DEATH BEFORE WICKET - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)

Death Before Wicket 10
for you. She gave you…The Chariot? The Emperor? The High
Priest? as your significator. She told you that you were a strong
man, a man before whom weak womanhood could only pay its
devotions on its knees. Then she fell to her knees and started
on your buttons. Don’t feel guilty. That method would work
on anyone except John Knox and even John Knox would have
had to beat his erection down with a stick.’ She felt him flinch,
then subside, and knew that her guess had been correct. ‘But you
didn’t give them what they wanted, even when you had been so
comprehensively seduced? That indicates a strong will. She might
have been right about your card after all. Which one was it?’
‘The Chariot.’ His voice quavered a little. Phryne realised he
was on the edge of laughter.
‘Domination,’ said Phryne. ‘Strong over weak. Male over female.
So then Marrin tried blackmail? Usually a reliable method.’
‘I’ve been married for twenty years,’ said Bretherton. ‘My
wife knows me and my nature. She knows that I love her. It
didn’t work, though there was the deuce of a row. But in the end
she agreed that Hungarians can happen to anyone and forgave
me. Then the papyrus went missing and I was sure that Marrin
had it until he came sliming up my stairs to make me another
offer to buy it. Now, I don’t know where the thing is. I can’t tell
you any more about the papyrus, Phryne, I gave my word, my
solemn oath, and I cannot break it. The only other person who
knows about it is Ayers. You might talk to him. Are you feeling
better now? You know, I used to hold my daughter Alice like
this, when she had nightmares.’
‘Your daughter was fortunate,’ said Phryne, sitting up. ‘Thank
you, I feel much better. Now, I’d better get dressed. Are you
going to the cricket match?’
‘Even better, I’m playing in the cricket match,’ replied
Professor Bretherton, withdrawing to the parlour.
As Phryne dressed in her cricket-going clothes, she handed
the pebble to Dot.
‘Do me a favour, old thing,’ she said. ‘Sew this into that
hankie I had last night—yes, I know that it is stained—and sling