Wrede, Patricia C. - Magician Series 1 - Mairelon the Magician

by Mairelon the Magician [lit]

"And in hopes of getting away from the excellent Mrs. Bra-

  mingham's frenzy," Mairelon murmured "Quite understand-

  able. Now, what was that you were saying about Lady Gran-

  leigh?" he asked, turning to the tall, distinguished man who

  had been first through the door.

  The first man sighed and glanced toward the Earl of

  Shoreham. "My wife has a tendency to meddle," he ex-

  plained Lady Cranleigh stiffened and recovered her usual

  color, but her husband gave her a look that caused her to

  subside without saying anything. Kim was impressed; there

  must be more to this stuffy-looking cull than at first appeared.

  "A tendency to meddle," Lord Granleigh repeated. "And

  considerably more ambition than I had realized- I believe she

  was trying to arrange for me to be the next Minister of Wiz-

  ardry." He gave the Earl of Shoreham another sidelong look

  as he spoke, as though checking his reaction.

  "Nonsense, Stephen," Lady Cranleigh said unconvincingly.

  "You are perfectly capable of managing such matters yourself."

  'True," Lord Granleigh replied "A fact which you would be

  well advised to remember in the future, Amelia. Your inter-

  ference this time could very easily have had unpleasant con-

  sequences. "

  "I don't know what you are talking about," Lady Cranleigh

  254

  said even more unconvincingty than before. "I am only here

  to keep Marianne from ruining herself with Freddy Meredith,"

  "I don't believe it," the last of the three toffs put in

  "Freddy's a good lad. He wouldn't do anything, er, dishonor-

  able."

  "Freddy said something about a special license before he

  left, Mr Bramingham," Robert said, ignoring Lady Cran-

  leigh's glare.

  "Yes, I believe he has one with him," Maireton said. "Amaz-

  ingly sensible of him, too Any number of things might have

  gone wrong between here and Cretna Creen, if he'd chosen

  that route."

  "Sensible?" Jonathan goggled at Mairelon "Freddy?"

  "There, you see?" Mr. Bramingham said to the room at

  large His eye fell on St. Clair, and he frowned. "Shoreham,

  what's Baron St Clair doing in the corner with this fellow

  pointing a pistol at him?"

  "'E's under arrest, in the name o' the Law," Stuggs informed

  him. "Along with these other two- I 'aven't got straight yet

  which o' 'cm did what, but they 'as all done somethin', and 1

  'ave my duty."

  "You ought to be arresting that man as well," Jonathan Ab-

  erford grumbled, pointing at Mairelon- "Whoever he is

  Didn't someone say he was wanted?"

  Andrew's face set in grim lines. Mairelon only smiled and

  looked at the Earl of Shoreham- Shoreham returned the

  smile, then said to Jonathan, "He is certainly wanted by the

  French, but though our relations with them have improved a

  good deal, I don't think our cooperation would stretch so far

  as to turn one of our people over to them Particularly a man

  with such a distinguished record "

  "You're too kind," Mairelon said.

  "Probably," Shoreham agreed blandly.

  255

  Andrew's mouth had dropped open, as had Lady Gran-

  leigh's St. Claire had gone white,- Renee D'Auber and Hunch

  looked smug. "What are you talking about?" Jonathan de-

  manded

  The Earl of Shoreham sighed. "For the past five years,

  Richard Merriti has been one of the best agents the War Of-

  fice has had the good fortune to employ is that clear enough

  for you?"

  "But—but I thought he stole the Saltash Set," Jonathan

  said, frowning

  "Merrill?" the Earl of Shoreham said "It's your turn to ex-

  plain. "

  "In a minute I don't think we were quite through with Lord

  Granleigh yet," Mairelon answered "I still don't understand

  what Lady Granleigh's ambitions for her husband have to do

  with the Saltash Set, or how she found out about it in the first

  place."

  "She listened at doors, that's how," Jasper Marston said

  waspishly, lifting his head for the first time since the Earl and

  his companions had arrived

  Lady Cranteigh gasped "Jasper, how dare you—"

  "Oh, stop it, Amelia," Jasper said "There's no use pretend-

  ing to injured innocence- They already know most of it.

  They know you," he added spitefully

  "You are not thinking about what you are saying," Lady

  Granleigh said in a tone that could have frozen the Thames at

  mid-summer

  "I know exactly what I'm saying! This whole mess is your

  fault, Amelia, and I'm not going to take the blame for it."

  "My fault? You are the one who brought along that Bow

  Street Runner! I suppose you are going to claim you knew

  nothing about it."

  "As it 'appens, 'e didn't," Stuggs put in. "I know my busi-

  256

  ness, and it ain't lettin' no buffleeaded toff in on the nick,

  beggin' your pardon, sir "

  "It was your idea to get hold of that blasted platter'" Jasper

  said, ignoring Stuggs "The whole thing was your idea, start

  to finish!"

  Mairelon cleared his throat, which recalled the presence of

  an audience to the combatants Lady Granleigh closed her

  mouth on whatever she had planned to say, and Jasper sub-

  sided on the hearth once more, holding his head Mairelon

  smiled blandly "And how would Lady Cranleigh's, er, acquir-

  ing the Saltash Platter advance you with the Ministry, Lord

  Granleigh 3"

  Lord Granleigh looked at Mairelon in surprise "Good

  Lord, man, recovering the Saltash Set and catching the thief

  would give anyone a boost! One of those chaps down at the

  Royal College came up with a gadget that said so, and the

  whole Ministry has been buzzing ever since "

  "A gadget?" Mairelon frowned, distracted "Not one of

  Fotherington's crystals? He's been trying to get them to make

  accurate predictions forever, do you mean to say he's finally

  succeeded?"

  "As it happens, yes," the Earl of Shoreham said "You can

  discuss it with him later "

  "How did he get it to—"

  "Later, Richard Right now, we want your story, and you

  must admit we've been very patient"

  "Too patient," Hunch said darkly

  "Oh, very well I think I have enough of the pieces to put

  together a fairly good picture It's a long tale, though, you'd

  best make yourselves comfortable "

  The Earl suppressed another sigh and leaned against the

  door Mr Bramingham, looking mildly puzzled, held a chair

  for Renee D'Auber, while the rest of the company (with the

  257

  exception of Stuggs and his prisoners) settled themselves

  around the room Watching Lady Granleigh and Jonathan

  Aberford vie for a chair, Kim was glad she'd bagged the

  footstool before it had occurred to anyone else to sit down.

  "The story begins about five years ago," Mairelon said, and

  Kim smiled, recognizing the familiar lecturing tone "The

  Saltash Set, of which this is part, was being displayed in the

  antechamber of t
he Royal College of Wizards, to which I had

  recently been elected

  "Lord St Clair—" Mairelon gave him an ironic half-bow,

  "—had for some time been attempting to obtain the Saltash

  Set from the College, but for one reason or another, the Col-

  lege refused to sell So he decided to steal it Having no

  experience with the finer points of theft, he approached his

  illegitimate half brother, Daniel Laverham, for assistance

  "Laverham sent St Clair a young man named James Fen-

  ton, who 1 must suppose was both an accomplished house-

  breaker and extremely loyal to Laverham Laverham, you see,

  disliked and distrusted St Clair—"

  "With reasoni" Dan Laverham interrupted, glaring at Lord

  St Clair

  "Quiet, you," Stuggs said "You'll 'ave your chance to talk

  later "

  "St Ctair arranged for Fenton to steal the Saltash Set,"

  Mairelon continued "St Clair must have taken care of the

  Royal College's magical precautions against theft, and Fenton

  did the rest, including dropping one or two items he'd stolen

  from me in the antechamber to make it look as if I were the

  thief He had even timed things so that I'd be on my way

  home alone from my club when the theft occurred, so he had

  no reason to worry about laying information at Bow Street

  against me

  "Unfortunately for St. Clair, things began going wrong at

  that point I ran into Shoreham here outside the club, and we

  —258—

  got to arguing about the use of invocations in wards and pro-

  tective spells We ended up at Renee's, experimenting with

  catnip and powdered pearls until the watchmen made their

  morning rounds "

  "Then why didn't you say so?" Andrew burst out "Why did

  you let everyone believe—"

  "At first, because I didn't see the need," Mairelon said "I

  didn't think anyone would take the accusation seriously And

  there was Renee's reputation to consider "

  "Which was a great foolishness," Renee D'Auber said em-

  phatically "t am the eccentric, me, and no one pays the least

  attention when I do odd things "

  "Not now." Mairelon agreed "But five years ago you were

  barely eighteen, and it would not have done."

  "Bahl" said Renee, dismissing these imaginary terrors with a

  wave "You are altogether English, and very silly besides

  Papa and I would have contrived something "

  "But once you knew the Runners intended to arrest you—"

  Andrew said and stopped, looking from Mairelon to Renee

  uncertainly

  "By then 1 had asked them not to say anything," the Earl of

  Shoreham said "It was the perfect excuse for Richard to fly

  the country and take up residence on the Continent, and we

  needed someone like him to do just that Someone who could

  deal with any level of society, someone who wouldn't look

  too suspicious, and above all, someone who knew magic

  Richard was perfect "

  "So Hunch and I fled to France," Mairelon resumed "Mean-

  while, Fenton took the Saltash Set to Laverham instead of St.

  Clair Since Laverham didn't know the set had magical prop-

  erties, he broke it up and sold it to spite his brother By the

  time Fenton learned that the set was more useful together

  than apart, it was too late The pieces were scattered, and

  practically impossible to trace "

  259

  Laverham and St. Clair were looking at Mairelon as if he

  had suddenly acquired two heads, the rest of the company

  was listening with rapt attention Kim shook her head in ad-

  miration Mairelon had put it together so neatly that he

  might have been eavesdropping on Laverham and St Clair

  the whole time

  "One of the pieces of the set, the bowl, was purchased by a

  German Baron," Mairelon said "I got wind of it, and after the

  war 1 stayed on the Continent to track it down It took me

  nearly a year Meanwhile, Laverham had recovered two of

  the four spheres, and the platter had fallen into the innocent

  hands of Mr Aberrord's little group "

  Jonathan Aberford scowled, and Kirn wondered whether he

  was more annoyed by Mairelon's reference to the dmids as a

  ' "little group" or by his characterizing them as innocent

  "That was the situation some four weeks ago when I .re-

  turned to England," Mairelon said, giving Jonathan a charm-

  ing smile "And things began to get complicated Naturally I

  couldn't return as myself, the Runners were still after me, and

  I have a great deal of respect for their abilities " He and

  Stuggs exchanged nods "So 1 chose the rote of a market per-

  former No one expects a real magician to work for pennies

  and the occasional shilling in a market, so I didn't expect

  anyone to look for me there But I did send word to

  Shoreham, and i presume he told you, Lord Granleigh."

  Maireion paused and looked at Lord Cranteigh expec-

  tantly Lord Granleigh nodded "He did We discussed the

  implications at some length " He glanced at his wife and

  added, "In my study "

  "That will be how Lady Granleigh heard about it," Mair-

  elon said with supreme tack of tact "She, ah, persuaded her

  brother to help her find me, intending, I suppose, to collect

  me and as much of the Saltash Set as possible and present the

  lot to the Royal College on behalf of her husband "

  —260—

  "And a proper mull 'e made of it," Stuggs put in, looking

  scornfully at Jasper Marston "Went around askin' this one an'

  that one, with no more sense nor a baby Word was all over

  St Giles before the day was out"

  "How was I to know?" Jasper complained "'Find this Mer-

  nll person,' she said; well, how do you find one man in the

  whole of London without asking?"

  "Which explains how Bow Street heard of my return,"

  Mairelon said, "and undoubtedly how Mr Laverham heard of

  it, as well " He glanced at Dan, who glared and said nothing

  "Bow Street arranged for Mr Stuggs here to keep an eye on

  Mr Marston At least, I presume it was Bow Street" He

  threw a sidelong look at the Earl of Shoreham

  The Earl laughed "Right again, Richard Stuggs has done a

  job or two for me before, though this wasn't one of them

  How did you guess^"

  "He recognized you when you arrived just now," Mairelon

  answered "And only one of your people would call you 'sir'

  and not 'my lord '"

  Lady Cranleigh sniffed, but a look from her husband kept

  her from saying anything

  "Once he found Mairelon the Magician, Mr Marston hired

  Kim here to look through my wagon for the Saltash Bowl I,

  er, found her in process and persuaded her to come with me

  after she completed her commission from Mr Marston "

  "Cloth-head," Kim muttered, not entirely sure whether she

  meant Marston or Mairelon

  "I suspect it was Laverham's men we gave the slip to on our

  way out of London," Mairelon went on blandly "It doesn't

  matter, though. Shoreham told us where the platter was, and

  we came here to recover it I'm not sure how
Renee found out

  where we were headed—"

  "Lord Shoreham told me," Renee said "And since Monsieur

  Andrew Merrill was of an unhappmess, and had besides heard

  261

  some of the rumors, and since I also heard that the Bow

  Street Runners were of an interest, ! thought, me, that it

  would be best to come here and arrange matters myself "

  "Renee'" Shoreham looked horrified

  "Oh. I was very discreet/' Renee assured him "No one

  knew I was not in London, except of course Madame Bra-

  mingham and her guests, and Monsieur Andrew stayed at the

  inn in that town with the dreadful name 1 cannot remember "

  "SwafHton?" Mairelon murmured

  "Yes, that is ft," Renee said "And it has all turned out well,

  so there is no reason for you to pull your mouth down, so,

  and make faces as if you have the stomachache "

  "You should have left matters to me," Shoreham said, shak-

  ing his head

  Renee opened her eyes very wide 'Truly? But it does not

  seem to me that you have done very much "

  "It wasn't necessary," Mairelon said "Any more than it was

  necessary for you to come "

  "Well, but it might have been," Renee replied, unper-

  turbed. "And it is better to be too ready, is it not^ Also, I do

  not see that you would explain anything at all to me if 1 had