Free The Poisonous Seed by Linda Stratmann Page B

made to uncover the truth, whatever that may be.’
    He favoured her with a wintry smile. ‘But if a lie is more sensational then you will print the lie.’
    Frances closed the notebook with a snap, and put the pencil down. ‘There. There will be no record of what you say.’
    He looked at her closely. ‘So young, and yet so forceful. Well there was nothing irregular about the move to Bayswater. It was entirely a personal matter. A question of some delicacy, not for the public prints.’ He stubbed out the cigar. ‘I think I will have something to drink after all.’ He looked around and waved an arm at one of the potmen. ‘You! Brandy to this table! Two glasses, and mind they are clean. And bring a fresh bottle!’ He turned to Frances. ‘Not that viewing the label will be any guarantee of what is within.’ There was a certain amount of scurrying about and whispering behind the bar before someone went down to the cellar. Brandy was not a commonly ordered drink, being more expensive than the other spirits, and the prospect of a sale aroused some excitement.
    Frances decided not to protest, in the hope that the liquor would loosen his tongue. She had occasionally sampled wine and sherry but never brandy, and found alcoholic drinks a little heady.
    The bottle arrived, and Cedric cleaned the dust off the label and nodded. ‘I expect I have had worse than this, though I can’t recall exactly when.’ He poured two glassfuls and pushed one across the table to Frances, then took a good pull from his own. ‘Oh my blessed aunt!’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I can’t say I would recommend this as an after-dinner digestive, but it reaches all the right places on the way down.’
    ‘You were about to tell me the reason why your brother came to London from the countryside,’ said Francis.
    ‘I was,’ said Cedric, staring into his glass. He took another drink. ‘I don’t suppose you have met Henrietta?’
    ‘No, I have only seen her in the Grove.’
    ‘Well, you might not believe it to look at her now, but in her younger days she was considered to have a delicate constitution. If you were to see her engagement portrait you would hardly think it was of the same woman. She had that fragile look you see in females you would swear are not long for this world. When Percy and Henrietta had been married a number of years and were still without a family, they consulted a doctor who said that her health would never permit her to be a mother. After that they saw a great many more doctors, the best men in the country, and all of them said the same thing. And then they heard about a new man, with a clinic in London, who was reputed to be able to cure ladies with a similar complaint. Percy had been intending to give up business in any case, and they sold their house and came to London. So now you know. I can assure you that it is not something either of them chose to discuss except with immediate family.’
    ‘Do you know the name of the doctor or the clinic?’ asked Frances.
    ‘No, I can’t say I do, in fact I’m not sure Percy ever mentioned them. But the move bore fruit – quite literally. Less than a year after they came to London little Rhoda was born, and a miraculously robust child too, when one considers the poor health of her mother.’
    ‘And, as I have observed myself, there are now five children.’
    ‘Indeed. All in the very pink. I can especially testify to the new baby’s splendid lung power. And motherhood has suited Henrietta. Percy used to say that she grew stronger with each one.’
    ‘And what of your brother’s health? Did he ever dose himself with proprietary medicines?’ asked Frances, hopefully.
    ‘No, apart from his indigestion he was always in excellent health. The last time I saw him alive he looked very well. And the only medicine I have ever known him take was that infernal mixture he got from the chemist.’ Cedric was a little heated by this, and Frances changed the subject.
    ‘Did they