“Not too much of a risk! You see, he does not know me by sight. My picture, my description, they appear on no wanted posters. So you see? As long as I tell no one my name or who I am, I’m safe enough.”
Bluntly I asked what was suddenly uppermost in my mind.
“Your brother, Lucas, where is he?”
I thought he reddened.
“Lucas is here, somewhere. But he does not tell me anything of his plans. It has always been like that.” Rather caustically he added, “To Lucas I’m afraid I’m still the baby of the family. I do not know why Lucas decided to be so foolish as to come here, and especially at this particular time, but I came to find you. To see you for myself.”
So—Lucas had obviously described me! Angrily, I wondered what kind of description he had given.
“Now that you’ve seen me…” I said out loud, and Ramon Kordes shook his head as if to refute my next statement.
“Please—I must see you again! Talk to you.”
“But that’s impossible, and you know it! And especially not here, not now! I’m supposed to meet a friend. Outside. In a very few minutes.”
“I will not keep you too long then. But I must know one thing. Tell me—had you not heard of me before? Your father left you no letter? No message of any kind?”
I met his long, searching look and was suddenly angr
y.
“What is all this mystery? Why will neither you nor your brother come right out in the open and tell me what you hint at? My father…” I had been about to say that my father had left me only his journals to read when I remembered all that Mark had told me about Lucas Cord. This was his brother, and innocent or not, I did not dare trust him. I said in a more controlled voice, “Mr. Kordes, I’m sure you must realize that this is neither the time nor the place to conduct a discussion of this nature. Perhaps another time.”
He looked disconcerted and more than a little unhappy. “But how? I can see that I have angered you. I know very well that you are a well-brought-up lady and are hardly accustomed to being approached in such an unconventional manner. Believe me, if there were any other way…”
I looked him straight in the eye, the thought that had been hovering on the fringes of my mind suddenly crystallizing.
“Your brother found a way of meeting me. I’ve no doubt he can find a method of contacting me again. But tell him, if you please, that I will not talk to him or listen to anything he has to say until he can tell me the whereabouts of Mr. Elmer Bragg.”
Ramon Kordes’s face was a study of incomprehension.
“Mr.—Bragg you say? But I do not know of such a person! I…”
“Lady Rowena? Oh, but there you are! A thousand pardons for keeping you waiting so long, but that Mrs. Green—ah, such a one for the talk-talk!” Her sharp black eyes lingered on Ramon Kordes, standing stiff and ill at ease at my side, and she smiled—rather slyly, I thought.
“Ah, but I see you have met a friend! So!”
“The gentleman was merely asking me to help him choose a gift for his fiancée,” I improvised coolly. “I told him, of course, that you would be much better qualified than I in such matters.” Turning to Ramon, I gave him a brilliant smile. “Señor, I wish you luck and good fortune on your forthcoming marriage.”
He drew himself up and bowed stiffly. “You are very gracious, señorita, and I thank you. I will wait, of course, until you have concluded your business with Madame.”
“Certainement!” Madame gave a throaty chuckle. “I realize this is hardly the place where a young man will feel comfortable, but I assure you, when your fiancée sees what we have chosen for her she will be—how you say? Very happy!”
I could almost have felt sorry for him, but I was far too angry with Lucas Cord and far too worried about Mr. Bragg to waste time on pity, even though the references to my father and his plans for me still filled me with curiosity.
My business with Madame Fleur was quickly concluded, once I had exclaimed over her creations with enthusiasm. She bustled into a back room to pack the hats into bandboxes, and when I glanced over my shoulder, Ramon Kordes had left as quietly and unobtrusively as he had entered.
Thirteen
When I finally escaped from the shop and Madame’s dismayed exclamations, when she found she had lost a prospective customer, Mark was standing outside and looking impatiently at his pocket watch. He stuffed it thankfully back into his vest pocket when he saw me emerge and hurried forward to take my arm.
“May I carry your packages for you? Good heavens, Rowena, I had begun to wonder if you had not managed to get rid of Flo after all! ”
“I’m afraid it was Flo who seemed anxious to get rid of me,” I responded tartly. “And thank you for offering to carry my hatboxes but no, dear Mark! Men always contrive to look slightly ridiculous carrying such things.” I looked at him sideways, opening my parasol to shield my eyes from the glare, and asked casually, “Did you see anyone come out of the shop a few minutes ago?”
He was already beginning to propel me along the sidewalk, and gave me a harried, rather absentminded look.