Page 39 of The Mad Marchams

“How delightful.” Lady Marcham eyed her plateful of gammon. “Did your father slaughter the pig himself?”

“I believe he did, your ladyship.” Cheryl finished dispersing the plates. “I’ll bring out some more napkins and the vinegar.”

After lunch, Freddy offered them all a ride back to the hall in his ancient Land Rover, and, they gratefully accepted, as the weather had turned cloudy. Mabel sat in the back with an arm around Freddy’s two dogs and Felicity sat opposite her with Ping, Pong, and the parcel awkwardly balanced on her knees.

“Thank you for not giving me away to Freddy,” Felicity said over the noise of the engine.

“You’re welcome.” Mabel smiled. “I hate it when people spoil surprises, don’t you?”

“Eric was terrible at that,” Felicity mused. “He always loved being the centre of attention and would do anything to make sure he was.”

“Eric was your oldest brother, right?”

“Yes, but I didn’t mean to imply he wasn’t a nice person,” Felicity said hurriedly. “Just that he could be a little… inconsiderate at times.”

“How old was he when he died?”

“Nineteen. He’d gone off to Oxford and came home for the Christmas holidays. He was drunk the entire time.” Felicity sighed. “It was terrible. Our stepmother was never the same after he died. She blamed Colin, which was completely unfair.” Felicity abruptly stopped speaking. “I’m sure Colin’s told you all about that, so I won’t bore you.”

“Of course.” Mabel nodded like she knew everything. “It was definitely a tragedy.”

“And poor Colin got stuck in the role of heir apparent, which he never wanted. And Father was terribly hard on him, poor thing, which of course just made him rebel even more.”

Mabel nodded again. “I gather Colin did some stupid stuff.”

“Oh, yes, he did everything he could to deserve his reputation as the mad, bad, dangerous heir of Marcham Hall. At one point I was afraid that he would succeed in killing himself, but he managed to turn things around. I must say that I am terribly proud of him.”

Mabel reached forward to tap Felicity’s knee. “Please tell Colin that. He thinks you’re all against him and some support would make him feel awesome.”

“Do you think so?”

“Absolutely.”

Felicity’s nose crinkled up. “Because one doesn’t want to go around giving people a big head or anything.”

Mabel tried to puzzle out the meaning of that. “Do you mean like not feeding his ego too much?”

“Yes, exactly. We don’t believe in getting above ourselves in this country. It’s considered most unattractive.”

“I see.” Mabel avoided a lick on her cheek from Freddy’s sheepdog, Ben. “God help any of you if you feel proud of yourself or anything.”

“Yes, it’s just not done.”

Freddy pulled up in front of the hall. “Do you want me to run you back to the Dower House, Mabel?”

“No thanks.” Mabel attempted to disentangle herself from the two dogs. “I’m quite happy to walk.”

Freddy came around to open the passenger door of the Land Rover for his grandmother. “I’m coming in to leave my proposal for the home farm on Colin’s desk.”

“I can take it with me to the Dower House if you like?” Mabel offered.

“Nope, I love making Viz get behind that desk when I know he hates every second of it.”

For the first time Freddy sounded like he was joking rather than going for some passive-aggressive shit. Mabel could only approve of how hard Colin was working to regain his brother’s trust.

CHAPTER NINE

Colin let himself into the dower house and set his keys down on the tiled countertop. Felix the cat was curled up in the warming oven of the Aga, which was emitting its usual welcoming waves of heat into the silent room. As he unzipped his coat, Colin found himself starting to relax. Once upon a time, he’d thought London was everything, but now, every time he was there, he found himself yearning for a bit of peace and quiet.