Taming of Annabelle

M. C. Beaton
is the author of the hugely successful Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth series, as well as a quartet of Edwardian murder mysteries
featuring heroine Lady Rose Summer, the Travelling Matchmaker Regency romance series and a stand-alone murder mystery,
The Skeleton in the Closet
– all published by Constable &
Robinson. She left a full-time career in journalism to turn to writing, and now divides her time between the Cotswolds and Paris. Visit www.agatharaisin.com for more.

Titles by M. C. Beaton

Minerva
•
The Taming of Annabelle
•
Deirdre and Desire

Daphne
•
Diana the Huntress
•
Frederica in Fashion

Snobbery with Violence
•
Hasty Death
•
Sick of Shadows

Our Lady of Pain

Emily Goes to Exeter
•
Belinda Goes to Bath
•
Penelope Goes to Portsmouth

Beatrice Goes to Brighton
•
Deborah Goes to Dover
•
Yvonne Goes to York

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death
•
Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener
•
Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley

Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage
•
Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist

Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death
•
Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham

Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden

Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam
•
Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came

Agatha Raisin and the Curious Curate
•
Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House

Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance
•
Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon

Agatha Raisin and Love, Lies and Liquor

Agatha Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye

Agatha Raisin and a Spoonful of Poison
•
Agatha Raisin: There Goes the Bride

Agatha Raisin and the Busy Body
•
Agatha Raisin: As the Pig Turns

Death of a Gossip
•
Death of a Cad
•
Death of an Outsider

Death of a Perfect Wife
•
Death of a Hussy
•
Death of a Snob

Death of a Prankster
•
Death of a Glutton
•
Death of a Travelling Man

Death of a Charming Man
•
Death of a Nag
•
Death of a Macho Man

Death of a Dentist
•
Death of a Scriptwriter
•
Death of an Addict

A Highland Christmas
•
Death of a Dustman
•
Death of a Celebrity

Death of a Village
•
Death of a Poison Pen
•
Death of a Bore

Death of a Dreamer
•
Death of a Maid
•
Death of a Gentle Lady

Death of a Witch
•
Death of a Valentine
•
Death of a Sweep

Death of a Kingfisher

Constable & Robinson Ltd
55–56 Russell Square
London WC1B 4HP
www.constablerobinson.com

First published in the UK by Macdonald & Co (Publishers) Ltd, 1983

This paperback edition published by Robinson,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2012

Copyright
©
M. C. Beaton, 1983

The right of M. C. Beaton to be identified as the author of this
work has been asserted by her in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition
that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold,
hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover
other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination
or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in
Publication Data is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-84901-486-1 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-84901-951-4 (ebook)

Typeset by TW Typesetting, Plymouth, Devon

Printed and bound in the UK

1 3 5 7 9 1 0 8 6 4 2

The Maunder’s Praise of his strowling Mort

Anon

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

The only sign that the Armitage family was rising out of the mire of debt into which they had sunk the year before was the addition of two splendid hunters to the Reverend
Charles Armitage’s stable and several highly bred hounds to his pack.

Rigorous economy was still practised in the vicarage. Meals were of the cheapest cuts of meat, and clothes were still darned and altered and handed down.

The vicar of St Charles and St Jude in the village of Hopeworth had eight children, six girls and twin boys. His eldest daughter Minerva, now twenty years of age, had only a month before
announced her engagement to Lord Sylvester Comfrey, the Duke of Allsbury’s youngest son. The Armitage brood had somehow hoped this forthcoming noble alliance would immediately pour gold into
the coffers of the vicarage. But although Lord Sylvester and his friend Peter, Marquess of Brabington, had generously lent the vicar money, and Lord Sylvester had lent him the use of his steward so
that the tenant farms should flourish under professional guidance, no immediate signs of any affluence were to be felt.

The vicar had explained that the money must be paid back as soon as possible, not only to his daughter’s fiancé and to the Marquess, but also to Lady Godolphin for the expense that
lady had incurred in bringing Minerva out.

The twins, Peregrine and James, aged ten, admittedly had their future education at Eton secured, but for the girls and Mrs Armitage life went on much as it had done before Minerva’s
engagement.

Christmas passed quietly. Minerva was to be married in March and her younger sisters were already tearfully pleading for new gowns to be made for the wedding.

Apart from Minerva, there was Annabelle, seventeen, Deirdre, fifteen, Daphne, fourteen, Diana, thirteen, and Frederica, aged twelve.

Annabelle, the next in line, suffered from a nagging feeling of discontent which had nothing to do with her family’s straitened circumstances.

She had fallen in love at first sight with her sister Minerva’s fiancé, Lord Sylvester Comfrey.

The admiration of his lordship’s friend, the Marquess of Brabington, had been noticed by Annabelle and quickly discounted as unimportant.

At first, it had been the Marquess of Brabington who had occupied her dreams. He had descended on the vicarage to explain that he and Lord Sylvester Comfrey had decided to help the impoverished
family out of their predicament by restoring the vicar’s land to good heart. The Marquess had given the vicar a generous loan and had then proceeded to win the hearts of the Armitage family
in general and Annabelle in particular. He had walked with her about the village and the neighbouring countryside, implying by every look and gesture a closer, warmer relationship to follow. He had
reluctantly left, telling Annabelle he must rejoin his regiment, but that he hoped to return as soon as possible.

But then Lord Sylvester had followed Minerva from London, Minerva who had run away – inexplicably, from all those sophisticated delights – and had proposed marriage. One look at Lord
Sylvester, and the fond memory of the Marquess of Brabington shrivelled and died in Annabelle’s pretty head.

Her every waking minute seemed filled with thoughts of Lord Sylvester. She had not seen him since his monumental visit when the engagement was announced. Minerva and Mrs Armitage had departed
for a month’s visit to Lord Sylvester’s parents’ home. But absence was turning love into an obsession. Annabelle felt that Lord Sylvester was making a dreadful mistake. Minerva
would not make him a suitable wife.

Minerva was strict and prosy. How she had managed to capture a handsome and dashing rake like Comfrey was beyond any of Annabelle’s wildest imaginings. Admittedly, Minerva was very
beautiful with her black hair and wide, clear, grey eyes. But she, Annabelle, knew that her own looks were startling. Fashion might decree that blondes were ‘unfortunate’ but Annabelle
Armitage had learnt at an early age that the combination of golden hair, blue eyes, a trim figure and neat ankles had a delightful effect on any gentleman in the county of Berham.

Hadn’t she nearly been engaged herself and well before Minerva? But Guy Wentwater had turned out to be a slave trader and so the engagement had never come to pass. And then just as her
feelings towards him were becoming warm again, he had mysteriously disappeared, and even his aunt, Lady Wentwater, swore she had not heard a word from him.

Mrs Armitage, who loved to believe herself ill with all kinds of humours and strange infections, had left Minerva to be head of the household. With Minerva and her mother gone, Annabelle found
she once more had to take over the tiresome duties of the household and the parish.

And the more she did, the more she became convinced that Minerva’s natural role was that of spinster. Minerva had shown all signs of contentment with the dull routine of village life.
Annabelle had always kicked and railed against it. Therefore, it followed – so ran Annabelle’s busy thoughts – that should Lord Sylvester decide he would be better suited with the
younger sister then it would not be doing Minerva any great disservice.

That prim lady would suffer a little hurt, a little grief, but that was all. Minerva could surely never suffer from the strong passionate feelings which were churning around in her own
bosom.