The Corners of the Globe: (The Wide World - James Maxted 2) by Goddard Robert

Author:Goddard, Robert [Goddard, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781448111091
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2014-07-02T16:00:00+00:00

BREAKFAST AT GRESSCOMBE Place that morning was interrupted by an urgent telephone call from the Deputy Chief Constable of the Surrey Police. More discomposing still for Sir Ashley Maxted was that it was his mother to whom the Deputy Chief Constable wanted to speak.

In Winifred’s absence from the room, Ashley and Lydia anxiously pondered what could be the matter. Their greatest fear was that it concerned James in some way. In their view, it was inevitable he would land himself in serious trouble sooner or later.

‘You’re not to let your mother dispatch you to some corner of the globe to rescue James from a predicament of his own making,’ Lydia insisted. ‘I need you here.’

‘And I want to stay here, Lydia, believe me. But my mother isn’t an easy woman to say no to.’

‘I can say no to her, darling. Leave it to me.’

‘What can have happened, d’you think?’

‘Whatever it is it’ll be James’s own fault. He’s not a child. He must stand on his own two feet.’

‘Ah, but he’s never had to, has he? Straight from Cambridge into the RFC. The boy’s never needed to knuckle down to anything.’

‘That’s half the problem. He always wants to—’

Lydia broke off as Winifred returned to the room. She sat down and waited for Fuller, the manservant, to pour her another cup of tea before she said to him: ‘Ask Ethel to pack a case for me, Fuller. I’m going away for a few days.’

‘Very good, Your Ladyship. Will Ethel be accompanying you?’

‘No, no. I’ll be travelling alone. And I’ll be leaving shortly, so could you see to it straight away?’

‘Of course, Your Ladyship.’

Fuller left the room at a smart pace. Winifred sipped her tea. Ashley flushed with irritation. And Lydia said, ‘May we be told where you’re going?’

‘Paris, my dear.’

‘What?’ Ashley exploded.

‘Paris,’ Winifred repeated more loudly.

‘I heard what you said. I just . . . Why are you going to Paris, Mother?’

‘George is in difficulties.’

‘But he isn’t in Paris . . . is he?’

‘He is. I asked him to go when he was here last Sunday.’

‘You asked him?’

‘Why?’ Lydia cut in.

‘A Canadian railway magnate, Sir Nathaniel Chevalier, is threatening to sue me because a number of ancient Sumerian cylinder-seals he bought from your father have turned out to be fakes. I asked George to meet Sir Nathaniel’s agent in Paris and settle the matter as discreetly and inexpensively as possible.’

Ashley gaped at her in amazement. ‘I knew nothing of this.’

‘No. We agreed it was best to keep it from you.’

‘Ashley is head of this household,’ said Lydia affrontedly. ‘You had no right to keep it from him.’

Winifred half-turned in her chair and gave Lydia the benefit of her gaze. ‘I cede the right to protect my late husband’s good name to no one, Lydia. Please be so good as to remember that.’

‘You should have told me, Mother,’ Ashley fumed.

‘Well, I decided not to and there it is. George went, loyal brother that he is to me. Alas, it’s not gone well for him.

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