Wicked Godmother

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, Six Sisters and School for Manners 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, or follow M. C. Beaton on Twitter:
@mc_beaton
.

Praise for A House for the Season:

‘A romp of a story . . . For warm-hearted, hilarious reading, this one is a gem.’

Baton Rouge Sunday Advocate

‘A witty, charming, touching bit of Regency froth. Highly recommended.’

Library Journal

‘[Beaton] once again adroitly manipulates the floating upstairs population that keeps the downstairs on its toes.’

Publishers Weekly

‘[Beaton] is adept at character portrayal and development . . .
Plain Jane
is sure to delight Regency enthusiasts of all ages.’

Best Sellers

‘[Beaton] has launched another promising Regency series.’

Booklist

Titles by M. C. Beaton

A House for the Season

The Miser of Mayfair
•
Plain Jane
•
The Wicked Godmother

Rake’s Progress
•
The Adventuress
•
Rainbird’s Revenge

The Six Sisters

Minerva
•
The Taming of Annabelle
•
Deirdre and Desire

Daphne
•
Diana the Huntress
•
Frederica in Fashion

The Edwardian Murder Mystery series

Snobbery with Violence
•
Hasty Death
•
Sick of Shadows

Our Lady of Pain

The Travelling Matchmaker series

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

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

The Agatha Raisin series

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

The Hamish Macbeth series

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

The Skeleton in the Closet

Also available

The Agatha Raisin Companion

Constable & Robinson Ltd

55–56 Russell Square

London WC1B 4HP

www.constablerobinson.com

First published in the US by St Martin’s Press, 1987

This paperback edition published in the UK by Canvas,

an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2013

Copyright © M. C. Beaton, 1987

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: 978-1-78033-307-6 (paperback)

eISBN: 978-1-47210-438-0 (ebook)

Typeset by TW Typesetting, Plymouth, Devon

Printed and bound in the UK

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Cover design and illustration:
www.kathynorrish.com

For Rachel Field
with love

‘Miss F.,’ says I, ‘is said to be

A sweet young woman, is not she?’

‘O, excellent! I hear,’ she cried;

‘O, truly so!’ mamma replied.

‘How old should you suppose her, pray?

She’s older than she looks they say.’

‘Really,’ says I, ‘she seems to me

Not more than twenty-two or three.’

‘O, then you’re wrong,’ says Mrs G.

‘Their upper servant told our Jane,

She’ll not see twenty-nine again.’

‘Indeed, so old! I wonder why

She does not marry then,’ says I.

‘Miss F.,’ says I, ‘I’ve understood,

Spends all her time in doing good;

The people say her coming down

Is quite a blessing to the town,’

At that our hostess fetched a sigh,

And shook her head; and so, says I,

‘It’s very kind of her, I’m sure,

To be so generous to the poor.’

‘No doubt,’ says she, ‘’tis very true;

Perhaps there may be reasons too:

You know some people like to pass

For patrons with the lower class.’

And here I break my story’s thread.

Just to remark, that what she said,

Although I took the other part,

Went like a cordial to my heart.

J
ANE TAYLOR

Gossip is mischievous, light and easy to raise, but grievous to bear and hard to get rid of. No gossip ever dies away entirely, if many people voice it; it too is a kind of divinity.

HESIOD

The sleepy little village of Upper Marcham had never before enjoyed such a juicy scandal.

Widower and local worthy Sir Benjamin Hayner died and left the management of his vast estates and all his fortune to an impoverished gentlewoman, Harriet Metcalf. Miss Metcalf was to hold control of said estates and fortune until Sir Benjamin’s twin daughters, Sarah and Annabelle, should reach the age of twenty-one. The twins were only eighteen years old. Harriet Metcalf, their godmother, was a mere twenty-five years old.

Sir Benjamin had been a close friend of Harriet’s parents and, after their death, had invited Harriet to dinner at Chorley Hall, his stately residence, on many an occasion.

But no one, least of all his many relatives, expected that he would will the control of his affairs to such a one as Harriet.

The fact that she would have to surrender all on the twins’ twenty-first birthday and return to living on a tiny income derived from a family trust did nothing to allay the pain.

For Harriet Metcalf was an Adventuress and a Scarlet Woman. After all, one had only to look at her.

She had a thick cloud of fluffy blond hair and huge deep blue eyes. She had thin arched eyebrows, which were quite dark, and long sooty eyelashes. Blondes were unfashionable. But that was not what made her suspect.