There was a tense pause. Then Knowlton turned to his employer. “I believe it would be well to consult your honoured father, sir, if you don’t object to it.”
“I think so indeed, Knowlton. Better still, if he is up to it, conduct Miss Temple and his lordship into my father’s parlour.”
“Then you reside upon the premises?” Raoul asked as the clerk departed upon his errand.
“My father does. He likes to be within easy reach. It irks him to be unable to carry on with the business. I was used to live in the apartment when I was apprenticed, but we exchanged a few years back. Since I have a growing family and my mother has sadly left us, it seemed expedient for my wife and I to take over the house.”
“It sounds to be a mutually satisfactory arrangement. Have you a son to take over from you?”
Rusper laughed. “That will be a few years yet, I fear. He is scarcely out of short coats.”
Raoul had but a tepid interest in this history, but he encouraged the fellow to expatiate on his domestic affairs since it served to pass the time and allowed him to keep Felicity under surreptitious observation. That she was labouring under suppressed agitation was obvious. He only trusted she would not be induced to lose her temper.
It was not long before the clerk returned with an invitation to step into Mr Rusper’s parlour which proved to be up another flight of stairs. Raoul found opportunity to murmur a warning to his charge. “Steady, Felicity! Don’t go top over tail with the fellow. Leave it to me to put the pertinent questions.”
She gave a nod, but entered a caveat. “As long as you ask the right ones.”
“Just don’t go flying into a pelter, that’s all.”
A faint smile rewarded him. “I will try not to.”
Raoul was conscious of a sliver of disquiet. He could scarcely depend upon this assurance. The charm of Felicity’s unpredictability was anathema in such a situation as this. He could only hope whatever information Rusper was able to impart would not infuriate her.
“This way, ma’am.”
Arrived at the top of the flight, Knowlton opened a door to a bright chamber overlooking a square at the back of the building. The room was done out in a neutral shade, with paintings on the walls, a marbled fireplace and old-fashioned wooden furnishings.
The elder Mr Rusper was seated in a large chair by the window, with one leg resting on a footstool, but he removed it from there as the visitors entered, rising with the help of a stick and limping a few paces into the room.
“How do you do, Miss Temple? I have wondered when it would occur to you to seek me out.” His voice was dry, a trifle cracked, and he looked to be indeed frail, unsteady on his legs. Despite these indications of a debilitated condition, the habit of command was evident in the beaky nose and the still keen gaze. It travelled from Felicity, who was staring at him in some degree of blankness — shock? — to Raoul’s face. “My lord Lynchmere, I understand?”
“That is correct.”
“Your interest in this matter, my lord?”
There was no impertinence in the tone, yet it put Raoul’s back up and he became haughty. “I am Miss Temple’s escort, sir, she having been deserted by Lord Maskery, of whom I am very sure you are aware, after his promise to introduce her to theTon.”
The man’s brows lowered at mention of the name, but he said nothing of it, merely turning back to Felicity and indicating the chair his clerk was setting. “Will you not be seated, Miss Temple?”
She seemed to come out of a stupor. “Yes, I will sit, but I think you had better sit down as well before you fall down.”
Surprise flickered in the fellow’s eyes and a faint twitch attacked his lip. So Rusper had a sense of humour? Promising. The dry tone returned.
“I am not yet at my last prayers, ma’am. Pray be seated.”
He waited for Felicity to take the chair, indicated another for Raoul, and only when both were sitting went back to his own chair, refusing the aid of his clerk in a testy fashion.
“Take the stool away, Knowlton. I don’t need it. Fetch the file, if you please.” He waited for the door to close behind the clerk and turned his gaze upon Felicity. “Now, Miss Temple, let us begin.”
She was frowning. “You did come to Mrs Jeavons’ academy, did you not? I recognise you. I couldn’t recall if it had been you or Lord Maskery, but to see you here and now I have no doubt.”
A thin smile twisted Rusper’s mouth. “I am surprised. You were a slip of a thing, my dear.”
The familiarity with which he addressed her rankled with Raoul, but Felicity did not appear to notice.
“It was a dark time for me, sir. My memories are vague, but I know it was Lord Maskery who left me there and I have believed all these years that he was my guardian. But it was not so, was it?”
The fellow’s lips pursed. “As to that, Miss Temple, there was no named guardian. In light of the circumstances, however, my client wished to avoid the complications of your becoming a ward of court.”
