“Yes, of course. But you cannot see him alone. I’ll come with you.”
“Now you must not be Gothic, dear. Johnson will wait in the hall, and I am very sure one of Rossiter’s people will not attack me. You know you are anxious about August. Do you run along, and I shall be up directly to change my dress.”
Katrina hesitated, looking dubiously at the shabby individual who waited in the hall behind Johnson. It was very clear that Naomi wished to talk to the man alone, however, and she really was rather worried about her brother, so she nodded and hurried off.
Hat in hand, Mr. Tummet followed Naomi along the hall, his one functioning eye taking in the luxury all about him, and his lips registering a silent “Cor!” as he was shown into the elegant red and gold parlour.
“Remember your manners, my good man,” adjured the footman in a lofty aside.
“I’ll try, me good cove,” said Tummet, dropping him a clumsy and exaggerated curtsy.
Naomi stifled a laugh. The footman gave Tummet a frigid glare, and took up a position outside the door.
“Well now,” said Naomi, seating herself on a gold brocade sofa. “Were you given a satisfactory meal, Mr.—er, Tummet?”
“Thankee, yus milady. Fork and gaiters.” Noting her puzzled look, he grinned broadly. “Pork and taters, to you, ma’am. Most ample to me innards they was, and more’n welcome arter being on the road all night. E. Tummet thanks you kindly fer the ’orspitality.”
Amusement danced into Naomi’s eyes. ‘A proper rascal,’ she thought. ‘But an engaging one.’ She indicated a straight-backed chair. “Pray be seated. You must be tired.”
He sat down gingerly. “Orl right, ma’am, though I ain’t dressed fer it. I’ll get on me way, if you’ll be so very kind as to tell me where ’e is.”
“Me? I am confused. Do you not work for Captain Rossiter?”
“No, melady. I’m a guard. Or was. I was ’ired to guard Promontory Point ’til the Courts make up their minds what to do wiv it.”
“I see.” She was vaguely disappointed. “I had thought you came with a message for me.”
“Well, that’s right, in a manner o’speaking, ma’am. The message is from E. Tummet. And it says, ‘Please to ’elp ’im find Cap’n Rossiter,’ on account of which gent I lost me sovereign nation—er, sittyation, that is, melady. And got one o’ me daylights darkened.”
Mystified, and groping, Naomi said, “Captain Rossiter caused you to lose your situation? And er…?”
Tummet jerked a thumb at his face and explained patiently, “Me daylight, ma’am. Me orb—or ogle.”
“Oh! Your eye! So that’s what ‘a darkened daylight’ means! The captain gave you a black eye!”
“Not ’im, melady. Them other coves what come arter ’im and the lieutenant ’ad sloped orf. Knocked me abaht something awful they done, then searched the premises fer something Cap’n Rossiter ’ad, what ’e shouldn’t oughter.”
Naomi frowned. “I will own Captain Rossiter’s character leaves much to be desired. But—I cannot think him a thief.”
“And ’ow right you are, melady,” said Tummet, beaming at her. “A fine gent, if ever I see one. But them coves, they kept carrying on about ‘the Squire.’ The Squire said as it musta bin Rossiter, they says. And they better find it, or it would go ’ard with ’em. And ’cause I didn’t know what they was a talking of, they went ’ard withme,they did! And then they started searching about, and by the time they was done searching, you’d’a thought fifty-nine bulls ’ad been chasing one o’ they Spanish matty-doors through the ’ouse!”
“Good gracious! Do you say they ransacked Promontory Point?”
He eyed her doubtfully. “As to that, I couldn’t say, ma’am. But they fair tore it to shreds, and I knowed if they still didn’t find what they was looking fer, they’d come arter me agin. So I managed to creep orf and I ’id, ma’am. ’Til they sloped. But not long arterwards, ’oo should come riding in but the gent what ’ired me. Cor! Was ’e in a me-and-you—er, that means—”
“Let me guess,” said Naomi, fascinated by her first exposure to rhyming cant. “Me-and-you… hmm. Stew?”
“That’s it, melady. We’ll ’ave you talking the King’s English yet! But the thing is y’see, my gent blamesmefer all the mess. And so I loses me—”
“Sovereign nation—situation,” she interpolated, gaining confidence.
He nodded. “Yus’m.”
“And you feel that since all this took place in Captain Rossiter’s home, because of some mischief he’d been about, he is responsible.”
“Well—I asks you,” said Tummet, giving her a pontifical look. “Put yerself in my shoes. Proper case of nobly siege, I calls it.”
Here, Naomi was out of her depth, and it took a moment for her to translate. “Noblesse oblige!Yes, of course. You are quite justified, and you may tell Captain Rossiter that in my opinion he should hire you himself, to make amends for having placed you in so unenviable a position.” She scanned her disreputable-looking caller, and added with exquisite enjoyment, “As—his valet, perhaps.”
