Diamonds & Deceit Read Online Free PDF Page A

ultra, I think .… The dull gold would be very flattering to your com plexion .… Rose put them down with a sigh. Céline was certainly an exemplary lady’s maid, she thought. Even for someone whose job was to be attentive to the details of fashion, she seemed quite passionate about dressing Rose well. But what was the good of being dressed well, Rose thought—glancing at her jewel cases and fan cases, hat boxes and drawer after deep mahogany drawer of fur-lined, sequinned, beaded luxury—if it meant she couldn’t be happy? If it meant Ada couldn’t be happy?
    She drew her writing case toward her. She had promised to write to Annie, and now was as good a time as any. It seemed like a lifetime ago that the two of them were maids together at Somerton. And yet nothing had changed for Annie.
    Rose began to write, wishing she could say the things that were really in her heart. But that wasn’t possible. Her life was an Eden compared to Annie’s, and she knew it.
    Writing to Annie took her longer than she had expected, and she was glad to slip, yawning, into bed just as it grew light. Even now there was no silence; the rattle of a cart in the street outside and distant street cries haunted her until she fell asleep.

Somerton
    Annie Bailey came hurrying down the servants’ stairs of Somerton Court, cap askew on her mousy hair. Five to eight, and she had time to snatch a piece of toast if she was lucky, before she had to fill the coal scuttles and carry them up four flights to the bedrooms. She could already hear Cook shouting orders, and swung to one side as the footmen hurried past with their silver trays held high, delicious smells of bacon and eggs and kidneys wafting out.
    “Here,” James paused to say, “have you heard the news? Lady Ada’s engaged!”
    “I’m miles ahead of you,” Annie replied. “Saw the telegram when Mr. Cooper took it up.”
    “Good news, ain’t it?”
    “For our wages,” Annie grinned. They all knew how close to the wind the family had been sailing—Lady Ada’s marriage would put that right, at least for the moment.
    “Get a move on, James! It’s breakfast you’re giving ’em, not lunch!” Cook shouted from the kitchen. James ran on up the stairs and Annie went down into the kitchen.
    “Toast me some bread while I wash up, Martha,” she told the scullery maid, and headed for the sink to rinse the ashes off her hands from laying the fire.
    Martha went on talking to Thomas without pause as she moved from the washing up to the toasting fork. “It’s like every night I can hear the scream, and the Horrible Thud,” she said, shuddering.
    “What are you on about?” Annie demanded, shaking her hands dry.
    “The blinkin’ murder, as usual. I wish you’d give it a rest, Martha,” Thomas said. “Pass me that kedgeree.” He grabbed it from Cook’s hands and hurried back upstairs.
    “I might rest, but his poor murdered spirit won’t be so lucky,” Martha said darkly.
    “I don’t know about his poor spirit.” Annie checked her reflection in the piece of broken mirror lodged on the windowsill, and straightened her cap. “I met Simon Croker, and he was a nasty piece of work, I can tell you—not that I’d wish him dead. I think it’s a shame about Oliver.”
    “So do I,” said Cook, taking a moment to look up from her breakfast-time preparations. “Poor lad. I can’t imagine he’d be capable of murder.”
    Annie didn’t reply at once. The kitchen door was ajar to let out the heat, and there was a view out across the courtyard to the stables. As Annie watched, a boy with tousled dark-blond hair and freckles crossed the cobbled, straw-strewn yard, leading Lady Georgiana’s white mare, Beauty. He was so handsome that Annie couldn’t help staring. The new stable boy, she thought. Of course, Mr. Cooper had mentioned engaging someone. He disappeared around the corner.
    “What I’m wondering,” Martha said behind her, “is whether he’ll get murder or