‘Peterson, It would be my pleasure to oblige you in the matter of the groom. It shall be done as soon as I can manage it. I am currently staying at Corland Castle, home of the Earl of Rennington, and also the home of Miss Nicholson, Ulric’s betrothed.’
At this point, he was struck with a sudden thought. This might be just the opportunity he needed. He finished his reply with a smile on his face.
‘I feel it would be salutary for the betrothed couple to get to know each other a little better, and for the lady to see her future home. Might I suggest that you issue an invitation to her to visit you at Myercroft before too long? Ulric may make one of his periodic stays with you, and if you extend the invitation to me also, then we may begin to make plans for the future. It would,I feel, be an interesting visit and much good may come of it. Yours, Tarvin.’
The final letter was from his mother, and it was, for once, brief.
‘Edward, We have had a man called Ramsbottom here wishing to speak to you. Kindly tell your acquaintance to make an appointment before descending upon us, or better still, get rid of him. We are a respectable household. Your affectionate Mother.’
Edward laughed out loud. Who was this Ramsbottom fellow?
15: A Journey With The Edgertons
Tess had hoped that Captain Edgerton would help her to return to Durham and Ulric, but he had other plans.
“Since you are currently at the top of my list of potential suspects,” he said, “I should like you to return to Corland with me. I need to talk to the magistrate about releasing Mr Shapman, and I shall hope to persuade Lord Rennington to allow me to continue my enquiries, in which case I shall want to talk to both you and Shapman at some length.”
“What about Peachy?” Mrs Edgerton said softly.
The captain shook his head sorrowfully. “I cannot myself undertake to continue the search for Miss Peach. My duty is to Lord Rennington and the murder of Mr Nicholson. However, I shall leave Sandy and James in Pickering — and you, if you wish it.”
“I had sooner be with you,” she said quietly, and the two exchanged a look that Tess could interpret all too well.
Oh, to be so well loved that it was imperative to stay together! For a brief moment she envied them that, and grief for the lossof Tom gnawed inside her like a physical pain. But that would never be her fate now, so there was no point in repining. Her fortune — that was the door to her future freedom, and another journey with Captain Edgerton would be an opportunity to wheedle the safe key out of his pocket and into her reticule.
She found that the captain was too wily to be wheedled out of anything. Whenever she raised the issue of the gold bars and whether perhaps her property ought to be in her own hands, he would merely say, “We shall see,” and deftly change the subject. Only one small piece of information did she coax out of him. When she asked how he had just happened to follow Edward up the tree and into the office where the safe was held, he laughed and said, “We were watching him. We discovered who you were very quickly — you really should teach your servants to watch their mouths. Since you were using false names, we knew you were up to something, so we watched you both. There is no mystery about it.”
On the other hand, he was adept at drawing information from Tess.
“Have you no brothers or sisters, Miss Nicholson?” he said, with his ready smile.
“No, none. Plenty of cousins, however.”
“Mrs Edgerton is in the same case,” he said. “No brothers or sisters but vast numbers of cousins. And you have grown up with yours. They have been there all your life. You shared the schoolroom with the three girls, I expect.”
“That is true. Josie and Izzy were a little older and Olivia is two years younger than I am. We did everything together, just as sisters do, but… it gradually dawned on me that I was different from them.”
“In character… or circumstance?” the captain said.
“Both, I suppose, but mostly it was that our destinies were very different. They were to be given grand come-outs inLondon, with no expense spared, and would marry into the peerage, and I… well, I was the chaplain’s daughter. No grand come-out for me.”
“Did you want one?” he said gently.
“Heavens, no! All that fuss, and eyeing up every man as a potential husband, and knowing that he would be looking at me in the same light. How horridthatwould be! That and having to be chaperoned every moment.”
“You do not like being chaperoned, Miss Nicholson? Yet you have your maid and a manservant always with you.”
She chuckled. “Oh, yes! My faithful Betty and Harold! Mama thinks they give me consequence and protect me from pickpockets, and perhaps they do. They are also supposed to tell her what schemes I dream up, and perhaps they do that, too. But their great advantage to me is that they allow me to go wherever I want, and do what I want. At first, I was very cross about Harold in particular. Why should I need a manservant dogging my footsteps everywhere? But I soon saw how useful he is, organising the hire of post chaises or buying tickets for the stage coach.”
“Do you often travel by stage coach?”
“Not often. Only when I want to be an ordinary person and not the niece of an earl.”
He laughed, and said, “What fun! Being an ordinary person myself, I have travelled on stage coaches more times than I care to remember, and mail coaches, too, and as a consequence I am always deeply grateful for the comfort of a private carriage.”
“That is true, but one meets with such interesting people on a public vehicle. All my best ideas come from passengers on public coaches.”
“Such as?”
