“But she has pre-empted you,” said his father before she could answer this. “Do you have any notion what Vergette may have told her? I may say, the fact that he is involved in the matter at all gives one furiously to think.”
Diverted, Alex eyed him with suspicion. “You know the fellow?”
“I know of him. He is legendary in certain circles.”
“So Wintringham said. And Vergette told me it’s due to his client he came to see me here.”
“Charles, what is this? Pray enlighten me, for I am all at sea.”
His father turned to his wife. “My dear, it is apparent that Appoline’s natural sphere is not perhaps as clear as you may have thought. However, until Alex has the full story from Vergette, I’m afraid there is little to be gained from discussing the matter.”
“But why should he go and see this lawyer fellow in any event? The sooner he extracts himself from this debacle, the better.”
At this point, Georgy entered the lists. “Oh, Mama, pray don’t be so horrid! Poor little Apple must be dreadfully unhappy. Of course Alex must find her.”
“Dreadfully unhappy? What in the world do you mean, Georgiana?”
“Oh, you don’t know her, Mama. If she wasn’t in distress, she would have told Alex what she meant to do.”
“No, she wouldn’t,” Alex cut in. “It’s typical of her, if you want to know. She knew I wouldn’t stand for it if she meant to run off. What’s more, she knows I’ll come after her, for I’ve told her so enough times.” Abruptly, he recalled Apple’s last words to him on the previous evening, and his heart lurched. “But you’re right. She was distressed.”
He rose from his chair, turning to look at his father. “Beg your pardon if you don’t like it, sir, but I’ve no choice. Got to find her.”
“More to the point, my boy, you must find out what Vergette told her to make her leave your protection.”
“Luthrie, have you run mad? You are encouraging him in this?”
Once again, his sire, rising also, turned to his wife. “My dear Pippa, whatever comes of this, I should be sorry to think any son of mine would be so callous as to abandon the child who has been, to all intents and purposes, under his care.”
Gratified, Alex thanked him, braving his mother’s obviously rising wrath.
“Besides,” added Lord Luthrie with a smile that embraced both his wife and son, “I like the girl. Intelligent little thing.”
“Because she plays chess and admires your infernal plants?”
“That too, my dear Pippa. But if you had taken the trouble to draw her out as I did, you would know there is a deal more to her than one might at first suppose.”
The door opened at this moment to admit the butler. Alex looked across with eagerness. “Anything, Meech?”
“One of the gardeners reports having seen Miss Greenaway approaching his lordship’s principal greenhouse.” He turned to Lord Luthrie, holding out a twisted screw of paper. “I took the liberty of investigating, my lord, and found this note. It is addressed to your lordship.”
Alex started forward, but his father held up a hand as he took the note and straightened it. A tattoo started up in Alex’s chest as his sire’s lips quirked. He looked up, compassion in his gaze.
“Your courageous little protégée regrets leaving us thus precipitately, Alex.”
Impatient, Alex twitched the paper out of his father’s hand. His sister ran to look over his arm. “What does she say?”
“I am sorry to depart without a word,” he read, “but I can no longer trespass upon your hospitality under false pretences. Thank you, sir, for your kindness. Appoline.”
Alex gazed at the childish hand, his heart bleeding for the pain he detected underneath the conventional phrases. He felt his father’s hand on his shoulder.
“Do your duty, my dear Alex. Bring her back, if she will come. If not, at least bring news of her and do not allow Vergette to put you off. Find out the whole, and let us see what may be done to mend matters for the child.”
Alex thanked him, but was obliged privately to acknowledge that if his suspicions proved true, there was nothing in the world possible to mend what fate had decreed.
With his father at his back, the dismay Alex had been experiencing dissipated to some degree. Whether Lord Luthrie had surmised what he himself suspected about Apple’s birth, he could not tell. He did not ask, having no wish to introduce the subject unnecessarily. But Apple’s flight was a sure indication of the potential truth, assuming Vergette had told her. His best hope lay in the probability the lawyer had taken Apple up with him and meant to convey her to London.
Despite the cold, he elected to drive himself in his curricle. He would make better time, and Carver could take the reins to give him a rest from driving.
