The Cat Next Door by Marian Babson Page A

unpolluted air …’ Nan frowned at the traffic streaming along Holloway Road.
    â€˜I’m glad that her last holiday was the best but …’ Nan sighed. ‘I don’t know. Perhaps it was tempting Fate to be so happy, to have everything, even a perfect holiday …’
    Perhaps such perfection had been the final straw for Chloe. Was that what Nan was trying to say?

Chapter Six
    â€˜We’re home,’ Nan announced over the rumble of the garage door sliding upwards.
    â€˜Oh!’ Margot woke from the deep sleep of her exhaustion. Just as well she hadn’t taken the train back, she might have been carried on to Bedford or Luton. ‘I’m sorry. I haven’t been very good company, I’m afraid.’
    â€˜That’s all right. You obviously needed your sleep.’ Nan’s searching gaze swept over her. ‘Jet lag takes a few days to get over.’
    â€˜I’m afraid so.’ Margot leaned forward and reached for the carrier bags at her feet as the car rolled to a stop.
    â€˜Never mind those,’ Nan said. ‘I’ll take them in. You go up to your room and lie down. I’ll bring you a nice cup of tea.’
    â€˜No, really, I’m wide awake now.’ A nice cup of tea and a long session of sharp probing questions. Margot was on to that one. Nan had done it too often in childhood days. No, thank you, not any more. She opened the door and stepped out, taking the bags with her, heavy though they were.
    â€˜Have it your way.’ Nan went round to the boot for the rest of the shopping. ‘Leave those on the kitchen table and I’ll bring in the rest and put it away.’
    â€˜All right.’ A vaguely guilty feeling lapped at her, she should at least offer to help bring in the rest. Nan was older and it had been a tiring day for her, too, but it was quite obvious that Nan had double her own energy level
– and knew it. Or suspected it. Nan knew them all too well. It was going to be hard to keep anything secret from her. Did the others have that problem, too?
    As directed, she left the bags on the kitchen table and wandered away. She wished that she could go to her room and lie down but knew that, if she did, Nan would follow like a heat-seeking missile homing in on her.
    â€˜Hello, dear.’ Milly looked up from her book as Margot paused in the library doorway. ‘Have you had a nice afternoon?’ She glanced from Margot to the open page, then back to Margot again and, with a faint sigh of regret, closed her book. ‘Come in and tell me all about it.’
    Half-hearted though the invitation was, Margot accepted it. She sank thankfully into the armchair opposite Milly and smiled at her fondly.
    â€˜It’s beautiful weather.’ That was as much as she was prepared to say about her day, but it appeared to be the wrong thing.
    â€˜Do you think it will hold?’ Milly asked anxiously. ‘The wind is rising and I’m so afraid it will be a stormy night. At the best of times the wind gusts fearfully down by the old duelling oak.’
    â€˜Duelling oak?’ Margot echoed blankly. This was the first time she had ever heard of such a thing in the vicinity. ‘Where?’
    â€˜At the top of the windswept hill.’ Milly clasped her hands and wrung them slightly. ‘So dangerous! No matter how skilful a shot Lord Lightly might be, a sudden gust of wind could ruin everything. And I don’t really trust that Viscount he’s chosen as his second. If only Lady Samphira hadn’t been so naughty, playing them off against each other.’
    â€˜A duel …’ Margot murmured unbelievingly
    â€˜Yes. You know – ’ Milly was impatient with her. ‘Pistols for two, coffee for one.’ She lifted her clasped hands from her book and Margot was able to see two crossed flintlocks blazoned on the cover.

    â€˜Although,’ Milly added thoughtfully, ‘I don’t see why it