Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death (The Grantchester Mysteries)

He’s learning Russian at the moment. God knows why. I fear he thinks me rather flippant.’
    ‘I very much doubt that.’
    ‘It’s true, I’m afraid.’
    Guy Hopkins put his arm around the back of her chair. ‘I’m surprised you haven’t brought someone along, Daphne. Don’t you have a man in tow?’
    Mary Dowland giggled. ‘You normally have several, don’t you? I’m sure you must be in the address book of every eligible bachelor in London.’
    Her husband filled his glass with more red wine. ‘I wonder what happens when they get married. Do you suppose their wives cross you off?’
    ‘It has been known,’ Daphne Young acknowledged, aware that she was being teased. ‘I suppose that these days I am considered rather dangerous. It can sometimes take a man rather a long time to recover.’
    ‘A lifetime, I should imagine,’ said Sidney, generously.
    ‘You are too kind, Canon Chambers.’
    Just before midnight, after the maid and the cook had been allowed to leave for the New Year celebrations at Piccadilly Circus, and as the port began to circle round the table, Guy said that he had a surprise. He stood up and placed a jewellery box in front of Amanda. ‘I think you may be able to guess what this is.’
    ‘How stupendous,’ Nigel announced. ‘I think this probably calls for something more than port.’
    ‘Hold on,’ his wife counselled. ‘We do not know what it is yet.’
    Mary Dowland would not wait for the champagne and filled up her own glass with wine. ‘I think we can guess.’
    ‘I don’t know what to say . . .’ Amanda began.
    Guy put a protective hand on her shoulder. ‘Open it.’
    Inside the case was a gold ring with a large ruby surrounded by miniature diamonds.
    ‘It’s beautiful,’ said Amanda.
    ‘Try it on.’
    The room was stilled, the candles guttered. Sidney hoped that it was what Amanda wanted. She smiled, nervously, almost embarrassed, at this public demonstration of love and money. ‘I’ve never seen anything quite like it.’
    ‘Can I see it?’ Daphne asked.
    ‘Of course. It’s lovely, isn’t it?’
    The ring was passed round for all to admire. Nigel returned with champagne. ‘There’s more in the fridge. I was saving this for midnight but all it means is that we will have to drink a bit more. If I can just squeeze past . . .’
    Johnny Johnson lifted his chair and was about to tuck it in behind him when Nigel Thompson tripped over the leg and stumbled.
    ‘Bloody hell!’
    The champagne bottle fell from his hand and smashed on the floor.
    ‘Oh . . .’ his wife cried. ‘It’s everywhere.’
    ‘So bloody careless of me . . .’ said Nigel, looking down at the floor.
    ‘Don’t swear!’ his wife cut in, mopping the champagne from her dress. ‘You know how it upsets me.’
    ‘I’m quite happy with the port,’ said Mark Dowland. ‘Goes down a treat.’
    Daphne stood up. ‘Let me get a cloth from the kitchen.’
    Mary joined her. ‘And a dustpan and brush.’
    ‘It’s splashed up all over me,’ Juliette complained. ‘I will have to change.’
    ‘Then go and do so,’ her husband snapped.
    ‘I don’t want to leave everyone. I don’t know what to do.’
    ‘I’ll go with you,’ Amanda offered. ‘There’s no need to make a fuss. We can go upstairs. It’s all right, darling.’
    ‘It’s all such a mess . . . .’
    ‘Soon be midnight,’ Johnny said quietly to Jennifer. ‘We don’t want to miss the bells. Shall we stand outside then?’
    ‘I think we have to stay here. I’m sorry.’
    ‘I was hoping we could be alone.’
    ‘That comes later.’
    They smiled and then looked up to see that Sidney had heard them. Guy stood back in the doorway as Daphne and Mary cleared away the champagne and the broken glass. Nigel went in search of another bottle.
    Mark Dowland drank some more port. ‘This is all going terribly well . . .’ he said, expecting those around him to appreciate his irony. They did not.
    Sidney worried how he was going to get back to his parents’ house in Highgate. There were taxis, of course, but they were expensive. He had assumed that he was going to get a lift with Jennifer and Johnny but they seemed to be going on somewhere else and he couldn’t imagine Amanda and Guy wanting his company on the evening of their engagement. It was curious, however, that Amanda had not technically accepted the proposal of marriage. She had merely admired the ring. If he had been in Guy’s position he would have been looking