Page 69 of The Trick of the Treasure
“I promised Rachel we would go on an outing, only I knew you would kick up a fuss if we went alone, so—”
“Kick up a fuss?” Mrs. Lloyd repeated, apparently more stunned than angered by the language.
“Exactly. So we went to Aunt Aud to see if she would come with us. We thought she might enjoy it, too. After all, the poor old thing never does anything but charity—which is very worthy, of course,” she added hastily, “only I can’t help thinking it would be very dullallthe time.”
“And your aunt was not in her room,” Solomon said, bringing her musings back to the matter in hand.
“No. We thought we had missed her until Rachel noticed that the bed was still turned down from last night, and looked quite unslept in. Plus, the place wastidy, and Aunt is never tidy. Her dressing gown was gone from the back of her door, and when we looked in her wardrobe, most of her clothes had gone too. So had her old carpetbag that she used to take when she accompanied the poor children to the seaside for an overnight stay. She did enjoy that.”
“You believe she has gone to the seaside?” Solomon asked.
“Hardly,” Mrs. Lloyd said disparagingly. “Not without telling us. She had not asked my husband or me for the money to travel.”
“Then she did not have means of her own?”
“No. We make her an allowance of course, though it has to be small, for otherwise she would wastepoundson her wretched charities—which, as far as I can see, give far too much to the thieves and loafers who should be doing a decent day’s work to keep themselves and their families.”
Solomon let that one go. “When she went to the seaside with her poor children, where did she go?”
“I don’t actually know,” Mrs. Lloyd said in surprise.
Jemimah looked humbler, if not ashamed. “Neither do I. Isn’t that shocking?”
“Did Miss Lloyd join you in the drawing room after dinner?” Solomon asked.
“Yes,” Mrs. Lloyd replied.
“No,” Jemimah said at the same time. She glanced at her mother. “That is, I don’t think so. I didn’t particularly notice because I have a great deal on my mind just now.”
“My sister-in-law is so quiet, one doesn’t always notice her,” Mrs. Lloyd added.
“So, you didn’t actually notice whether she joined you last night or not?” Solomon pressed.
“I assumed she had,” Mrs. Lloyd said. “She generally does.”
“But the last time you actuallyrecallseeing her was at dinner? Shewasat dinner?”
“Yes!” Jemimah said, triumphantly, apparently unaware of his sarcasm. “For she dropped her fork with a terrible clatter and we had to distract Papa before he—er…got angry,” she muttered, avoiding her mother’s gaze.
“But you did not see her after that? No one went to say goodnight to her?”
“We respect her privacy,” Mrs. Lloyd said stiffly. “If she is in her bedchamber, that is clearly what she desires.”
“Then you and Miss Lloyd are not in the habit of visiting each other’s bedchambers?”
“No,” Mrs. Lloyd said haughtily. “Ours was not that kind of relationship.”
“And yet you must have known each other for more than twenty years. How many of those has she spent in your house?”
“All of them. My husband decided to let our country estate, so she could not stay there. When we have gone back there between lets for a month or so, she comes with us, of course.”
“I see… Well, thank you for your time. I shall just go and have another word with your servants, if you don’t mind.” He paused, his hand on the doorknob, and glanced back. “One more thing. Have either of you met a Mr. Joshua Clarke?”
“No,” Mrs. Lloyd replied after the briefest pause.
Jemimah frowned. “Isn’t he Papa’s solicitor?”
“No, that’s Clarkson,” her mother said impatiently.
