The Green Man (2013)
“‘What do you mean, gone? Are you certain?’ Rab Sinclair turned on me savagely. ‘Of course I’m certain,’ he snarled. I thought he was going to strike me.
The duke again clasped his friend’s arm.
‘Robert! Rab! Calm yourself. Roger just needs to make sure. Did you search the cupboard thoroughly?’ Master Sinclair controlled his temper with an effort.
‘I had everything out of it. I shook out the wedding gown. I scraped with my nails along the back and sides of each shelf to ensure that there was no crack between it and the cupboard wall where the diary could have lodged.’ He raised his hands in a despairing gesture. ‘Mind you, I don’t need anyone to tell me that that was a waste of time. The parchment sheets were too big, and the knots of ribbon that bound them too thick, to permit of such a thing happening. I merely mention it to demonstrate how desperate I was. No,’ he finished on a quieter note, ‘it had vanished.’ ‘But who might have taken it?’ I asked. ‘Do you suspect your housekeeper,... this … this Maria Beton?’ ‘Of course not!’ His anger flared again as he leaped to his servant’s defence, before once more controlling his emotions.MoreLess
The duke again clasped his friend’s arm.
‘Robert! Rab! Calm yourself. Roger just needs to make sure. Did you search the cupboard thoroughly?’ Master Sinclair controlled his temper with an effort.
‘I had everything out of it. I shook out the wedding gown. I scraped with my nails along the back and sides of each shelf to ensure that there was no crack between it and the cupboard wall where the diary could have lodged.’ He raised his hands in a despairing gesture. ‘Mind you, I don’t need anyone to tell me that that was a waste of time. The parchment sheets were too big, and the knots of ribbon that bound them too thick, to permit of such a thing happening. I merely mention it to demonstrate how desperate I was. No,’ he finished on a quieter note, ‘it had vanished.’ ‘But who might have taken it?’ I asked. ‘Do you suspect your housekeeper,... this … this Maria Beton?’ ‘Of course not!’ His anger flared again as he leaped to his servant’s defence, before once more controlling his emotions.MoreLess
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