A Christmas Hope Read Online Free PDF Page A

of her. Did she like him simply because he had flattered her, and because he, too, was an outsider, excluded in a way that matched her own sense of isolation?
    “You’d better leave,” she said, as if it were a decision she had suddenly reached. “I’ll send the groom on an errand, so you can be sure he doesn’t know you were here, or which way you went. The police will still be looking for you.”
    “What about your maid?” he asked. “Don’t get the girl into trouble by lying for me.”
    “Do you think I’m going to tell her who you are?” she demanded. “To her, you’re just a tramp, someone she was sorry for, because she’s a kindhearted girl. Give me five minutes, then go.”
    “And yourself?” he asked, still without moving. “Or are you above the law, Olwen?”
    She felt the warm color wash up her cheeks. “Are you going to stand there arguing and asking stupid questions or get whatever coat you have and get away while you can?” she snapped.
    “I’ll go … thank you.” He said it with a bow so slight she was not sure whether she had seen it or imagined it.
    Without speaking again she turned on her heel and went to look for the groom. She would find some errand that would keep him away from the mews for at least a quarter of an hour.
    It was close to mid-morning when the police arrived.It was Sergeant Green again. Claudine recognized him from the previous evening, although he somehow looked different in the hard winter sunlight. He had with him a constable.
    “Good morning, Sergeant,” she said politely when the maid showed him into the sitting room. “Have you any news of the poor girl who was injured last night?”
    “Not yet, ma’am,” he replied. “She was in a bad way. I’m here because we’re still looking for Mr. Tregarron. I don’t suppose you would know where he might be?”
    She did not have to feign surprise at being asked so directly.
    “No. I’ve no idea.”
    “You see, one of the other guests said you appeared to know him,” he explained. “A Mrs. Crostwick. Said you were in quite close conversation with him.”
    Eppy Crostwick! Her jealous and troublemaking tongue.
    “It was a party,” Claudine explained. “As far as I knew, he was another guest. It is part of the function of such gatherings that one should make pleasant conversation with people, whoever they are. It is good manners and a courtesy toward one’s host to assure that whoeverelse they invite should be made welcome. Certainly I had never met Mr. Tregarron before.”
    Sergeant Green regarded her a little skeptically. “Mrs. Crostwick said you seemed to know him quite well,” he insisted.
    Claudine kept her irritation in control. She was lying to the police about a man suspected of a very ugly crime. She could not afford to let emotion overtake her judgment. She forced herself to smile at the policeman in front of her.
    “It was an agreeable conversation,” she explained. “About beautiful and inspiring things. Such discussions cause me to smile. Perhaps she mistook that for a greater acquaintance than was the case.”
    “You met him on the terrace,” he pointed out. “Alone.”
    “Good heavens! I know Eppy Crostwick is an inveterate gossip, but that implication is ridiculous. I went outside into the air for a few moments because the music and the crowded atmosphere were making my head ache. I have no idea why Mr. Tregarron was there, and I didn’t ask him. We spoke for a few minutes, and then I came inside again.” Deliberately she turned the barbagainst herself. “Look at me, Sergeant. Do I look like the kind of woman Dai Tregarron seeks out for an assignation on the terrace?”
    Sergeant Green was clearly caught on the wrong foot. That was not the sort of response he had foreseen. He decided to retreat with what grace he could.
    “I’m sorry, ma’am. Mrs. Crostwick is a bit unfortunate in her suggestions. I should have known better. I didn’t mean to offend.”
    “On the contrary,