Bird of Prey by Henrietta Reid

polisher,” she concluded. “I’ll set Fred to mending it this afternoon.”
    For the next half hour Caroline worked busily and had just completed her chores when she saw Betty advancing along the corridor. “The master wants you in the small sitting-room immediately,” she announced without ceremony.
    Caroline laid down her duster and swept back her hair. She felt grimy and dishevelled. “I’d better go and tidy up, then,” she said doubtfully.
    Betty’s eyes opened incredulously. “You’d better do no such thing,” she remarked. “The master will be in a tearing humour if he’s kept waiting.”
    But Caroline had no intention of presenting herself before the master of Longmere looking ungroomed and ill at ease.
    “Well, I must say!” Betty gasped as she accompanied Caroline along the corridor, “you certainly have a mind of your own, but then it seems you’re Mrs. Brant’s cousin, and that makes a difference, no doubt.”
    She sounded faintly sour and Caroline could see that the girl was considering her warily, no longer as one of the staff, but as a privileged member of the household.
    As though impelled by an insatiable curiosity, she followed Caroline into her room and watched her as she brushed her hair. She gaped curiously around the room while Caroline tidied herself. “I expect you’ve left a boy-friend behind you?” she asked tentatively. “Never mind, there are plenty of nice boys in the village. It’s a good step from here, but every Saturday night there’s a dance. If you like to come along with me, I’ll introduce you around. They’re always on the lookout for a new face at Lynebeck,” she giggled.
    Remembering Mrs. Creed’s remarks about Betty’s penchant for boy-friends, Caroline said a little cautiously, “Oh, I don’t expect I’ll have much time for that sort of thing.”
    Betty appeared astounded at this information. “What do you intend doing with your time off?”
    For a moment Caroline glanced through the window towards the rugged hills and the view of a lake. “Oh, I enjoy walking. And there’s so much to be seen around here. The scenery’s so beautiful. ”
    Betty giggled incredulously. “Well, I never did! What a way to spend your time—walking! But if you change your mind, let me know. My boy-friend Jim would be only too pleased to bring someone along and we could make a foursome. ” Then, seeing that Caroline showed no enthusiasm for the idea, she said a little huffily, “Oh well, I’d better push off or old Creed will be on me like a flash. She’s a frightful old bully, so don’t let her make a doormat of you.” And with this parting exhortation and after giving Caroline instructions how to reach the sitting-room, she whisked away.
    Rather than lose her way and keep her irascible master waiting longer, Caroline hurried down the main stairway, instead of obeying Mrs. Creed’s injunction to use the back staircase. As she approached the sitting-room she found that the door was slightly ajar and she could hear the deep mellow tones of Randall Craig and the high musical notes of an answering
    voice, which she immediately recognised as Grace’s.
    When she went in she was confronted by Randall, standing in front of the chimneypiece and was aware of Grace lolling back in a deep armchair, looking extraordinarily beautiful in an emerald-green corduroy trouser suit with a double row of large black buttons; a filmy black tinker scarf tied about her long white throat.
    She had barely time to take in her surroundings when Randall Craig said grimly, “So you’ve decided to honour us with your presence at last! Did Betty not give you my message? What delayed you?”
    Caroline was aware that she was being surveyed amusedly by Grace, and a feeling of rebelliousness bubbled up in her at this peremptory greeting.
    “Yes, Betty told me, but I’d been dusting and I thought—” She paused, embarrassed at the idea of confessing that she had gone off to titivate herself