Appointed to Die Read Online Free PDF

and alyssum outside the door. Next door, though, a wooden statue, clearly African in origin and depicting a mother and her suckling child stood vigil over the entrance, betraying that this was the home of the Canon Missioner, as did the hectically-coloured printed blinds at the windows. Rowena Hunt’s front door, in contrast, was flanked by two tastefully sculptured bay trees in elegant containers, and there were Holland blinds in all the windows.
    Jeremy pointed to an old stone barn, set back a small distance from the Close and largely concealed by the town houses. ‘That’s the cathedral refectory,’ he explained. ‘A converted barn. They serve meals there during the day. It’s a bit out of the mainstream, but it serves the purpose.’ They strolled along slowly. ‘And the next buildings here are shops. They were built as almshouses in the seventeenth century, and converted not too long ago.’ Six tall chimneys towered above the single-storey building, which now sported display windows and three smart doors. ‘One is a book shop – quite a good one, actually – and one is a dress shop, as you can see. The one in the centre is the Cathedral Gift Shop.’ They paused for a moment and peered in the window at the array of Malbury Cathedral mugs, tea towels, and postcards.
    The next building was of an entirely different sort: an eighteenth-century Gothick folly of pink stucco, massive and double-fronted. ‘This was the old Deanery,’ said the architect. ‘It now houses the diocesan offices – the diocesan solicitor, the registrar, and so on.’
    An equally large building, constructed of stone in the seventeenth century, stood to its left at the end of the Close. ‘This used to be a school,’ explained Jeremy. ‘It’s now been converted into offices, which the cathedral leases out. It all helps to pay the bills,’ he added.
    The Close ended at that point, opposite the west front of the cathedral. They began to cross the wide green space in front of the cathedral, an empty space that had once held the original extended west end of Malbury Abbey.
    â€˜The Bishop’s House is on the other side,’ said Jeremy, ‘next to my house. Would you like to come round that way, and perhaps come in for a nightcap?’
    Lucy nodded her assent. ‘But I mustn’t be too long. My father will be waiting up for me – I don’t have a key.’
    â€˜The west front is pretty undistinguished,’ Jeremy said dismissively as they passed in front of it. ‘Victorian. They added on those side porches, to give it the extra width, so in fact the west front looks deceptively wide.’ The Bishop’s house, in front of them, was fairly impressive, a large neo-classical structure of grey stucco graced with huge Ionic columns. ‘It was built for a rich banker in the nineteenth century. Conveniently close to the cathedral for the Bishop. He’s actually got his own entrance, through the east range of the cloister. All that’s left of the monastic cloister, but it’s fairly intact.’
    â€˜I’ve been to the Bishop’s house before,’ remarked Lucy. ‘He and my father are old friends.’
    Jeremy led Lucy around the side of the Bishop’s house, towards the corner where it met the cloister. ‘I’ve actually got a little idea about the cloister,’ he confided. ‘I think that it would make a marvellous tearoom if it were glassed in and tarted up a bit. Much more accessible than the refectory, and it would be quite a nice project for me. Keep me out of mischief, you know.’ He raised his eyebrows at her.
    â€˜That sounds like a good idea,’ she responded ambiguously. ‘But what do other people say? Wouldn’t they think it was spoiling the cathedral?’
    â€˜Oh, I haven’t mentioned it to anyone yet,’ Jeremy grinned. ‘Just to you. But you’re