Free Death of a Peer by Ngaio Marsh Page A

G.’s?”
    “Yes. I want it for a loin cloth.”
    “I’m going to be a Circassian slave,” said Patch.
    “This is most frightfully bogus,” said Henry, taking two yachting caps out of the wardrobe. “I can’t tell you how much I object to cavorting in front of these repellent people. You could use yachting caps as breast-plates, Robin. There’s some string.”
    “Thank you. Aren’t you going to dress up, Henry?”
    Henry hung a pair of field-glasses round his neck. “I shall play it modern,” he muttered. “Colonel Sisera Blimp.” He drew a pair of fur-lined motoring gloves over his hands.
    Frid came back with a long silver-plated skewer.
    “Be careful how you muck about my head with that thing,” said Henry.
    “I want a hammer.”
    “Use your boot. Let’s get it over.”
    “In you go, Robin and Patch. Take that rug and hold it like a tent. You too, twins. Say how beautiful I am,” ordered Frid, “and wonder if the day has been Sisera’s.”
    Robin, Patch and the twins entered the drawing-room unnoticed. Their audience was sitting with its back to the door.
    “We’ve begun,” said Patch loudly. “I wonder how the battle went. Dost thou know if the day is Sisera’s?”
    “Nay,” said Stephen.
    “Dost thou?”
    “Nay,” said Colin.
    “And thou?” continued Patch, irritably, to Robin.
    “Nay, I wot not,” said Robin and she added hurriedly: “How beautiful Jael is!”
    “She is like the new-blown moon,” agreed Patch.
    “Lo,” said Colin, “here she comes.”
    “How beautiful she is!” said Stephen.
    Frid made an entrance. She had removed her stockings and shoes and had hitched her dress up with scarves. She carried the skewer in her sash and a shoe in her hand. She shut the door and leant against it in a dramatic manner.
    “That’s my scarf,“ said Lord Wutherwood. He turned his back on the charade and began talking in a low, querulous voice to his brother.
    “I am aweary with watching,” said Frid. “Praise to Allah the day is ours. Ho, slaves!”
    Patch and Robin threw themselves on their faces. The twins saluted.
    “Lie down, O Jael,” said Colin abruptly.
    Frid crawled into the tent. “I am aweary unto death,” she repeated.
    “Here comes S-S-Sis-Sis—” began Stephen.
    “Hist!” shouted Patch, coming to his rescue. “I hear footprints. Stand to!”
    “Stand!” said the twins.
    The door opened and Henry came in. He wore a solar topee and his gauntlet driving gloves. He had turned up his trousers to resemble shorts. He focussed his field-glasses on the audience and said: “An arid desert, by gad!”
    “ ’Tis Sisera,” said Frid. “Lure him hither, slaves.”
    Roberta and Patch made winning gestures. Henry watched them through his field-glasses. When they drew nearer he seized Roberta by the arm. “A damn fine girl, by gad,” he said.
    “Come hither, O Sisera,” invited Roberta uneasily. “Come to yonder tent.”
    Henry was led to the tent. Frid writhed on the carpet and extended her arms. “Do I behold the valiant Sisera?” she asked. “All hail O Captain.”
    Henry was dragged down to the floor. A rather confused scene took place in the course of which Frid gave him a few lines from Titania’s speech to Bottom and he began to snore.
    “Vengeance is mine,” observed Frid. “Quick, the nail.” She drew the skewer from her sash and hammered it into the carpet behind Henry’s head. Henry yelled, gurgled, and lay still.
    “Wail,” muttered Frid. The twins, Patch and Roberta wailed loudly.
    “That’s all,” said Frid. “Were we right? It was a compound charade.”
    Charlot and Lady Katherine clapped their hands. Lord Wutherwood glanced at them with annoyance and resumed his conversation. Lady Wutherwood stared out of the window with lack-lustre eyes.
    “And now tidy up the mess,” Charlot ordered. “I want to show Aunt Violet and Aunt Kit how we fitted into 26. Where’s Mike?”
    “We’ll find him, Mummy,” said Frid. “Come on,