Murder on Charing Cross Road by Joan Smith Page A

wouldn’t care for the meals at my place.”
    “You ought to sort that bunch out, Mr. Pattle. You really ought.”
    “You’re right. One of these days I’ll do it. It’s grand to sit down to a proper meal like this.”
    “My pleasure to entertain you, Mr. Pattle.”
    His new exalted condition did not prevent him from pocketing the hefty pourboire Pattle left under the edge of the plate, nor cause any offence. They parted on their usual friendly terms.
     

Chapter Thirteen
     
    Black used his involvement in the case to pay a call on Lady Luten after his lunch with Coffen. Like any polite guest, he was shown into the rose salon with all the respect due an archbishop. Evans hoped to hear what was afoot before Black left. Over the years these two butlers, as different as salt and sugar in most ways, had become friends due to proximity and a shared interest in the welfare of the young couple. Black, ever alert, had begun to suspect, however, that beneath Evans’s smile lurked a dark green envy of Black’s rising favour with Luten.
    When Black learned from Lady Luten that Morgrave’s wife’s plans for the afternoon left her husband free, he immediately declared that he would watch the flat. “His lordship mentioned sending for his plain black rig for me this evening, if you recall.”
    “I’ll send for it this minute,”she replied. “There’s no telling Morgrave will spend the afternoon at that club, playing cards. He might go anywhere.”
    “You don’t feel I’m overstepping myself then, milady?”
    “Not in the least, Black. It’s what Luten would want. They plan to dine with Lord Sifton and attend the theatre this evening, so this might be our best chance to learn what he’s up to.”
    “I’ll just nip home and make a few preparations. And may I make so bold as to say, madam, we miss you at the old house.”The “we”was himself and an elderly housekeeper who thoroughly enjoyed her new ease and comfort.
    Lady Luten reached out and squeezed his fingers. “I miss you too, Black. We shall find some good placement for you when my little house is rented.”
    It was at such moments as these that he was repaid for his extraordinary efforts on her behalf. There was a hint of Lord Blackwell in his manner when he replied, “I hope I shan’t have to move too far away, milady.”
    “Brigade business, I take it,”Evans said as Black left. He was not as accomplished an eavesdropper as Black, but he was coming along.
    “Just so, Evans. This is dangerous business.”
    “Can I be of any assistance, Black?”
    “Sorry, it’s confidential. Members only, you might say.”
    Evans forced a grim-lipped smile and nodded his acceptance of this rebuff.
    As the nature of the case was of national importance, Luten returned early to Berkeley Square to keep abreast of what the Brigade was doing. When his wife told him what she had discovered that morning, he was very glad he had come home.
    “Studying a map of Spain, you say?”Luten said in alarm. “That indicates a suspiciously strong interest in the doings in the Peninsula.”
    “And he was drinking brandy. You know where he got that!”
    Luten had the grace to blush. “The same place I and half the town got it, of course, from the smugglers. Still, it is likely the smugglers who deliver the messages to and from France. And you sent Black to keep an eye on Morgrave this afternoon. That was good thinking.”
    “It was his own idea. We really must do something for Black when we rent my house, Luten. He’s been so faithful to me all these years.”
    “He’s a good man. I shall never forget that he saved your life on our first case. We don’t want to lose track of him. He’s been a great help to us on more than one occasion for that matter. We’ll find something suitable for him. We can’t reduce him to a footman after seven years as a butler. We can’t have two butlers, and I can’t very well turn Evans off after all these years either, nor would I like to