One More Christmas at the Castle by Ashley Trisha

Author:Ashley, Trisha
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473591356
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2021-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

Sabine

I went up to rest before dinner, though mainly because I felt I needed some time alone with my thoughts.

Recently, I’ve quite often found myself forgetting who Dido is and the reason I wanted her here in the first place … and she’s so unobtrusive when she does venture out of the staff wing. Her cooking, too, is excellent and she and Henry have already made such a difference to life at the Castle. Everything runs smoothly, like it did in the old days, when staff were easy to get and to keep.

There have, I confess, been one or two moments when I’ve felt almost ashamed of the impulse that led me to employ Faye’s granddaughter in a menial capacity in her former home. Looking back now, what satisfaction did I think it would give me? You can’t revenge yourself on the dead by humiliating their descendants.

This was brought home to me even more when I emerged from the dark drive this afternoon and saw the fir tree on the lawn lit up with big, golden stars, and then learned from Henry that it had been Dido’s idea, a Christmas surprise for me.

I asked Henry to give her my thanks, but must say something to her in the morning, when she brings my breakfast …

Henry, very sweetly, has placed a pot of spring bulbs in Nancy’s room, as well as one here, in my boudoir, and they smell like the spring I may not live to see …

I’d brought my letters up with me but found nothing more interesting than a few Christmas cards, until I came to a strong manila envelope of the type used by my private detective, Mr Jarrold.

Until that moment, I’d almost forgotten that I’d asked him to investigate Dido’s birth mother, but when I pulled out the printed report, there were three photographs folded inside it.

I’d been so sure that Dido must have got her striking appearance and golden hair from her mother that I had to check the enclosure to be sure this really was her.

She’d been snapped both full face and in profile, showing a narrow, aesthetic face and a nose that, though straight, was most certainly not Grecian. Her hair, according to the letter, was sandy, her eyes hazel and she was of medium height and slight build.

Briefly, I wondered if he could possibly have got the wrong person. But his firm had always in the past been both thorough and reliable.

I read the report again, more slowly. The woman was a research chemist in Switzerland, which explained why she was wearing a white lab coat in the third picture.

I unlocked the flap of my small desk and laid the photos out on it and then, from the small inner drawer, I took the snaps of Dido’s father, Thomas, and placed them in a row above the others, like a strange game of patience.

Thomas Sedley Jones was tall, but that was the only resemblance to his daughter. He was thin, brown-haired and had a slightly beaky nose.

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