The Riddle of the Reluctant Rake

by Patricia Veryan

  “Look to yourself,” protested Manderville. “You can scarce walk straight. That fool of an apothecary didn’t get the chance to practice his alleged skills on you, I collect?”

  “I wasn’t supposed to be here. No more were you, actually. Which reminds me: Why did you come?”

  Manderville sat upright. “Dashed if I didn’t forget all about it. You’ll have to go back to Town, Hasty.”

  “It’s that silly fellow, Webber,” said Broderick. “Spreading it about the clubs that you’re hiding from him.”

  “Oh, egad! I’m supposed to meet him. Of all times!” Adair flexed his swollen right hand experimentally. “I’ll be able to hold a pistol in a day or two, I don’t doubt.”

  His friends exchanged a quick glance.

  “Well?” he enquired.

  Manderville pointed out, “You don’t have choice of weapons, dear boy. Webber claims you challenged.”

  “He’s right, by George! I did.”

  “Besides,” said Broderick, looking grave. “He knows you’re a crack shot.”

  “Hmm,” muttered Adair. “Will you both be my seconds?”

  “Well, I don’t know,” said Manderville, pondering. “How are you with a small-sword?”

  “You must forget that I’ve been in several engagements. I’m not unused to the heft of a sword in my hand.”

  “A sabre and a battlefield is one thing,” said Manderville.

  “Two things,” corrected Broderick sweetly.

  “A small-sword and a dawn meeting is another,” snarled Manderville. “I wouldn’t want to stand up with a rank amateur. I have to think of my reputation.”

  “Best not think of it, old fellow,” advised Broderick. “It’ll upset your stomach.” Over Manderville’s spluttered outrage, he added, “I’ll second you, have no fear, Hasty.”

  “Just be sure to write out your will,” said Manderville.

  “Now that is very bad form,” exclaimed Broderick, shocked.

  “And quite ridiculous,” said Adair. “Nobody fights with swords any more. The fellow will choose pistols.”

  “We shall hope he does,” said Broderick. “He’s a damned good swordsman.”

  Adair stood. “Then, just in case, I shall have to practice.”

  “If you can find the time between unmasking murderers and cultivating your interest in Miss Cecily Hall,” said Manderville.

  “What makes you think my interests lie in that direction?” demanded Adair.

  “If they do not, old lad, why is your face so red?”

  “Probably from the restraint I must practice to keep from strangling you.” Adair grinned, and went on hurriedly, “My apologies, but I must rush you off now. I don’t want to further upset my uncle.”

  Their valises were already waiting in the entrance hall. At the foot of the steps a groom held Toreador, and Broderick’s phaeton was being driven around from the stables. The butler limped across the hall to bid them farewell, a maid following with cloaks and hats. Adair pressed a generous douceur into Randall’s hand and exchanged a few words with him about the need for vigilance. Only as they went out into a chilly and overcast morning did he remember to ask, “I believe Paige said that you had something to show me, Toby?”

  “So I do, by George!” Broderick threw back his cloak and drew a small box from an inner pocket. “I completely forgot I’d kept this. Should have returned it at once, of course, but—”

  He broke off and they all turned as a rider cantered up the drivepath.

  Manderville grinned appreciatively. “What a dashed pretty girl!”

  “Careful,” said Broderick. “It’s Hasty’s femme fatale.”

  Hurrying to meet her, his heart gaining speed, Adair said, “Miss Hall! Welcome. Oh, you’ve brought a friend, I see.”

  Laughing, she leaned from the saddle to hand him the puppy she carried. “I found him while I was out for a gallop with my cousin. I rather suspected he might belong to Miss Chatteris, so—Good gracious!” She looked from one to the other of them, noting the signs of combat. “Have you fought a war here?”

  “A small one, merely.” Trying to move naturally, Adair put down the puppy and reached up to lift her from the saddle. “I’ll call Minerva. You must come in and meet her.”

  “And—us,” said Manderville, stepping forward. “But if you are too selfish to present us, Colonel—”

  Adair performed the introductions, very aware of the enchanting twinkle in a pair of blue-grey eyes.

  Manderville bowed and touched the lady’s gloved fingers to his lips.

  Broderick bobbed his head shyly and reached to take her outstretched hand, then shrank back as she gave a shocked cry.

  “Where did you get that?”

  He looked down at the box he held. “Oh—Jupiter! Well, I—er, chanced to—That is I—I found it, you see, and had meant to—”

  “Unless I mistake the matter, Lieutenant, you ‘found’ it inside my uncle’s country house!” She darted a sardonic glance at Adair and her lip curled. “Though—how, and why a gentleman would make off with someone else’s property, I cannot guess. Since it belongs to my grandmama”—she held out her hand again—“pray be so good as to return it.”

  Scarlet with embarrassment, Broderick stammered, “Well, I will, of—of course, ma’am. Only—I think Colonel Adair has a right to—er, first see what it contains, because—”

  “You opened it? Oh, how dare you!”

  Despite the angry words, it seemed to Adair that her lovely face had lost its colour. He glanced at the interested grooms and said quietly, “Perhaps we should discuss the matter inside. If you will accompany us, Miss Hall, I’ll summon my cousin, and—”

  “I will do no such thing! Give me back my grandmama’s box. At once! Oh, Rufus! Thank heaven!”

  Rufus Prior rode up at a thundering gallop, clearly prepared to rescue his beleaguered cousin.

  Adair swore under his breath.

  Manderville said softly, “This, I take it, is the hothead Adair has got into the habit of knocking down.”

  Prior flung himself from the saddle and sprang to his cousin’s side, eyes blazing, riding crop tight-gripped. “I told you how it would be, Cecily! If these clods have dared insult you—”

  Broderick opened the small box and shoved it at Adair. “Perhaps I mistake it, Hasty. You’ll recall I found this little box in Mr. Prior’s cellar. I couldn’t get it open and must have popped it into my pocket. Just found it again. Ain’t this—”

  “My emerald pin!” exclaimed Adair, astonished. “How on earth…?”

  Miss Hall said weakly, “You mistake it, sir. My—my grandmama has—That is—is her pin, and—”

  “And that fellow very probably put it in the confounded box himself,” blustered Prior.

  “Be dashed if I did!” exclaimed Broderick indignantly. “And you should not swear in front of a lady, sir!”

  Minerva hurried out onto the terrace. “Oh, thank goodness I caught you, Hasty. Please come back inside before you—” She paused, glancing around the little group uncertainly.

  Adair said, “May I present Miss Cecily Hall and Mr. Rufus Prior? My cousin, Miss Minerva Chatteris. Miss Hall returned one of your pups, Minna. It evidently wandered off during—last evening.”

  “Thank heaven!” exclaimed Minerva. “I have been so worried! How very good of you to return Scamper, Miss Hall!” She picked up the venturesome puppy that was now frisking about her heels. “Forgive me if I must take this rascal to the kennels. We had a little upset here last evening, but it is all cleared up now, so pray don’t think you must hurry off. Would you kindly take Miss Hall and Mr. Prior into the morning room, Hasty? It is most rude in me, but I’ll not be above a minute, and then we will have a lovely chat.”

  Manderville volunteered to instruct the grooms to return horses and coach to the stables, Miss Hall and her cousin were ushered into the morning room, and Randall was summoned and instructed to serve refreshments.

  As the door closed b
ehind the butler, Prior said heatedly, “Now see here, Adair—”

  “It is of no use to bluster,” interrupted Adair in a steely voice. “You know, and I know, that this is my emerald. I’d thought I lost it at your cottage, but it is clear now that it must have fallen during my first encounter with you at Singletree. What I do not understand is why it was tucked into this little box and hidden in your cellar.”

  “No such thing,” declared Miss Hall, defiant but obviously shaken. “If—if Grandmama chanced to mistake it for her pin—”

  “Is the lady in the habit of hiding her jewellery in the cellar?” murmured Broderick.

  “Whatever my grandmother does with her belongings is none of your bread and butter,” flared Prior. “And you had no business poking about in our cellar in the first place!”

  Adair said gravely, “It would appear to be very much my business. I do not wish to embarrass Lady Prior, but this is a valuable emerald, and I think I am entitled to an explanation.”

  “I mislike your tone,” snarled Prior, his face very red.

  Adair nodded. “Then I will say no more, but put the matter in the hands of the constable.”

  Miss Hall moaned. “Oh, no! Oh, pray do not!”

  “Don’t let this fellow frighten you, Cecily.” Prior folded his arms across his chest and tossed his head high. “I am here to protect you!” He abandoned his gallant pose abruptly, and seemed very much the boy as he said, “What could that dimwitted constable do, at all events?”

  “If he puts two and two together, I dread to think.” She sank into the chair Broderick pulled up for her. “It’s no use, Rufus. We had as well confess.”

  Adair sat on the sofa and waited.

  Prior argued, “I don’t see why we should take these fellows into our confidence. And besides, you have nothing to confess, Cecily.”

  “She is my grandmama, and I cannot allow her to be shamed and humiliated, which will surely happen if Adair calls in the constable.”

  “She is my grandmama too. And if Adair was a gentleman he’d not do so unkind a thing to a little old lady!”

  “If we throw ourselves on his mercy, perhaps he will not.”

  “Throw ourselves on—” spluttered Prior. “Be dashed if I will do so revolting a thing!”

  Suppressing a grin with difficulty, Adair stood. “In that case, you’ve wasted enough of my—”

  “No!” shrieked Cecily. “Put your silly pride in your pocket, Rufus! For Grandmama’s sake, do!”

  “Oh, very well,” he said sulkily, and in a last display of drama he lowered his voice and demanded, “But I’ll ask for your solemn promise, gentlemen, that what we reveal will not go beyond this room!”

  “How can we make such a vow when we don’t know what you’re going to say?” protested Broderick. “If ever I met such a cloth-head!”

  “You are going to have to rely on our judgment, I’m afraid,” said Adair. “And you’re going to have to do it quickly, for my patience is quite gone!”

  Cecily hissed, “Ru-fus…!”

  Prior said with reluctance, “The truth is, that—that Lady Prior has a—er—”

  “A naughty little habit?” Adair murmured.

  “Then you did guess! I knew it!” Cecily wrung her hands. “The poor darling simply cannot resist certain—objects. I think it’s a sort of—game with her. She is the kindest creature and would not hurt anyone for the world, but—”

  “But she appropriates things that catch her fancy. She has done this before, I gather?”

  Rufus sighed. “We tried to watch her. If somone complained that they’d mislaid something, we would search her suite and return whatever was taken.”

  “But she suspected what we were doing,” put in Cecily. “And so she now finds hiding places for—for her treasures. It makes things very difficult.”

  “I should rather think it might,” said Broderick, appalled by such a prospect. “Is her ladyship single-minded, Prior? Jewellery only?”

  “Usually, but not always. Once it was a charming enamelled snuff-box. Once a very antique pair of silver sugar-tongs.”

  Cecily spread her hands helplessly. “I feel dreadfully about it. Especially when our guests are the victims, though, so far, we have managed to convince them they simply mislaid things.”

  Adair said with a smile, “Do not scourge yourself. You have likely warned your close friends, no?”

  “Good God—no!” exclaimed Rufus, horrified. “They’d likely have poor Grandmama clapped up, or—or put in Bedlam!”

  “Oh, I doubt that,” said Broderick. “The lady likely cannot help it, you know. My father knows everything, and he told me there is a new theory, not much developed as yet, having to do with a condition called kleptomania.”

  “Mania!” gasped Cecily, whitening and clutching her cousin’s hand. “But—my grandmother is not mad!”

  “I believe it is not judged to be madness,” said Broderick, spurred by the frown Adair levelled at him. “Especially since the people who steal—I mean—who purloin the objects are usually not at all in need of them from an economic standpoint. It is more a sort of compulsion, I think. Relatively harmless, provided that the—er, articles can be returned without a fuss.”

  Miss Hall asked rather tentatively, “Do they know if—if such a condition runs in families?”

  “D’you mean like an inherited tendency? Oh, no. I doubt that, ma’am.”

  Cecily and Rufus looked at each other.

  Noting that troubled exchange of glances, Adair asked sharply, “Why? Does some other member of your family share the trait?”

  Rufus sighed. “I’m afraid my sister may have the same—inclination.”

  “Miss Alice? By Jove!” His eyes alight with excitement, Adair sprang to his feet, only to gasp and grip the chair-back.

  Cecily jumped up and put her hand on his arm. “You’re hurt! I thought you and your friends had been indulging in horseplay, but—”

  “It’s more than that, I fancy,” interrupted Rufus. “What happened here, Adair?”

  “An attempted—robbery,” answered Adair unevenly. “And I thank you for your concern, ma’am, but I’m not seriously damaged. Luckily, my friends charged to the rescue and between us we managed to put the varmints to flight without anyone getting killed. But we all collected a few bruises.”

  “How many rogues were there?” asked Rufus.

  “Half a dozen or so,” replied Adair. “But they didn’t make off with anything. And of more importance is the chance that Miss Prior may have left us a clue to this whole ugly affair.”

  Rufus said slowly, “You think Alice might have found something that spelled danger to someone?”

  “Oh, it is possible!” Cecily’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “We must hurry home, Rufus, and search her room. There might be—” She left the sentence unfinished as Minerva and Manderville came to join them.

  A tray of hot chocolate and little cakes was carried in, and as the cups were handed around, Minerva apologized for her absence. “A dreadful way to treat guests,” she said brightly, “but it is Lieutenant Manderville’s fault, he begged to go to the kennels with me and see the puppies.”

  “Miss Chatteris has some jolly fine dogs,” said Manderville with genuine enthusiasm. “I’ve told her I mean to have one, depending upon what Wellington has planned for me.”

  Minerva beamed at him. “The lieutenant has won all their hearts, I do believe. I could scarce drag him away.”

  Broderick said, “I didn’t know you were such a dog fancier, Paige.”

  “I didn’t know it, either. I think Blackbird Kennels has cast a spell over me.”

  “Perhaps it is the fair proprietor who has cast a spell,” teased Adair.

  “Don’t doubt it for a moment,” said Manderville gaily.

  Her cheeks rather pink, Minerva offered the plate of cakes again. “It was so good of you to bring Scamper home, Miss Hall. I expect you will have noticed that our gentlemen bear the marks of violence.
Has Adair told you of our intruders? It was a terrifying experience. I am only grateful that he was here. He fought them off very bravely till his friends came, and thank heaven they did, for poor Hastings was outnumbered six to one.”

  “But how splendid, Colonel,” exclaimed Miss Hall.

  Torn between gratification and embarrassment, Adair said, “Splendid that Toby and Paige arrived, for by then I was quite against the ropes.”

  “Jupiter!” said Prior, his eyes very round. “It must have been a jolly good scrap.”

  “I hope your uncle was not injured,” said Cecily.

  “Not—physically.” Minerva slanted a sidelong glance at Adair. “But he is of a rather nervous temperament, and we judged it best that he keep to his bed today.”

  Cecily agreed that this was a wise decision. “I remember that Mr. Chatteris was inclined to be frail. To have strangers invade his home and with such brutality must have been a terrible shock.”

  “You have met my uncle?” asked Minerva curiously.

  “Yes. At a party some years ago. You came with a puppy for Lady Warren-Wyant’s son.”

  “So we did! And somehow Uncle Willoughby became Father Christmas! It was such a jolly party. But—forgive me, did we meet?”

  Cecily said with a smile that it had been rather a noisy evening. “I think introductions were lost in the uproar. The children were so excited.”

  “Even so, I would think I’d remember you both,” said Minerva, looking from Rufus’s boyish grin to Cecily’s lovely face.

  “What you mean is that you’d have remembered my carrot top,” said Rufus, laughing. “But I wasn’t there, ma’am. Still, I did meet your uncle about a year ago. It was at a charity affair of some kind, as I recall. Yes, that’s it! A bazaar to raise funds for a nunnery. Quite an interesting old place, though I’ve forgot the name.”

  “The Nunnery of the Blessed Spirit, perhaps?”

  Adair’s voice was bland, but Cecily looked at him sharply.