‘Oh, Harry’s father is very wealthy,’ Connie said, ingenuously.
Sebastian glared at her in the dark. She had been giggling with Fanny, evidence she may have imbibed one glass of wine too many.
‘Dempster is a full colonel on half pay. His father is hale and hearty and he has no expectations of improving his lot for some time,’ Sebastian retorted in a clipped tone.
‘Pity,’ Freddy said. ‘However, I am sure such a handsome and charming fellow will do well.’
‘And what about you, Freddy. Did you do well at the tables tonight?’ Sebastian enquired.
Freddy’s teeth gleamed in the darkness as he smiled. ‘Tolerably well.’
‘You seem to be having quite a bit of luck when I saw you,’ Matt interposed, in innocence of Sebastian’s knowledge of Freddy and Fanny’s connivance at cheating.
‘I am known to be lucky. There have been times when my skill with cards is all that has kept poor Fan and me from debtor’s prison,’ Freddy said with a heavy, theatrical sigh.
‘Just a week ’til our own ball,’ Fanny chirped, diverting the subject with surprising skill.
The high stock around Sebastian’s neck tightened. He slumped down in his seat with his arms crossed.
‘Oh!’ Connie exclaimed, her hand flying to her neck. ‘Oh, Sebastian, your necklace!’
‘What about it?’
He heard the edge of tears in his sister’s voice as she said, ‘It’s no longer around my neck. The catch must have broken.’
After a deal of fussing and checking of clothing and reticules,which ended with Connie in floods of tears, she concluded that it must have fallen off while she was dancing.
‘Oh, Bas,’ Connie wailed, falling into his arms. ‘The first pretty thing I have ever owned, and I lost it.’
‘I have no doubt one of Lady Kendall’s staff will find it,’ Sebastian said.
He patted her ineffectually on the back and smiled into the dark. The lost necklace gave him a good opportunity to return to Fairchild Hall the next day.
He had some questions for Lady Kendall about the night of Anthony’s death.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Sebastian dismounted from Pharaoh and handed the reins over to the Fairchild Hall stableboy, who ran out to meet him. Lady Kendall’s footman met him at the front steps and showed him into a small parlour that had not been open the previous evening. Lady Kendall reclined on a daybed in a loose, frothy robe of muslin and green ribbons.
A flush of embarrassment rose to his face. Even he knew a lady should never receive a man in such a state of ‘deshabille’.
‘My pardon, Lady Kendall,’ he said. ‘I could have sent one of my footmen on this mission.’
‘But you came yourself. How sweet.’
Lady Kendall waved at a chair and sent the footman away with an order for tea. She lifted the pearl necklace from a little box by her day bed.
‘Is this what you are seeking?’
‘Yes it is. Thank you.’
Lady Kendall let the necklace play through her fingers. ‘A pretty thing, but the clasp, alas, is broken.’
She passed it to Sebastian, who wrapped it in a handkerchief and stowed it in his pocket as the footman returned with a tea tray. Lady Kendall dismissed the man and poured for themboth. She lay back, placing a hand languorously across her brow.
‘I fear I am getting too old for parties.’
The cup rattled in Sebastian’s saucer as he set the dainty thing down on the table.
