Free Whom the Gods Love by Kate Ross Page A

before them, as Mr. Kestrel was doing now?
    Julian began by going over ground that Bow Street had already covered. There was always the chance some buried memory might come to light; in any event, these familiar questions helped put the servants at their ease, while allowing Julian to study their characters and interactions. Nichols, calm and competent, acted as their principal spokesman. Valere followed the proceedings with a mixture of keen attention and inimitable French disdain. Nelson listened avidly and injected a word wherever he could, while Luke seemed determined to be taken for a marble statue. The coachman, Joe Sampson, a burly man of about forty, sat imperturbably chewing on an unlit pipe. The rest of the servants mutely followed the steady exchange of question and answer, like spectators at a tennis match.
    At first the servants merely confirmed what they had already told Bow Street. They knew of no reason why Mr. Falkland would have gone to the study in the middle of the party. Nothing out of the common had happened that evening, apart from Mrs. Falkland's retiring with a headache and Martha's interrupting the party to tell the master she would not be coming back. The outside doors had remained locked all evening, and the ground-level windows bolted. No stranger had been seen in the house, and no guest had behaved suspiciously.
    Did the servants know of anyone who had a grudge against Mr. Falkland? No, everyone liked and admired the master. He did not have an enemy in the world. All the servants had been on good terms with him; none was under notice or had been reprimanded lately.
    Had all been well in the household? The servants looked at each other uncertainly. Then Nichols coughed and said he believed that Mr. Eugene had not wanted to return to school, but Mrs. Falkland had insisted.
    "He'd been at Harrow," Sir Malcolm explained. "Alexander sent him there after he and Belinda were married. Until then, Eugene hadn't been able to attend a proper school, because he had no money of his own, and the trustees who managed Belinda's property didn't see it as part of their duty to pay for Eugene's education. Of course, after Belinda married Alexander, her income came under his control, and she was very willing he should use it to send Eugene to a good school. Unfortunately the boy took a freakish dislike to it. He was positively relieved when a bout of measles sent him home." Julian turned back to the servants. "When did Mrs. Falkland begin urging that he go back?"
    Nelson bobbed to his feet. "I heard her speak of it a month or two ago, sir. I was making the rounds of the house one evening—trimming the lamps, you know—and I caught a word or two of a conversation between her and Mr. Falkland."
    Julian saw a few of the servants roll their eyes and exchange glances. Evidently Nelson had a reputation for just happening to overhear things. "What did they say?"
    "Mrs. Falkland said it wasn't good for Mr. Eugene to be so idle, and he ought to go back to school, but the master disagreed."
    "Did he say why?"
    "No, sir. He said she knew his reasons."
    "She knew his reasons," Julian repeated thoughtfully. "So they'd spoken of this before?"
    "Seems so, sir."
    "Do the rest of you know anything about this quarrel?"
    "I wouldn't call it a quarrel, sir," said Luke. "The master and Mrs. Falkland, they always seemed to get on very well." 
    "Naturally they would be too well-bred to show any ill will to each other in public," Julian suggested. Luke flushed and seemed to wish he had held his tongue.
    "Mais, c'est absurde, ga!" Valere said scornfully. "No one could have any cause to quarrel with Mr. Falkland. He was tout a fait raisonnable. If he did not wish that Mr. Eugene return to school, there is no doubt he had excellent reasons." 
    "Have you any idea what they were?" asked Julian.
    "No, monsieur ." Valere shrugged.
    Julian addressed the whole group again. "I gather that Mr. Falkland was finally persuaded to send Eugene back to