"You must call upon us, Mrs. Lacey," Emily was saying. "I know my mother would be delighted to receive you."
"Oh, you're too kind, Lady Emily. I don't go about much these days but should be most honored to meet Lady Belmont." She smiled fondly at Jonathan and rose to her feet. "We really must be going, Lady Stoneridge."
"Emily, I thought you and Clarissa promised Mama you would be home by four o'clock," Theo improvised. "Perhaps Mr. Lacey could escort you, since you're leaving together."
Sylvester pursed his lips in a soundless whistle at this Machiavellian maneuver. Emily and Clarissa moved smoothly into action, picking up their sister's cue without a false step. In five minutes Mr. Lacey, with a Belmont sister on each arm, was walking to Brook Street, and his mama was driving home in her landaulet.
"That was very satisfactory," Theo said when the front door closed on their visitors. "He seems to be every bit as smitten with Clarry as she is with him. How very extraordinary it is. They seem to be made for each other."
"Romantic twaddle," Sylvester said, taking snuff. "And I have never witnessed such barefaced scheming, gypsy. You ought to be ashamed of yourself."
"Nonsense," she responded. "I shall do everything I can to promote the match if it will make Clarry happy. The most important thing will be to get Jonathan some commissions. I don't think he has a private fortune, and Clarry's dowry won't be enough for them both to live on, will it?"
Would a fourth of the Belmont estate have been better provision? Not in the hands of Jonathan Lacey, Sylvester decided, squashing a twinge of conscience. He looked sharply at Theo, but there was no challenge in her eyes.
"The capital will yield a decent income," he said. "Not riches, but not starvation in a garret either. It's invested in the Funds at the moment, and if it's treated wisely could grow quite satisfactorily."
"Well, we can always help them, if necessary," Theo said matter-of-factly.
Sylvester raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you rather rushing things?"
Theo shook her head. "Clarry's fallen in love with him."
"Girls of her age fall in love all the time."
"But Clarry's always known that she'd recognize the right man when she met him," Theo said. "Just as she's always known she'd never settle for second best. She was perfectly prepared to die an old maid if her knight didn't appear."
Sylvester shook his head but said only, "Well, I'm sure you know your sister best." He stroked his chin for a second, then said with an air of resolution, "There's something I need to discuss with you."
"Oh?" Theo went very still, her blood seeming to slow in her veins. Was he finally going to take her into his confidence?
Sylvester drew a sheet of paper from his inside pocket and tapped it against his palm. "This has just arrived… it's… it's a letter from my mother."
"Oh," Theo said blankly.
"She and my sister are coming to town for a few days. My mother wishes to consult her physician on Harley Street."
"Oh," Theo said again. "Where are they stay- oh, no," she said in dawning horror. "No, Sylvester, not here."
"My dear, I cannot deny my mother and sister the shelter of my own roof," he said.
"Oh, they'll be much more comfortable at Grillon's," Theo protested eagerly, clasping her hands in an attitude of prayer, her eyes wide with entreaty. "Just think, they can moan and complain about everything to their hearts' content, and no one will be offended -"
"No, Theo." He was half laughing at this assumption of prayerful supplication. "You know they have to come here."
"Oh, no… no… no… no… no!" Theo leaped onto the sofa and began an agitated dance of despairing protest. "Your sister will complain of the draughts and the maids, and your mother will pinch at me all the time… Oh, please Sylvester, tell them they can't come." A high jump set the sofa springs complaining.
"Ridiculous creature, you're breaking the furniture. Get off!" Laughing now, knowing her display to be at least half-playful, he grabbed her by the waist and swung her into the air, holding her off the ground for a minute while she kicked in futile protest. "You may give Mary as many set-downs as you please, but you will be civil to my mother."
"But she won't be civil to me!" Theo wailed.
"That will be my affair." He smiled up at her disgruntled expression as he still held her above him, then set her on her feet again.
Theo sighed. "When are they coming?"
"She doesn't say."
"Hell and the devil! She'll arrive unexpectedly and nothing will be ready for her and -"
"Don't make unnecessary difficulties. Everything can be made ready in expectation, can't it?"
"I suppose so," she conceded, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "That's all I needed to improve the shining hour."
"It'll only be for a few days," he said, going to the door. "She hates London."
"That's some comfort, I suppose."
Sylvester laughed at her disconsolate expression. "I'll be late home tonight, but then so will you, if you're going to Almack's."
"I'll wait up for you," Theo said.
"And vice versa," he responded with a smile.
Theo stared in frowning silence as the door closed behind him. Then, with sudden determination, she ran up to her room for her pelisse, hat, and gloves. Five minutes later she was walking briskly to Albemarle Street, an attendant footman plodding stolidly in her wake.
Edward was just leaving his lodgings when Theo arrived. "Oh, good, I've caught you," she said without preamble. "I need to talk with you for a few minutes."
Edward had an appointment at Manton's Gallery, but it didn't occur to him to turn Theo away. "Come on in," he said amenably, ushering her through the front door and into his sitting room.
The footman stationed himself at the foot of the steps leading to the front door.
"So what can I do for you, Theo?"
"I need you to accompany me to a tavern on Dock Street." Theo came straight to the point.
"Now what are you up to?" Edward bent to warm his hand at the fire.
Theo explained the events of the previous evening. "And Stoneridge refuses to tell me anything," she finished. "I'm convinced he recognized the man in the tavern, so he knows who's behind these 'accidents,' and he won't let me help. So I'm going to have to find out for myself."
For once Edward was uncooperative. "If Stoneridge says it's not your business, then you can't make it so, Theo."
Her mouth took its familiar stubborn turn. "I have made it so." She paused and then with visible effort broached the most difficult subject. "You saw what happened at Mama's reception the other afternoon. He won't say anything about that, either. I can't ask him about it because…" She paused again, chewing her lip. "Because it… it must be something that he's ashamed of. There must be something that happened to him that he can't talk about… It pains him deeply, I know."
She took a turn around the room, her stride impatient and agitated. "But I'm beginning to think that and the accidents have to be connected. It's too much of a coincidence otherwise, don't you think?"
She turned back to Edward. He was looking uncomfortable. Stricken almost, as he had done during Sylvester's humiliation in her mother's salon.
"What is it?" she demanded.
Edward shook his head. "It's just something I heard in the Peninsula. I don't believe a word of it, but I imagine it explains what happened at your mother's."
"Tell me." She came close to him, her eyes fixed on his face.
"I wasn't going to say anything, because there can't be anything to it. Anyone who knows Stoneridge has to realize that. I gather the Peer took his side at the -" He stopped. Court-martial was such a grim concept, even when it was part of due process: when a naval captain lost his ship, or an army commander lost the regimental colors.