‘Thank you, sir, that’s very decent of you.’
‘Anything for an Etonian,’ the Marquis replied, and trotted off with his escort.
‘You have purchased a property?’ Lavinia asked as the Colonel relaxed back into his seat.
‘I have taken a set of rooms to continue my study away from the house. I felt it was more conducive to my research.’
‘And you will be studying there with Mr Campbell, I assume?’
‘He is my assistant.’
They drove on in silence. Lavinia wondered whether this would mean new freedom for herself or merely further estrangement.
‘I shall, of course, continue to employ Madeleine as your chaperone.’The Colonel tapped the new coachman on the shoulder. ‘Home, John.’
The phaeton swung around, scattering a flock of pigeons that had gathered on the gravel. Just then they heard the clatter of hooves.
‘Colonel Huntington! Colonel Huntington!’
It was Lady Morgan, in a curricle. With a jolt, Lavinia recognised the coachman sitting beside her. She lifted her hand and Aloysius smiled back. The Colonel followed her gaze.
‘The confounded audacity!’ Furious and refusing to acknowledge either Lady Morgan or Aloysius, he turned his head resolutely forward. ‘Drive faster,’ he instructed his driver.
The horses broke into a trot, but the curricle followed at a swifter pace. The pursuit started to draw the attention of the surrounding carriages and riders, several heads turning in amazement. Lady Morgan’s curricle, having the advantage of speed, pulled alongside
them.
‘James, dear, I do hope you did not intend to snub me?’ Lady Morgan called gaily.
The Colonel, shaking with fury, tapped his coachman on the shoulder and the phaeton slowed down. ‘Not at all. I simply had not seen you, Frances.’
‘How uncharacteristic of you. I’d always thought that one of your greatest attributes was your power of observation.’
‘In which case I apologise for disappointing you.’
‘I find disappointment increasingly commonplace these days, but I accept your apology.’
Tight-lipped, Aloysius tipped his cap at the Huntingtons. Catching his eye for a second, Lavinia smiled slightly.
‘I see you have a new coachman. My congratulations,’ the Colonel remarked cynically.
‘I found him wandering the streets of Kensington.’ Lady Morgan leaned towards the Colonel. ‘He’s a wonderful horseman, and even has some blacksmithing skills. Extraordinarily, he had no references on him, none whatsoever. Well, I said, a good stablehand is so very difficult to find these days. You don’t mind, do you, James?’
The Colonel’s face twitched as he worked hard to contain his expression.
‘I don’t mind at all. Doubtless you will find him more trustworthy than I did. Good day.’
As they drove off, Lavinia turned to watch Aloysius’s diminishing figure. Then she buried her face in her son’s fragrant hair.
From her bedroom window, Lavinia watched James’s carriage leave for the evening. He was going to his club, where he now spent every night. The vigilant Madeleine had retired two hours earlier on the pretence of a migraine. After pulling the curtain shut, Lavinia left her room.
The library was still cloudy with cigar smoke. James’s open diary lay atop a side table beside his usual armchair. Lavinia sat down and began to read.
One morning I was called to the hut of the shaman, who wanted me to witness the execution of some local justice. A man’s mother-in-law had accused him of stealing her daughter’s soul through sorcery. The accused—about twenty years of age—seemed sullen and withdrawn. On closer inspection, I realised that the sullenness was in fact terror. Strangely, when the shaman questioned the man, he said nothing to defend himself.
The wife was brought to the hut on a stretcher made of woven palm leaves and wood. She seemed comatose, but other than that appeared completely healthy. It was, in fact, as if he had stolen her soul. At the appearance of his wife, the accused started to speak. From what I could glean from my translator, it was a confession. His words ran as follows: ‘We are locked together like warriors. I acted to save my own life.’
Despite my pleas, they executed the man by a ritual spearing later that day. By the evening, his wife had begun to show signs of recovery.