Regency Buck (Alastair-Audley Tetralogy 3)

‘I have told no one but my cousin,’ she said. ‘You can have no objection to that.’

‘None at all,’ he said with a grim little smile. ‘I should even be interested to hear how he received the news.’

‘With a concern that did him more honour that your sneer does you, Lord Worth!’ she retorted fierily.

‘I can believe it. Have you ever asked yourself, Miss Taverner, who would be the person most interested in Peregrine’s death?’

‘Don’t, don’t use that dreadful word!’ besought Mrs Scattergood. ‘Not but what I think you are right. I never did like the man!’

Miss Taverner got up swiftly, and stood leaning one hand on the table, her eyes fixed on the Earl’s face. ‘You forget, I think, that you are speaking of one who is nearly related to me: of one, moreover, who has earned my trust in a way that must for ever preclude my lending ear to such suspicions. Had my cousin wished to kill Peregrine he would not have stopped his duel with Farnaby last year.’

‘I had certainly forgotten that,’ agreed the Earl.

‘Perhaps you might, but I never shall. Mr Bernard Taverner had nothing to do with Perry’s disappearance. He dined with friends, and was with them until past midnight.’

‘And was it not Mr Bernard Taverner who recently intro duced a servant of his own into your household – a servant wh

o, by the oddest coincidence, is also missing at this moment?’ inquired the Earl.

Mrs Scattergood gave a sharp scream. ‘Mercy on me, so he did! Oh dear, what will become of us? I shall not sleep a wink to-night!’

‘Lord Worth, you shall not make these insinuations!’ Miss Taverner said. ‘If Peregrine was overpowered, so too must Tyler have been.’

‘Miss Taverner, you have said that you fear Peregrine may have met with foul play. If your cousin is to be above suspicion, whom do you mean to choose for your villain? Since he has only one arm, Charles, I fear, is ineligible. There remains myself.’

Her eyes sank. ‘You are wrong. There is another,’ she said, in a low voice. ‘I have – always held him in mind, even though every feeling must be outraged by such a thought! But my father did not trust him. I cannot get that out of my head.’

‘Are you referring to your uncle?’ asked the Earl. She nodded. ‘I see. Your cousin, meanwhile, to remain blameless. It does not seem to me very likely, but time will show. I shall hope to be able to send you more certain tidings in a day or two. Until then, I can only advise you to wait with as much patience as you can.’

‘What do you mean to do in London?’ asked Mrs Scattergood. ‘Do you think Perry can have gone there?’

‘I have no idea,’ answered the Earl. ‘I am hoping that the Bow Street Runners will be able to help me to find out.’ He held out his hand, and Miss Taverner put hers into it. ‘Goodbye,’ he said curtly. ‘Keep a stout heart, Clorinda.’ He bowed, and in another minute was gone.

‘What was that he called you?’ asked Mrs Scattergood, momentarily diverted.

‘Nothing,’ replied Miss Taverner, flushing. ‘A stupid jest, that is all.’

She saw her cousin on the following morning, when he called to inquire whether any news had been heard of Peregrine. She informed him of Worth’s having gone to London, and requested him not to mention Peregrine’s absence to anyone. He said quickly: ‘I should certainly not speak of your affairs without leave, but why do you particularly wish me to be silent? Is this Lord Worth’s doing?’

‘He thinks it best not to spread it abroad. I daresay he may be right. I must be guided by him.’

He took a turn about the room, and presently said with a little reserve: ‘I am aware that it is not for me to criticise. But what reason can he have for wishing to keep Perry’s disappearance secret?You tell me he has gone to Bow Street: that would be well done indeed – if he may be believed. You are to do nothing, to set no inquiries on foot: it is all to be left to him. Does he know that I am in this secret?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Certainly he knows.’

He looked at her intently. ‘Ah, I understand! I am suspect.’

‘Not by me,’ she answered.

‘No,’ he said with a slight smile, ‘but by him. If anything has happened to Perry – which God forbid! – Worth will do his utmost to lay it at my door. The very fact of my having recommended Tyler to Perry, though I did it to avert this very event, gives him a weapon.’

‘You did it to avert – you placed him with Perry to guard him?’

‘Yes, to guard him. I have been uneasy these many weeks. Judith, who put the man Hinkson in Perry’s service?’

‘Hinkson! Why, no one! Perry stood in need of a groom; Hinkson applied for the post. I know nothing more than that, cousin.’

‘Nor I, but I have long believed him to be in Worth’s pay.’