“Aye, so it will. Pity. But I daresay I can arrange the same setup at my place, now I know how he did it.”
“It shouldn’t be too difficult,” deVigne agreed, just as though he knew what they were talking about.
Chapter Sixteen
DeVigne did not return to the Cottage after leaving with Grayshott, but at about four, Lady Jane came, bringing a picnic basket of comestibles and a ray of sunshine with her.
“What’s new?” she asked merrily, throwing off her cape. “Did anything happen while I was away?”
“I had a visitor. Clancy Grayshott was here,” Delsie replied.
“Has he been pestering you already?”
“Yes, he wanted me to take Bobbie to him at Merton for a few days.”
“It is not to be thought of.”
“I have promised him a visit-I felt obliged to when he discovered she is presently with deVigne.”
“Max won’t like that,” she cautioned.
“DeVigne was here at the time, pacing about the room as you described to me.”
“He came down off his high ropes, did he? I made sure he would be sulking and deprive you of his cheerful presence for a few days, to trim you into line.”
“He cannot be so foolish as to think that would have any effect, but in fact he was in favor of the visit. He wanted me to go at once. When I declined the honor, he invited Clancy to stay the night at the Hall.”
“What!” This startling intelligence brought Jane to indignation. “Glory to goodness, he’s run mad! He and Clancy have been enemies forever. Why, he calls him a mushroom, and worse. I cannot believe he would let you go to Merton.”
“Oh, yes, he quite tried to push me out the door. But it was only to get me out of the Cottage. He would send me to hell itself to have his own way. I wouldn’t leave now if I were to receive an invitation to Carlton House to meet the Prince of Wales.”
“That certainly would not be worth the trip, my dear. So what happened?”
“I refused to go today, but am promised for some future time. Clancy and deVigne left together, chatting as friendly as a couple of schoolmates. Cooking up some vile scheme between them, very likely.”
“I’ve a good mind to nip up to the Hall and discover what is going on. Shall we send Nellie up to see how Bobbie is doing, and have her find out from the other servants?”
“That won’t work. He would not have told the servants anything.”
“Harold is coming over after dinner. He would not be put off, Delsie, but there is a decent library here, and he will not tax us unduly.”
The remainder of the day and the evening were not exciting. Sir Harold’s arrival after dinner did nothing to shorten the lagging hours. He had not seen Max, or heard any news from the Hall. Delsie missed her stepdaughter; she also missed deVigne and the family dinner. She and Lady Jane dined on cold fowl and cheese brought in the basket from the Dower House. They sat together embroidering after Sir Harold left. Mrs. Grayshott was beginning a set of seat covers for her dining-room chairs, and Lady Jane was helping her.
They both retired early, sincerely hoping they would have company in the orchard, as this cramped style of life was not of a sort that could go on indefinitely. But the only sound heard from that direction the whole night long was an owl’s hooting, followed by the terrorized shriek of some small nocturnal creature as he was picked up and carried away,
Early the next morning, deVigne came, carrying Bobbie and Miss Milne with him in his carriage. They arrived just as the ladies were having breakfast, and Max and Bobbie joined them at the table. Delsie fully expected that after refusing Clancy’s offer, she would be more deeply than ever in deVigne’s black books, that he would be pacing the floor and scowling at her, but he was in good spirits. She felt insensibly elated to see it. He complimented her on the progress she was making with her housecleaning, and also on the coffee.
“It was your Nellie who made the coffee,” she confessed. “I must get busy and find myself a new housekeeper. Do you know of anyone who is available, either of you?”
“There’s that Mrs. Lampton whose husband was drowned out fishing last year,” Jane mentioned. “She is looking for a position, I hear.”
“She’s rather old,” Max said. “She would do for a couple of years. Shall I take you to see her, cousin?”
“Yes, please, if you are going to the village. I wonder if she will be more willing to come to me than my two ex-students were.”
“It might be best to wait a few days,” Max said, then looked rather conscious, as though he had said something he hadn’t meant to.
“A few days will make no difference,” Jane remarked.
“Ah, I have just remembered-the auction is this afternoon,” Max said. “I hope to dispose of Andrew’s phaeton and cattle and get a carriage for you, cousin. Have you anything special in mind?”
“I don’t want anything very grand-and only a team, remember. I don’t want to be feeding four horses.”
“It is high time Bobbie had a pony as well. Do you ride, yourself?” deVigne asked Mrs. Grayshott.
“No, I have never learned, and as to a pony for Bobbie, that can wait till spring. The weather is not good. There is no point feeding an extra animal all winter for nothing.”
“You should have a mount,” he persisted.
“Like the pony, it can wait till spring. I’m bound to take a dozen spills, and prefer softer falling than frozen ground.”
“You don’t fool me,” deVigne said, smiling. “It is not the hard falling but the miserly resentment of providing feed that delays the purchase. Clutch-fisted. You’ll be locking up the larder next, and hiding the keys. My girls will not take kindly to such stingy ways.”
Jane looked closely from her nephew to Delsie at this speech. She said nothing, but her face wore a knowing expression.
Delsie replied, “It is not necessary for you to boast of the large way of going on at the Hall. Nellie and Olive have done your bragging for you. We are operating on a tighter budget here, however.”
“How was the onslaught of creditors?” he asked. “The ad has been in the paper since Monday. The local merchants would have seen it and acted by now.”
“There hasn’t been a soul,” she told him. “Not one. The hundred pounds from the grocer seems to be the only money owing. He must have been spending his smuggling money, as you suggested, Lady Jane. How shall I know how much to pay back?”
“That is carrying saintliness too far,” Lady Jane opined. “I know you plan some charitable work with all those bags of gold you keep finding, but surely what Andrew spent before your time may be allowed to go by.”
“What will you do with the twenty-five hundred?” deVigne inquired. For about half an hour they sat chatting in a friendly way, after which deVigne took his leave, promising he would let Mrs. Grayshott know, after the auction, what he had purchased there for her.
“He’s up to something,” Jane advised, the minute they were left alone.
“Uncle Clancy was at the Hall yesterday,” Bobbie said, trying for some attention.
The ladies exchanged a significant glance. “Did he stay overnight?” Mrs. Grayshott asked.
“No, he didn’t stay for dinner either. He just came specially to see me.”
“Did he ask you to Merton to visit him?” Lady Jane queried.
“No. I never visit him. Mama, can I go up and play with my dolls?”
“Miss Milne will want a lesson first, dear.”
“I had an awful lot of lessons at Uncle Max’s place,” she began wheedling.
“Baggage!” Lady Jane laughed.
“That’s good,” her stepmother congratulated. “You want to grow up and be a smart young lady, don’t you?”
“No, I want to be a smuggler, like Darby.”
“What a minx it is,” Lady Jane declared, simulating disapproval, while her eyes danced.