“Did you think I would not be anxious?”
“Devil a bit. Knew you were as anxious as bedamned. Came as soon as I could, Apple.”
“Not soon enough!”
He cocked an eyebrow, eyeing her. “Want to hear what’s afoot, or would you prefer to carry on ringing a peal over me?”
Apple threw her hands over her face. “I don’t want to hear it!”
She heard Mrs Tinkler bustle up. “I’m afraid she’s been in this state the whole time, my lord. Apart from this reckless nonsense about going abroad.”
“Told you about that, did she?”
“Yes, and I am afraid I cannot possibly oblige you, if you had it in mind for me to accompany her.”
Apple dropped her hands. “It makes no matter. I’ll advertise.” She found Alex regarding her with a sober look on his face. All her fears rushed up again, and the suspense became unendurable. “Tell me! It’s true, isn’t it?”
His face became grimmer than ever. “Lady Mere is in town. She wants to see you.”
Chapter Twenty-six
The Luthrie town house, situated in Berkeley Square, was one of those slim, tall and imposing mansions that appeared, in Apple’s overwrought state, as sinister as Bow Street. Although Alex’s presence enabled her to stay reasonably calm on the surface, he’d been unable to enlighten her as to the truth of her origins.
“Lady Mere sent me for Vergette. Didn’t want to send a servant on the errand because of its delicate nature, she said. So my mother ordered me to go.”
An errand that had accounted for his late return, since he’d had to chase about the town to locate the lawyer.
“But she must suppose it’s true, Alex, or she wouldn’t have come.”
“Well, of course she does, Apple. But she ain’t going to commit herself until she’s spoken to Vergette and seen you.”
Another thought struck Apple. “Had Mr Vergette seen Walter and Marjorie? And the magistrate?”
“Ran him to earth at last at Bow Street. Seems he said enough to put those vultures off. Don’t know what he told Justice Armitage, but he ain’t pressing charges, and he refused to hand you over to the Greenaways, so that’s one worry off your list.”
A measure of relief entered Apple’s breast. “Thank goodness!”
But the reprieve came too late to be wholly appreciated when the shadow of her fate was hanging over her head. She managed to refrain from bursting out through the short journey to the Luthrie’s town house in Berkeley Square, and was glad of it when Alex smiled at her as he gave her his hand to help her down from the hackney coach.
“Good girl! That’s more like my plucky Apple.”
She returned the smile, aware her lips trembled as much as her hands. “I don’t feel very plucky.”
“I know.”
He said no more, turning to pay off the hack while she gazed up at the building, her heart thrumming in her chest.
Alex guided her up the shallow steps and knocked on the door. It was opened almost at once by a servant she vaguely recognised from Dymond Garth.
“Her ladyship is in the Green Saloon, my lord.”
“Where’s Lady Mere?”
“With her ladyship, my lord.”
“And my father and sister?”
“They are all in the Green Saloon, my lord.”
