by Joan Smith
“I am coming to realize that. After that drive in your farm cart and our visit to the Dials I have come to see your standards have — changed. There is very little that will put you off nowadays.”
“My standards have altered,” she agreed.
Nicholas had been involved with a series of flirts and not taken much notice of Elizabeth for a few years, except to avoid her as much as politely possible. As they chatted on he was happy to discover she was much easier to get along with now, easier to talk to. She was up to date on the current hit plays, attended ton parties, knew all the latest on dits. He even found himself telling her a racy story he would not have spoken of to most unmarried ladies, and she was neither shocked nor offended. Really she was such good company he could not imagine why he hadn’t rediscovered her sooner.
Ah but there were so many pretty ladies at the balls and parties, a new batch every spring. As he considered the past years, it was surprising how few of them he could remember with any clarity. But he knew they would each and every one of them toss up her dainty hands in horror if asked to mingle with thieves and prostitutes. One soon wearied of the pretty, young ones who didn’t seem to give thought to anything but beaux and gowns. Perhaps his standards were altering as well.
As they neared their destination she said, “Tommy said the cottage is thatched and set back behind a thorn hedge. Almost hidden. It’s called Hill House, though it’s not on a hill but in a little valley. Perhaps the original tenants were called Hill. There — there’s Tommy! That little place to his left must be the cottage.”
Nicholas pulled the drawstring and the driver followed Tommy’s directions, through an opening in the thorn hedge, down a lane to a charming half-timbered, thatched cottage that looked as if it had escaped from a storybook. Roses rioted up to the leaded windows, that twinkled in the sunlight.
“Charming,” Elizabeth said. “How Margot must have hated having to leave here.”
“According to rumour, what she hated was having to live here,” he said.
“Hmph, she obviously has no taste, in which case she deserves her new patron.”
Tommy was hatless and without a jacket. His shirt revealed that his broad shoulders owed nothing to padding. He was tall and walked with an easy, athletic stride. His tousled black curls glimmered like a rainbow in the sunlight, his dark eyes gleamed and on his unshaven face a smile beamed. He looked like an extremely handsome ne’er-do-well.
When he had helped Elizabeth down from the carriage he threw both arms around her and planted a loud smack on her cheek. “Lizzie, any news?” he asked at once.
Then he turned a surprised face to Nicholas. “Nick, what the deuce are you doing here? That’s a mighty handsome jacket. Say what you like about old Stutz, he does give a fellow a fine set of shoulders.”
“It’s a Weston,” Nicholas said. “And the shoulders are my own.”
“Just joshing you, Nick. I know you’d never frequent any but the best tailor, or best anything else. No doubt you’ve heard Margot left Bob.”
After this mischievous speech, he took Elizabeth’s arm to lead her to the cottage. “Be nice, Tommy,” she said. “Nicholas is helping us. Let us go inside. I have all sorts of things to tell you.”
Tommy looked at the picnic hamper. “I hope there’s food in there. I’m ravenous. I haven’t had a thing to eat but half a box of bonbons Margot left behind, after eating all the good ones herself.”
“Yes, we’ve brought food and drink,” she assured him.
It occurred to Nicholas, as he followed them into the cottage, Tommy’s arm around her waist, that they made a very handsome couple. Nicholas still thought of his cousin as a boy, but Elizabeth had mentioned he was her own age. They were obviously close. Were they in love? Tommy brought dishes, glasses and cutlery while Elizabeth laid out the picnic. Cook had packed a whole chicken, a loaf of bread, fresh fruit and two bottles of wine.
“Put on a kettle, Tommy,” Elizabeth said. “I hope you have tea or coffee.”
“Tea, and I even got hold of some milk from the farm just down the road. The farmer’s daughter stopped by. It cost me my last half crown, but she was very pretty. I have the kettle on the stove. Let us eat first.”
While they ate, Elizabeth told him what they had been doing that morning, omitting the detail of the Tsar’s snuffbox which she had not mentioned to Nicholas. “It’s too early for the necklace to be on the market yet,” Tommy said, when she had finished. “Sara wouldn’t have a notion how to sell it. I can’t imagine why she ever stole it. She must be working with someone. Someone put her up to it, I mean, and he’s handling the sale. It doesn’t seem like Sara at all. She must be in desperate trouble.”
“We thought perhaps she had written billets doux to someone, and either he’s holding her to ransom, or the letters have fallen into someone else’s unscrupulous hands,” she said. “Or possibly she’s lost money gambling and doesn’t want Lady Belmont to find out. She’s keeping company with Lord Buckner, you know, and if he ever found out — well, his family wouldn’t allow the match.”
“She has terrible taste in men,” Tommy said with a shake of his head. “Buckner is a self-righteous bore, and that Hanson she was keeping company with a few years ago is no better than he should be. She was pretty close to him. It looked like she might nab him, then all of a sudden they weren’t an item any longer. I never heard what happened, but the on dit was that his pockets were to let, so of course Lady Belmont disapproved of the match. She wanted more than a younger son for Sara in any case.”
“Is Hanson the sort who might have kept her letters and be using them to get money from her?” Elizabeth asked.
“He’s no saint but I never thought he was that bad,” Tommy said. “More likely he left them lying about and his valet or a servant, or even someone calling on him, got hold of them.” Turning to Nicholas, he let loose another of his mischievous remarks. “Speaking of self-righteous bores, are you till dangling after that bran-faced duke’s daughter?”
“Lady Lucia is a lovely, charming lady with a peaches and cream complexion. As it happens, however, I was not dangling after her. We are friends.”
“Really? I’m surprised you stood up with her twice at Lady Jersey’s ball. I expected to be cousin to a duke’s son-in-law by summer.”
“Behave yourself, Tommy,” Elizabeth scolded.
“To return to business,” Nicholas said rather stiffly, “there is no point calling on Hanson. Naturally he’ll deny everything.”
“You’re right,” Elizabeth said, and Tommy nodded his agreement. “We’ll just have to go ahead and get the necklace back from Sara at the ball before she does something with it. I shouldn’t think she’d have time to do it today. Between having the coiffure in to do her hair for the ball and wanting to have a facial mask applied and Lady Belmont very likely in bed with the vapours after losing the rubies, Sara will be too busy to go out. To say nothing of her being in charge of overseeing the arrangements for the ball.”
“I wouldn’t be a lady for anything, would you, Nick?” Tommy said. “All that trouble, just to nab a husband.”
“It does seem more bother than you are worth,” Elizabeth agreed, “but about the necklace –”
Chapter Six
“I wager Sara plans to hand the necklace over to whoever made her steal it at the party tonight,” Tommy said. “Damme, I wish I could attend. I wasn’t invited but you could have got me in, Lizzie. Of course I can’t go now.”
Nick looked a question at her, then said, “I thought you were not invited, Elizabeth?”
“Of course I was. I had planned on attending with Aunt Gertrude, but I require a more active partner and so I shanghaied you into helping me. Auntie makes straight for the card parlour.”
“You wouldn’t be long without a partner, Lizzie,” Tommy said. “The fortune hunters are always around you like crows on carrion.”
“Why thank you. I hardly know which compliment to thank you for first,” she said.
>
“No offence. You get your share of worthies as well. So, what exactly do you plan to do? If Sara plans to turn the sparklers over to someone at the party tonight, she’ll have them in her pocket, or in her reticule. Short of luring her off to some dark corner and knocking her on the head, I don’t see how we can get them. If you could lure her out somewhere, Nick, Lizzie or I could bash her.”
“We could slip her a note, pretending it’s from Hanson,” Elizabeth suggested. “Probably best to leave it unsigned, in case Hanson isn’t the one she’s dealing with.”
Nicholas listened in rising disbelief and disapproval. He also felt a growing resentment of the close bond between Tommy and Elizabeth. He turned to her and said, “Pity Fanny isn’t attending the do, and she could help us.”
“Fanny, who’s that? You can’t mean Fanny Dewar,” Tommy said.
“I never heard of Fanny Dewar.”
“No, of course you haven’t. Her dot’s only five thousand. She wasn’t even allowed a voucher to Almack’s.”
“Obviously a social climber like my poor self wouldn’t know such a creature,” Nicholas said with heavy sarcasm. “The Fanny I referred to is a kate we met at Seven Dials this morning.”
He had hoped to surprise Tommy with the mention of Seven Dials, but Tommy just said, “Kate? I thought you said Fanny.”
“A kate’s a diver, a dipper, pickpocket,” Nicholas explained. “The best I’ve come across. I didn’t feel a thing when she took my purse.”
“I wager you felt something when Sissy Malone emptied your purse,” Tommy said, grinning. “That diamond bracelet must have cost you a monkey.”
Nicholas clenched his jaw and said, “And worth every penny of it.”
“To be rid of her, you mean? Or is she still giving satisfaction? I heard —”
“Don’t believe everything you hear, Cuz.”
Elizabeth was sorely vexed at Tommy’s childish behaviour, especially as he needed Nicholas’s help. She was not happy to hear of Nick having an affair with Sissy Malone either. In an effort to change the subject, she said, “Did I tell you Nicholas generously donated the entire contents of his purse to the cause after we got it back from Fannie?”
Tommy ignored the question. He turned an accusing eye on her and said, “You could have taken me with you, Lizzie.”
“You don’t have any money,” she replied.
“Touché,” he said, and they both laughed. “Unfortunately true, until I can convince some pretty heiress to have me.”
“The two words — pretty and heiress, appear to be mutually exclusive,” she said with a sigh.
“Present company excepted,” Tommy added, and lifted his glass to her.
“Hear, hear,” Nick added, to include himself in the toast and compliment.
Elizabeth just smiled. “Now you’re making me blush, gentlemen,” she said, with no sign of a blush. Then she turned to Tommy. “I really don’t think knocking Sara out is a good idea, not at a ball.”
“Some more public place like Vauxhall would be better,” he said.
“I shouldn’t think there’s much chance of luring her there. Nicholas has some urgent meeting I’ve kept him from for hours, so we must leave now. I’ll let you know how things turn out tonight.”
“You won’t have to send me word. I plan to be there. I can’t go inside, but I’ll be nearby.”
“How will you get there?” Nicholas asked.
“And where will you wait?’ Elizabeth added.
“I could go as your postboy, Liz.”
“Elizabeth is going with me,” Nicholas pointed out.
“Then I’ll go as your postboy. You don’t mind, Nick?”
“Of course not. An excellent idea,” he agreed, though he didn’t like it. Tommy was being particularly obnoxious today. Almost as if he were jealous. “Do you have a mount or carriage here?”
“No, Max Biden delivered me.”
“Who is that?”
“Nobody you would know, Nick. He has no estate, no title, not even a seat in the Commons, but he’s a bruising driver. Beat Alvanley in a curricle race to Brighton. Borrowed Lord Egan’s rig. Pity he turned it over on the way home. Cost him half his winnings.”
“Oh, that Biden. Well, you had best come home with me now. You can’t walk, and you’ll need to change into the outfit.”
“By jove, this is better than just attending a dull old ball,” Tommy said. “Lady Belmont has the second dullest do’s in town. No one can outdo Prinney for sheer awfulness.”
“When were you ever at one of his do’s?” Elizabeth demanded.
“Didn’t I tell you Uncle Alfie took me to one at Carlton House last year? I’m sure I told you.”
“You did. I thought you were lying.”
“I don’t lie. Well, not to you, Lizzie. The do was a complete take-in. There wasn’t a pretty woman there. Everyone was fat and over fifty except that scarecrow who’s married to the Russian ambassador, and she’s so ugly she ought to wear a bag over her head in public. She frightens the children.”
“The Countess deLieven would be thrilled to hear that description,” Nicholas said, shaking his head.
“Terrible party,” Tommy continued. “You have to stay till old Prinney decides he’s had enough. We were there till one o’clock in the morning. The place was hot as an oven and there wasn’t a decent bite to eat or decent drop to drink. If I hadn’t found my way down to the kitchen I’d have died of starvation. I made sure he’d put on a spread and didn’t eat any dinner.”
“No one made you go,” Elizabeth reminded him. “In fact you weren’t actually invited, but made your uncle pretend he’d sprained his ankle and needed you for support.”
Tommy grinned. “I made a pony from Devlin on that bet. He thought I couldn’t do it. I had to pocket one of the dishes with a crest on it to prove I’d been there.”
“Very edifying,” Elizabeth said with mock disdain. “Get dressed, Tommy. We have to be leaving.”
“We haven’t had our tea.”
“Forget the tea, and make sure the fire is out.”
“I’ll put the leftover food in the larder in case I have to come back here. If I don’t, the mice can have it. The poor things must be dying of hunger.”
Before they were halfway home Nicholas had taken the idea there was an understanding between Elizabeth and Tommy. This would be an excellent match. He required a wife with money; Lizzie required a husband, and enjoyed helping the poor. She didn’t seem to mind Tommy’s irresponsible attitude to life. So why did he dislike the idea?
Tommy said, “You know, the more I think of it, the more I wonder if Hanson isn’t behind the whole thing. His pockets are to let, you know. He’s even run out of post-obits. He’s been losing regularly at that new gaming hell run by Mrs. Henfield — a regular take-in. Have you been there, Nick?”
“Certainly not. When I want to lose money I play at my club.”
“Clubs! Ho, there isn’t a club in town would let Hanson in the door. He’s been persona non grata for months.”
“I hope you don’t go to this Mrs. Henfield’s club, Tommy,” Elizabeth said.
“No, she don’t let you play on tick. Not that I would. Not such a flat as Hanson.”
“You said earlier you didn’t think he was so bad,” Lizzie reminded him.
“I didn’t think so, but desperation might lead a fellow to do desperate things. P’raps we ought to call on him. Now what could we use for an excuse?”
“Do you know him at all, Nick?” Elizabeth asked.
Tommy’s hopeful expression added to her question made him aware he was expected to undertake this intrusive call. He was happy to be able to say, “Sorry, I don’t know him at all.”
“I believe I’ll risk it myself,” Tommy said. “I’ll have to get cleaned up first. Can you lend me a razor and a clean shirt, Nick?”
“Certainly.” And still they both looked at him expectantly. “I’ll go with you, if you like,” he said reluctantly.
> “That’s fine then,” Tommy said. “I wasn’t sure he’d let me in after – “
“After what?” Nick asked with a foreboding of more unpleasantness about to be dumped on him.
“Oh nothing, really. I’m not the one who called him a Captain Sharp. I don’t even believe it. I would have noticed if he’d been using shaved cards. He was just lucky that night. Won a pony off Logan. Then Logan insisted they have a final draw, winner take all. And Hanson lost. He was pretty sore about it. Said he was counting on that win to pay up on some of his debts.”
“When was this?” Elizabeth asked.
“A week or so before Galveston’s party, when the rubies were stolen.”
“He didn’t waste any time,” she said. “But if he’s at the bottom of it, he’ll never admit it.”
“You’re right,” Nicholas said at once. “No point calling on him.”
Elizabeth turned to Tommy. “We’d do much better to just break into his flat and look for Sara’s billets doux,” she said.
“Great minds think alike,” Tommy said.
Nicholas listened in disbelief. When Tommy went right along with this ridiculous idea, he said, “This is nonsense. We don’t even know that Sara ever wrote him any letters.”
“What else can it be?” Elizabeth insisted. “I would have heard if she had taken up gambling. She’d never get away from Lady Belmont to do it, and anyway she’s not the type. It must be love letters, and Hanson’s the only fellow she was ever seeing enough of to write to him. Yes, and Lady Belmont didn’t like it either. That is exactly the sort of situation that leads to writing love letters. You must see that, Nicholas.”
“Plain as the nose on your face,” Tommy agreed. “Romeo and Juliet, Pyramid and Thistle.”
“He means Pyramus and Thisbe,” Elizabeth explained to Nicholas.
“That’s the pair,” Tommy said. “Wasn’t one of them eaten by a tiger?”
Nicholas rolled his eyes and said, “A lion, I believe, but —”
They both ignored him. “Where does he live, Tommy?” she asked.