Free Lessons in Discovery by Charlie Cochrane Page A

guest’s thoughts. Ariadne Peters knew how much Orlando had changed since he first came to Bride’s and
    recognised that her old friend Jonty Stewart was at the root of it.
    She might be an aging spinster but she knew a thing or two about the world—there had been a young man called Tom to whom
    she’d been much closer than her family had suspected, and it was only a fortune of the calendar that a young Wilkinson hadn’t been born while its father had been weathering the Lizard. Miss Peters knew what passed between a man and a maid, and between two
    men as well. As much as she despised historians she understood
    the significance of the death that Edward II had suffered at
    Berkeley.
    She’d observed certain signs every time she was in the
    company of Coppersmith and Stewart, despite the fact that
    everyone else in the college, even her brother, was seemingly
    blind to them. It had to be love, and she wished good luck to
    them. She only hoped that they wouldn’t be parted before their
    time, as she’d been from her own sweetheart.
    “I’ve cut a nice piece of cake for you, Dr. Coppersmith. You
    always seem very thin, so you’d better have a double ration. Dr.
    Stewart—” Miss Peters passed a smaller piece to Jonty, “—you
    don’t need building up at all so you can make do with this. I never put on an ounce so I’ll have a double ration too. Lemuel can lump it if he can’t be bothered to get here.”
    Whether this was entirely fair, given that her brother had a
    meeting with the vice chancellor and had sent his apologies for
    tea, was a moot point. Jonty and Orlando just smiled, knowing
    full well how fond their guest was of her brother and sure that he would be getting the very largest slice of the cake.
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    Lessons in Discovery
    “How are we progressing with the Woodville Ward? Early
    days, I suppose?”
    Jonty motioned them to his best armchairs, perching himself
    down on the rug.
    “Indeed, Miss Peters. We’ve been getting ourselves up to
    date with all the pertinent points and I suppose we’ve as many of the established facts at our fingertips as anybody has ever had.”
    Orlando also had cake crumbs at his fingertips and was
    surreptitiously licking them off.
    “What about these new papers?”
    “Those letters make very interesting reading,” Jonty
    interjected. “Orlando doesn’t agree with me but I have a feeling that Johan Breton is somehow involved in the case. The simple
    fact that no one else has him down for a suspect seems to me very odd.”
    “You’ve not said a truer word. Especially considering that
    just about everyone else alive at the time has been accused by
    some theorist or other.” Miss Peters produced her anti-historian snort.
    “Which theory do you think would win the prize for the
    most outlandish?” Jonty asked. “We must all have one we admire
    for its sheer audacity and we should share them. I have a
    particular fondness for something concocted by one of my fellow
    undergraduates—he wasn’t a historian, I hasten to add, so
    wouldn’t have gone straight into Miss Peters’ bad books.”
    “And will you enlighten us with it?” Orlando smiled at Jonty
    then raised an eyebrow at their guest.
    “Not until Miss Peters has told us hers, as I think mine
    would out-trump both of your offerings.” Jonty looked as if he
    was trying to appear innocent and not quite succeeding.
    “I’m always happy to share my opinions, as you well know,
    gentlemen, so I’ll begin. I doubt that Dr. Stewart’s friend’s theory can be as farfetched as my favourite but I’ll attempt to present it www.lindenbayromance.com 61
    Charlie Cochrane
    as it came. Him—Dr. Smarmy Owens—now no longer with us.
    Oh, I don’t mean he’s dropped dead, more’s the pity; still
    infesting the college next door, although I suppose that amounts to the same thing.”
    “Swine,” Orlando muttered.
    “As I was saying, he’d allegedly studied all the evidence
    then to