Ngaio Marsh - Swing, Brother, Swing

NGAIO MARSH

Harper

an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Published by HarperCollins Publishers 2009

Swing, Brother, Swing first published in Great Britain by Collins 1949

Ngaio Marsh asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of these works

Copyright © Ngaio Marsh Ltd 1949

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Source ISBN: 9780007328734

Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2009 ISBN: 9780007344628

Version 2018-03-06

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication .

For Bet who asked for it

And now gets it with my love

Cover

Title Page NGAIO MARSH

Copyright Copyright Copyright Dedication Cast of Characters 1 Letters 2 The Persons Assemble 3 Pre-Prandial 4 They Dine 5 A Wreath for Rivera 6 Dope 7 Dawn 8 Morning 9 The Yard 10 The Revolver, the Stiletto and his Lordship 11 Episodes in Two Flats and an Office 12 GPF Keep Reading Also by the Author About the Publisher Harper an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk Published by HarperCollins Publishers 2009 Swing, Brother, Swing first published in Great Britain by Collins 1949 Ngaio Marsh asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of these works Copyright © Ngaio Marsh Ltd 1949 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. Source ISBN: 9780007328734 Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2009 ISBN: 9780007344628 Version 2018-03-06 HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication .

Dedication Dedication Dedication Cast of Characters 1 Letters 2 The Persons Assemble 3 Pre-Prandial 4 They Dine 5 A Wreath for Rivera 6 Dope 7 Dawn 8 Morning 9 The Yard 10 The Revolver, the Stiletto and his Lordship 11 Episodes in Two Flats and an Office 12 GPF Keep Reading Also by the Author About the Publisher For Bet who asked for it And now gets it with my love

Cast of Characters

1 Letters

2 The Persons Assemble

3 Pre-Prandial

4 They Dine

5 A Wreath for Rivera

6 Dope

7 Dawn

8 Morning

9 The Yard

10 The Revolver, the Stiletto and his Lordship

11 Episodes in Two Flats and an Office

12 GPF

Keep Reading

Also by the Author

About the Publisher

Lord Pastern and Bagott
Lady Pastern and Bagott
Félicité de Suze	Her daughter
The Hon Edward Manx	Lord Pastern’s second cousin
Carlisle Wayne	Lord Pastern’s niece
Miss Henderson	Companion-Secretary to Lady Pastern
SpenceMiss ParkerWilliamMaryMyrtleHortense			Domestic staff at Duke’s Gate
Breezy Bellairs
Happy HartSydney SkeltonCarlos Rivera	Pianist Tympanist Piano accordionist		of Breezy Bellairs’ Boys
Caesar Bonn	Maître de café at The Metronome
David Hahn	His secretary
Nigel Bathgate	Of the Evening Chronicle
Dr Allington
Mrs Roderick Alleyn
Chief Detective-Inspector AlleynDetective-Inspector FoxDr CurtisDetective-Sergeant BaileyDetective-Sergeant ThompsonDetective-Sergeants Gibson, Marks, Scott and Sallis	Fingerprint expert Photographer		Of the Criminal Investigation Department, New Scotland Yard
Sundry policemen, waiters, bandsmen, etc.

From Lady Pastern and Bagott to her niece by marriage, Miss Carlisle Wayne:

3 DUKE’S GATE,

EATON PLACE,

LONDON. SW1

MY DEAREST CARLISLE, – I am informed with that air of inconsequence which characterizes all your uncle’s utterances, of your arrival in England. Welcome Home. You may be interested to learn that I have rejoined your uncle. My motive is that of expediency. Your uncle proposes to give Clochemere to the nation and has returned to Duke’s Gate, where, as you may have heard, I have been living for the last five years. During the immediate post-war period I shared its dubious amenities with members of an esoteric Central European sect. Your uncle granted them what I believe colonials would call squatters’ rights, hoping no doubt to force me back upon the Cromwell Road or the society of my sister Desirée with whom I have quarrelled since we were first able to comprehend each other’s motives.

Other aliens were repatriated, but the sect remained. It will be a sufficient indication of their activities if I tell you that they caused a number of boulders to be set up in the principal reception room, that their ceremonies began at midnight and were conducted in antiphonal screams, that their dogma appeared to prohibit the use of soap and water and that they were forbidden to cut their hair. Six months ago they returned to Central Europe (I have never inquired the precise habitat) and I was left mistress of this house. I had it cleaned and prepared myself for tranquillity. Judge of my dismay! I found tranquillity intolerable. I had, it seems, acclimatized myself to nightly pandemonium. I had become accustomed to frequent encounters with persons who resembled the minor and dirtier prophets. I was unable to endure silence, and the unremarkable presence of servants. In fine, I was lonely. When one is lonely, one thinks of one’s mistakes. I thought of your uncle. Is one ever entirely bored by the incomprehensible? I doubt it. When I married your uncle (you will recollect that he was an attaché at your Embassy in Paris and a frequent caller at my parents’ house), I was already a widow, I was not, therefore,