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“But if you were with me, it might be useful.”
    “Of course. May I go, then?”
    “Yes, ma’am. And thank you – you have been extremely helpful.”
    She nodded in acknowledgement and walked away, the long skirt of her habit elegantly tossed over her arm.
    “There aren’t many girls who would have dealt with this with such a cool head,” Lord Rothborough said, with some pride. “My other girls – they don’t have her composure.”
    “Women can be as sensible as we are, if we only allow them to be so,” Giles said.
    “My sentiment entirely,” Lord Rothborough said.
    “I want to just look over the scene a little more closely, just to satisfy myself on a few points. Have you a reliable man to keep the dairy guarded? Otherwise, I have my man Holt here –”
    “Two of the gardeners can keep watch on her,” said Rothborough. “They can tidy up that creeper on the trellis at the same time – it’s in a shocking state. I can’t believe that Macgillray hasn’t set them on it.”
    “And about the doctor – is there a man about here who has any experience in these matters?” Giles said.
    “No, unfortunately,” said Lord Rothborough, scratching his temple.
    “I did not like to mention it in front of Lady Charlotte, but Mr Carswell joined us in Stanegate yesterday. I would welcome his opinion. To be frank, I am not sure we can establish the truth of it without an experienced eye. He has told me himself that drownings are often misleading.”
    “It would seem expedient to get him over here, then,” said Lord Rothborough. “It is not the best moment, of course, but that poor creature and justice must take priority. And if we are discreet, no-one will need know.”
    “He would not need be here for long,” said Giles. “A morning at most. And he has a new patient in Stanegate whom he cannot neglect. A gentleman from one of the former Spanish colonies – Santa Magdalena – who is dying of consumption in rather miserable circumstances, apparently quite alone. But what is odd is that there seems to be quite a Spanish presence in the town at the moment. When we went to take our water at the Bower Well this morning, there were a dozen of them. It was most exotic and unexpected.”
    “Ah, yes – that will be the former Chancellor of San Magdalena, and his suite,” said Lord Rothborough. “I had heard they were here, along the President’s widow, taking the waters. Fabulously wealthy I believe. They have taken over a whole floor at the Crown Hotel. I was intending to go and call on him. The talk is that he is only biding his time in Europe before he goes back and takes back the crown, so to speak. The island is important for us – there is a quite significant merchant colony there, Scots mostly, trading out of Glasgow, and we need to keep them safe. These people should not be ignored, even if they are out of power at the moment. But they are a little hard to keep track of, these erstwhile Spanish Colonials. They are always squabbling among themselves now they have thrown of the shackles of Spain. It is all coup and counter-coup. What did you say your man’s name was?”
    “Don Xavier Martinez. But he may have a clerical title as well.”
    “Martinez? That’s the name of the late President – General Martinez. He fought with Bolivar, and then went home and pushed the Spanish out of Santa Magdalena, well, some fifteen years ago now. He ruled the place like a prince until last year someone put a bullet through his head.”
    “Then our poor man may be some connection – which makes his neglect all the more inexplicable, unless is it some kind of family quarrel.”
    “Those are wretchedly common. So you saw them all this morning taking the waters?” Giles nodded. “The on dit is that former Chancellor Ramirez has been travelling about Europe trying to raise support for a counter-coup. It is the widow Martinez I should like to see. She has the reputation of being a shrewd tactician who had the people