“Mrs. Dalton has left,” she said after she joined him and the other two men. He nodded.
“Decamp says no one in the stables was summoned during the course of the night to bring a carriage for her.”
“And Mr. Dalton left earlier with their curricle,” Leo mused aloud. Had Helen walked? But, as Leo recalled, the rain had still been pouring near midnight.
“Her maid said she left Mrs. Dalton around eleven last evening. Dora has been to the Dalton residence and back this morning already,” Mr. Corman put in. “Mrs. Dalton has not been seen there.”
“Anthony was an ass last night,” the viscount said, turning a page in his paper as he continued to read. “My granddaughter is likely taking one of her dramatic breaks from him, and by leaving in the middle of the night, she is surely all too happy to be causing a stir.”
Leo kept her mouth shut against voicing her own theory: that Helen had fled the manor before having to speak to a detective inspector about Francine’s mysterious letter, and that she had a notion as to what his questions would be about. Had Helen indeed played some role in Teddy’s death, as Francine had always feared? It made Leo feel ill to consider that possibility.
“Her maid is quite concerned, however,” Decamp said cautiously after the viscount had finished speaking, “as in the past, Mrs. Dalton has always taken Dora with her.”
Jasper turned to Leo and quietly said, “The interview.”
She nodded.
“What?” The viscount’s charade of feigning disinterest while reading the morning paper fell apart. “What interview?”
“That is confidential,” Jasper replied. “As Decamp has informed us that the roads and tracks are now clear for travel, Miss Spencer and I will be taking our leave.”
He knew her well enough to know Leo would not wish to sit down and break her fast with the viscount or anyone else who arrived in the breakfast room. Nadia, Millicent, and Frederick were not yet present.
“Thank you for your hospitality,” Leo added, though she directed this toward the butler and Mr. Corman.
The viscount grunted, then returned to his paper. “Enjoy your new home, won’t you?”
Jasper and Leo approached the door at the same time as Frederick was arriving. His hair was combed back and still damp, as if he’d just bathed. But Leo noted he was again wearing his burgundy dinner jacket. An odd choice for an informal breakfast, she thought.
“Am I catching you on your way out?” he asked.
“Don’t keep them,” the viscount interjected. “We wouldn’t want them to miss their train.”
“Good day, Mr. Cowper,” Leo said, with a vexed glance back toward the old man.
A footman was waiting for them at the front door with their coats, hats, and gloves, along with Leo’s handbag.
“I’ve decided to come to London for a few days,” Jasper said as they waited in the entrance hall for one of the viscount’s carriages to pull up outside.
Leo whipped her head around to peer at him, a warm bolt of happiness rippling through her.
“I thought we might take a look at the house on Craven Hill,” he explained.
“And pry up the floorboard to find the glass vial Mrs. Stroud wrote about?”
Jasper laughed as the carriage arrived. “I should have guessed you’d be more interested in the mysterious vial than the fact that we now own a home in a posh neighborhood.”
Chapter Five
The cushions on the train were flat from overuse and the braziers poorly stoked. As uncomfortable and chilly as she was, Leo would not have dreamt of complaining. It had been a relief to depart Cowper Fields, and knowing Jasper would be staying in London for a day or two made that relief even greater. Whether he’d changed his plans to be sure she did not visit the uninhabited home on Craven Hill alone, or because of Helen Dalton’s disappearance, or because of what had nearly happened between them the night before in her guestroom, Leo did not know. She hoped it was a little of all three, as they were the things she could not stop thinking about as well.
Though the train into London was crowded, they managed to find seats facing one another in the same compartment. Holding any conversation about the events of the last day was out of the question, considering their fellow travelers: two older women, each of whom fawned over Jasper when he asked if he and Leo might join them. So, to pass the time, they each opened a section of the newspaper they’d purchased at the station from a newsboy and read.
While the train clattered toward the city, Leo peered over the top of her paper to find Jasper doing the same. The fine lines around his eyes creased as he grinned mischievously, before then lowering his attention back to the paper. The meeting of their eyes occurred several more times and soon became obvious to their neighbors. One of the women sniffed disapprovingly, while the other pressed her lips thin in amusement.
As distracting as the glimpsing game with Jasper was, the assignment from Francine Stroud, the gift of the house, and Helen’s unexpected, unexplained departure during the night continued to weigh on Leo. Leaving Harrow and Lord Cowper’s country seat had loosened the ever-present cramp in her stomach, but a part of her worried that this was only the beginning of a tense association with the Cowpers. She did not want any connection with them at all, tense or otherwise.
As she and Jasper disembarked at Paddington, there was the temptation to travel down the road from the busy station to where Craven Hill was located. But they agreed that neither of them was quite ready to visit the home they’d just been given. They each needed to change their clothing and tidy themselves, not to mention Uncle Claude would be curious, and not a little bit concerned, as to why she had not returned the evening before as planned. Connor Quinn would be wondering why she had not arrived for work that morning. And Jasper would need to wire Liverpool with the news that he would be out for a few more days. Later that evening, he would fetch Leo from her home on Duke Street, and then, they would visit Craven Hill together.
