Read Online The Trouble with Harriet by Dorothy Cannell - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Dorothy Cannell
Tags: british cozy mystery
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custody after finishing the program.”
“Then I can’t see your father has anything to complain about,” Ben consoled him.
“My thinking.” Freddy took another sniff of brandy. “But the pater gave me an earful about how Mum and her gang were talking about holding up the local Lloyds bank—Barclays or the Midland being out of the question because several of the group had deposits with them and they seemed to have a moral objection to stealing their own money.”
Daddy shuddered. I was rather surprised he didn’t reach over to cover the urn’s ears.
“What it comes down to,” Freddy continued bravely, “is that somehow this is all my fault. If I’d been a better son instead of a complete lughead, Mum would have found fulfillment bottling fruit or playing bridge. So now it’s time to pay the piper.”
“Meaning?” Ben’s left eyebrow went up.
“The pater is bringing Mum down here tomorrow, handcuffed to his wrist, no doubt, and she’s to live with me at the cottage—confined to the spare bedroom on a diet of bread and water—until I have drummed some sense in her head. I’m even expected to take her to church.” My favorite cousin looked at me with anguished eyes. “Ellie, I don’t know that I can stand it. Not with the new vicar spouting off about St. Ethelwort, or whatever the bloke’s name is, for hours on end. Mrs. Vicar’s all right. She did give me the lead in Murder Most Fowl. But if I start showing up at church like it’s opening time at the local, she’ll start thinking I’m just the one to marry her pie-faced niece Ruth. And it’s bad enough having to kiss the girl for art’s sake in the play.”
My heart went out to him, although I reserved some pity for myself. Aunt Lulu, in addition to her talent for sleight of hand, was an accomplished escape artist and would doubtless show up at Merlin’s Court with increasing frequency as the days went by. And to think that tomorrow morning Ben and I should have been leaving for France! I was about to tell Freddy to look at the silver lining when my father embarked on the final chapter of Life with Harriet.
Chapter 7
“ ‘If I had my way,’ I told her tenderly, ‘I would shower you with summer days all our lives long. But as God did not put me in charge of the weather, you must tell me, sweetest of all Harriets, what I can do to complete your happiness.’
“ ‘Darling, you can buy me another Edingerbier.’ She gave me one of her most mischievous smiles as she leaned across the table and tippy-toed her fingers across my hand. It was a sunny afternoon with just the right amount of breeze. She was wearing a frock that looked wonderful with the golden tan she had added to her charms during our weeks together. We were seated in the biergarten where we had first met. The old dog lay bathed in golden shadows in the doorway. The air was ripened to an intoxicating brew by the scent of oleander. And there was not a woman at any of the other tables who fulfilled the ideal of womanhood as did my Harriet.
“I beckoned to the waitress—the same young girl with the plait down her back who had waited on us the first time. By now she knew us very well, was always full of smiles for the verlieben, as she called us, and within minutes she returned with a brimming stein that she set down at Harriet’s elbow.
“ ‘You two together, so happy in your faces, it always makes my day go better.’ She stood wiping her hands on her white apron, her eyes pleased, like those of a child with a present to open. ‘I tell my Albert about you and say: “We must be like that when we are old. Our hearts must beat fast, and the songbirds must sing in our heads.” ‘
“She went skipping off, and Harriet, taking note of my frown, laughed. ‘Darling Morley, I know you think of me as little more than a babe in arms, but the truth of the matter is that I am at the very least a middle-aged woman. To a girl as young as that, I must appear quite
“Then I can’t see your father has anything to complain about,” Ben consoled him.
“My thinking.” Freddy took another sniff of brandy. “But the pater gave me an earful about how Mum and her gang were talking about holding up the local Lloyds bank—Barclays or the Midland being out of the question because several of the group had deposits with them and they seemed to have a moral objection to stealing their own money.”
Daddy shuddered. I was rather surprised he didn’t reach over to cover the urn’s ears.
“What it comes down to,” Freddy continued bravely, “is that somehow this is all my fault. If I’d been a better son instead of a complete lughead, Mum would have found fulfillment bottling fruit or playing bridge. So now it’s time to pay the piper.”
“Meaning?” Ben’s left eyebrow went up.
“The pater is bringing Mum down here tomorrow, handcuffed to his wrist, no doubt, and she’s to live with me at the cottage—confined to the spare bedroom on a diet of bread and water—until I have drummed some sense in her head. I’m even expected to take her to church.” My favorite cousin looked at me with anguished eyes. “Ellie, I don’t know that I can stand it. Not with the new vicar spouting off about St. Ethelwort, or whatever the bloke’s name is, for hours on end. Mrs. Vicar’s all right. She did give me the lead in Murder Most Fowl. But if I start showing up at church like it’s opening time at the local, she’ll start thinking I’m just the one to marry her pie-faced niece Ruth. And it’s bad enough having to kiss the girl for art’s sake in the play.”
My heart went out to him, although I reserved some pity for myself. Aunt Lulu, in addition to her talent for sleight of hand, was an accomplished escape artist and would doubtless show up at Merlin’s Court with increasing frequency as the days went by. And to think that tomorrow morning Ben and I should have been leaving for France! I was about to tell Freddy to look at the silver lining when my father embarked on the final chapter of Life with Harriet.
Chapter 7
“ ‘If I had my way,’ I told her tenderly, ‘I would shower you with summer days all our lives long. But as God did not put me in charge of the weather, you must tell me, sweetest of all Harriets, what I can do to complete your happiness.’
“ ‘Darling, you can buy me another Edingerbier.’ She gave me one of her most mischievous smiles as she leaned across the table and tippy-toed her fingers across my hand. It was a sunny afternoon with just the right amount of breeze. She was wearing a frock that looked wonderful with the golden tan she had added to her charms during our weeks together. We were seated in the biergarten where we had first met. The old dog lay bathed in golden shadows in the doorway. The air was ripened to an intoxicating brew by the scent of oleander. And there was not a woman at any of the other tables who fulfilled the ideal of womanhood as did my Harriet.
“I beckoned to the waitress—the same young girl with the plait down her back who had waited on us the first time. By now she knew us very well, was always full of smiles for the verlieben, as she called us, and within minutes she returned with a brimming stein that she set down at Harriet’s elbow.
“ ‘You two together, so happy in your faces, it always makes my day go better.’ She stood wiping her hands on her white apron, her eyes pleased, like those of a child with a present to open. ‘I tell my Albert about you and say: “We must be like that when we are old. Our hearts must beat fast, and the songbirds must sing in our heads.” ‘
“She went skipping off, and Harriet, taking note of my frown, laughed. ‘Darling Morley, I know you think of me as little more than a babe in arms, but the truth of the matter is that I am at the very least a middle-aged woman. To a girl as young as that, I must appear quite
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