Arnaud Le Clercq (rhymes with eclair) is a classically trained French chef, hired because continental cuisine and an imported supervising chef are important to the image of Manor House. En route to the manor, your driver Stephen warned you about this character, who indeed struck you as conniving from the moment you met him. But Le Clercq is also suave, and cunning. He was hired by Farnsworth straight out of Le Cordon Bleu ten years ago. Emil, the Hungarian chef who was supervising the kitchen at the time, was dismissed when some guests suffered hallucinations after dining on one of Emil’s experimental dishes featuring wild mushrooms plucked from the manor grounds. The annual Manor House Christmas Ball was only 10 days away, and knowing that the number of qualified and available chefs in all of England at the moment was probably less than zero, Farnsworth found the solution to his dilemma at Le Cordon Bleu. Although Arnaud is a fine chef, he owes his success at Manor House primarily to his continuing role as the butler’s chief spy and henchman. If Farnsworth needs something taken from a room, Le Clercq does not hesitate to surreptitiously remove it. If Farnsworth and Van Scoy need to investigate—or start—a rumor circulating among the staff, they mention it Le Clercq. The chef will oblige by finding out – or putting out - whatever required. Le Clercq was not sorry to see your uncle go. Over the past few years when the lord of the manor entertained, he and his guests had been opting more for the standard pub fare of steak and kidney pie, or perhaps even fish and chips. Such culinary horrors are regularly served up by the Australian barbarian, Bruce Sherlock, in his raucous upstairs pub—made even more appalling now that “karaoke nights” have been added, an innovation relished by the commoners from the village. Outside of special events, formal dining at Manor House had been on a decline. So Le Clercq continues to do Farnsworth’s and Van Scoy’s dirty work, not because they have promised to cut him in on anything big, but because he regards these two as his only hope of restoring a proper atmosphere and culinary civility to the place. And besides, he loves sneaking into people’s rooms and rummaging through their possessions. Still, something is going on between the chef and the concierge, and whatever it is, it’s going on behind Farnsworth’s back.