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it seemed sometimes. Kept that doctor busy over the last few years and no mistake. But he ate like it was going out of style and always had his meat cooked so rare that any half-decent vet could have brought it back to life. And then suddenly, just out of the blue, that was it.’ She clicked her fingers together dramatically. ‘Gone.’
    â€˜It seems a shame to have such a big house for only two people,’ said Millie, imagining for a moment what it would be like to be mistress of it; Owen Montignac had caught her eye earlier in the day when he had returned from the funeral and she’d stared at him, transfixed, as he ran up to his room, her heart beating faster inside her chest as she saw what appeared to be a pained expression on his extraordinarily handsome face. She had never seen a young man with such white hair before, nor with eyes of such a piercing blue.
    â€˜His father was the same,’ said Annie. ‘Married a Frenchwoman, if you please.’
    â€˜He’s very handsome,’ said Millie, lost in thought.
    â€˜I wouldn’t set much store by that.’
    â€˜Not like most of the others round here.’
    â€˜Everything’s changing,’ complained Annie. ‘People don’t live in houses like these any more. They can’t afford to, most of them. Costs run too high. They all live up in London in townhouses and fancy flats and keep their country retreats locked up all year round. They’re just for show now, most of them.’
    â€˜Is that what Mr Montignac is planning on doing?’
    â€˜Well I don’t know, do I?’ said Annie, laughing as she took a long drag on her cigarette. ‘He doesn’t let the likes of me into his thoughts. He’s like his father that way. His uncle, I mean. Doesn’t have much time for anyone on the staff, except maybe Margaret Richmond. But then she practically brought him up from the day he came here.’
    At that moment the lady in question walked through the door and Millie stumbled to her feet quickly while Annie remained unmoved, refusing to acknowledge the older lady’s authority.
    â€˜I’m getting questions about the tea, Annie,’ said Margaret in a tired voice.
    â€˜The tea?’
    â€˜The lack of it.’
    Annie shuffled in her chair and dragged herself up as if she was carrying a ton weight and the effort was almost too much for her. She stepped past Margaret without acknowledging her and went into the kitchen to issue short, sharp orders.
    â€˜And … Mildred, is it?’ asked Margaret.
    â€˜Millie, ma’am.’
    â€˜Millie, yes. Perhaps you would go and check on the gentlemen in the billiard room. I don’t hold with the playing of games on a day like today but they will insist.’
    â€˜Yes, ma’am,’ said Millie, blushing scarlet as she was spoken to and leaving the room.
    Margaret glanced around the parlour irritably when it was empty, annoyed that everything was left to her. If only Stella or Owen could circulate a little bit, she thought, thank the guests for coming, then everything would be so much easier.
    6
    LEONARD BROUGHT THE CAR around to the front door of the house on Tavistock Square, driving slowly so as not to knock over any of the reporters who were loitering outside, despite his desire to do that very thing. A couple of them tapped on the window, throwing a few random questions at him through the glass, but these came only from the most inexperienced journalists; the rest knew that the chauffeur would neither say anything to them nor have anything interesting to say.
    â€˜Ready?’ asked Roderick, as his wife checked her appearance one final time in the hallway mirror. It was a quarter past ten already and he was anxious to leave.
    â€˜Ready,’ she said, nodding her head.
    â€˜And remember—not a word to any of them,’ he reminded her as he opened the door and they stepped out on to the street to be greeted