The Wellington Bureau: A Quartermain Mystery Read online

that Susan Furnival would know the Brigadier. But of course he had been Andrew’s friend for many years.

  “The Brigadier? I can hardly imagine him in his party clothes. In fact, he has been very kind to me, although he does rather keep an eye on me as if I was a wayward child.”

  Susan Furnival laughed. “He used to do that to Andrew in his wild and impetuous youth.”

  “Andrew’s wild and impetuous youth?” Anna clarified.

  “Oh, yes. I didn’t mean to suggest the Brigadier was ever wild or impetuous!”

  “It is rather hard to imagine.”

  “You knew Helena Butterworth?” asked Susan Furnival.

  “I only met her once. The Brigadier brought her to tea with us. She was in a wheelchair by then.”

  “Poor Helena. She was the sweetest natured person I’ve ever met. Totally devoted to Harris, and she would have been the very best mother if only they could have had children. Ah! Here are some people you must meet.” She referred to a portly man with sleek dark hair and an air of well being, and a small blonde woman in a sequined dress. For a second Anna thought the woman was Lady Parry, but this woman had a slightly fuller face and figure, and all the sparkle and animation that Anna’s first client had seemed to lack.

  “Elizabeth, come and meet Lady Quartermain. Lady Quartermain, this is Harold Gurney and his wife, Elizabeth. Their eldest son is a great friend of Toby’s. They were at Cambridge together.”

  Anna stood up from the couch and shook hands as polite greetings were muttered and she desperately tried to remember whether it was from Lady Parry or Toby she had heard the name of HaroId Gurney. She had vague recollections of Philip’s name being mentioned by Toby.

  “... heard so much about you from Toby...” Elizabeth Gurney was saying.

  “....lucky to have such a charming young stepmother...” Harold Gurney was saying, with a good humoured chuckle.

  “Lady Quartermain has just moved from Herefordshire,” Susan Furnival gave them all the opening for conversation.

  “You’ve bought a place?”

  “Yes. By Holland Park.”

  “Really! I was there myself yesterday. I was visiting Astrid Lamb-Kurton. Do you know the Lamb-Kurtons?”

  Anna admitted that she did not.

  “Well, they must be neighbours of yours. What a pity they couldn’t come tonight. But, of course, you must meet them sometime.”

  Anna agreed that she must.

  “Next time I’m in Holland Park, I will call in on you!”

  “I still haven’t finished decorating. The place is a bit of a mess,” was Anna’s response to this threat.

  “Ah, well I must introduce you to my niece. She’s an interior decorator.”

  Anna’s curiosity was aroused.

  “How very interesting. What is her name?”

  “Well, they call themselves...what is it they call themselves, Harold?"

  “I can’t recall.”

  “Oh, well, some very trendy name. The Design-Something or the Something-Design Group, I believe.” She laughed prettily at her own forgetfulness. “Anyway, Julia – she’s my niece – set it up with Caroline Farrer, the Earl of Downhampton’s daughter, and they are doing very well. They will plan it all for you if you like. They co-ordinate everything. I believe they did Gordon Drummond’s place.”

  This, then, must be Lady Parry’s sister. The resemblance was enough to convince Anna.

  “Julia is here tonight.” Elizabeth Gurney stood on tiptoes and glanced about in the hope of spotting her niece. She failed. “Oh, well, she will probably be with Toby. Is that on or off at the moment?” Her train of thought changed abruptly and she cocked her head questioningly and looked at Susan Furnival.

  “Goodness, I don’t know! Their relationship is on and off so frequently that I simply can’t keep up with it. I find that it is usually best to assume that it is on. It is only the degree to which it is “on” that varies.”

  Lady Furnival then excused herself and went to greet some of her other guests and Anna was left with the Gurneys until Elizabeth spied an old acquaintance and the Brigadier appeared at Anna’s side simultaneously. Harold stayed to exchange a few words with Harris Butterworth but was soon beckoned away by his wife, and he apologised to them, said how charmed he was to have met Anna, and went to rejoin her, fortifying himself on the way with a glass of Champagne taken from a laden silver tray wielded by a young man in uniform.

  “Would you like another drink, Lady Quartermain?” the Brigadier asked, seeing the tray close at hand.

  “I think I might,” replied Anna.

  The Brigadier made a gesture and the steward weaved his way through the crowd, balancing the tray with some skill, and the Brigadier took two glasses with a nod of thanks. “You are looking very nice,” he said. Anna acknowledged the compliment with a slight bob of a curtsy. “I’m delighted to see you here. It must be pleasant for you to meet people of your own age.”

  “So far I have spoken to no one under forty, and you will only bring up the average.”

  “Did you not come with Toby?”

  “I came at his invitation and, to be honest, I have spoken to him and he is under forty.”

  “You have met Lady Furnival?”

  “I have. And took an instant liking to her. The prospect of meeting Andrew’s first wife was a little strange, but she has a gift for putting people at their ease.”

  “I have always thought very well of Susan,” said the Brigadier. It was one of his favourite expressions of approbation; vague, yet perfectly polite.

  “Toby gets his looks from his mother.”

  The Brigadier nodded. He was looking well-starched, Anna thought. Immaculately but sombrely dressed, his fair, thinning hair smoothed back and his carriage – the only word to describe the posture of a military man – was erect, if a little stiff. Anna wondered if he ever loosened up. Had he ever taken a few too many glasses of port after dinner in the officer’s mess and become recklessly verbose? She thought not. Here was a man who never let his guard drop.

  “You know Harold Gurney, I take it?” Anna found that she couldn’t be relaxed standing with a silent companion.

  “Yes. I have known his wife for many years. You spoke to Elizabeth?”

  “Yes, a talkative lady. I gather that Toby knows her niece quite well?” If he is not going to be conversational, he can at least help me sort out my facts, Anna thought.

  “You must mean Julia Parry, Amanda Parry’s daughter.”

  “Yes, that's right. Amanda Parry is Elizabeth’s sister, I take it?"

  The Brigadier nodded. “Have you met Lady Parry?” he asked.

  “Um...no. I’ve heard her name mentioned by Toby, I believe.” Anna blushed very slightly. She found that she disliked being less than honest with him even on so small a point. Fortunately he changed the subject.

  “Now you’ve settled down in London, have you given any thought to what you are going to do?”

  It annoyed Anna that the Brigadier persisted in raising this subject. “I wasn’t planning to do anything other than running the Wellington Bureau.”

  “Had you thought of going back to university? You were studying history, I believe?” It seemed that he was determined to see her take up some sensible occupation.

  “I disliked university the first time round. What’s the point in returning now?”

  “You are older. You might feel differently. A history degree would be very useful if you thought of pursuing an academic career.”

  “I will not be bullied back to university. Not even to please you!”

  Toby joined them at the crucial moment. “You are supposed to be meeting all my charming young friends. It’s no good talking to Harris, you already know him.”

  “We were having a very diverting disagreement. Anyway, you haven’t kept up your side of the bargain. Where are all those golden-haired youths? Incidentally, who is the Adonis?” Ann indicated the solitary figure who was scanning the dancers in the marquee with an a
rrogant and critical eye.

  “Why, Anna, the very young man you turned down so peremptorily! That’s young Percy Blyth. And you are in luck! He and Caroline seem to have had a bit of a tiff. I believe Julia is comforting her at this very moment.”

  “In that case I shall once again decline the offer of an introduction. He may be an exceptionally beautiful young man, but I know better than to come between a spurned woman and her love.”

  “Oh, bosh: Percy is spurning women all the time. That’s why they like him!”

  “He doesn’t sound like a very nice young man.”

  “Percy is perfectly charming. He’s also a cricket blue and took a first in history. Can you really afford to ignore him?”

  “Has the man no faults?”

  “Only the woman-spurning, but you have been forewarned.”

  “All right. You may introduce me. Brigadier, do you wish to meet this Percy fellow? After all, he did study history, which should recommend him to you in your present mood.”

  The Brigadier declined and instead Anna observed that he made his way over to Lady Parry, who was standing next to a man with sadly receded grey hair but a memorable moustache, whom Anna assumed was her husband.

  “Bother!” she muttered.

  “Why the faint curse, Anna? Butterworth? I didn’t think the man sank to verbal abuse. He usually settles for disdainful silence. At least that’s the method he has always used on me. And a man with a more effective silence I have never met. He terrified me as a small boy. When I was a small boy, I mean. Harris can never have been a small boy. He was born in his uniform. I used to hide under the bed whenever he visited!”

  Anna laughed. “Maybe I