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

inherit the house, then? I thought Ursula and your cousin Susan had an interest?’
    ‘ Oh yes. I think Susan has already agreed to sell her share to Father, and he hopes that Aunt Ursula will do the same eventually, although I can’t see her giving it up without a fight.’
    Just then, Louisa Haynes entered with a distracted air.
    ‘ Has anybody seen Stella or Guy?’ she asked. ‘It’s nearly lunch-time. Angela, darling, you will stay to lunch, won’t you?’
    ‘ I believe they went for a walk in the grounds,’ said Angela, ‘and yes please.’
    ‘ Those children have the most dreadful habit of disappearing just before meals. I don’t know what is to be done with them,’ said Louisa. ‘Well, it can’t be helped. The bell will ring in a minute, and if they miss it then they shall just have to do without.’
    Angela noticed that Donald’s features had relapsed into their customary gloom, but he said nothing. Was he concerned about Stella and Guy? She observed him covertly, thinking about their conversation. He had directly contradicted Robin’s story about who had arrived first on the scene after Winifred fell. Which of them was telling the truth? And another curious thing: John had claimed to be in his study at the time of the fall, but Donald had said that his father was not there when he looked. Where, then, had John been?

FOURTEEN
     
    ‘ There you are,’ exclaimed Louisa as Stella and Guy entered the dining-room, laughing and flushed as though they had been running. ‘What on earth possessed you to run off half an hour before lunch?’
    ‘ I’m sorry, Aunt Louisa,’ said Stella, taking her place at the table. ‘I forgot to put my watch on and I didn’t realize how late it was.’
    ‘ She speaks only the truth,’ said Guy. ‘And I should take the blame upon myself like a gentleman were it not for the fact that in this instance it was entirely the lady’s fault.’
    ‘ Beast,’ said Stella. ‘You could have kept an eye on the time yourself.’
    ‘ Alas, no,’ said Guy mournfully. ‘You forget that only yesterday the good people of Asprey’s told me that my watch was no more, had gone to a better place—in short, could not be mended. I must now wait until some kindly rich widow takes pity on me and buys me another.’
    ‘ Or you could go somewhere other than Asprey’s and pay six pounds for a new one instead of thirty,’ said Stella.
    ‘ What a ridiculous notion,’ said Guy. ‘One must keep up appearances at all times, however difficult that may be on a straitened stipend such as my own.’ He assumed an expression intended to convey a state of virtuous penury.
    ‘ I suppose I am to take that as a hint,’ said John, laughing.
    ‘ Not at all, sir, not at all,’ said Guy, as though the thought had never entered his head.
    ‘ By the way, Angela,’ said Louisa, ‘did you ever find out whose photograph that was?’
    ‘ No,’ said Angela. ‘I showed it to Ursula and Robin but they couldn’t tell me.’
    ‘ Which photograph?’ asked Stella curiously. ‘May I see it?’
    ‘ I’m afraid not, as I rather unfortunately lost it yesterday.’
    She told them what had happened, making light of the attack on herself, as she had no wish to worry Louisa. Even so, they all exclaimed in sympathy.
    ‘ But I don’t understand,’ said Stella. ‘Why did he take the picture and nothing else? Are you sure that was the only thing missing, Mrs. Marchmont?’
    ‘ Quite sure,’ said Angela.
    ‘ What is your theory?’ asked Guy.
    Angela smiled.
    ‘ I’m perfectly certain that the photograph was not stolen at all,’ she said. ‘Whoever took my bag was being hotly pursued by a group of enthusiastic bystanders, and so must have had only a moment or two to rifle through it before he was forced to abandon it and make his escape. The pursuers found it lying on the ground, open, and with nothing else missing from it. I therefore deduce that, since the thief can have had no possible reason for