Free Walking Into Murder by Joan Dahr Lambert Page B

his secret like this.
    “Oh dear, I’ve been talking out of turn,” Maude exclaimed, flicking a cleaning rag over the next table. “What you must think!”
    “I’m very interested,” Laura told her with a smile. “I wondered about Antonia myself. Do you suppose Lord Torrington knows what’s going on?”
    “Not a clue, I’d say,” Maude replied. “But I’d be willing to wager the Baroness does. She’s a sharp one. Baroness in her own right, though I’m not sure quite how that works out, I mean the lineage and all. Never could get it straight. She came when he did, you see, being related.”
    “How did she get to be a Baroness in her own right?” Laura asked curiously. “Did she marry someone called Baron Smythington?”
    Maude frowned, thinking. “Can’t rightly say I know,” she answered, sounding surprised. “I guess she must have, but I don’t know who he was. Never did hear. Odd, now that I think about it. Still, a Baroness is a Baroness and that’s what counts.”
    “If she was a Baroness before she came here, she obviously can’t be the wife of the old Baron, then,” Laura mused, trying to work out what this fact did to the grande dame’s relationship with Lord Torrington and Nigel.
    “No indeed, that Baroness died a long time ago,” Maude assured her. “This Baroness came with Lord Torrington, and a good thing, too. She’s the one who keeps the place going, in my opinion. Doesn’t come to town much any more, though – losing her eyesight, they say. Still, people admire her.”
    “Losing her eyesight?” Laura was astounded. The grande dame had looked as if she were seeing right through each of them.
    “You’d never know it, would you? She looks at you so sharp. But they say it’s true. Poor lady. Sad.” Maude shook her head pityingly.
    “Yes, it is sad,” Laura agreed. “She seemed to me to be such an impressive person. Even Lord Torrington seemed rather in awe of her.”
    “That he is,” Maude laughed. “She runs the show up there. Of course, she’s the one with the money. That always tells.”
    “The money?” Perhaps that was why the face in the painting had seemed familiar, Laura thought. People with money were always in the newspapers at one time or another, and so were Baronesses, especially young ones.
    “Yes, so they say. Lord Torrington was living someplace outlandish like France when they finally found him. Hadn’t a penny as far as anyone could see. But she had, mark my word. Must have had, with all that restoration work she’s done. Costs a pretty penny to keep up a place like the manor, with taxes and all. That’s why they opened it up to the public, I suppose, like all the rest of the big places. Some of them even have zoos.”
    Maude sighed lustily and began to clear Laura’s table. “The old Baron would turn over in his grave if he knew that Torrington Manor took in paying guests, but there it is.”
    “So Lord Torrington and the Baroness haven’t been here that long,” Laura mused. “It seems odd. I had the feeling they had been there forever.”
    “That’s the feel of the place, I expect,” Maude answered, “and they’ve settled right in. The Baroness used to open the annual fair and all that, but then Antonia came and now she does it. People don’t like that at all.”
    “You mean Antonia came still later?” Laura was surprised.
    “Oh yes, she did,” Maude said, shaking her head mournfully. “Almost two years ago now, I expect. She’s the new young wife, or so it’s said.” She sniffed disapprovingly again. “Not long after that the groom, if he is one, turned up. Or maybe it was the other way round. I’m not quite sure, really, but the pair of them came right on each other’s heels. Fishy, I call it. Brought the child with her too, Antonia did. Angelica, she’s called, or some such name that has an angel in it, and if that isn’t the limit I don’t know what is. She’s got a terrible temper if she doesn’t get her way. The