Captain Smythe did not sit but paced. “This is beyond anything. I am quite overcome, and I intend to turn the whole lot over to the consulate. They must sort out what has happened. Whether Sir Mark was truly murdered—” he shuddered, “we may never know, but that a fraud was attempted is clear. You say you have a letter, sir?”
The former Sir Mark nodded dubiously. “I do, but it’s in there with Lady M. I don’t fancy the kickup there’ll be if I show my face just now.”
The captain grimaced and the other gentlemen made faces of agreement.
Richard spoke for all of them when he said, “Not just now, I agree. But youwillneed to show it. Posing as a baronet and assuming his identity is no small crime. Your only defense is in proving it to be Lady Marston’s plot. You will still be sentenced, but it may be lighter.”
“As long as it’s not the gallows, sir, I’ll sing like a canary. This has gotten too rich for my blood. I really think that murderous old bat meant to do me a mischief! She’s been complaining thatI don’t sleep soundly, and that I ought to take something for it—and nowIthink she were softening me up for the return trip when she’d poison me!”
“As to that, we can hardly say, but you may have had a narrow escape. And do you confirm, sir, that the necklace was never truly stolen?”
“Ah, no, it wasn’t. I mean, yes, I confirm that. She told me to hide it that first night when she did her Tragedy Jane act for you all. It was nice and tight up my sleeve the whole time we were searching.” He seemed torn between pride and apology.
“Are you a pickpocket?” asked Mr. Belvedere with interest. “I wouldn’t have guessed, but you do seem to know your way around a slip and swap.”
“I ain’t no such thing,” he said, although he winked a little, some of his swagger returning. “But if I was, I’d be a natural.”
“Hardly something to boast about,” Captain Wentworth put in. “So then, Mrs. Scott told the truth. You pretended to find it while we searched the mail.”
“Yes, sir. I waited until I knew Lady M had that cursed letter, then I dropped it into my hand right quick.”
Caroline shook her head. “And I was too distracted to notice!”
“None of us noticed,” Captain Wentworth said, “and we were watching pretty closely.”
Richard broke in again. “When did Lady Marston involve you, and—er—whatisyour name? We cannot keep calling you Sir Mark.”
“I don’t know that I ought to say…”
“Don’t be foolish,” Richard said. “You’ll go to prison with your own name or another, it won’t matter.”
“Well, that’s probably true. It’s Thomas Knapp, at your service.”
“And Mr. Knapp, how many months has this been going on?”
“Eh—not that long! A matter of weeks, only.”
“How did she find you?” Sophia put in. “As far as I have ever heard, there is no longer any connection between the families.”
“Ah, no, there is not. But she put a notice in the paper right enough! That ought to have tipped me the office to stay away!Seeking Mr. Thomas Knapp, lately of Hans Town, Smithfield, or East End,the notice read,on an order of business much to his advantage. Write to Lady M., care of Grillon’s Hotel, London.And I did write, once a friend showed it a’me, and here I am! Devil of a take in.”
“Spare us your self-pity,” Captain Wentworth said. “When you found out Sir Mark had died, you should have left at once.”
“I know I should, guvnor. And I’ll regret it till my dying day. But I didn’t know she’ddoneanything to him! She told me he popped off while they were on a trip—just when he would’ve been getting that inheritance. It seemed a real waste, and I didn’t like to leave a lady in the lurch.”
Mr. Belvedere’s lips twitched. “Very chivalrous of you.”
Caroline’s mind moved on other lines. “That’s why Lady Marston knew the cost of newspaper advertisements. She had recently done it, so it was fresh in her mind.”
“Speaking of advertisements,” said Captain Wentworth, turning his weighty stare toward Mr. Belvedere. “There is still the matter of the East India Company. Our suspicions were aroused because of this business, which we now realize you were not involved in. But that does not mean you are innocent of the other.”
“It doesn’t mean I’m guilty, either,” he said. “That’s a—what’s it called?—a false dichotomy if ever I heard one.”
“Those letters of credential?—”
“Yes, I will be honest with you all—my letters of referencearen’tgenuine. There; you were right,” he said magnanimously.“But that doesnotmean I’ve tried to swindle the East India Company! A horrid idea. Terrible people.”
“Then why did you let us think so?” Richard demanded. “Perhaps you were trying to shield Mrs. Scott, but I don’t believe your altruism would extend to hanging for a crime you didn’t commit.”
