Aubrey took one, and then sat staring at it, wondering bemusedly how he’d got here.
“I promise they are not poisoned,” Miss Marwick said wryly, taking his attention. “Our villainy only runs to larceny; we don’t indulge in murder.”
“How reassuring,” Aubrey replied, taking a bite of the biscuit.
“Well, Mr Seymour. You say you do not wish to see Alfie hang, but you do not say what you do want? How, might I ask, came you to discover such information about him? I would like to know if someone has been indiscreet.”
“Then you must speak to Alfie. I followed him yesterday and overheard his conversation with Mr Repton.”
“That wasyou!”she exclaimed, and then gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.
“What was me?” Aubrey demanded, frowning at her.
“A-Alfie said he thought someone was following him, wh-when he came out of the tavern,” she stammered, looking thoroughly rattled, so much so that she set her cup and saucer down as her hand shook too hard to keep it still.
Aubrey stared at her, feeling once again like he was missing something obvious but quite unable to figure out what it was.
“I cannot believe you followed him,” she said, her voice hollow. “Worse, I cannot believe he didn’t realise sooner. How unbelievably stupid! He knows better than that!”
She seemed so terribly distressed that Aubrey felt compelled to comfort her, despite the incongruity of doing so.
“Once I realised where he was headed, I stayed some miles behind him, catching news of him at the various places we passed through. He would have had no idea I was there. It wasn’t until we reached Dover that I got closer, or else I’d have lost him, and Dover is so very chaotic it’s no wonder he didn’t realise I was there. Though he knew it quick enough when he left the tavern. I think he knew the moment I set foot outside the door.”
She nodded, looking somewhat comforted by this news.
“So you heard his entire conversation with Mr Repton?”
“I did,” he agreed. “Did Alfie tell you everything that was said?”
She nodded, and Aubrey wondered at that. Alfie had been home only fifteen minutes before Aubrey had turned up, of that much he was certain. Had he explained everything, changed his clothes and got out of the house before Aubrey had arrived, and if so, why? He was still puzzling over this when she spoke again.
“What it is you want, Mr Seymour?”
Aubrey studied her, noting she had regained her composure. She reached for her tea and delicately sipped it, her expression placid.
He looked her in the eye, every word spoken with precision. “I want my mother’s diamonds back.”
Her eyes grew wide, staring at him in astonishment, as well she might. “And how,precisely,do you propose we accomplish that?”
Aubrey smiled, wondering just what her reaction would be.
“Alfie and I will steal them before Silas Mourney gets the chance.”
Chapter 7
Aubrey Seymour takes leave of his senses...
Ocean View Villa, Little Valentine, 18thJanuary 1816
Alice stared at Aubrey, and he almost laughed. He could read her thoughts as plain as day—he was jesting. Surely, hehadto be jesting. He could not seriously be proposing that he would accompany Alfie and break into a house to steal his mother’s diamonds back.
Setting her cup down for a second time, she took a breath and confirmed his suspicions. “I beg your pardon, Mr Seymour, I believe the events of the day have finally caught up with me. I had a most peculiar hallucination in which you suggested you would commit burglary with my brother.”
“It was no hallucination.” Any humour left him as he spoke. He needed her to understand he was utterly serious. “I want those diamonds back for my sister, and you’ll forgive me if I don’t trust Alfie to hand them over. I understand the job is a delicate one, and that I have no experience of such things, but I am willing to be guided, providing Alfie treats me honestly, or as honestly as he is capable of,” he added with a sarcastic bite to the words.
Miss Marwick got to her feet, forcing him to stand too. She looked so utterly appalled by the prospect Aubrey felt a stab of indignation. Did she think him inept?
“You do not know what you are proposing,” she said, regarding him like he’d suggested they overthrow the government and make him king. Certainly, the prospect appeared no less impossible in her eyes.
