Page 110 of Rivals at Ashmore Castle

‘You decided?’ Giles said sharply. His temper was not improved by early-morning deaths in the servants’ hall.

Mrs Webster stepped forward. ‘I tried to wake Mr Moss without success, so I agreed with Frederick that he should do the service.’

‘How did you try to wake him?’ Arbogast asked.

‘I said, “Are you awake, Mr Moss?” but he didn’t stir.’

‘You didn’t touch him, or shake him?’

‘Certainly not. It wouldn’t be my place to do so.’

Frederick gave the doctor a sharp look. ‘Are you saying he was already dead then?’

Arbogast addressed Giles with the answer. ‘He probably over-exerted himself at the wedding, then had a long walk uphill from the Carr. I imagine he felt very tired, sat down to rest for a moment, and that was that. A massive heart attack.’

‘Damn it,’ Giles muttered. He pulled himself together. ‘I suppose he didn’t suffer?’

‘From the look of the body, there was no struggle or convulsion. I don’t suppose he knew anything about it. It will be my duty to inform the police, but I don’t think there’ll be any need for an inquest.’

‘Inquest! Good God, no!’

‘The facts of the situation seem quite clear and we know he had a weakness.’

‘I should never have taken him back. But he said he was well, and he seemed well.’

Arbogast put out a hand as if he would touch Giles’s arm comfortingly, but drew it back as you would from a dog with its hackles up. ‘There is always a chance, when a person has suffered one attack, of a second happening, and there’s often no warning. He probably felt well right up to the end. No blame attaches to you.’

Giles recoiled. ‘I should think not!’

‘I’ll send Mrs Cargill up to lay him out, and then Folsham can take him away. Who is his next of kin?’

‘He hadn’t any, as far as I know,’ said Giles. He looked at Mrs Webster.

‘I think we were all he had, my lord,’ she said.

‘Then I will pay the funeral expenses,’ Giles said shortly, and walked away.

Frederick and Mrs Webster remained to discuss details with the doctor. When Frederick left, he passed Rose in the corridor, who said, ‘Go on, then. Write that up in your little notebook!’

Upstairs breakfast was subdued. ‘Poor man,’ Kitty said, with tears in her eyes. ‘He was so happy to be back here.’

‘At least he died doing what he liked,’ Richard said. ‘I suppose it’s not a bad way to go.’

‘He’d have been upset by the wedding,’ Dory said. ‘He had rather a soft spot for Ada.’

‘I suppose you knew him best of any of us,’ Kitty said.

Dory knew Kitty said it to be kind, but it didn’t do to keep remembering she had been a servant here. ‘I don’t suppose I exchanged half a dozen sentences with him in my life,’ she said.

Sebastian came to her support. ‘Giles must be the one who knew him best. He’s been butler here for most of your life, hasn’t he, Giles?’

Giles was with his own thoughts. ‘I suppose there will have to be a funeral,’ he said. ‘And I suppose I’ll have to go. And we’ll have to find a replacement. It’s all damned inconvenient, with hunting and shooting and Christmas coming up. Everyone hates having to get used to a new butler – which was why we took Moss back in the first place. I knew it was a mistake.’

‘No, you didn’t,’ Richard said, amused, ‘or you’d have said something.’

‘I wonder,’ Kitty said, ‘whether we shouldn’t promote Frederick, instead of getting someone new. He’s been helping Moss for some time, Mrs Webster tells me. And he covered dinner very well last night.’

‘That’s up to you,’ Giles said. ‘You’re in charge of the staff. If Mrs Webster thinks he can do it, I’ve no objection. ‘