What the butler saw...

Suspect: Charles Pace, Butler

Age: 52

            Pace, the butler, is originally from Portugal, which makes him an exotic sight in Victorian Yorkshire. He is a proud man, punctilious, dutiful and devoted to Lady Isolda. Yet another servant whose name she felt it necessary to change when he joined her household, he complies unquestioning with this and all her rules.

            But as faithful as he is to his mistress, Pace has a knack for rubbing everybody else the wrong way. His high-handed manner is not appreciated by the young maids of the house, or by the cook and the housekeeper— both of whom think they know better than "That Spaniard" and resent the influence he appears to hold over Lady Isolda. To consolidate his power, the butler has already seen to the dismissal of several under-housemaids. He was working on the removal of his worst enemy, the housekeeper, when she absconded of her own accord, quite suddenly and without notice, leaving the household and it's mistress in something of a pickle a mere two weeks before the annual garden party.

        

    Pace says he knew the housekeeper was untrustworthy and had advised against keeping her. She was nothing but trouble. Now he's glad she's gone, even if it means more work and responsibility on his shoulders. One way or another, with the housekeeper out of his way, he will whip the remaining staff into proper order and sort the wheat from the chaff.

            Since he came to Welford Hall, Pace has become a confidant to Lady Isolda and a great favorite. They share a love of nature and, especially, the craft of bee-keeping. Some of the staff think he's a little too close to her ladyship and they fear that he has wheedled his way into her affections with dark motives. But Pace has no care for the opinion of anybody in that house except for Lady Isolda. Even the other members of her family, in his view, are ungrateful, ill-mannered, undeserving sloths who use and abuse her ladyship.

            He always knew something like this would happen one day and he has a long list of folk he believes could easily have murdered his beloved mistress. Anybody but himself, of course. He is the only one in the house who appreciated that lady.

            But he cannot stand here talking to you all day, for there is work to be done and nobody else can be trusted to do it properly, as her ladyship would wish it done. Even in death.

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"BESPOKE", a murder mystery romance, will be served up for your enjoyment on February 20th, 2019. Find out then who killed Lady Isolda Skefflington Welford and what Pace was caught burning in his fireplace.

 

(Image used here: The Steward by Joseph DeCamp c. 1919)