On the other hand, he was less than sanguine about how matters would fare with Vergette, and it might become impossible to keep the whole affair from the ears of his parents. If he was obliged to look after Apple until her birthday in January, there would be no keeping his activities secret.
The address, in a quiet leafy lane not far from the Inns of Court, proved to be a well-kept house of imposing grandeur. Alex paused before it, looking up at the tall façade with its arched and pillared windows, no longer in doubt of Vincent’s assertion of the lawyer’s high status.
He walked up the steps and rang the bell in a mood of growing discomfort. A porter opened the door and politely enquired his business.
“Is Mr Vergette in?”
The fellow eyed him in a fashion which instantly put up Alex’s back.
“Well, don’t stare at me as if I was a snake, man! Is he here or not?”
This form of address appeared to reassure the fellow, who assumed a more respectful mien at once and gave a small bow. “If you’d care to come in, sir.”
Alex followed him through a vestibule. Through an open door at the back, he glimpsed an office with desk clerks busily at work, backed by bookshelves thick with huge tomes and piled boxes. The porter ushered him into a pleasant front room furnished for comfort but in a business-like fashion, with crimson-upholstered chairs ranged around a baize-topped table, and two easy chairs in similar style set either side of a marbled fireplace. Clearly this was a venue for meetings, as well as a waiting area for clients.
Alex took up a stance before the fire, warming his hands and feeling a touch relieved. It looked as if Mr Vergette was here at least. He began to have doubts of actually getting in to see the fellow, if the porter’s attitude was anything to go by. Well, if necessary, he’d have to take a high hand. He could have laughed, recalling how he’d told Apple he wasn’t in the habit of puffing off his consequence. Hoist with his own petard. How she’d crow if she knew!
At this point, the door opened to admit a fellow of middle years, well-dressed and with a benevolent manner.
“How do you do, sir? I understand you are wishful of seeing Mr Vergette?”
Ah, so this wasn’t the man himself. Should have known it wouldn’t be as easy as all that. “I have urgent business with him.”
The man smiled his understanding. “You have no appointment, of course.”
Alex lifted his chin. “Didn’t suppose I’d need one.”
The clerk, or assistant, or whatever he was, did not bat an eye. “May I ask your name, sir?”
“I’m Dymond. Alexander Dymond.”
He was about to add his father’s credentials when the fellow’s brows rose. “Ah yes, sir, you’ll be the heir to the Earl of Luthrie.”
Surprised, Alex cocked an eyebrow. “You know him?”
“Not personally, my lord. It is our business to know the workings of the world, however.”
Alex stared. “Don’t tell me you carry the whole peerage in your head?”
The fellow smiled. “Perhaps not all. But I’ve been doing this for a very long time, Lord Dymond.”
Alex frowned. “Who are you?”
The smile grew. “I’m Vergette, my lord Dymond. Shall we sit?”
Astounded, Alex could only stare at the man. “Why the deuce didn’t you say so in the first place?”
“But then you would have had the advantage of me, my lord.”
Feeling flustered, Alex took the indicated chair to one side of the fire and watched Vergette take his seat opposite. The lawyer crossed one leg over the other and smiled across the small divide, for all the world as if he meant to entertain a guest.
Thrown, Alex knew not how to begin. In all his experience of the legal profession, he’d never met a lawyer who behaved in such a fashion. He’d fully expected to be shown into one of those intimidating offices, all red tape and fusty documents inhabited by a prim and proper, and probably severe, individual who would peer at him over the top of a pair of spectacles.
The image made him laugh, and Vergette gave him an enquiring look.
“Something amuses you, Lord Dymond?”
Alex cleared his throat, feeling his cheeks warm a little. Not so benevolent after all. He would swear those eyes could pierce one at ten paces! He opted for frankness. “Never met a lawyer like you. Not what I expected at all.”
