The Mystery at Underwood House (An Angela Marchmont Mystery) by Clara Benson

mother have any dark secrets you should rather nobody knew about?’ asked Angela as lightly as she could.
    ‘ I have none at all, unless she was referring to the fact that I am rather deeply in debt to my tailor. But Mother found out about that last week—that was an uncomfortable few minutes, I can tell you! As for Mother, you shall have to ask her yourself. Perhaps she has a murky past that none of us knows about, but of course you would know that better than anyone, as you have known her for longer.’
    Angela smiled, then asked, ‘Could she have been referring to her suspicions about the deaths of your aunts and uncle, do you think?’
    ‘ I expect it had something to do with that. I do wish she would say what she meant, though. We all know she suspects something or someone, but she won’t say exactly what or whom, except that Father is meant to know all about it. She just hints darkly, and that’s no use to anyone. We shall never find out what happened that way.’
    ‘ Well, that is why I am here, to try and find out the truth. Let us start with your Aunt Philippa. Ursula has suggested that she may have been poisoned by someone who put digitalin in her food, as the manner of her death was consistent with her having had a heart attack. Now, as I understand it, that evening you all had mulligatawny soup, followed by lamb and a soufflé and then coffee. I have never poisoned anybody myself, but I imagine the easiest way to do it would be to put it in either the soup or the coffee.’
    ‘ I should say you are right,’ he agreed.
    ‘ But which was it? It all depends on opportunity. How is the soup served in this house, by the way? I mean, is it brought in in a tureen or in separate dishes?’
    ‘ We have a large tureen for that kind of thing.’
    ‘ Very good. So you see, if our hypothetical murderer wished to poison the soup, he must have found a way to introduce it into Philippa’s dish after it had been served to her, otherwise you would all have been taken ill. Do you remember who was sitting next to her at the table that evening?’
    ‘ Probably me,’ said Donald. ‘I usually sat next to her. I don’t know who was on her other side, though. And I didn’t put anything in her soup.’
    ‘ No. I imagine it would be very difficult to introduce a drug into someone’s food without their noticing, in fact. That leaves the coffee, which seems to be an altogether more likely prospect. How was that served?’
    ‘ It’s always served from a coffee pot which is left on the side for everyone to help themselves or each other.’
    ‘ And you don’t remember who helped whom to coffee that evening?’
    ‘ Hardly, after all this time.’
    ‘ I thought not—and I doubt anyone else does either. Your mother said something about Philippa’s complaining about the food. Do you recall that?’
    ‘ No. Aunt Philippa fussed rather a lot, you know, so one would tend not to notice.’
    ‘ Yes. Very well, now we come to your Aunt Winifred. I understand you were the first to reach her when she fell.’
    ‘ Was I? I don’t remember.’
    ‘ Your cousin Robin said so.’
    ‘ I suppose I must have been, then. Yes—now you mention it, I do seem to remember seeing everyone rushing out of the drawing-room into the hall, so I must have been there first, mustn’t I?’
    ‘ What were you doing in the hall?’
    ‘ Why, I heard the cry, of course. I had been looking for Father in the study, but he wasn’t there, and I was just coming out when she fell. I ran along and there she was, lying on the floor. Wait a minute, though—’ he stopped. ‘Of course, I remember it all now. I wasn’t there first at all. Robin must have got there before me, because he was kneeling next to her when I arrived.’
    ‘ Are you sure of this?’
    ‘ Absolutely. I remember it distinctly.’
    ‘ What was he doing?’
    ‘ Looking for her pulse, I expect. He sat back in a hurry when he saw me, then said, “I don’t know how it happened,