“I am serious,” he protested. “Have you ever met boys of that age? Absolute savages, every one of them. It was vile. I made up my mind I wasn’t going to stay, so I left. I walked home—quite thirty miles. I thought Father would be glad to see me, or at least give me a little credit for my initiative and pluck. Instead, he packed me off to a wretched boys’ school in Ireland. And the only thing worse than adolescent boys are nuns,” he added with a shudder. “They were determined to beat the devil out of me, and they damn near succeeded. But I bided my time until Father sent me to London to read law, the dullest of all the occupations. He handed me my allowance for the quarter as well as money for my lodgings and expenses, and it was the most money I had ever seen in my life. It was enough for three months’ training to be a lawyer, or one great, magnificent gamble. I wanted to see the world, so that is what I did. I might have signed on as a deckhand, working the ships that haul freight, but it seemed like devilishly hard work. And terrible for the complexion,” he added with a grin. “So I used Father’s money and booked first-class passage on a ship bound for New York. And it was on that voyage that I discovered my true talent.”
“Cheating at cards?” I guessed.
He flapped a hand. “Anyone can do that. It is a skill, not a gift. No, my gift is an intuitive one. It is the ability to see what people want to believe and giving it to them.”
I stared at him across the narrow compartment and his gaze was unwavering. “That is indeed your talent,” I agreed.
“I ought never have used it against you, but believe me, Veronica, I was fooling myself far more than I was deceiving you.”
“How?”
“I believed, I hoped, I could be satisfied with normality. I wanted to be... content. It seemed a reasonable thing to want, but it has always eluded me.”
“Because your contentment so often comes at the expense of others,” I pointed out.
His mocking smile returned. “You see? I am right to think poorly of myself. But sometimes, occasionally, I think about that hope of normality, and I dream of it when all other dreams are lost to me.”
“What does it look like, this dream of normality?” I asked gently.
“A house, not a large one. Just a house, solid and plain. But facing the sea.”
“Which sea?”
“It does not matter. The sea is the sea wherever you go. I want only to sit and watch the wind on the waves and feel small for a while. I want to feel my own insignificance.”
“Then why do you not do that?” I pressed. “Surely you have possessed sufficient resources?”
“It has never been the right time,” he said. There was no evasion in his glance, but it would have meant nothing even if there had been. Harry was skilled enough in deception that he could squarely meet one’s gaze with a lie on his lips. “I have some money put aside. I have spent the last two years trying to retrieve my nest egg, such as it is. But one thing after another has interfered, and so I am still here, adrift as you see me.” He grinned suddenly. “Do not look so sad, sweet Veronica. Someday very soon, I will have my little nest egg once more in my grasp. And when I do, I shall be master of my own fate at last.”
“I hope so,” I told him.
“Do you mean that?” He cocked his head, his eyes bright.
“Almost.”
“Progress then,” he said in a more cheerful tone. “And now, look lively, love. We have arrived.”
CHAPTER
28
We alighted at the station to find the place entirely deserted. The dozing clerk had closed his window for the night and drawn the shade. No one else got off the train and we were not followed as we struck out once more across the fields. I had brought a packet of vestas, but there was no need. The full moon still hung low in the sky, a trifle less brilliant than in Devon but illumination enough to guide our way. The windows of the villa were dark, and as we drew near, I gripped Harry’s hand.
“If they have gone—” I began, scarcely daring to give voice to the possibility that they might have taken Stoker away.
“They won’t have gone,” Harry promised. “Isabel wants that diamond far too much, I am certain of it. There is black cloth tacked over the windows to prevent light from showing through. See there? That is the room Isabel has fitted as a sort of boudoir for herself. You can just make out the glow of light around the edges of the cloth. Now, be quiet,” he urged, guiding me towards the coal cellar doors. They had been left open when we made our escape, but they were closed now, the rope knotted clumsily through the handles.
“Ha!” He turned to me with an air of triumph. “I tossed the lockinto the shrubbery and that oaf Göran has not found it. He could do no better than the rope, and we shall make quick work of it,” he promised. He bent to the knots and mastered them in short order, securing one end whilst I eased one of the doors back a fraction. A warm bar of lamplight fell upon my face. A single lamp hung in the cellar, just enough light to see the dark form at the base of the column.
The rush of emotion I felt at seeing Stoker once more was indescribable. I had to restrain myself from hurtling through the doors like a force of nature. Instead, I opened them carefully, taking the rope from Harry and playing it out silently through the opening so that it fell without a whisper of sound. As the rope wavered in front of him, Stoker lifted his head. A gash on his forehead had bled furiously, and one of his eyes was swollen shut.
But through the blood and bruises, he smiled, and I found myself grinning broadly as I swung out onto the rope. A lash of pain seared my ribs and I almost fell until Harry grabbed hold of me, wrapping his body around mine and grasping the rope.
“Move with me,” he ordered. “Right foot down to the next knot. Just like that, I have you. I won’t let you fall. Now the left.” Harry was slighter of build than Stoker, and his arms trembled with the effort, but he held me firm and helped me to the bottom. I dropped the last two feet, landing with a painful jar. I dropped to my knees at Stoker’s side.
“Thank heaven,” he said lightly, “the cavalry has come.”
I surveyed his face. “It could be worse,” I murmured.
