The Lady's Maid's Secret

The Finale - Part 7

Lady Pendrick goes to war with a certain Colonel. Rose and Evan are ambushed! Next time in The Lady's Maid's Secret.

Dear Reader,
Alas, all good things must come to an end but for Lady Pendrick's household this is the only the end of the beginning.

As we had determined last time. The faithful servants of Frigo House were going on a well-deserved holiday to Brighton while Lady Pendrick charged the accomplished Evan and myself with a special task to perform on her behalf.

"There is a certain Colonel Aldred, my late husband, God rest his soul, called him The Smiling Assassin. I used to thing he was all bark and no bite, but "all-dread" is not to be underestimated."

Evan and I leaned forward. He placed a hand high on my knee and gave it a squeeze – have I mentioned how considerate he is of my delicate, feminine feelings?

"The man is a duplicitous, cheating, two-faced, double-dealing, two-timing, dishonest, snake in the grass."

Oh my! So pejoratives in one sentence! Clearly this man had wronged my Lady and since we now 'have form', as the bookmakers are wont to say, for helping to write wrongs we were greatly obligated to come to Lady Pendrick's assistance once more.

"There is something that my former lady's maid did not know," she said. "That the man who arranged for my financial ruin was Colonel Niall Aldred.

He was a subordinate of my husband's who embezzelled a fortune from a particular syndicate. My late husband was forced to replace the funds at his own expense and that led to our ruin."

Now speaking of bookmakers, Dear Reader, it emerges that Colonel Aldred has make a fortune backing the most unlikely of winners at the race track.

My dear Evan has discovered that not more than a few bookmakers are thousands of pounds lighter in the tote bag as a result of the Colonel's extraordinary luck – and no one seems to know how he does it.

Magic? The Dark Arts? Nothing so whimsical as we soon discovered.

Evan and I made our way to the hay loft overlooking the stables. I have to say our position brought us to intimate close quarters while we watched out for Colonel Aldred, such was our distraction that we almost missed him walking into a stall with one bay horse, then walking out the very same stall an hour later with a black one!

How could such a thing be possible? Perhaps it was some kind of conjuring trick – after all I do recall seeing a man who could pull a rabbit out of his hat. Could it really be so different? Or was it a horse of a different colour, so to speak.

When Evan and I had managed to remove the straw from out clothing, we headed over to the stall. The smell of success was unmistakable. So too were the pots of shoe blacking.

In goes one horse and out comes the other. We check the form guide and discover two horses that match the description of the one (and were convinced it was one) we had seen being led by Colonel Aldred.

We took our findings back to a friend of Lady Pendricks, a friendly bookmaker who confirmed our suspicions. Bold Character is the favourite and it's a bay horse, Fine Linen is a black horse with long odds. Not surprisingly the Colonel has laid a hefty wager on the unfancied equine.

And sure enough Fine Linen was the upset of the day.

Well, five-to-one is good odds, according to Lady Pendrick, especially since there were five of us against the one Colonel.

The next event was Ascot where the Prince of Wales himself would be in attendance. How amusing would it be if the Colonel made a complete horse's arse of himself (do excuse such a crude expression, it seemed so rather apt).

Lady Pendrick had arranged with a friend to have the Colonel join them in the royal enclosure as her guest. Evan and two other men were to find out which two horses were to be switched. I found myself in a rather fetching black and white gown with a matching hat and it wasn't too long before the Colonel wished to make my acquaintance.

It is amusing how foolish pompous men can be when a female begins flirting with them. He 'advanced' me the princely sum of twenty pounds and laughed indulgently when I placed it on unfancied gray mare.

You see Aldred had placed a substantial sum on a horse with middling odds.

Well, Dear Reader, I am most anxious to expand my knowledge, so I gleaned all I could from him and, of course such sage advice just had to be shared with Lady Pendrick – who she shared it with, I'll leave to your imagination...

After many, many glasses of champagne, our race was to begin. My little grey mare didn't do so well at the start and Colonel laughed at my foolishness. He made a most improper suggestion as how I could repay him when I lost my bet.

I wasn't worried. I have faith in Evan and our new chums.

Aldred's horse started strong but had fallen back on the final straight.

"Move your bloomin' arse!" I yelled as the pack passed our position. My little grey mare was gaining and gaining until it crossed the finish line by a nose.

Naturally the stewards intervened and they too learned what a duplicitous, cheating, two-faced, double-dealing, two-timing, dishonest, snake in the grass, now we had furnished them with the evidence.

Colonel Aldred was not only shamed before the Prince himself but he was completely and utterly ruined.

It could not happen to a more deserving soul.

But there was one more surprise yet to come, Dear Reader. Lady Pendrick had an excellent day at the races and came back with more than a tidy sum.

"My dear Rose," she said, handing me a large bundle of pound notes. "You've given me back so much that I want to reward you and Evan for your diligent service."

She turned to Evan with such a stern look.

"Now you've made your fortune, I expect you to make an honest woman out of Rose Reed."

Evan took my hand and gave it a squeeze. "My Lady, I shall do so with the greatest of pleasure."

I don't know about being an honest woman, but I am a cunning one and I do know when to cash in my winning hand.

"Then I accept," I said with alacrity.

This is the final episode of The Lady's Maid's Secret.