Gently at a Gallop Read Online Free PDF

Hepplewhite chair.
    ‘Tell me about your husband,’ he said.
    Mrs Berney gave him a long, cool look. ‘My husband loved me,’ she said. ‘That’s the truth.’
    ‘How did you meet him?’
    She gestured. ‘Charlie was a friend of the family,’ she said. ‘I think my father knew his father. He was always dropping in, over at the Manor. When I was a child he was Uncle Charlie, he used to play with Lachlan and me. Then I grew up.’ She smoothed her long thigh. ‘Marrying Charlie seemed the natural thing to do.’
    ‘But it wasn’t quite a . . . passionate affair?’
    ‘I’m not sure what you mean.’ She glanced down at her stomach. ‘This took a little more than three months to happen, so presumably there was passion around somewhere.’
    ‘He was twice your age.’
    ‘Perhaps that’s how I like it.’
    ‘You’d know his reputation.’
    ‘That’s always a challenge.’ She kept stroking her thigh. ‘Anyway, he was passionate all right. It was me he wanted. I spoiled him for the others.’
    Gently looked at her steadily. ‘And you really believe that?’
    She stared back at him. ‘I know it’s true. But don’t let me upset your marvellous theories – my poor little pride will probably survive.’
    The domestic returned with the beers, served in tall, stemmed glasses; Mrs Berney sipped hers sparingly, her eyes gazing past Gently. She wore no make-up, no jewellery, not even a ring on her finger. Her hair, simply long, flowed like fine spun-gold.
    ‘So it was a happy marriage.’
    ‘Entirely happy.’
    ‘Losing your husband has been a great shock.’
    She inclined her head. ‘I’m a Stogumber,’ she said. ‘We don’t get knocked off our base so easily.’
    ‘But you loved him. And he loved you.’
    ‘Perhaps you’d like me to break down,’ she said. ‘I’m twenty-one, I was married three months. It never had time to seem real in the first place.’
    Gently shrugged and swallowed some beer.
    ‘Let’s talk about your husband’s friends,’ he said. ‘On Monday he gave a party here. Who were the people he invited?’
    She laughed. ‘That’s not very subtle. They were mostly friends of mine we invited – young couples, people I knew. Charlie arranged the party for me.’
    ‘Are the Risings young people?’
    ‘Jerry and Jill. They’re old friends. Jill taught me to ride. We were over at Clayfield riding on Sunday, and naturally I asked them to come along.’
    ‘But they were old friends of your husband’s too?’
    ‘Yes.’ She gave a sling to her hair. ‘Only don’t waste your time digging scandal there – Charlie scarcely spoke to Jill all the evening.’
    ‘Who did he speak to?’
    ‘Leo, mostly. That’s Leo Redmayne, father’s cousin. And Lachlan. And Tommy Brightwell. But mostly he was just acting host.’
    ‘Did you dance, play games?’
    ‘We danced.’
    ‘Your husband danced?’
    ‘He danced with me.’
    ‘That was discreet of him,’ Gently said.
    Mrs Berney gave him a hard stare. ‘As a matter of fact, he danced once with me, then he fell out and played the records for us. He certainly wasn’t hanging round Jill Rising – or anyone else, if it comes to that.’
    Gently nodded. ‘So you noticed nothing.’
    ‘Because there was nothing to notice,’ she said.
    ‘Not, of course, until after the guests had gone.’
    Mrs Berney sat very straight, her eyes angry.
    ‘So – you’ve been getting at Haynes,’ she said. ‘Oh, don’t deny it! You see, I asked her. And I don’t blame her for saying what she did – what else could she do, being hounded by you people? And it was true. She saw me grab something from Charlie. A sheet of paper – she said it was a letter. And that fitted your wonderful theory, didn’t it? Of course, it was a letter Charlie’d had from a woman!’ She breathed quickly. ‘But you’re wrong,’ she said. ‘Because, you see, it didn’t happen to be a letter. And it belonged to me, not to Charlie. You’re wrong all along the