Last Ditch
A classic Ngaio Marsh novelYoung Rickie Alleyn had come to the Channel Islands to try to write, but village life was tedious – until he saw the stablehand in the ditch. Dead, it seemed, from an unlucky jump.It might have ended there had Rickie not noticed some strange and puzzling things. But Rickie’s father, Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn, had been discreetly summoned to the scene, and when Rickie disappeared, it was the last straw…
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NGAIO MARSH
Last Ditch
HARPER
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
77â85 Fulham Palace Road
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1977
Copyright © Ngaio Marsh Ltd 1977
Ngaio Marsh asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of these works.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007328789
EBook Edition © JANUARY 2010 ISBN: 9780007344833
Version: 2014-12-02
For the family at Walnut Tree Farm
Contents
| Young Roderick Alleyn (Ricky) | |
| Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn | His father |
| Troy Alleyn | His mother |
| Inspector Fox | His godfather |
| Jasper Pharamond | |
| Julia Pharamond | His wife |
| Selina & Julietta Pharamond | Their daughters |
| Louis Pharamond | Their cousin |
| Carlotta Pharamond | His wife |
| Bruno Pharamond | Jasperâs brother |
| Susie de Waite | |
| Dulcie Harkness | An equestrienne |
| Cuthbert Harkness | Her uncle |
| Gilbert Ferrant | Of Deep Cove |
| Marie Ferrant | His wife |
| Louis Ferrant | Their son |
| Sydney Jones | A painter |
| Bob Maistre | Landlord of the Cod-and-Bottle |
| Sergeant Plank | Of Deep Cove |
| Mrs Plank | His wife |
| Their Daughter | |
| Dr Carey | Police surgeon, Montjoy |
| Bob Blacker | Veterinary surgeon |
| Police Constables Moss & Cribbage | |
| Jim Le Compte | A sailor |
| Sundry fishermen, waiters and innkeepers |
With all their easy-going behaviour there was, nevertheless, something rarified about the Pharamonds. Or so, on his first encounter with them, did it seem to Ricky Alleyn.
Even before they came into their drawing-room, he had begun to collect this impression of its owners. It was a large, eccentric and attractive room with lemon-coloured walls, polished floor and exquisite, grubby Chinese rugs. The two dominant pictures, facing each other at opposite ends of the room, were of an irritable gentleman in uniform and a lavishly-bosomed impatient lady, brandishing an implacable fan. Elsewhere he saw, with surprise, several unframed sketches, drawing-pinned to the walls, one of them being of a free, if not lewd, character.
He had blinked his way round these incompatibles and had turned to the windows and the vastness of sky and sea beyond them when Jasper Pharamond came quickly in.
âRicky Alleyn!â he stated. âHow pleasant. Weâre all delighted.â
He took Rickyâs hand, gaily tossed it away and waved him into a chair. âYouâre like both your parents,â he observed. âClever of you.â
Ricky, feeling inadequate, said his parents sent their best remembrances and had talked a great deal about the voyage they had taken with the Pharamonds as fellow passengers.
âThey were so nice to us,â Jasper said. âYou canât think. VIPs as they were, and all.â
âThey donât feel much like VIPs.â
âWhich is one of the reasons one likes them, of course. But do tell me, exactly why have you come to the island, and is the lodging Julia found endurable?â
Feeling himself blush, Ricky said he hoped he had come to work through the Long Vacation and his accommodation with a family in the village was just what he had hoped for and that he was very much obliged to Mrs Pharamond for finding it.
âShe adores doing that sort of thing,â said her husband. âBut arenât you over your academic hurdles with all sorts of firsts and glories? Arenât you a terribly young don?â
Ricky mumbled wildly and Jasper smiled. His small hooked nose dipped and his lip twitched upwards. It was a faunish smile and agreed with his cap of tight curls.
âI know,â he said, âyouâre writing a novel.â
