by C. S. Harris
“I’m sorry.”
The costermonger twitched one shoulder and swallowed hard.
Hero said, “Do you think your children will grow up to be costermongers?”
He swiped a meaty hand down over his whisker-stubbled face. “Sure then, we’re already sendin’ them out to sell nuts and oranges and watercress. The streets teaches ’em what they needs to know. Why, they’re as sharp as terriers, little as they are. They ’as t’ be; they know better’n t’ come ’ome if they ain’t done well.”
Hero was careful to keep her instinctive reaction to his words from showing on her face. “How old are they?”
“The girl’s eight, and the boys is five and seven.”
“Your wife is a costermonger as well?”
“Aye. She works Fleet Street. This time o’ year she sells flowers all a-growin’. But come June she’ll switch t’ peas and beans, then cherries and strawberries in July.”
Remembering what Mattie Robinson had told her, Hero was tempted to ask if his “wife” actually was his wedded wife. Instead, she said, “Was your father a costermonger?”
“Oh, aye; and ’is father afore ’im. You’ll find most costermongers proper was born into the business. The ones I feel sorry for is the mechanics and laborers what’ve lost their jobs and try turnin’ their ’and t’ sellin’ in the streets. They think it looks easy, but it ain’t, and they almost never do well.”
“Why not?”
“Ain’t up t’ the dodges, ye see. The problem is, they go out into the streets with fear in ’ere—” He thumped one meaty fist against his chest. “They don’t know ’ow to bargain and they ain’t good salesmen. Poor buggers—beggin’ yer pardon, yer ladyship—I mean, poor fellows, they almost always end up losin’ everything.” He shook his head sadly. “For them, it’s just another way o’ starvin’.”
The donkey shifted its weight and shook its head, rattling the harness.
“I gots t’ move on, m’lady. Liz ’ere is gettin’ restless.”
“Thank you for your time,” said Hero, handing the costermonger his shillings.
The money disappeared into one of his coat’s deep, flapped pockets. “Ye really gonna write about the costers?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because no one ever has.”
But Mica McDougal simply shook his head, as if the ways of the Quality were beyond his comprehension.
Chapter 35
S ebastian arrived back at Brook Street to find Hero still out on her interview and Claire Bisette preparing Simon for an outing in the park.
“Take one of the footmen with you,” Sebastian told her, his voice sounding more curt than he’d intended.
Claire stared at him. “A footman?”
“Just . . . humor me, Claire.”
“I’ll get Edward,” she said, still vaguely frowning as she turned away, the bundled-up child wide-eyed in her arms.
Sebastian walked into the library, poured himself a drink, and sent for Jules Calhoun.
“Tom says you saw some ‘Captain Queernabs’ near the house a few days ago,” he said when the valet appeared a few minutes later. “Tell me about him.”
Calhoun blinked but did not question the request. “Odd-looking fellow, he was—and I don’t mean just the way he was dressed. It was as if the two sides of his face didn’t belong together; one eye was even a different color than the other. But it was actually his boots that made me notice him at first. His clothes were those of a common workman, but he had a pair of fine new boots that would be the envy of many a Bond Street beau.”
“When was this?”
“Monday, my lord.”
“Monday?” Neither Sebastian nor Hero had seen Diggory Flynn before Tuesday. “You’re certain?”
“Yes, my lord. I noticed him as I was returning from Hobbs. I remember because I’d been telling him how pleased we were with your new beaver hat.” A pained expression shadowed the valet’s even features. “The same hat someone put a bullet hole through that very night.”
“What was the man doing when you saw him?”
“Simply leaning against the corner. But he looked so out of place that I paused to ask if there was something he needed.”
“And?”
“He said no. Then he pushed away from the wall and walked off. Whistling.”
“If you see him again, let me know about it. But be careful with him. I think there may well be more to the man than meets the eye.”
“Yes, my lord.” Calhoun gave a neat bow and started to turn away, then paused. “Are you still interested in Captain Wyeth, my lord?”
“I am indeed. Did you have any success at the Shepherd’s Rest?”
“Far more than I should have, actually. The staff there are appallingly eager to chat about the inn’s residents.”
“What do they say about Captain Wyeth?”
“The general consensus is that he’s a likeable enough fellow most of the time, although he does have a tendency to be moody and curt when his wounds are paining him. And he has a bit of a temper, it seems.”
“Oh?”
“Last Saturday evening, the captain was having a pint down in the public room when Stanley Preston came charging in and threatened to horsewhip him.”
“Yes, Wyeth told me of the incident.”
“Did he also tell you he threatened to kill the man?”
“Wyeth threatened to kill Stanley Preston?”
“That’s right. I thought at first the barman who told me the tale might be exaggerating a touch. But two of the other lads backed him up.”
“What was Preston’s reaction?”
“I gather he simply said, ‘You don’t scare me,’ and left.”
Sebastian glanced at the clock. “I think perhaps I need to have another chat with our gallant captain.”
Sebastian found Captain Hugh Wyeth standing beside the ring of the Life Guards riding school, his arms looped over the top rail of the fence and his gaze following a half dozen new recruits being put through their paces. The air was thick with the smell of saddle leather and horse sweat and a fine dust that shimmered in the spring sunshine.
“So what do you think?” asked Sebastian, coming to stand beside him, his gaze on the horses and riders in the ring before them.
“They’re green. But they’re willing and able. They’ll get there.” He glanced over at Sebastian. “Ever miss the Army?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why’d you sell out?”
Because I realized I wasn’t fighting on the side of good against evil, thought Sebastian, still watching the men in the ring. Because my own colonel sent me off with falsified dispatches and then betrayed me to the French. Because I trusted the wrong people, and dozens of innocent women and children died as a result.
But all he said was, “I grew tired of killing men who were much like me, except they spoke a different language and owed allegiance to a different country.”
Wyeth was silent for a moment, his hands tightening over the top rail, the smile lines fanning his eyes etched deep, although he was not smiling. “Those are not comfortable thoughts.”
“No.”
The captain narrowed his gaze against the dust. “Why are you here?”
“I’m wondering why you didn’t tell me that when Stanley Preston threatened to take a horsewhip to you, you swore you’d kill him.”
Wyeth blew out a long, painful breath.
Sebastian said, “It did happen, didn’t it?”
The captain nodded, his lips pressed into a tight line. Then he threw Sebastian an assessing, sideways glance. “You trying to convince me you never threatened to kill anyone? It’s the kind of thing a man says in anger—‘I could kill you.’ Or even, ‘I swear to God, I’ll kill you.’”
Seba
stian thought about the number of times he’d sworn to kill his own father-in-law, but remained silent.
Wyeth said, “I won’t deny I wanted to kill the bastard. But I couldn’t have done it—even if he had tried to take a horsewhip to me. Don’t you understand? He was Anne’s father! She loved him, and his death has devastated her. I could never have done that to her.”
Sebastian studied the younger man’s handsome, earnest face. It was hard not to like Captain Wyeth. But Sebastian had known other handsome, seemingly charming men who were extraordinarily adept at projecting an intense impression of affability and sincerity when the reality was something quite different entirely.
“Tell me again what happened last Sunday night,” he said.
Wyeth shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. Anne wrangled an invitation for me to Lady Farningham’s musical evening. But she had Miss Austen there with her, and we found it impossible to have any real private conversation together. So in the end, I left.”
“You’re saying Miss Preston spent Sunday evening in the company of Jane Austen?”
“That’s right. Why?”
Sebastian shook his head. “I hadn’t realized it. Go on.”
“That’s it, really. I left around ten. Only, I wasn’t in the mood to come back to the inn and drink with the lads, so I went for a walk.”
“Where?”
“Along Knightsbridge, mainly. I was just . . . walking.”
“See anyone?”
“No one I knew.”
“What about when you returned to the inn? Did anyone see you then?”
“No. I told you, I wasn’t in the mood to be sociable. I went straight up to my room. Why?”
Sebastian had asked the question because whoever killed Stanley Preston would surely have been splattered with blood. But all he said was, “Ever meet an elderly physician named Douglas Sterling?”
“The one who was found dead yesterday?” Wyeth shook his head. “No.” He stared off beyond the barracks, toward the park. “I’ve had the constables here again, questioning me. They think I did it, don’t they?”
“I’m afraid so. You’ve a powerful motive, no alibi, and considerable practice lopping off people’s heads.”
Wyeth gave a soft, rueful laugh. “They think I’m some sort of fortune hunter—like that fellow Wickham. Or Willoughby.”
The names sounded vaguely familiar, but Sebastian couldn’t place them. “Who?”
“From Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice.”
“Don’t tell me you read romance novels too?”
Wyeth laughed. “Only the ones Miss Austen writes. They’re very clever—especially this last one.”
Sebastian stared at him. “Jane Austen is the author of this new book that’s taking the ton by storm?”
Wyeth pulled a face. “I forgot I wasn’t supposed to say anything. You won’t tell anyone, will you?”
Returning to Brook Street, Sebastian found Hero writing up her interview notes at the library table, their infant son dozing contentedly in a basket beside her and the black cat she’d named Mr. Darcy lying stretched out like a dog nearby.
“How was your interview?” he asked, going to pour himself a glass of wine.
“Informative. This fellow has a donkey cart, which places him amongst the most prosperous of all costermongers.” She laid aside her quill and leaned back in her chair. “Care to tell me why you saw the need to send a footman to the park with Claire and Simon this morning?”
Sebastian came to stand beside the fire, his gaze on his sleeping son’s peaceful, innocent face. “A man who sounds like Diggory Flynn has been seen watching the house. I don’t know who he is or what he wants, but I’d feel better if you and Simon both kept someone with you.”
Hero stared at him for a long, quiet moment. “What makes you think he’s a threat to us? Not you, but us?”
Sebastian took a slow sip of his wine. “I keep thinking about the tale Jamie Knox told me, about the smuggler who ran afoul of Priss Mulligan and came home one day to find his wife missing and the dismembered bodies of his children strategically displayed around the house.”
“So you’re back to thinking Flynn works for Priss Mulligan?”
“I don’t know for certain who he works for. But I don’t want to take any chances.”
Beside them, Simon stretched and let out a soft gurgle.
Hero stared at Sebastian for a long, quiet moment, then went to lift the child from his basket and hold him in her arms, the blue wool skirts of her walking dress swirling about her ankles as she swung him gently from side to side and said, “Well, good afternoon, young man.”
Simon cooed and laughed in response, and for one long moment, Sebastian lost himself in looking at them.
Then he said, “Tell me about this character in Pride and Prejudice—I think his name is Wickham.”
She glanced over at him with a soft, startled laugh. “George Wickham? Whatever for?”
“Because everyone seems to keep referencing him, and I’ve just discovered Miss Jane Austen is the book’s author.”
“You can’t be serious. Who told you that?”
“Captain Wyeth. Ordinarily, I’d be inclined to question his reliability, but it makes sense of something Henry Austen said to me the other day.”
Hero brought Simon up so she could rub noses with him, her gaze on the laughing child. “George Wickham is an officer in the militia who is stationed near the Bennetts—they’re the family at the center of the story. At first he’s portrayed as handsome and charming and excellent in every way—except of course for his sad lack of fortune. But the reader gradually begins to realize that he is in truth a cunning and unscrupulous liar who uses others for his own ends without conscience or regret.” Simon gurgled happily, and she shifted the child’s weight, his eyes big and wide and golden as he grinned at Sebastian over her shoulder. “You think Captain Wyeth could be another George Wickham?”
“I’m told Jane Austen fears he might be. So who is Willoughby?”
“I suppose you could call him the villain of Sense and Sensibility—or one of them, at any rate. Like Wickham, he is charming, handsome, and impoverished, as well as being deceptive and breathtakingly selfish. Although I don’t think Willoughby is quite as conscienceless or calculating as Wickham. Needless to say, neither comparison reflects well on Captain Wyeth.”
“No. Which makes me wonder why he mentioned them.”
Wide-awake now, Simon reached out to close his tiny first around the thick silver chain at Hero’s neck and pulled hard.
“Ouch,” she said, laughing as she tried without success to loosen his hold on the necklace. “Your son has a shockingly strong grip.”
Sebastian set aside his wine. “Here; let me help.” It wasn’t until he came closer that he got his first good look at the intricately worked chain and the pendant that nestled at the base of her throat.
“Where did you get this?” he asked, his voice sounding odd even to his own ears.
“My father gave it to me some time ago. Why?”
Sebastian carefully loosed his son’s hold on the centuries-old necklace. “I’ve never seen you wear it.”
“The catch was faulty. I only recently had it mended.” The frown lines were back between her brows. “Is something wrong?”
“No. Of course not.” He reached out, hesitantly, to touch his fingertips to the smooth bluestone disk with a closed silver triskelion set against it. And for one heart-wrenching moment, he imagined he could feel the familiar pulse of its legendary, inexplicable power.
She said, “Have you spoken to Miss Jane Austen about any of this?”
“What? Oh; no.” He dropped his hand and turned away to retrieve his glass.
“Would you like me to talk to her? After all, I have read the books.”
“It might be
better.”
She tilted her head to one side, as if both puzzled and concerned by something she saw. “Sebastian, are you all right?”
“Yes, of course,” he said, and drained the rest of his wine in one long, burning pull.
Chapter 36
M iss Jane Austen was in the elegant parterre garden at the rear of her brother’s house, deep in earnest consultation with an aged, gnarled gardener who was gesturing wildly with his hands, when Hero arrived at Sloane Street.
“I’m interrupting you,” said Hero when a flustered young housemaid showed her to the terrace. “I do beg your pardon.”
“No, please,” said Miss Austen, hurrying forward to offer Hero a seat at a wrought-iron table positioned to catch the warmth of the rare spring sunshine. She wore a faded bonnet and a plain, old-fashioned gown, had a faint smudge of dirt across one red cheek, and was utterly unruffled. “Jenkins simply wanted my approval of some new plantings for the parterres. The garden is my cousin Eliza’s design, you know. She spent many happy years in France, before the Revolution, and I think it reminds her of those days.”
“It is lovely,” said Hero, unfurling her parasol against the sun’s rays. “How does your cousin?”
“Not well, I fear.” Jane Austen’s dark eyes pinched with a deep, quiet sorrow kept carefully tucked away.
“I’m sorry.”
Her hostess nodded, her face held tight against a threatened upsurge of emotions. “She’s lived a marvelously adventurous life, you know—born in India, then living through the Revolution. She’s always been so vibrant, so full of life. To see her like this is . . . painful.”
“It must be very difficult for your brother.”
“It is, yes. He has loved her almost his entire life.” She carefully smoothed the skirt of her faded gown. “Please tell me you aren’t here because Lord Devlin still thinks Henry had something to do with Stanley Preston’s death.”
The truth was, Devlin hadn’t ruled out anyone at this stage. But Hero simply adjusted the tilt of her parasol and said, “Actually, Devlin is interested in certain aspects of your novels.”
