Nursery Tea and Poison by Anne Morice

Author:Anne Morice
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dean Street Press
Published: 2021-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

2

‘And what had she done to her?’ Robin enquired, when I had described this scene to him. ‘Did you ever discover?’

‘Not exactly. She’d obviously been knocked sideways by the news and was blaming herself for Primrose making such a hash of her life, which is a thing I suppose all mothers are prone to.’

‘It sounded more specific than that. As though a fresh element had crept in.’

‘And so it has. I suppose the truth is that the poor girl draws some special feeling of security from elderly people and now she’s lost her old Nan she wants to be babied by Jake instead.’

‘And could Serena be blaming herself for the old Nan’s death? Is that what set her off?’

‘It wouldn’t surprise me, Robin. Serena could find a way to blame herself for practically anything you can name. No doubt, she’s now convinced herself that as soon as Nannie lost her spectacles it was her clear duty to lock up every harmful substance in the house. She probably imagines that by neglecting this small precaution she has literally flung Primrose into Jake’s arms. Personally, I can’t see that it matters if she has. They have loads of interests in common, and when he dies she’ll still be reasonably young, as well as rich. There’s no reason why she shouldn’t live out her dream and spend the rest of her life at Chargrove. Pelham might even be persuaded to get the entail broken and sell it to her. He doesn’t want to live there himself and after this weekend I should imagine he’ll have even less affection for the place.’

As forecasts went, this was fairly wide of the mark, but in that respect it was modest compared to the one which followed soon afterwards. The conversation was taking place in the parlour and almost as I finished speaking the telephone rang. Through the open doorway I saw Serena coming from the kitchen to answer it and, after the most laconic and unilluminating of exchanges, she replaced the receiver and came to tell us the latest news:

‘That was Richard. He says the inquest is to be the day after tomorrow. I wish you could stay for it, Robin. You’re such a steady old prop.’

‘I know. Isn’t it sad? I used to be quite dashing and flighty until Tessa came into my life.’

‘Seriously, Robin . . .’

‘No, I’m sorry, my dear, but I’m on my way back to London and I have to clock in early tomorrow morning. I couldn’t very well ask for compassionate leave on those grounds. The question would inevitably come up as to whether there was no one in your family you could call upon, and I should have to confess that there was not only a grown up daughter on the premises, but a middle-aged brother-in-law as well.’

‘And I don’t need to tell you what a fat lot of use they’ll be. Primrose will probably be carried out in hysterics and it will surprise me if Pelham even bothers to turn up.

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