‘I really cannot tell you more than that,’ she warned. ‘I was not paying attention.’
‘We will go round every street and down every alley until you see the place with the green door,’ he responded. ‘I will see the truth in your eyes and that will be that. But I will not let you down from the cab until this matter is settled, even if we drive through the night and into the morning.’
‘Very well, then,’ she said with a sigh and watched out the window for the tarnished gold balls on the sign.
* * *
When they arrived, the windows were dim, as though the shop might be closed, but de Warde sprang down from the carriage. At his touch, the door swung open easily to the same brassy jangling of bells.
Thea had not anticipated this. It seemed that, like it or not, de Warde would get what he wished; either the idols, or proof that Kenton meant to cheat him. Then it occurred to her that Joseph knew nothing of Kenton.
He did, however, know an actor named Jack Briggs.
She hopped out of the carriage and followed de Warde into the shop, hoping that, for once in her life, she might find some of her mother’s talent, for she very much needed it, if she was to keep her husband’s secret.
But as she crossed the threshold, Danyl appeared from a back room. Either the servants had got word to Jack, or the scene was already prepared. Thea gave a silent prayer of thanks that she need be nothing more than an observer from this point forwards.
Danyl was eyeing de Warde with suspicion. ‘I am not open for business, sahib. Come back tomorrow.’ His accent was thicker than she remembered, as though he was play-acting the Indian. Instead of a normal coat and neckcloth, he wore a heavy brocaded robe and his thick dark hair was hidden under a turban.
But de Warde seemed to see nothing amiss. ‘Your door was open. Because you were expecting someone, perhaps?’
Danyl stared at him, giving nothing away.
‘Then I think you must be waiting for me. I am a friend of Lord Kenton. I have his wife here with me.’
‘Why he does not come?’ Danyl allowed himself to look ever so slightly surprised.
‘If what I seek is here, then there is no reason to involve him. Whatever amount he would take from the bargain, I would give his share to you, if the business can be settled quickly.’
Danyl watched him in silence for a time, as though trying to gauge the value of the offer. ‘If I anger him, I will lose business. He is a viscount. And who are you?’
‘Never mind who I am,’ de Warde snapped. ‘I will pay whatever you ask. Now give me the damn statues.’
Danyl was staring at de Warde again, as though trying to set his price, and the tension drew even tighter. ‘We shall see, shall we not? I have the statues you seek. It is rare to find the pair of them, as you must know.’
‘Very well, then. Let me see them.’ De Warde looked around the shop as though wondering why they were not on display.
‘I have them here.’ Danyl walked to a locked cabinet at the back of the room and loosened his collar to remove a key that rested on a chain around his throat. With great ceremony, he unlocked it, throwing the door wide and removing a carved wooden box. He set it down on the counter and removed a second key from his pocket, working the little lock and opening the lid.
Everyone in the room leaned forwards, and Thea felt the silence of anticipation and the bated breath of three people as the statues came into view.
Then de Warde laughed. She could not blame him, for even in the dim light and incense-scented air there was no mystery about the little figures before them. They were exotic, of course—how could a multi-armed, blue-skinned man and his consort not be? But they were in no way mystical. It was obvious that they were cheaply made and badly painted, set with gaudy paste jewels and daubed with gold paint.
They looked like what they were: a trick for the gullible.
Without warning, de Warde’s hand shot out and cuffed the actor on the ear, sending the box crashing to the floor, the statues shattering. ‘You pathetic huckster. Do you really expect me to believe that Kenton is tricked by this? I do not know the man well, but I take him for better than an idiot.’ He turned to Thea.
She took an involuntary step back, bumping into the display case behind her. ‘What was it, my dear? Did you think I would part with another penny for a pair of useless statues?’
‘That is not what I thought at all,’ she argued, staring at the rubble on the floor between them. Far too many hands reached up from the fragments, their fingers pointing at her in accusation.
He laughed again. ‘You could at least have taken the time to find a better bait for me. I might have actually bought the things as a curiosity had they any real value. And you, sir, whoever you are...’ de Warde turned back to Danyl, who was rubbing his ear and cringing like a coward. Despite Jack’s faith in him, it appeared that one slap was all it took to render him useless. ‘I assume Kenton put you up to this game, whatever it might be. If he holds something over you, you have nothing to fear. If it is only money you need, I will pay you to tell me what you know.’
Danyl maintained his silence, which now seemed more petulant than inscrutable.
‘If you think to keep his secrets, know that I am powerful enough to have you up on charges for trying to trick me. I shall not stop persecuting you until you are hanged, or run from business. Now tell me what you know.’ De Warde’s voice shifted from coaxing to demand.
Danyl’s eyes went round and white in his dark face. ‘I know nothing, sahib. I swear it. Only that Sahib Kenton wished me to sell you these statues for a prodigious sum and I was to give him the money afterwards.’
‘And what did you gain by it?’
‘Nothing, sahib. I swear it.’
‘I do not believe you.’
‘A watch fob. That is all.’ Danyl was proving to be as bad a liar as Thea and the constant questioning was making him perspire.
But de Warde did not seem to notice. His gaze was fixed on the open drawer of the cupboard behind the counter and the velvet tray that contained the shop’s more valuable jewelry. There, at the front, next to the assortment of worthless statues, was the ring she had pawned to Joseph: the pride of the Spayne emeralds. In comparison to the dull clay gods on the floor it seemed to glitter all the more brightly.
There was a chance, she supposed, that if she stayed very still, and prayed very, very hard, de Warde would not see it. But from the slow smile that spread across his face, she could see that, as usual, her prayers were to go unanswered.
‘I see nothing here to interest me.’ He was turning away and hope flared anew, then he turned back and pointed at the ring. ‘Except for that, of course. My, but it is a very handsome piece.’
‘Not for sale,’ Danyl said bluntly. ‘I hold it for the true owner.’
‘I expect you do. Now give it to me.’
‘Give it?’ Danyl’s greed seemed to rally, growing stronger than his fear. ‘There are some things that I fear more than your idle threats—losing that ring is one of them. If you want it, you will have to take it from me.’ He parted the front of the brocade robe and revealed a long curved knife tucked into his belt. He fingered the jewelled handle lazily, drawing himself to his full height and looking more like the intimidating man she had met a few days before.
For a moment, de Warde weighed the possibility of success, should the day come to violence. Then he said, ‘I wish to buy it.’
‘I cannot sell it to you.’ There was a trace of a whine in Danyl’s voice, as though he did not know how to proceed, now that the play was not going according to the script.
‘If you do not, I will have you up on charges of theft.’
‘And if you do, the owner will charge you with the same,’ Thea pointed out, unable to stop herself.
De Warde shot a triumphant glance in her direction. ‘Nonsense. I shall see that it is returned to him in the most public way I can. Or he can retrieve it from me privately, for a cost that is far more than what I sp
end for it.’
Danyl hesitated, as though unsure which way lay the greater risk.
‘It is worth thirty pounds to you, surely,’ de Warde prompted.
Danyl sensed his way out and laughed derisively. ‘It is worth more than that, I am sure. The stones, should I pry them out, would be worth several hundred.’
‘Two hundred, then,’ de Warde offered.
‘And then there is the gold.’ The Indian picked it up in his hand as though weighing it. ‘It is quite heavy.’
‘Five hundred, then, and no more arguing.’ De Warde reached a hand towards it and Danyl withdrew.
‘And then, of course, there is the sentimental value.’
‘A thousand pounds,’ Thea cried, unable to stop herself. Then, as if to cover her tracks, she added, ‘I am sure it would be worth that, at least, to the owner. It is very lovely.’
‘You should know. You had one very like it, didn’t you?’
‘Have,’ she said firmly. ‘It is being cleaned. Sized. Sized and cleaned.’
‘And that is a family heirloom.’ De Warde smiled. ‘I suspect Spayne would give anything to have it back.’
‘Spayne, you say?’ Danyl seemed surprised, as though this was the first time he’d realised he was playing with those famous emeralds.
‘Fifteen hundred,’ Thea said, hoping the distraction would be enough.
‘Pay no attention to her,’ de Warde announced. ‘She has no money of her own to offer. I suspect her husband will pay dearly, though, to keep his father from seeing what he has done with his inheritance.’
‘Perhaps I should call on Spayne with it,’ Danyl said with a greedy smile. ‘If it is true, as you say, that he will give anything.’
‘You would not get past the front door. Even if you did, he would have you arrested for possessing it to save his son’s reputation,’ de Warde said with an oily smile. ‘Spayne is...a friend of mine. I will take it to him.’
‘But you are no friend of mine,’ Danyl pointed out. ‘How do I know that this ring will arrive safely to the man I have never seen for myself? If it is his, better that I should return it to him. The reward will be great.’
‘And my reward will be greater. Ten thousand pounds.’
‘Spayne is an earl,’ said Danyl triumphantly, as though this would finally settle the matter. ‘And they are all rich.’
‘Not all,’ said de Warde. ‘Some are not as rich as they used to be. And if the loss of the ring is revealed, Kenton will be worth nothing at all. His friends will turn from him, his bank will refuse him. His father will shut the door against him.’
‘No!’ Thea made a desperate grab for the tray, but Danyl pulled it clear of her hand. She thought of the draft that a footman was delivering to her father at this moment. She could have it again, before the banks opened. ‘Twenty thousand.’
The Indian seemed to waver.
‘I have the money, Danyl,’ she said in an urgent whisper. ‘You can have it all. But do not betray Jack. I beg you.’
It must have affected him. When he spoke next, his accent slipped a little. But his words were to de Warde. ‘You want the ruin of Kenton? And you want to do it by my hand. You would also make me betray a man I consider a friend and do something quite illegal in the bargain. The weight on my conscience would be heavy after such an act.’
‘And that weight would be lifted with enough gold,’ de Warde assured him. ‘Fifty thousand pounds.’
‘Do you even have that much? And if you do, how can you part with it?’
‘I will have far more if one man puts a bullet in his brain from the shame of this. But, yes, I have fifty. I have twice that in the bank right now.’
Danyl folded his arms. ‘Then sign it over to me. Do it now and the job is done.’
De Warde hesitated.
‘You villain,’ Thea hissed to Danyl, between her teeth. ‘I knew you were not to be trusted.’
‘Thank you for your confidence, Lady Kenton,’ he replied, voice dripping irony. ‘It is no less than I expected.’
De Warde laughed again. ‘No need to be so emotional, Cynthia. I will take the thing now, if for no other reason than that you do not want me to.’ He wrote a draft from the bank book he removed from his satchel, signing with a flourish. Then he passed the paper to Danyl, who in turn placed the ring on his palm.
Thea grabbed for the bit of jewellery, and Danyl seized her arm and pulled her away before she could reach it. De Warde was laughing at her, taunting her with it. She felt the unladylike rage returning, made even worse by her powerlessness, but there was one thing she could do. Without regard to all she had been taught, she spat in Henry de Warde’s face.
He looked almost as shocked as if she had hit him, before reaching in his pocket for a handkerchief to wipe away the spittle. ‘If it is so important to retrieve this bauble, you may come to my rooms tonight. We spoke once of a way to make your family fortunes right again. My offer at that time still stands. It is now doubly important that you consider it.’
‘And as I have told you before, I would sooner die.’ She struggled in Danyl’s grasp, ready to fly at the man, to tear him tooth and nail if necessary, to regain her ring. ‘I am faithful to my husband and happy to be so, for he is worth ten of you. It has nothing to do with his father’s title. It is because he is a man. And you will never be more than a worm.’
De Warde drew back from her with a hiss, then laughed when he realised that she could not reach him. ‘We will see if you feel the same in a week, when your world has come apart. The law might protect his father, but it will not save Kenton from charges of theft, or from debtor’s prison if he cannot pay to keep me quiet. I will see to it that you are all ruined, every last one of you. But I will not be denied. Now, if you will excuse me, my dear, I must find someone to show my acquisition.’ As he exited the shop, he was whistling a tune not unlike the one Jack favoured, as though he had not a care in the world.
Chapter Eighteen
For a moment, the brassy jangle of the bell echoed in the room. When it stilled, she could hear de Warde’s carriage leaving her behind. She did not particularly wish to face Danyl. But even that would be better than travelling back with de Warde, listening to his gloating and rude suggestions.
Then she heard the sound of hollow clapping coming from the back room of the shop and Jack stepped out from behind the curtain that separated the back room from the shop. ‘Well done, my dear. Well done indeed.’
‘You were here? You heard?’ She fought free of Danyl and grabbed at her husband’s arm, tugging him towards the door. ‘We must follow him. He took the ring. He saw it when the tray was removed from the safe. So he bartered with Danyl, who did not know the meaning of it and took his money. He has betrayed you.’
‘We have the money and that is the important thing,’ Jack said with a smile. ‘And you notice, Danyl made him pay dearly for it, since he knew what we needed.’
‘De Warde paid many times what it was worth,’ she agreed, ‘but that is not the point. Now he has the ring. He will use it to disgrace you, and Spayne.’
‘If that were the ring, of course,’ Jack said with a smile.
‘Of course it is. You took it from my finger.’
He was smiling and saying nothing. Realisation dawned slowly. ‘You gave me a paste ring?’
‘Of course not, darling. I merely put a paste ring in the lock box when I opened the shop tonight. It would not make sense for Joseph to leave his only security here with us as we worked. I am sure the real ring is safe in his pocket, even as we speak. I will get it from him when I pay him what is owed.’
‘But that means...you knew all along.’ Then a thought struck her. ‘De Warde thought himself quite clever, arriving when you were away from the house and convincing me to show him the location.’
Jack looked at her with sympathy. ‘I had to do something to bring the two of you together, and to get a natural performance from you that would convince him to come here. It is good that you are a lad
y, my sweet, for truly you are an abominable actress.’
‘I take that as a compliment,’ she shot back at him. ‘And tonight, when you provoked me to argue...’
‘I could not very well say, “I am leaving you alone so that Henry de Warde can come and harass you.” Or, even worse, “I do not trust you to keep what you know a secret.” How would that have sounded?’
‘How it sounds is unimportant,’ she said. ‘It was truly horrible of you. You put me at risk when you swore you would not.’
‘In no way,’ he assured her. ‘I followed him back to the house from Boodle’s and waited outside until you had gone and I could question the servants. When I was sure that you went willingly away with him, I came here to wait for you and hid in the back of the shop to watch the fun. What did he say, precisely, to convince you to bring him here? Or was it my bad behaviour that made you to betray me?’
‘He gave me the twenty thousand pounds that he had taken from my father. The draft is already on its way to my old home.’
Jack looked at her with amazement. ‘Well done. I was ready to be hurt at your faithlessness. But for that much money, I’d have turned coat on myself.’ He laid a hand on his heart as though overcome with emotion. ‘And I must say that your behaviour, when you were sure he had beaten you, was most dramatic and very flattering. I am worth ten of him, am I?’
‘You are not worth the brass of a coat button, although you share much in common with it. Crass, base, low ruffian.’ She pulled her hands from his coat sleeve, remembering that a woman with such a disgust of a man should not be hanging on him as though she could not bear to let him go. ‘I hate you.’
‘You do not,’ he said with a laugh. ‘You are furious with me and I probably deserve it. But you feel something quite different from hate, my dear, or you would not be as angry as you are.’
‘You used me.’
‘As I have from the first,’ he agreed. ‘I do not know why it is a surprise to you now.’
Two Wrongs Make a Marriage Page 18