“Exactly.”
He muttered an exasperated curse.
“Very well. We will head over to this house as soon as you are ready, and take a look. We will only see what is what. We will not confront him about your mother. Hopefully we will not even see him. I will go so you can”—he gestured to the garments—“do whatever it is you do with those.”
* * *
Gabriel called for Vincent and quizzed him closely about those holes. It would be a hell of a thing if he or Amanda fell into one in the dark.
“You must ride back,” he said before sending Vincent away. “Find Stratton and Brentworth on the road. Tell them where we are staying. Say I request they meet us here after following the dagger to its destination.”
“I will leave at once, sir. I’ll ride through the night if need be.”
After sending Vincent off, he went down and told the coachman to prepare at once for a short journey. “Only a pair. We don’t want to sound like a mail coach on the road, and it is not far.”
By the time he had made his own preparations, Amanda had completed hers. He met her on the landing near their doors. She wore a dark, shapeless dress and carried an odd straw hat. She had pulled her hair into a tight roll on her crown.
She handed him a small cloth packet. “I will have no reticule, and no pocket if I remove this dress.”
He felt long, thin bulges inside the cloth. “Tools of the trade?”
“A few.”
“I said we would only take a look.”
“Thieves are always prepared for any opportunities.”
“There will be no opportunities this evening. I mean it, Amanda.”
She started down the stairs. “Of course, Gabriel. I accept that. Truly, I do.”
* * *
They left the carriage on the road a half mile from Mr. Yarnell’s house, not far past the village of Sudlairy, where Vincent said the inn was not suitable.
“Do you want to walk beside an unattractive and oddly formed woman, or beside a youth?” Amanda asked before leaving the carriage. “I recommend the youth. I can walk easier that way if it is farther than we anticipate.”
Gabriel looked like a man not happy with the choice given him. He rolled his eyes with exasperation. “The youth, then.”
She began stripping off the dress. “You might make a few alterations too. Find a way to appear less ducal, if that is possible.” She reached over and ruined the creases in his cravat and set the knot askew. “Hopeless. I should have advised you on what to pack, I can see. We don’t want any passerby to raise the word that a lord strolls down the lane, do we?”
He stepped out of the carriage and offered his hand. “I doubt anyone will notice.”
She knew him to be wrong, but did not argue.
She jammed the hat on her head. With a word to the coachman, they set off down the road.
Gabriel looked her over from head to toe. “That is what you wore when you broke into Sir Malcolm’s house.”
“Not these boots.”
“Ah, I forgot. Different footwear.”
“Don’t look at me like that. I could hardly make that jump in a dress, now could I?”
“So if you had been caught, you would have been wearing a shirt and pantaloons and a pair of slippers.”
“No shoes at all. You can’t get good toeholds in boots or any shoe that I know of. If you had ever attempted such a thing you would know that.”
