Free The Riddle of the River by Catherine Shaw Page B

hopefully complete his dissertation within three years, and is planning to be married then. It seems a long time. Why, I should have been furiously impatient to be married, in her situation. They have already been engaged for nearly a year! But she seems quite content.’
    ‘I was engaged for four years myself,’ I said, ‘and found thetime very pleasant. I wanted to marry, to be sure, but I clearly remember also feeling a tinge of fear at the idea of abandoning all of my professional activities and remaining unoccupied at home. Even if I
was
only a teacher of small children, I led a busy life.’
    ‘Emily talks of continuing to do mathematics after her marriage,’ said Mrs Burke-Jones, looking as though she did not believe that any such wild plan could be put into execution. ‘Well, we will see,’ she added. ‘Now that Edmund is at university and Robert is already a lad of fourteen, I am beginning to look forward to having small children about the house again. Your little girl is a delight. That age is so extraordinarily charming. I suppose she and her brother keep you extremely busy?’
    ‘I am busy,’ I assented, ‘but I have nevertheless found the time to take on a case recently; a case of identification. In fact, I must admit that there is something I thought you might possibly be able to help me with.’
    ‘What is it?’ she asked. Mrs Burke-Jones is always very serious about such things as work. Her attitude towards mine has never been disapproving, although she is both discreet and incurious. Still, I felt that I could count on her help if necessary.
    ‘Are you,’ I asked, ‘by any chance acquainted with a certain Mr Geoffrey Archer, who lives in a large manor called Chippendale House, in the direction of Grantchester?’
    ‘Geoffrey Archer,’ she repeated thoughtfully. ‘It rings a bell. I don’t really know him, yet the name is definitely familiar. Where might I have met a Mr Archer? Is he old or young?’
    ‘He’s not young,’ I said. ‘He can hardly be less than sixty, I should think.’
    ‘Sixty,’ she said, ‘that narrows it down. I know – yes, I believe I have it. Is he a tall man with good bearing and white hair, and a rather loud voice? I think I may have met him at the Darwins.’
    ‘The Darwins?’ I said. ‘Do you mean Darwin as in Evolution, or Darwin as in my neighbours in Newnham?’
    ‘It is the same Darwin,’ she said with a smile. ‘The same family, that is. Your neighbour George Darwin is Charles Darwin’s son. Didn’t you know?’
    ‘Really, no, I didn’t!’ I said, startled into a new respect for the querulous, bearded gentleman I saw frequently passing down the Newnham Road, well wrapped up and leaning heavily on a cane even on the loveliest day.
    ‘Why yes,’ she went on, ‘Charles Darwin had a number of sons, and several of them live in Cambridge. Your neighbour has a lovely American wife. Now that I think of it, their house is only a few minutes from yours, isn’t it?’
    ‘Just a short walk,’ I said, ‘and I pass in front of it almost every day. Most of Cambridge does, I think, living just off the Silver Street bridge as they do! The children like to run wildly along the top of the garden wall, and even when I don’t see them, it is easy to hear them playing in the garden. They are an adventurous bunch, I think. However, I am not acquainted with them. I should quite like to be. But my real goal is to meet Mr Archer. Do you think there is any chance that something might be arranged?’
    ‘It really should be possible,’ she said, ‘assuming that I haven’t made a mistake about Mr Archer. But no, I am quite sure I remember him from a dinner party at the Darwins. I will call on dear Maud and see what I can do. The Darwins receive very frequently.’
    ‘That would be wonderful,’ I said eagerly, wishing that social conventions did not leave me so powerless to hurry events along, but exhorting myself inwardly to be grateful for small blessings.