It Takes a Lady

by Joan Smith

  “My carriage is just around the corner, thank you,” Nick said.

  Lord Tomson was loath to leave. He wanted to get all the details of this juicy bit of gossip. What was Carbury doing with that ne’er-do-well, Tommy Gower? Cousins, of course, or connections at least. Wasn’t Tommy in some trouble over Lady Belmont’s rubies? And what were they doing out of the carriage at this hour of the morning, for that matter? Still, Lord Carbury — he would not be involved in anything havey-cavey. “Did they get anything from you? Your purse ...”

  “Nothing but a good thrashing. Good night, Tomson,” Nick said, and putting a hand on Tommy’s shoulder, walked away, trying not to limp too noticeably. Tomson reluctantly closed the carriage door and proceeded on his way. Half a block on he pulled the drawstring and told his driver to take him back to his club. Someone there might shed some light on this mystery.

  “By Jove, that was a dandy dust-up,” Tommy said, grinning and brushing a dark trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.

  “Yes, dandy. A pity we didn’t get the rubies,” Nick said, rubbing his sore stomach.

  “Oh, the rubies! We’d best go after Hanson, eh? I mean to say, we can’t very well go home without them. We know where he’s staying.”

  “Do you really think he’ll go there?”

  “He might not have recognized us. It’s worth a try. We’d best get Lizzie.” He ran off and was soon back. “She’s not there. I daresay she got bored with waiting and went to your carriage. Since she didn’t see it, no need to tell her we didn’t get the rubies.”

  “She’ll want to see them.”

  “I’ll distract her. I have something to tell her.”

  “I want to hear it too. Where did you take off to, wretch?”

  “Later, when we find Lizzie. No point telling it twice.”

  “What if Hanson’s not at his flat? He’ll know this effort was planned. He’ll suspect us, since Lizzie and I called on him. He’ll be off hiding somewhere.”

  “There is that,” Tommy admitted. “He might think Buckner’s behind it, and Buckner wouldn’t know where he lives.”

  “If he knows anything about Buckner, he won’t suspect him.”

  “I don’t see what else we can do than go to his flat. What do we do about Sara? She’ll be waiting to see us.”

  “She’ll be chirping merry. She got her letters.”

  “So she did. It’s Lizzie we have to worry about. We’ll say —”

  “No more lies, Tommy. We’ll tell Lizzie what happened.”

  “Only if she asks to see the rubies,” Tommy said. “It’s not yet half past two o’clock. We have hours before daylight to find the necklace.”

  “She’ll ask,” Nick said, and limped along to the carriage.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Well, that’s over,” Tommy said to Lizzie as he and Carbury entered the carriage. “We’ll just stop off to see Sara got her letters and let her go to bed in peace.”

  Lizzie had been anticipating considerable amusement and surely some praise for her cleverness in getting the rubies from Hanson when they had failed. She looked to Nick, but his expression was concealed in shadows. She could see, however, that he sat stiff as a board.

  “I heard what sounded like an interesting fight,” she said.

  “Just a little tussle,” Tommy admitted. “Hanson brought along a pair of bruisers, one as big as an elephant, the other a wiry little devil. The big fellow had a club, but between the two of us we took care of them. Hanson played referee from across the street.”

  “I was relieved to hear no sounds of gunshot at least.”

  “Ho, we didn’t need pistols to handle that pair,” Tommy boasted. “The one with a club knocked the wind out of Nick.”

  “Not seriously hurt, I hope, Nick?” she asked.

  “I’m fine,” he said in a stiff, unnatural voice. “Liz —”

  Tommy, sensing that he was about to confess, said quickly, “You’ll want to hear where I went when I left Nick’s place earlier. Oh, it’ll have to wait. Here we are at Sara’s house.” He pulled the chord and the carriage drew to a stop.

  “Who wants to take Sara the good news?” Lizzie asked. When neither of them answered, she said, “I’ll tell her myself.”

  Sara stood at the open doorway, clutching her precious letters to her breast. “They’re all here,” she said.

  “I should burn those before going to bed if I were you,” Elizabeth suggested.

  “I’m going to. I just wanted to read them first, to see what a little fool I was to write them. Thank you, Elizabeth, and thank your friends for me too.” And still no apology.

  “I’ll do that, Sara. Goodnight.” She hurried back to the carriage, looking forward to the little charade that was in progress there. How long would they go on pretending they had got the rubies?

  “Sara sends her thanks to you both,” she said. “Shall we go to my place and celebrate our success?”

  “Actually,” Tommy said, “Nick and I have to go somewhere. We’ll celebrate tomorrow.”

  “I see. And am I to wait until tomorrow to hear what you were up to earlier this evening as well?”

  “Certainly not. All a tempest in a teapot. The fact is, like I mentioned, I went to see a lady.”

  He was annoyed when Liz’s response was a fairly bored, “So I assumed, though I fear you gave Nicholas a bad fright. I think you might have waited until after we recovered the rubies. Where are the two of you rushing off to now, or am I being indiscreet to ask?”

  “We have time for a glass of wine,” Nick said.

  “Good. You can show me the necklace.”

  “What do you want to see that ugly old thing for?” Tommy said in a voice trying to sound normal. “You saw it at Galveston’s party. It hasn’t changed. I should think you’d be sick and tired of the sight of it. I know I am.” He turned to Nick and said, “We really don’t have time to stop for a drink, Nick. We have to be going immediately. The sooner the better.”

  The carriage drew up in front of Lady Gertrude’s house. Nick ignored Tommy’s repeated complaints that they couldn’t stop and accompanied Lizzie to the house. Tommy, wearing a heavy frown, got out and followed them inside.

  When they were seated and wine poured, Lizzie said, “Let us bring this little farce to an end, gentlemen. I know you didn’t get the necklace.”

  “What are you talking about?” Tommy said, laughing. “Of course we got it. It’s right here —” He reached for his pocket, then said, “I left it in the carriage, but we got it all right. P’raps we’d just go and make sure it’s safe, Nick.”

  Lizzie reached in her pocket and held up the necklace. “Then it seems I can keep this one I got from Hanson.”

  Rather than being ashamed, Tommy broke out in peels of laughter. “Lizzie, how the devil did you get it? Didn’t I tell you she is up to all the rigs, Nick? Nick and I were going to rush over to Hanson’s place and try to beat it out of him. That’s why we didn’t want to stop. This saves us a trip. Now tell us all about it.”

  She looked to Nick, who was just shaking his head in shame. “We didn’t want to worry you,” he said, “but mostly we were ashamed. We felt like a pair of jackasses.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Tommy said. “We put up a demmed good fight. We did our best — no reason to be ashamed of that. You should have seen it, Lizzie. There were two of them. They came jumping out at us before we had time to blink. One of them had a club as big as an ox. An ordinary fellow couldn’t lift it. He hit Nick so hard I was afraid I’d have to handle the pair of them by myself, but Nick isn’t the sort of flat I feared he’d be.”

  “I train with Jackson!” Nick objected.

  “That’s what I mean, Nick. Thugs don’t fight according to rules. They mean business.” He turned back to Elizabeth. “Nick was soon back up and at them, giving as good as he got. I hardly had to rescue him at all.” He continued giving a highly exaggerated blow-by-blow description of the fight, especially his own hero
ic part in it.

  “I wish I had seen it! The demmed fog.” Nick blinked to hear Miss Warwick use such language. “I’m sure you were both splendid,” she said, then it was her turn to regale them with her attack on Hanson.

  “Tried to turn that elephant over!” Tommy said, grinning. “You’d need a lever a mile long to lift him. And you don’t think he saw you at all?”

  “No, I’m sure he didn’t. And tell me about how the thug attacked you, Nick.”

  Tommy answered for him. “He got knocked down like a bird in covert, the minute we got there, but like a game chick, he was soon up and doing his best. I should give you some lessons in real fighting, Nick.”

  “A pity you were caught off guard, Nick,” Elizabeth said. “I’m sure you both did splendidly. And I did not do too badly either, if I do say so myself. You must toot your own horn a little when talking to Tommy.”

  When Nick saw that Lizzie appreciated their effort and didn’t care which of them had actually rescued the necklace, he relaxed and joined in the celebration and laughter. He even admitted that perhaps Gentleman Jackson was not the best teacher for street fighting. Lady Gertrude, roused by the commotion, came down in a night robe of brilliant hue with a tasseled sleeping cap over her tousled mop of hair and wanted to hear all about it. Her only complaint was that Lizzie should have been serving champagne, not plain wine. And surely they deserved some nourishment after their travails.

  “I shall ring for the butler. Harper is still up and about,” she said. “He never retires until our guests have left. He doesn’t trust us to lock the doors.” She gave the bell pull a yank.

  Harper came and was asked to “just bring whatever doesn’t require cooking. Some bread and cheese, and some of that ham we had for dinner — don’t forget the mustard — and perhaps the remains of that Chinese cake, if the maids haven’t eaten it all up.”

  She turned back to her audience. “So now all we have to do is return the necklace to Galveston’s house, ‘find’ it and see it returned to Lady Belmont. She will feel a fool, and so she should, thinking Tommy would steal the ugly thing.”

  “Very true, Ma’am,” Tommy said. “I don’t even care for rubies. I never steal anything but diamonds of the first water.”

  The food arrived and the meeting assumed the air of a picnic, the sort of carefree picnic Nick used to have with his nanny, before he grew up and was turned into a gentleman. When had life lost that youthful air of spontaneity and irresponsibility?

  Yet Lady Gertrude and Lizzie were not in the least irresponsible. They took their responsibilities more seriously than anyone else he could think of, and got little enough appreciation for it. They were serious, but not sober, even if they were do-gooders. They worked hard, then enjoyed the reward of a job well done. It seemed a fine, worthwhile way to live. A reward was more satisfying when it had been earned.

  Before leaving, they made plans to meet the next day to visit Mrs. Galveston. “Nick will call for us here,” Lizzie said to her aunt.

  “Oh, Nick is coming with us?” she said, surprised. Only Lizzie recognized the air of calculation that flashed into her aunt’s eyes, and realized she was wondering if Nick was serious about marrying her this time.

  “Yes, and we are going to let Mrs. Galveston take the necklace to Lady Belmont,” Lizzie said. “We feel that will lessen somewhat our connection with the whole thing.”

  “Very wise,” she nodded. “And Tommy, of course, will not be mentioned at all.”

  “My usual fate,” Tommy said. “I am not one of those gentlemen who gets himself talked about in the better circles. Except when I am accused of some heinous crime, of course.”

  Lady Gertrude smiled sweetly. “Perhaps that is because you never do anything worth talking about, Tommy. Let us hope this imbroglio will be a lesson to you. If you enjoyed a sterling reputation, no one would have suspected you. Bruckner, you recall, spent some time with Lady Belmont, but no one suspected him.”

  Tommy bowed his head, then replied in a sad tone, “You are right, as usual, Ma’am. It was very remiss of me not to have been born to a duke or earl, but only a younger son with no estate or fortune to leave me. I shall do better another time. Meanwhile, you must not stop using me for those little odd jobs at the Dials that you don’t care to undertake yourself.”

  “Incorrigible,” she said, laughing, and arose.

  The gentlemen took it as a hint that the visit was over, and made their adieux.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lady Gertrude welcomed Nick and showed him to a seat when he came to deliver the ladies to Mrs. Galveston’s house the next afternoon. “Come in, Carbury,” she said. “Lizzie is just dressing. There was some emergency at the clinic and she went to give Doctor Tom a hand. We always wear old gowns for our visits there. We find the folks are more accepting when we dress down. Of course one would be a fool to wear jewelry or a watch.”

  “A wise precaution, no doubt.”

  “We learned the hard way, but you are not interested in that. I have the bottle of bug killer here for Mrs. Galveston,” she said, holding up a spray bottle of brown liquid. “I have written her a note telling her I am coming. I have had no reply. If she is not home, I shan’t leave the decoction but shall return later. I want her to be the one to find the necklace. If a second visit is inconvenient for you, Lizzie and I can handle it. We do not want to monopolize your time. You have been a great help. We do appreciate it so much.”

  “I have done little enough compared to what you ladies do. I am not referring only to this matter of the rubies, but of your work at the Dials. I have no special plans, Ma’am. I don’t want to miss the climax of the discovery.”

  Lady Gertrude’s voice took on a purring quality. Carbury was as well as caught. “Ah, excellent. Your presence will add an air of dignity to the proceedings. No one will suspect any havey-cavey doings when Lord Carbury is involved.”

  “You hardly need me to lend you consequence, Lady Gertrude. You are well known for your good works.”

  “Oh, good works. That is not the sort of thing that lends one any consequence in society. Lavish jewelry and dinner parties and running horses in races and having affairs — that is the sort of folly the ton admires.” She frowned and shook her head. “Isn’t that a shocking thing, when you think of it?”

  “It is,” he agreed, feeling extremely culpable, and wondering if she had purposely chosen his own lifestyle. Before more was said, Lizzie joined them.

  She had changed into a stylish suit of a rose hue that set off her creamy skin and black hair. One would never guess to look at this elegant creature that she had spent the evening before chasing a scoundrel, and her morning doing charity work in the worst slum in London. What an intriguing lady she was.

  “Good day, Nicholas. Do sit down,” she said, as he had risen when she entered. “Why do I feel guilty about this visit?” she said, frowning at her aunt. “Of course we are perpetrating a lie, but for a good cause. It sounds positively Machiavellian.”

  “We have just been speaking of how society misjudges people,” her aunt said. “We are doing what is right, Lizzie. Surely that is what matters.”

  “We are correcting a wrong,” Nick said firmly. “The greater lie was to blame Tommy when he is innocent.”

  “How is Tommy behaving?” Elizabeth asked.

  “He was writing a letter when I left,” Nick said, and of course did not add that the letter was to Miss Cousens. Odd that Elizabeth had not followed up on Tommy’s admission last night that he had darted off to visit a lady, giving them all a scare. She hadn’t batted an eye at it, which suggested she knew of Tommy’s carrying on with the ladies. If she loved him, she would have displayed some jealousy. Tommy had agreed that he would tell Lizzie about Miss Cousens as soon as his reputation was cleared.

  Lady Gertrude picked up her bottle of bug spray and they left. Mrs. Galveston, the widow of a retired judge, lived in one of the lesser mansions on Portman Place. Though she was wealthy and socially amb
itious she had no noble connections and was not considered quite haut ton. Lady Gertrude had exploited this to the advantage of her charity work. The dame was flattered when Lord Carbury was announced, along with the ladies. Her friends would be interested to hear it. This seemed to confirm the rumour that his romance with Miss Warwick was back on the boil.

  “So kind of you, Lady Gertrude,” she said, accepting the bottle. “I shall have a footman apply the remedy this very day. I should be sorry to lose the tree as I raised it from a sapling given me by Lady Esterman. Do come in and have some tea.”

  They were shown into her salon and some social chitchat ensued, for Lady Gertrude wanted the discovery of the necklace to appear convincing. She waited till they were finished their tea before saying, “I tell you what, Mrs. Galveston, I shall apply the spray for you, for it is quite tricky. You have to apply the decoction to the underside of the leaves, not just the top. The mites form their nests on the underside. You might mistake them for spiders’ webs if you are not familiar with them, but I know just what they look like.”

  “Very kind of you,” Mrs. Galveston said. “I had the tree returned to the ballroom after my little do the other evening. Then she turned to Nick and added, “You must forgive us, Lord Carbury. We shall be back soon. Do have another cup of tea.”

  “I shall accompany you to see how the decoction is applied, if you don’t mind. I noticed the last time I was at Greenlands that the trees in my orangery were losing leaves.” As he spoke he helped Lizzie from her chair.

  An extremely gratified Mrs. Galveston led the little group to the long room used as a ballroom. “Ah, there is the ailing plant,” Lady Gertrude said, hastening towards it. She got out her bottle and began turning over leaves to show her hostess the cobweb-like nests on the undersides. The plant was large and far gone. It would take an hour at least to do the job thoroughly, and Lady Gertrude had no intention of wasting her time on the job. Had the tree been hers, she would have got rid of it.