Death at Glamis Castle by Robin Paige

Author:Robin Paige [Paige, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Robin Paige

CHAPTER TWENTY

By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. Open, locks, Whoever knocks!

Macbeth, IV, i William Shakespeare

Angus Duff had given them directions to Flora MacDonald’s cottage, and Charles had decided that it was best that he and Kate walk, since the village wasn’t far. The motorcar had attracted attention on his earlier visit, and he did not want Flora’s neighbors to know that she was being singled out for attention.

It wasn’t a pleasant afternoon for a walk, however. Pewter clouds hung low over the Grampians, and the morning fog had returned, turning the afternoon chill and damp, an early taste of autumn. The silver birches stood out of the misty woodland like a troop of disheveled dancers, and the rich scent of decaying woodlands, of damp fern and bracken and meadowsweet, rose up around their feet. If Charles had had more time, he would have enjoyed foraging for mushrooms, for a great many grew in the leaf-litter under the birches: fungi of all sizes, from tiny pearl-button mushrooms to those as large as a football, in shades of white, black, cream, purple, yellow, scarlet. He noticed several chunky Boletus edulis, or penny-buns, which were tasty when they were sliced and cooked quickly in butter, and some saffron milkcaps, aptly named Lactarius deliciosus. One could collect enough for a fine meal within just a few minutes. The most numerous of all, however, were the handsome Amanita muscaria, the wicked fly agaric, which always reminded him of a shiny, egg-brushed Christmas bread studded with rich flecks of almond. But its sturdy beauty was deceptive and sinister, for while not always fatal, this Amanita would certainly make one very ill.

Kate had put her arm through his, and as they walked, in some excitement, she confided what the Princess had told her at lunch about the charade of Prince Eddy’s sham death. She ended her tale with a question. “Did you know this before we came, Charles? That the Prince was still alive, I mean.”

“Not before we came,” Charles replied. “Kirk-Smythe told me some of it this morning, but he did not have as many insights into the Prince’s mental condition as Toria has given you.” He patted the neatly-gloved hand on his arm, thinking that his wife had learned in a few minutes of conversation what he might never have discovered, search as he might.

“Andrew certainly didn’t know all of the reasons behind Eddy’s exile,” he added. “Queen Victoria’s determination that he should marry May, for instance, which seems to have brought Eddy to the breaking point.” He shook his head. The business of arranged marriages among royalty was a tragedy for the individuals involved, and almost never served their countries well.

And in this case, there was an even greater tragedy, for Eddy had been legally, if not wisely, married, and his Roman Catholic commoner wife, Annie Crook, had been still living at the time of the Prince’s forced engagement to Princess May. If Eddy had married May, he would have been forced to become a bigamist, their children illegitimate.

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