The Girl from Heavytree Farm

Chapter One: The Girl from Heavytree Farm

 CHAPTER ONE 

Mirabelle Leicester was well aware that her husband Leon Gonsalez had married beneath him. He had so many quarterings to his name that his coat-of-arms resembled a patchwork quilt. He had a personal fortune of millions (pounds or pesetas, she wasn't certain which), he spoke numerous languages fluently, had written books on crime, science and history, was a famous philosopher and raconteur and was known all over the world as a criminal or a crime fighter, depending on one's point of view. Whereas she was merely the daughter of a poor scientist who had possessed nothing in the world but a small annuity and a life interest in a small farm near Daynham, Gloucestershire; she owned neither coat of arms, nor money, nor anything except a frank tongue, a readiness to take on anything and a higher school certificate. In the opinion of Leon Gonsalez she was the most beautiful creature alive, the darling of his heart and the inspiration of his soul, but he preferred not to express himself in such sentimental terms. 

Leaning on the windowsill of their attic bedroom, looking out into Curzon Street in the sunshine of an early summer's morning, Mirabelle considered her brilliant and idiosyncratic spouse. She was never sure how old he was, because his sparking light blue eyes, eager boyish expression and constant restlessness made him appear a young man; but judging simply on the basis of her Aunt Alma's collection of press cuttings she was fairly certain that he was about twice her age. On the basis of those press cuttings she had for years hero-worshipped him and his two friends who formed the 'Triangle Agency' at the Sign of the Silver Triangle, 233 Curzon Street, London; three men who were better known to the world's press as The Three Just Men, who set out to do justice where the law had failed. There had once been Four Just Men, but the fourth had been shot by the Bordeaux police many years ago, in the days when the agency operated mainly on the wrong side of the law. These days they were more respectable, and Leon tried not to assassinate criminals right under the noses of the police, but they still went beyond the law when necessary - as they had done when they intervened to rescue her from the international arms-dealer Dr Oberzohn, who had discovered that she had inherited a gold mine and wanted to get hold of it before she did. Thanks to Leon and his friends, Mirabelle still had both her life and the mine, but in the course of their adventures she had fallen head over heels in love with her redoubtable rescuer, while he - much to his own surprise, and the amazement of his friends - had fallen even more deeply for her.  

So they had been married, and she herself had been given the position of the replacement Fourth Just Man. She had quickly slipped into the same role as she had held at Heavytree Farm; keeping the records, writing the correspondence, and making sure that things happened as and when necessary. Raymond Poiccart, the dark and silent Frenchman who had hitherto acted as record-keeper for the Three, was very glad to have her assistance; she found him a sympathetic friend who was always ready to help a person in need, while he - despite his reservations over Leon's marriage - was glad to have a young person about the house. Mirabelle was, he told Leon and George Manfred, the third of the group, the sort of young woman he would have liked his daughter to have grown up to become; the dear daughter of his heart who had died so long ago and whose death, alongside her mother's, had led to him giving up everything a man may hold dear in this life to join the Four's battle for Justice for all. 

George simply smiled kindly on Poiccart and kept his own counsel. No one ever knew George's innermost thoughts ... there had been a woman in his life once, Maria of Gratz, but that was a long time ago. Perhaps the first of the Three to be aware of Leon's growing passion for Mirabelle, George had been the first to suggest that she should be admitted to their society as a new Fourth. Although he constantly teased Leon about his new role as a husband (and, no doubt, in due course a father), he was also supportive, ensuring that Mirabelle was enabled to play an active role in the group, and making sure that she was never left alone in the house at night, for that was when dangerous people might call. Leon was sometimes out all night on his researches, and on the occasions when all three men were out George ensured that either Mirabelle's Aunt Alma came round from her flat in Doughty Court, in the Bloomsbury district of London, or that Mirabelle went to stay with her aunt.