The Pigeon Pie Mystery by Julia Stuart

Author:Julia Stuart [Stuart, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780385676618
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Published: 2012-08-06T14:00:00+00:00

DR. HENDERSON WOKE JUST BEFORE lunchtime, happy in the knowledge that he would get through the day without seeing neither a boil nor his housekeeper. The previous night, he had put up a sign on the front door saying that he would attend emergencies only on Good Friday, and had given Mrs. Nettleship the day off, for his sake as much as hers. Not only was he unsettled by the sudden onslaught of her ardour, which had continued with undisguised hints about the merits of mature widows, but he was still furious about the anti-masturbation device. He had left it out to give to one of the soldiers, but when he went to fetch it, it had disappeared. He eventually tracked it down to a kitchen drawer, next to the potato ricer. With no hint of an apology for the protracted search, she took it out and thrust it at him as if it were a lost umbrella.

The woman was clearly suffering from a sudden derangement, he concluded from his bedsheets, for it was the only tool of his profession that she normally refused to touch, claiming such proximity would sully the memory of her husband at the bottom of the North Sea. Turning onto his back, he wondered whether there was any way that he had encouraged her. Suddenly he remembered her coming into his bedroom while he was attempting to master the New York plastered look. Then there was his copy of The Gentleman’s Guide to Politeness and Courtship next to his bed, which doubtless she had seen and also misconstrued.

Unable to bear the harrowing thought any longer, he threw back his blankets and hunted for his new cycling costume. Lured by an advertisement bearing a gentleman in nifty socks, he had first visited the City branch of Isaac Walton & Co., the high-class tailors and colonial outfitters. But as soon as he walked in, the staff immediately reached for their instruments of humiliation hanging around their necks. “I’m after ready-made,” he hastily explained, backing out. “You’ll be needing the Newington Causeway branch, then, sir,” came the reply, and he closed the door and followed the directions. Such was his delight at not having to be subjected to the terrifying touch of a tailor, he returned home with knickerbockers, a Norfolk jacket, and a waterproof cape. He chose flannel lining, aware that cotton or linen damp from perspiration or rain chilled the bones. Only the previous week he had read of several bad cases of inflammation of the kidneys that had been traced directly to the linen waistband of knickerbockers. But that wasn’t the end of it. Before he realised what he was doing, he had also picked out a matching cap, a sweater, a shirt, a belt, a tie, a silk sash, and two pairs of diamond-patterned hose. It wasn’t until he was presented with the bill that he was brought back to his senses, and the fantasy of the Princess seeing him charmingly attired while in

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.