Mairelon the Magician

by Patricia C. Wrede

  Maireton rolled his eyes, and Kim laughed She was begin-

  ning to like Renee in spite of herself

  "1 don't know whether Lady Cranleigh knew that the Salt-

  ash Platter was in Ranton Hill when she came down to Mrs

  Brammgham's house party," Mairelon went on after a mo-

  ment, "but I rather think not It didn't take her long to dis-

  cover it and send for her brother, though, and the roads and

  weather being as they've been, both of them were settled in

  before we arrived

  "Laverham must have known the platter's whereabouts for

  —262—

  several months, at least, but he was being very cautious. He

  arranged for James Fenton to take a job as footman to Freddy

  Meredith, intending to have Fenton steal the platter for him

  later Fenton had other ideas "

  Dan Laverham muttered something under his breath and

  glared at Mairelon Mairelon smiled, and Kim shook her

  head He was enjoying this altogether too much, she

  thought

  "Fenton's family was respectable, and his brother was a sil-

  versmith Fenton persuaded him to copy the Saltash Platter

  exactly Perhaps the original idea was to cover up the theft of

  the platter for as long as possible, but he must have realized

  fairly soon that he could make a tidy sum selling copies of the

  platter to each of the, er, interested parties Since he wasn't a

  magician himself, he didn't know that the forgeries would be

  childishly easy to spot

  "When the copies were finished, Fenton replaced the real

  platter with a copy and hid it in the druid's lodge " Mairelon

  waved at the gaping hole in the floor in front of the hearth

  "But he was stretching his luck, making the copies had taken a

  long time, and Laverham was beginning to worry, particu-

  larly since by then he'd heard that I was back So Laverham

  sent Jack Slower there down to Ranton Hill to check on Fen-

  ton "

  "Then he didn't follow me at alii" Kim exclaimed, remem-

  bering how frightened she had been by Jack's unexpected ap-

  pearance at the inn in Ranton Hill

  "No, but it was as well that you kept out of sight," Mair-

  elon said "Think of the trouble we'd have had if Laverham

  had arrived a few days earlier than he did "

  Kim shuddered

  "Richard," the Ear! of Shoreham said His tone was mild,

  but Mairelon signed and returned to his story

  "Just to thoroughly confuse matters, at about this time

  263

  Freddy Meredith lost the false platter to Henry Bramingham

  in a game of cards Henry knew that his uncle," Mairelon

  nodded at Gregory St Clair, "collected oddities of that sort

  and proposed to give it to him That brought St Ctair down

  to Ranton Hill posthaste and set off an interesting round of

  burglaries at Bramingham Place Kirn and I were privileged to

  observe most of the parade "

  "What, what?" said Mr Bramingham

  "We hid in your priest's hole," Mairelon explained

  "Priest's hole'" Kirn said, disappointed "Is that what it was?

  ! thought it was a spell "

  "Bramingham showed it to me last time 1 visited," Mairelon

  said "Next time your household is roused in the middle of

  the night, Bramingham, you should remember to check inside

  it "

  "Yes, but what's this about burglaries?" Bramingham said

  "Somebody broke into the library a couple of nights ago,

  but—"

  "Several somebodies," Mairelon interrupted "Actually, I

  believe Renee was the first, but she recognized the platter for

  a rake and left it where it was She was long gone when Kirn

  and I got there "

  "I knew I 'adn't ought to 'ave gone to London and left you

  'ere with 'er," Hunch said

  "It wasn't my ideal" Kmi protested

  "I didn't figure as it was," Hunch said dryly, and Kim

  blinked in surprise Then she grinned at him

  "We were interrupted by Mr Stowers arrival/' Maireton

  said with a quelling look at Hunch "Stower was interrupted

  in turn by Marston and Stuggs, who were interrupted by

  Jonathan Aberford "

  "Jonathan?" Robert Choiniet said, startled "Are you sure?"

  "He has a turn of phrase that is unmistakable," Mairelon

  answered

  264

  "Have you got maggots in your head?" Robert demanded,

  glaring at Jonathan "Or have you suddenly gotten as bacon-

  brained as Freddy Meredith? Why in heaven's name would

  you try to burgle Bramingham Place?"

  "I thought it would work," Jonathan said sullenly

  "He hadn't counted on the, er, competition," Mairelon

  said "In the end, Lady Granleigh managed to obtain the plat-

  ter by as neat a tnck as I've seen You might consider taking

  her on, Shoreham; she's got the nerves for it "

  Lady Granleigh looked as if she did not know whether to

  be pleased or insulted by this remark, and Kim hid a smile

  "Lady Granleigh quickly discovered that her platter was a

  forgery, which left her in something of a dilemma She

  couldn't return it to the Brammghams without awkward expla-

  nations, but she didn't want to keep it, either And Jonathan

  Aberford was hanging about Bramingham Place and making a

  nuisance of himself, if Lady Granleigh and her brother made

  any attempts to locate the real platter, Jonathan was sure to

  notice. So she decided to give the forgery back to the druids

  and solve two problems at once

  "Miss D'Auber and I had agreed to meet this morning near

  here to compare what we had each learned She was de-

  layed—" Mairelon gave Andrew a quick look, and Andrew

  smiled wryly, "—so 1 was here alone when Lady Granleigh

  and her party arrived I, ah, accepted the platter on Mr Ab-

  erford's behalf"

  "By what right?" Jonathan demanded

  Mairelon looked at him without answering Stuggs made a

  peculiar noise that Kim realized, arter a moment, was a

  smothered chuckle Jonathan turned very red and subsided,

  muttering, and Mairelon turned back to the Earl of Shoreham

  and continued his tale

  "Meanwhile, Fenton was proceeding with his own plans

  He gave or sold the second of his fakes to Jack Slower and

  265

  presumably made arrangements to meet with a couple of

  other prospective customers " Mairelon glanced toward St

  Clair, who did not react Jonathan Aberford, however,

  scowled and shifted uneasily Mairelon smiled "Yes, I

  thought so "

  "Get on with it, Richard," the Earl said He sounded

  amused but determined

  "You have no sense of the dramatic, Shoreham," Mairelon

  complained

  "I have as much as I need," the Earl replied in a dry voice

  "Though I will readily admit that I have not spent the last few

  years on a stage No doubt it's a grave failing in my educa-

  tion "

  "No doubt," Mairelon said, looking somewhat disgruntled

  "Well, Slower was on the point of returning to London with

  his platter when he spotted Hunch in Ranton Hill He fol-

  lowed Hunch to our camp and attempted to take the fa
lse

  platter we had collected, instead, he lost his own and

  prompted me to head by Brammgham Place to find out what

  was going on

  "I found more than I expected " Mairelon paused, stanng at

  the far wall, and something in his stance kept the others from

  commenting Then he shook himself and looked at Mr Bra-

  mmgham "When you get back, you'd best send someone

  down to the wood by the Long Avenue There's a body and

  two more copies of the Saltash Platter hidden there "

  "Richard'" said the Earl, his voice carrying clearly over the

  confused babble that broke out among the rest of the lis-

  teners "Who? What happened?"

  "The body was the unfortunate and ambitious James Fen-

  ton," Mairelon answered "As to what happened, I can only

  speculate, Kirn and I heard the shot, but we didn't get a look

  at the man who fired it"

  "Speculate, then'"

  —266—

  "I think Fenton had arranged to meet someone in the Long

  Avenue Two someones, actually, he couldn't very well have

  sold both fakes to the same person I think he miscalculated

  badly—remember, he didn't know that a magician could

  easily tell the difference between his forgeries and the real

  platter So when he tried to pass off one of the fakes, St

  Clair shot him "

  "Unlikely," Lord St Clair said into the horrified silence

  that followed

  "Not at all," Mairelon said with exaggerated politeness

  "You, Laverham, and Aberford there are the most logical

  people for Fenton to pick as possible customers for his re-

  maining forgeries Laverham, or rather, Laverham's man

  Stower, already had a platter Aberford would clearly do a lot

  to get his hands on his, er. Sacred Dish, but I doubt he'd

  commit murder Besides, if he'd killed Fenton, he wouldn't

  have held up Laverham's coach half an hour later, looking for

  the platter"

  Jonathan Jerked "How did you know—"

  "It's the only reason you've done anything for the past

  week," Mairelon said "You were supposed to meet Fenton,

  too, weren't you? How did you find out that he was hoping to

  sell the platter to someone else?"

  "I heard him bragging about it at the inn," Jonathan said

  sullenly "I didn't kill anyone'"

  "Yes, I know," Mairelon said "You thought you'd save

  yourself some time and trouble, not to mention money, and

  hold up the coach instead of paying Fenton "

  "This is all speculation," St Clair said He acted as if he

  were calm enough, but there were small lines of tension at the

  corners of his eyes, and a muscle in his jaw twitched now and

  again when he was not speaking

  "Not entirely," Mairelon told him "A moment ago, you

  told Laverham and Stuggs that they couldn't prove anything

  267

  against you without Fenton, but no one has mentioned Mr

  Fenton's unfortunate demise until now If you didn't kill him,

  how did you know"?"

  "I was not referring to this Fenton's death," Lord St Clair

  said coldly "I merely meant that no one knew where he was "

  "Convince the Runners of that" Mairelon nodded at

  Stuggs

  "You were the man he was to meet'" Jonathan said sud-

  denly, stanng intently at St Clair "You were the one to

  whom he would have sold the Sacred Dishi"

  Robert Choimet rolled his eyes Lady Granleigh looked

  shocked The Earl of Shoreham frowned "How do you

  know?" he demanded

  "He was at the inn, I saw him hanging about while I was

  following Fenton "

  "Hardly convincing," St Clair said

  "I doubt that the Runners will have any trouble finding

  proof, one way or another," Mairelon said.

  "Now that they're looking at the right man," Andrew mut-

  tered

  "In any case. St Clair shot Fenton, but Kirn and I inter-

  rupted him Laverham and Stower interrupted us and brought

  us here I presume St Clair followed us Fenton had hidden

  the platter under the hearth, we found it and had a small

  disagreement over its ownership 1 expect Stuggs can tell you

  the rest; he was here for most of it And that's all "

  268

  TWENTY-SIX

  -•V-AJE" T t wasn't alt by a long shot Everyone wanted a

  JM^^^^ 1 chance to object, explain, or ask questions,

  f r and it took all the Earl's considerable force of

  character to keep them more or less under control Mairelon

  was no help whatever, he took immediate advantage of the

  commotion to dodge past Hunch and corner Lord Granleigh,

  whom he began cross-questioning about recent magical devel-

  opments at the Royal College of Wizards

  After a few minutes of chaos, Stuggs brought the confusion

  to a halt by pointing out that he ought to take his prisoners

  into town and make arrangements for them to be transported

  to London

  "There's another one asleep on the box of the coach out-

  side," Mairelon said, turning his head "I don't know what he's

  done, but I'm quite sure it's something nasty "

  Stuggs frowned "'E ain't a wizard, too, is 'e?"

  "What, driving a coach?" Jonathan said scornfully

  "No, he's just another of Laverham's crew," Mairelon said

  "Unpleasant enough, but quite ordinary so far as his skills are

  concerned "

  269

  "Still, that makes four of them," Shoreham said- "Which is

  a bit much to expect one man, however competent, to handle

  alone "

  "Well, I could go along as far as the town," Mr Bra-

  mingham offered "It's not much out of my way, you know I

  can't stop there, though, my wife will be waiting to hear

  what's happened "

  "And to spread it over as much of the county as she can

  reach," Mairelon murmured "I'm afraid St Clair is going to

  be a social outcast no matter how the trial turns out "

  "I should think so," Lady Granleigh sniffed. "His behavior

  to me, and to poor Marianne, has been simply unpardonable

  If it hadn't been for him, Marianne would not have run off as

  she did."

  Everyone looked at Lady Granleigh in patent disbelief, in-

  cluding Jasper Lady Granleigh stared haughtily down her

  nose at the lot of them. "Pointing that pistol at poor Mar-

  ianne clearly disordered her intellect I am quite confident

  that, had you behaved as a gentleman ought, wiser counsels

  would have prevailed, and she would not have dashed off to

  be married in such a hole-in-the-corner fashion."

  "I congratulate you, Lady Cranleigh," Lord St Clair said

  after a moment "I have never before met anyone with so

  great a talent for seeing the world as she wishes it to be."

  Lady Granleigh stared through the space occupied by Lord

  St Clair as if he were not there, then turned to her brother

  "Come, Jasper, it is time we were going "

  'Time and past," Kirn muttered Mairelon glanced sharply

  in her direction, but no one else seemed to hear

  "I'll accompany you, my dear," Lord Granleigh said in a

  tone that brooked no argument "Bramingham's right; we

>   should be getting back "

  Lady Granteigh did not look at all pleased by this develop-

  ment (nor did Jasper), but they had no choice but to go

  —270—

  along Kim wondered whether Lord Cranteigh would give

  them both a dressing-down in the carnage She hoped so, the

  bracket-faced mort deserved a tongue-lashing and then some

  for the way she'd been mucking about in everyone else's af-

  fairs, and Jasper was no better

  "Now, then, Stuggs," Lord Shoreham said when the

  Cranleighs were safely out the door "You'll want someone

  besides Brammgham to help with the prisoners, 1 think No

  sense in taking chances "

  "We'd be happy to help, sir," Robert Choiniet volunteered

  "That is, if you think we'd be useful " He nudged Jonathan

  with his elbow

  "Happy"'". Jonathan said bitterly "Oh, yes, of course, cer-

  tainly The Sacred Dish is gone for good, the lodge is in

  ruins, and the Sons of the New Dawn will be a laughingstock

  Naturally we're happy "

  Mairelon looked at him "I hardly think one broken win-

  dow, a displaced hearthstone, and a couple of overturned

  chairs constitute being in ruins "

  "Yes, we've done more damage ourselves on a good night,"

  Robert agreed "Do stop playacting, Jon "

  "Playacting? Playacting? You don't seem to realize how se-