger of some fifty years seated at the kitchen table with a china cup and saucer in front of him.From his dress, he was a middling sort of gentleman, from his expression, he was amiable and relaxed.From the bag on the floor beside him, he was a physician.
Mrs.Riley saw April first and didn’t look best pleased.But then, she rarely did.At least, she rose and so did the doctor.
“This is Dr.Forbes,” the cook said with defiance.“He’s always been the family doctor, and we decided it was right he attend to Edward.”
April decided not to comment on that.“Good morning, Doctor.I’m Lady Petteril.How did you find our patient?”
The doctor shook his head.“In a bad way.I changed his dressing, but I don’t see much else that can be done for him until he wakes.”
“That’s what Dr.Fosterson said.I’d wake him to speak to you, only he didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“A young fellow, I hear,” Dr.Forbes said.“Qualified?”
“With degrees from Oxford and Edinburgh,” April said.“But of course, considerably less experience than yourself.”
Her flattery was deliberate, but the doctor appeared pleased anyway.He reached for his bag, and April elected to walk with him out of the kitchen toward the front door, another attention that he obviously found gratifying.
“What is your impression of Edward, Doctor?”April asked.
“Medically or personally?”he asked with unexpected shrewdness.
“Both,” April replied.
“Medically, I’ve never had to deal with him before.”
“He is not a local man, then?”
“Oh, no.The Temperleys took him on in London a couple of years ago.To my knowledge he has always been a fit and healthy young man, which will certainly stand to his advantage in recovering from this wound.Do you have any idea how it happened?”
“We think he was attacked last night on the path that leads to the summer house.”
The doctor pursed his lips.
“And your personal impressions?”April reminded him.
He sighed.“It’s hardly my place to instruct Sir Dominic or Lady Temperley in whom to employ.”
“This is strictly between you and me, Doctor.”
“Then he is a troublemaker,” Dr.Forbes said bluntly.“Oh, he can be ingratiating and certainly efficient when he wishes, but all too often, his manner borders on insolence.Besides which, he thinks he’s a cut above the country folk and plays fast and loose with the village girls.”
