It was both disappointing and an utter relief.
“But we get to stay at school?” Snout said.
Rattlebag nodded. “Now, off with you. The Spirit Trials are still ongoing, despite the, shall we say, legendary disruption this morning.” A hint of amusement tugged at the professor’s lips. He was stern and often frightening, but Ace would wager Professor Rattlebag liked the mischief Ace and his friends undertook.
Bathwater, Snout, and Pudding offered their thanks and ran off, no doubt headed for the rugby pitch.
Ace stayed behind a moment. “Why did you stand up for us, professor? You had a chance to be rid of us.”
“Never in my hundreds of years of teaching have I had a student even the least capable of hiding a Perishable in plain sight. You have potential. I’d hate to see that wasted.”
“You like us,” Ace said. “Admit it.”
Rattlebag’s expression hardened once more. “Do not press your luck.”
Ace snapped a salute and sauntered down the same path his friends had taken. There were four of them now. Four friends with years of mischief ahead of them and a professor who, despite his gruffness, would take their part.
The afterlife was looking good, indeed.
Randolph arrived at Hollis’s home thanks to the combined efforts of both their servants. Cora remained at
Thurloe with the children.
Hollis sat in a chair by the fireplace, appreciative of the warmth of the low-burning fire, as Parker nudged Randolph through the door of the front sitting room.
“I didn’t get your money back,” Hollis said once Randolph was seated across from him. “But your debt has been cancelled. No roughs will be coming by your house to demand payment.”
“How did you manage that?” Randolph had never been one for humble miens, yet, his current posture, expression, and tone could be described no other way.
“It’s likely best if you don’t ask too many questions,” Hollis said. “Just know it’s all sorted. You and Cora and the children can return home without worry.”
“I’ve given you a great deal of grief over your activities these past years,” Randolph said. “Yet, in the end, I’m the one who landed us in the suds.”
Hollis felt too much empathy for his brother to lay into him as much as he’d have liked to. “We’re family, Randolph. I’ll always pull you out of the suds.”
Randolph leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “The entire time I was tucked away, I kept thinking what a bit of unearned luck it was that Cora and Addison were away from the house that day. And when Parker told me he’d sent Eloise to you . . .” He took a deep, shaking breath. “Thank you, Hollis, for being steady all these years. I know I haven’t always acknowledged it. I’ve accused you of being unreliable, yet I didn’t worry the moment I knew my little girl was with you.”
It was, quite possibly, the nicest thing his brother had ever said to him. “Miss Newport took exceptional care of her, bringing her to me and refusing to leave until we could safely reunite her with her mother.”
Randolph looked up at him once more. “I’ve treated Miss Newport rather dismissively. I’ve worried so much about appearances that I stopped paying any heed to simply being a decent person.”
“You’ve always been more than ‘decent,’” Hollis said.
Randolph didn’t appear reassured. “Is Cora disgusted with me?”
“She is worried about you. And she has missed you. Beyond that, I don’t know her feelings.”
Randolph squared his shoulders. “I’d best go begin mending what I’ve shattered.”
Hollis nodded. “She and the children are at Thurloe Collegiate School. Miss Newport arranged with the headmistress to house and protect and care for them.”
“Miss Newport seems a remarkable lady.”
“She is precisely that,” Hollis said.
They both rose, then stood a moment in awkward silence. Hollis hoped they would regain a degree of comfort with each other in time. Perhaps even overcome the tension that had marked their interactions for years.
“Off with you.” Hollis tipped his head toward the door. “Cora will be eager to see you.”
With another long and awkward nod, Randolph slipped out. Hollis wandered to the front-facing window and leaned against the frame, looking out on the street. London was turning colder. Hollis would have fewer Society events to attend. He hoped he’d gained enough of the Dreadfuls’ confidence to remain busy on behalf of the DPS. And if all went according to the hopes of his heart, every free moment he had would be spent attempting to prove himself worthy of Ana’s regard.
When he turned from the window to leave the room, he found Ana standing on the far side. She could not have come in through the doorway without his noticing. And she hadn’t come up the front walk; he could see it quite clearly.
She’d sneaked in.
“Am I to play host to the Phantom Fox, then?” he asked with a smile.
“Your brother was taking absolutely forever to settle himself into his carriage. Climbing in through a window was faster.”
He moved toward her. “None of my windows were open.”
“They weren’t unlocked, either,” Ana said.
He tried to hold back his laughter but failed spectacularly.
“Not many gentlemen would be pleased to hear a lady had broken into his home,” she said.
“Not many gentlemen are as brilliantly astute as I am.” Hollis held his hand out to her. “What has brought you to visit? Besides, of course, the challenge of opening my locked windows.”
She laid her hand in his. “I have checked the list of those taken up by the police last night. Serena, the housekeeper I promised to help, wasn’t among them.”
He walked with her to the small sofa. “Perhaps she escaped.”
Ana shook her head as she sat. “She told me she had children, likely somewhere in that house. She wouldn’t have simply slipped away without them.” She released a pent-up breath and leaned against him. “The Mastiff likely dragged the lot of them to wherever he’s doing his dirty work now.”
He set his arm around her. “I wish I could say that was unlikely.”
“I broke my word to her,” Ana whispered. “She and her children are suffering because I failed her.”
“You did all you could.” He turned enough to pull her into a true embrace. “We’ll keep an ear to the ground, darling. Someone will find her, and we’ll get her out.”
“Do you promise?”
He kissed the top of her head. “I swear to you. And I, too, know what she looks like. I’ll watch for her myself.”
She released a tight breath. “I just hate the thought of her and her little ones suffering.”
“We will find her; I know we will.”
Ana stretched up enough to kiss his jaw. “Thank you.”
“You know, I enjoy your visits far more than my brother’s.”
She laughed. “I should hope so. And he doesn’t even have to climb in windows on cold days.”
The room was a little chilly. He stood and crossed to the fireplace. He stoked the embers with the poker.
“Is there evidence enough for the Raven to be put away?” Ana asked from the sofa.
“One never knows. But I think there might be.”
She joined him at the fireplace. “I am glad Four-Finger Mike was apprehended.”
“He has escaped before; I cannot guarantee he won’t again.”
Ana leaned into him, resting her head against his chest. “That was him, you know. The man we fought.”
“I noticed the missing finger.” Hollis held her, feeling the peace and completeness that came from having her close. “And I further noticed he was determined to hurt you.” He whispered against her hair. “If he’d done you any harm—”
“But he didn’t.” She p
ressed her open palm against his heart as she leaned back and looked up at him. “We quelled him quite expertly.”
“That we did, my darling, Ana.” He kissed the tip of her nose, then touched his forehead to hers. “We make a good team, you and I.”
“An astoundingly good team.”
He slipped his hands up her back and shoulders and cupped her neck and head. Her eyes fluttered shut. He pressed his lips lightly to hers. A breath shuddered from her. He deepened the kiss, holding her as gently and firmly as one would a delicate and priceless treasure. Ana’s fingers folded over his jacket lapel.
“I love you, my Ana.” He trailed kisses along her jaw. “My darling, wonderful Ana.”
She whispered against his lips what sounded like his name as her arms wrapped around his neck. He’d dreamed of this moment again and again over the months he’d known her. She’d claimed his heart from the beginning, and every day it became more irrevocably hers.
by Mr. King
Installment VIII,
in which our brave Couple finds their Happiness!
Having procured a cart and pony at the coaching inn in Ipsley after waiting out the storm in a private dining room, Wellington made the drive back to Summerworth with an exhausted but joyful Tillie at his side.
“I am a bit disappointed.” Her amused smile contradicted her declaration.
“What has disappointed you?”
“Our thief proved to be none of the things on m’original list.” She shook her head and clicked her tongue.
He laughed. “You were hoping for ill-mannered dogs and well-coordinated magpies?”
“Oh, mercy, that would have been a lark to sort out.”
He grinned at her. “I believe we had quite a lark regardless.”
She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “Chasing mythical creatures out onto the moors. What greater lark could there be?”
He pondered that for the length of a breath. “Mere weeks ago, I would not have thought racing over the moor was a worthy pursuit. I fear I was every bit the pompous bore you accused me of being.”
“I really did call you that, didn’t I?”
“You did, indeed.” He led the cart around a bend in the path. “And you were utterly correct. I’ve spent too many years alone. The only company I’d kept with any degree of regularity was that of . . . well, people not unlike Mr. Alsop and Miss Fairbanks and their ilk. I’d lost sight of the Wellington I was when we were children.”
“I loved that Wellington,” she said. “He was my dearest friend.”
“What do you think of this Wellington?”
She wrapped her arm around his. “I think he’s wonderful.”
“And I think this Tillie is rather remarkable as well.”
They reached the front portico of Summerworth. His unwelcome guests would still be inside, likely moaning and groaning over Miss Fairbanks’s missing jewelry. Wellington would do his best to settle the matter, offering to replace what was stolen and subtly pushing them out the door.
Mrs. Smith met them in the front entryway, her expression frantic. “What a scene!” She fanned herself with a dishrag. “You’d not believe what’s happening.”
Oh, mercy. Wellington met Tillie’s eye. She clearly expected as much theatrics as he was anticipating.
“We’d best go face it,” he said.
“And if they lob accusations at me again?”
Wellington set his shoulders. “Then I will toss them out with none of the civility I’ve been silently rehearsing.”
She lifted an eyebrow and popped a fist on one hip. “I’m not afraid of a horde of creatures. We’ve faced down a number of them today already.”
He took her hand in his, the lightness in his heart entirely at odds with the discomfort of the coming confrontation. On the first-floor landing, Pip found them. He bounced and jumped, grabbing for their hands.
“Come see. Come see.”
“Come see what?” Tillie asked.
“All of it!” Pip dragged them up another flight of stairs and through the door to Wellington’s rooms. “See. All of it!”
There, piled as high as Pip’s knees, was a small mountain of jewelry, shiny metal boxes, silver brushes, and even the missing mirror and painting. Heavens, the Combs’s spade was there as well, as was a hand plow and a milking bucket. The items Wellington and Tillie had taken out onto the moors, the ones that had disappeared from their hands during the blue whirlwind, were there also.
“All of it,” Tillie said.
“One of these will be Miss Fairbanks’s brooch.” Wellington began digging for it.
Tillie dropped to her knees and joined the search. Mr. Combs, upon entering and hearing of their task, joined in the effort. As did Pip. And Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Within the hour, Miss Fairbanks was in possession of her brooch, the rained-in houseguests were on their way, and Summerworth was peaceful and joyful again.
“They won’t be the last visitors to disapprove of my being here,” Tillie warned as the traveling coach disappeared from view.
“I will remove anyone and anything that makes you less than happy, my Tillie. And soon enough, visitors, whether human or not, will learn that you matter to me more than they do.”
“And Pip?” Tillie asked.
“He will learn that he matters to us too.”
“Us.” She sighed. “I do like the sound of that.”
“Then you are going to love this.”
He kissed his beloved Tillie, holding her close as the wind whipped over the moors, cold and wild and tinted blue.
Fortunately for us, the Raven, once known as the Crow, kept meticulous records.” Hollis addressed the meeting of the DPS, feeling for the first time like an equal rather than a second-class member. “He and his associates have been the ruin of many people in the past half-decade. Every asset he has was seized by the Metropolitan Police and will be used to help some of his victims recoup their losses. Unfortunately, the vastness of his villainy makes full restitution impossible.”
Fletcher, lounging on his designated throne, nodded while still leaning his head against his propped-up fist. “The servants?”
“Some were found to be in cahoots with him. Some were victims, snatched off the streets or forced into employ upon arriving in London.”
Kumar piped in. “That’s more the methodology of Four-Finger Mike and his sort, not the stuffed-shirt Raven.”
“Our lack-fingered friend was there, no doubt keeping the unwilling from leaving,” Hollis said.
“The police apprehended him?” Irving asked.
“He slipped away again.” Fletcher had sworn long and creatively when word of Four-Finger’s escape reached them. “But he was part of it.”
“All of it’s connected, then?” Martin asked. “The arsonists from a few months ago, Mrs. George’s ring of brothels, the children purchased by tradesmen, Four-Finger’s network of thieves? All of that is connected to a highbrow gambling establishment full of sharps?”
“It appears that way, yes,” Hollis said.
The men spoke amongst themselves in tones of unmistakable concern.
“We knew the efforts of Mrs. George and the street tradesmen were part of Four-Finger Mike’s crime sphere. We now know people cheating at cards and ruining lives are part of the network as well.”
“And the connection between them all?” Kumar pressed. “Other than a penchant for criminality, I mean.”
Stone answered. “The Mastiff.”
That didn’t elicit murmurs, but complete silence.
“The baby thief we tracked to Pimlico confirmed the Mastiff has been directing thieves in the area,” Fletcher said. “The impressive cat burglar we couldn’t seem to find confirmed he was present at the Thompsons’ place yesterday when the raid went down.”
�
�Not merely present,” Hollis corrected. “He kept tabs on the staff, his grip on all of them ironclad. His word was law, and they were afraid of him. Make no mistake, gentlemen”—he dipped his head to Elizabeth—“and distinguished lady, what we have uncovered in Pimlico is more than a gathering place for unfortunate gentlemen. We have discovered that we did not end a criminal enterprise when we foiled those arsonists earlier this year. And, I suspect, neither did we put an end to this gambling den. We are simply tugging on strands of a vast web.”
“It’s for us, lads—and lady—to trap the spider while freeing the flies,” Fletcher said. “We’ve our work cut out for us.”
“We’re up for the challenge,” Doc Milligan called out.
“There was a housekeeper at the gambling hole who tried to free our informant,” Hollis said. “She indicated she had children who were also at the mercy of the Mastiff. I’ve posted her description in the library.” He motioned toward the library two floors above them. “Keep your eyes peeled. If we can find her, we’ll not only be saving her and her children, I suspect we’ll be gaining an ally. And if this web proves much larger, we’ll need all the help we can get.”
“And the Phantom Fox?” Martin asked.
“She’s an ally already.”
With a mischievous glint in his eye, Fletcher said, “That ain’t all she is.”
Elizabeth joining their ranks had cooled some of the commentary they usually tossed around. Hollis appreciated it in that moment.
“That brings me to my last matter of business,” he said. “We’ve gained more and more allies in our work, none of whom know the details of our society or endeavors. While many of you have managed to keep that secret from your wives, sisters, and children, I’m not certain how to proceed in my situation. I hope very much to secure the regard of my sweetheart. She’ll know much of my comings and goings, but I can’t tell her my reasons or anything about this group. How do I keep my promise of secrecy to the DPS without fully lying to the woman I hope will make a life with me? And how do I secure her help when I can’t tell her the entire truth?”
The Gentleman and the Thief Page 26
