Regency Buck (Alastair-Audley Tetralogy 3)

‘In Marine Parade!’ Judith repeated. ‘The West Indies! Bernard! Oh no, no!’

Bernard Taverner passed a hand across his eyes. ‘It’s a lie! I did not have Peregrine put away!’

‘No,’ agreed the Earl. ‘You did your best, but you reckoned without me. However, you may console yourself with the reflection that your careful arrangements were not wasted. The master of that highly suspicious vessel off Lancing was quite satisfied to receive Tyler in Peregrine’s stead. In fact, I am inclined to doubt whether he even appreciated that an exchange had been made. I was quite sure, you see, that you would not expect to see Tyler back again in Brighton. That would have been too dangerous, I feel. So it was really very safe for me to dispose of him precisely as he meant to dispose of Peregrine.’

‘Lord Worth, you may attempt to foist this monstrous story on to me if you please,’ Mr Taverner said. ‘You will find it hard to prove.’

‘I might have found it hard to prove had you not so obligingly abducted Miss Taverner today,’ said the Earl. ‘That error of judgment, my dear sir, has made it so easy for me to prove the rest that I am confident you will not put me to the trouble of offering my proof to a Grand Jury.’

Miss Taverner sank back into her chair. ‘All those other attempts – you made? But the duel! Ah no, that at least cannot have been your doing!’

‘I am sorry to disillusion you, Miss Taverner,’ said the Earl implacably, ‘but that duel was Mr Bernard Tave

rner’s first attempt to dispose of Peregrine. The news of it was brought to me by my tiger, who, by a fortunate coincidence, was in the gallery of the Cock-Pit Royal when the quarrel between Peregrine and Farnaby took place. By the way, Miss Taverner, while I have grave doubts of that surgeon’s ability to recognise your cousin, I have a reasonable dependence on his recognising me.’

She exclaimed: ‘It was you who stopped the duel? Oh, fool that I was! But you did not tell me! Why did you let me think it was my cousin who had done it?’

‘I had several reasons, Miss Taverner, all of them good ones.’

Bernard Taverner lifted a hand to his cravat and mechanically straightened it. He moved across to the empty fireplace and stood by it, leaning his arm on the mantelpiece. An ugly bruise was beginning to disfigure his face; he looked to be very much shaken, but he said with all his customary calmness of manner: ‘Pray continue! You are blessed with a lively imagination, but I fancy that any jury would require more precise information than this before convicting me of so wild a crime. You accuse me of contriving that duel, but I should be interested to hear what proof you would offer to your Grand Jury.’

‘If I could have brought proof to bear you would not be at large to-day, Mr Taverner.’

Judith was looking at the Earl in wonderment. ‘When did you suspect that the duel was brought about by my cousin?’ she asked.

‘Almost immediately. You may perhaps remember bringing me word once of Peregrine’s being got into a bad set of company. You mentioned Farnaby’s name, and it crossed my mind that I had seen Farnaby in your cousin’s company once or twice. At the time my only suspicion was that there might conceivably be a plot on hand to bleed Peregrine of his fortune at cards. I dealt with that by frightening Peregrine with a threat to send him back to Yorkshire if I found he had contracted debts of honour above what his allowance would cover. I thought also that a discreet inquiry into the state of Mr Taverner’s finances might not be inopportune. I admit, however, that I was so far from suspecting the truth that I committed the imprudence of sanctioning Peregrine’s betrothal to Miss Harriet Fairford. In doing that I undoubtedly placed him in jeopardy of his life. While Peregrine remained single there was no pressing need to be rid of him. I imagine that before he arranged for the boy’s death your cousin would have made sure of you, had his hand not been forced. The betrothal made it necessary for him to act quickly. Mr Farnaby was hired to shoot Peregrine in a duel, and might well have succeeded had he chosen a less public spot for the forcing on of that quarrel. Upon learning from my tiger what was intended I set him to discover the surgeon Fitzjohn meant to employ. The rest was simplicity itself.’

Judith pressed her hands to her cheeks. ‘It is too terrible! too shocking! Ever since that day Peregrine has been in danger!’

‘Hardly that,’ replied the Earl. ‘I have had him carefully watched ever since then. I believe Ned Hinkson has never been a favourite with you, Miss Taverner, but you will admit that his prompt action on Finchley Common last year compensated for his lack of skill on the box. He is by profession a pugilist, and although I have reason to believe that my tiger – a somewhat severe critic – doubts his ability to shine in the Ring, I myself feel that, given a patron, he may do very well indeed.’

‘Hinkson!’ Miss Taverner exclaimed. ‘Oh, I have been blind indeed!’

‘I am aware that an attempt was once made to hold my cousin up on Finchley Common,’ Bernard Taverner said contempt uously. ‘Is that also to be put to my account?’

‘I am quite sure that it might be put to your account,’ replied the Earl, ‘but I scarcely think a jury would be interested. But they might be interested in a certain jar of snuff at present in my possession, and still more interested in the effects of that snuff upon the human system.’

Bernard Taverner’s hand closed convulsively on the edge of the mantelpiece. ‘I fear I am far from understanding you now, my lord,’ he said.

‘Are you?’ said the Earl. ‘Have you never wondered why that snuff did not seem to affect Peregrine? I concede you a certain amount of forethought in thinking of a means of poisoning your cousin through a medium on which I am known to be an expert; but you might have considered, I should have thought, that while I might certainly be suspected of having put up the snuff, if its being poisoned were ever discovered, there was also a strong probability that I should be the very person to make that discovery. The circumstance of the mixture being heavily scented was enough to make me suspicious. I found the opportunity, while he was staying in my house, to abstract Peregrine’s snuff-box. It was a little difficult to determine the exact proportions of the three sorts used in making the original mixture, but I believe I succeeded fairly well. At all events, Peregrine detected no difference.’

‘His illness in your house!’ Miss Taverner cried. ‘That cough! Good God, is this possible?’

‘Oh yes,’ said the Earl in his matter-of-fact way. ‘Scented snuffs have long been a means of poisoning people.You may remember, Miss Taverner, that I found an excuse to send Hinkson up to Brook Street while you were at Worth?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘You wanted the lease of the house.’

‘Not at all. I wanted the rest of Peregrine’s snuff. He had told me where the jar was kept, and Hinkson was easily able to find an opportunity to go up to his dressing-room and exchange the jar for another, similar one, that I had given him. Later, when I was in town again, I visited the principal snuff-shops in the whole of London – a wearing task, but one which repaid me. That particular mixture is not a common one; during the month of December only three four-pound jars of it were sold in town. One was bought at Fribourg and Treyer’s by Lord Edward Bentinck; one was sold by Wishart to the Duke of Sussex; and the third was sold by Pontet, in Pall Mall, to a gentleman who paid for it on the spot, and took it away with him, leaving no name. The description of that gentleman with which the shopman was obliging enough to furnish me was exact enough not only to satisfy me, but also to embolden me to suppose that he would have no difficulty in recognising his customer again at need. Do you think a jury would be interested in that, Mr Taverner?’

Bernard Taverner was still clenching the edge of the mantel piece. A rather ghastly smile parted his lips. ‘Interested – but not convinced, Lord Worth.’

‘Very well,’ said the Earl. ‘We must pass on then to your next and last attempt. I will do you the justice to say that I don’t think it was one you would have made had not the fixed date of Peregrine’s marriage made it imperative for you to get rid of him at once. You were hard-pressed, Mr Taverner, and a little too desperate to consider whether I might not be taking a hand in the affair. From the moment of Peregrine’s wedding-day being made known you have not made one movement out of your lodgings that has not been at once reported to me. You suspected Hinkson, but Hinkson was not the person who shadowed you. You have had on your heels a far more noted figure, one who must be as well known as I am myself. You have even thrown him a shilling for holding your horse. Don’t you know my tiger when you see him, Mr Taverner?’

Bernard Taverner’s eyes were fixed on the Earl’s face. He swallowed once, but said nothing.

The Earl took a pinch of snuff. ‘On the whole,’ he said reflectively, ‘I believe Henry enjoyed the task. It was a little beneath his dignity, but he is extremely attached to me, Mr Taverner – a far more reliable tool, I assure you, than any of your not very efficient hirelings – and he obeyed me implicitly in not letting you out of his sight. You would be surprised at his resourcefulness. When you drove your gig over to New Shoreham to strike a bargain with that seafaring friend of yours you took Henry with you, curled up in the boot. His description of that mode of travel is profane but very graphic. I am anticipating, however. Your first action was to introduce a creature of your own into Peregrine’s household – a somewhat foolhardy proceeding, if I may say so. It would have been wiser to have risked coming into the foreground at that juncture, my dear sir. You should have disposed of Peregrine yourself. Well, you made arrangements to have Peregrine transported out to sea. Was he then to be dropped overboard? It would be interesting to know what precise fate lay in store for him. I can only trust that it may have befallen Tyler, whose task was undoubtedly to have overpowered Peregrine at a convenient moment during his drive to Worthing, and to have handed him over to the captain of that vessel. To make doubly sure, Tyler tried to drink Hinkson under the table before setting out. But Hinkson has a harder head than you would believe possible, and instead of remaining under the table, he came to me. I waylaid Peregrine on the West Cliff, and requested him to come back with me to my house on a matter of business. Once I had him under my roof I gave him drugged wine to drink, while Henry performed the same office for Tyler. Hinkson then drove Tyler to the rendezvous you had appointed, Mr Taverner, and delivered him up to your engaging friends. It was he who wrote you the message which you thought came from Tyler, telling you that he had done his part, and would meet you in London. Peregrine was carried out of my house that evening and taken aboard my yacht, which was lying in New Shoreham harbour.’

‘Oh, how could you?’ Judith broke in. ‘What he must have suffered!’