The eighth Earl turfed some gypsies off his land and one old woman swore at him a bit and told him he'd regret it.'

'And within twelve months he and his younger son were both dead.'

'The Earl had apoplexy - probably what they'd call a stroke today - and the boy most likely got pneumonia. There wasn't anything mysterious about it. Since then there's been nothin' out of the ordinary. Most of my ancestors died peacefully, usually at a ripe old age.'

'You don't have to convince me, Daddy. I'm not scared of any gypsy's curse.'

'And those murders didn't involve the family. The people just happened to be here. I shall complain to the editor.'

'I don't honestly think you've got any grounds. The story has appeared in a couple of books, after all.'

Lord Burford turned the page to reveal a page of text broken into many short paragraphs and headed THE ALDERLEY MURDERS: FULL STORY. 'You've read this?'

'Skimmed through it. Nothing that wasn't in the papers at the time. They seem to have got the facts right, and they don't libel anybody, so we'll just have to grin and bear it.'

'Bear it I may. Grin I will not.'

'The pictures aren't bad.'

'Didn't look at 'em.' He turned back the page. 'My word, they've really gone to town. That's your mother and me when she opened the County Show last month. Nice photo of you.'

'It's the one that was in The Tatler.'

'Oh yes. But they've put you in a line with all these other girls. "Beauties Involved in Murder." You, Jane Clifton, Anilese de la Roche, Laura Lorenzo, the little Dove - and Mabel Turner, for heaven's sake! This picture of her must be twenty years old, at least.'

'That "involved in" is a bit rich. You'd think they'd have had the decency to distinguish between the victims, the criminals and the innocent bystanders.'

'Well, you weren't a bystander, either time. You were gettin' mixed up in the investigations.'

Gerry nodded, a wistful expression on her face. 'You know, in spite of all the horrible things that happened, it was fun, wasn't it - looking back?'

'I look back as infrequently as I can. Reckon those weekends put twenty years on my life.'

'There's even a photo of Chief Inspector Wilkins - see.'

'Oh yes. 'The Man Who Solved Both Cases." Looking as bewildered as ever. He came up trumps, though. Er, did you just get the one copy of this?'

'Two. Mummy's got the other.'

'Oh, you've shown her. How did she take it?'

'As you'd expect: phlegmatically.'

'Good. I was just thinkin', rubbish as it all is, might be a good idea to get a few more copies. I can think of quite a few people who'd like to see it - some of the others who were here, apart from anybody else.'

'OK, I'll get another half dozen.'

'Better make it a dozen. So, what you doin' here? Row with the boyfriend?'

'Of course not! And he's my fiancé, not just my boyfriend; remember?'

'Thought you youngsters preferred these new-fangled terms. Anyway, why are you home?'

'I explained in my telegram.