Winter’s scream stopped abruptly as he hit the floor below with a sickening thud. Christian however, managed to grab hold of a section of charred balustrade as he went over the edge, halting his fall but leaving him swinging in midair, desperately hanging onto the wood with one hand.
‘Tare an’hounds,’ Reverend Shackleford breathed hurrying towards the edge. Looking down, he tried to help by reaching down and grasping the Earl’s free hand, but he was too far away.
‘PERCY!’ he yelled, though quite what he expected the curate to do was uncertain. Hurriedly, the Reverend lay down on his stomach and stretched out his arm. ‘Can you reach my hand?’ he grunted. Throwing his arm upwards, Christian managed to touch the tip of the clergyman’s fingers but could reach no further. He tried a second, then a third time, the strain making his face almost unrecognisable.
Chastity, crouching wordlessly next to her father, silent tears trickling down her cheeks, saw the moment the Earl gave up. His beautiful eyes travelled to her face, and incredulously, she watched him rasp, ‘I love you,’ as he prepared to let go.
‘No,’ she screamed, ‘Please.’
Suddenly, two heads appeared above the Reverend. ‘Move,’ ordered Lizzy, unceremoniously shoving the clergyman out of the way. Then, folding down her skirts, she quickly lay down on the floor. ‘Hold my legs,’ she commanded, clearly speaking to all three of them.
Without arguing, Percy, the Reverend and Chastity threw themselves on Lizzy’s legs, pinning them to the floor as she slid her upper body over the edge. Her arms, much longer than the clergyman’s, easily grabbed hold of the Earl’s flailing hand. Then with her other hand, she gripped the collar of his jacket and yelled, ‘Pull me back.’
Without thought for modesty, all three took hold of whichever part of Lizzy’s person they could and dragged her backwards. Slowly, Christian’s head appeared above the edge, until he was able to hook his arm around the charred stump of wood. Hurriedly, the Reverend let go of his hold on Lizzy’s nether regions, and getting down on his knees, assisted the widow by grabbing the Earl’s other arm and dragging him the rest of the way up onto solid ground.
Panting, they all remained motionless for a few stunned seconds, then with a small sob, Chastity crawled over to the Earl’s prone body and took hold of his arm. In answer, he rolled over onto his back with a pained grunt and folded his weeping bride-to-be in his arms.
‘Thunder an’ turf, that was a close one,’ the Reverend wheezed after a moment, followed by, ‘Down Freddy,’ as the foxhound endeavoured to climb into his lap and drench his face in slobber.
There was another short silence punctuated by Chastity’s sniffing, then Lizzy declared in a tone much more like herself, ‘I think you can remove your hands from my drawers now, Percy Noon.’
Chapter Twenty-Three
Given that they were now in the unenviable position of being in possession of a dead body, it was decided that the best course of action was for Lord Cottismore and the Duke of Blackmore to return to London with the cadaver. They would enlist the assistance of Jimmy, while Malcolm, the Reverend and Percy escorted the ladies the rest of the way to Blackmore.
Naturally, their first port of call was Bow Street. After describing the incident in detail, the body was despatched to the morgue, and all three men were permitted to return to Grosvenor Square with the proviso that they did not even think about leaving London until the magistrate had finished looking into the matter.
‘Who the devil was Josiah Winters?’ Nicholas mused, taking a sip of his brandy. It’s not a name I’m familiar with. Had you ever laid eyes on him before?’ Christian shook his head.
‘He had the bearing of a gentleman, but there was something off about him,’ the Earl recollected. ‘He was too…’
‘Too much the gentleman,’ finished Jimmy with a grin. Christian looked over at the younger man and nodded. ‘That’s exactly it. It was as if he was playing the part in a stage production.’
‘Then it’s likely he’s not a toff at all,’ Jimmy declared. ‘Could be he’s pitching the gammon.’
‘He implied he was Witherspoon’s partner,’ the Earl stated with a frown.
‘Well, by the look of his clothes, he was certainly better dressed than Witherspoon,’ the Duke retorted. ‘So if it was a partnership, it could well have been Winters was the one in control.’
‘He said they’d got abigfightcoming up,’ Christian commented thoughtfully. ‘If he was talking about a boxing match, we didn’t see any ring, and the room with the gaming tables didn’t look big enough to actually take one.’
The Duke climbed to his feet to pour them all another brandy. ‘Jimmy, first thing tomorrow, get yourself to Gentleman Jack's. Find out if there are any big fights coming up anywhere in the City.’ He poured the liquid into both men’s glasses. ‘The magistrate forbade us to leave London. He didn’t say we couldn’t leave the house.’
The next morning, Jimmy left straight after breakfast to visit Gentleman Jack’s boxing establishment. As he strode along the Embankment, he reflected on the strange path his life had taken.
When he was a lad, he’d rarely thought beyond the next purse to be filched or coin to be earned. Failure to lay his hands on any blunt, whether by legal means or not, would see him and his ma with nothing to eat. But the Duke had taken that worry away and over the years, the man he became gradually left that Jimmy behind. But what did that make him now?
Sighing, he put his thoughts aside as he arrived outside Gentleman Jack’s at number thirteen Bond Street. It took less than ten minutes to ascertain that there were no legal boxing matches taking place in the next week or so. Certainly not within the City. But the pugilist had heard rumours of an illicit match. One where the boxers fought to the death. He had no idea where it was to be held and advised Jimmy in no uncertain terms to stay well away.
Elated, his earlier misgivings forgotten, Jimmy hurried back to the Duke’s townhouse with the information.
‘It has to be what Winters was referring to,’ Christian responded, unable to hide his excitement.
‘The question is–where were they intending to hold it?’ Nicholas questioned. ‘Are they likely to have a secret venue somewhere?’
‘It would be difficult to find a large enough space in Town,’ commented the Earl. ‘Could they be holding it outside the City?’
‘Gentleman Jack reckoned the rumours put it inside the walls,’ Jimmy interjected. He paused before giving a small frown. ‘What if theFlyingHorsedoes have another room? One that no one can see from the outside?’
