Horrid Happenings at Dangerton Manor (A Very Particular Detective Agency Book 2) by Issy Brooke

Author:Issy Brooke [Brooke, Issy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-05-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Hockley rode with her on the bus but he did not walk up to the manor with her. He desperately wanted to, she could see that, but they both knew that he could not risk it. With so many people coming and going, he couldn’t even give her the farewell that he wanted to. He stood a few feet away from her, and said, through a stiff face, “I wish you all the best, Miss York.”

You never knew who was listening or watching. She responded in kind, her heart breaking, and turned away quickly. She stamped her way through town and up the hill with the early afternoon sunlight still warm on her back.

She spotted a very elegant carriage with no less than six horses standing outside the manor. This was interesting. She had to slow down, to ensure that she didn’t arrive out of breath, but she was keen to see who it belonged to. She assumed it was connected with the family of Crispin or Adeline, or perhaps even Barnaby though that was more unlikely.

But as she got close enough to see the crest on the door, she was taken aback. She didn’t recognise it at all, and the writing around it was in an unfamiliar script. It certainly wasn’t English.

She went around the back of the carriage and now she could see the man who had descended from the steps. He was standing with his back to her, staring up at the manor. The butler was just opening the main doors to the house.

“At last,” muttered the man who had got down from the carriage. He was a youthful and virile man in his early forties, with a full head of dark curly hair and skin so pale it was like alabaster. He was wearing a suit cut like a military uniform, in dark blue with gold trim and the hint of epaulettes, and he carried a dark cane with a jaunty swing. He hailed the butler by waving that cane in the air rather imperiously.

“Sir! I am here for Miss Adeline Brock. Or, more precisely, sir, I am here for her motor-car. But if that is not here, then I shall take her. Either will do. Thank you.” He had a slight accent but his English was perfect.

“Who the devil are you?” the butler said. He would not have usually been so rude, but what manner of man turned up and demanded to see someone so bluntly?

Jo suspected she knew who it was already.

The man sighed rather dramatically. “It will be easiest for you to call me Count István Csány de Tolna.”

If that was the easy version, Jo thought, what was the difficult way? The butler glowered at him. “I shall inform Sir John of your arrival and your … demands. He was not expecting anyone.”

“Sir John? Sir John be damned. I am not here for Sir John. Bring me Miss Brock!”

The butler held his ground. “I shall not be ordered, sir, and I shall not be overruled.

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