When it arrived, Jack bowed to Lady Erina. “Safe journey.” He shook Harry’s hand. “And thank you for the evening clothes.”
“It was on our way. And was good to see you.” Harry raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Life has a funny way of surprising us. Never know where or when we might meet again.”
Jack grinned. “Beware of the leprechauns, Harry. They’ll steal your money as soon as look at you.”
Harry laughed, acknowledging Jack’s gentle jibe without revealing anything more about his intentions.Harry is playing a game with a closed hand, Jack thought as his friend climbed into the curricle and took up the reins. Perhaps he didn’t know himself.
Lady Erina appeared nervous as she called goodbye from her seat beside her false “cousin.”
Harry touched his hat in a salute. “Walk on,” he called, setting the fine pair of chestnuts trotting away in perfect unison down the drive.
Althea turned from waving farewell. “I like your friend Mr. Feather and hiscousinLady Erina.” She raised her eyebrows. “Poor Mama was too distracted to give their relationship any consideration. If she’d been herself, they would have been shown the door.”
Jack smiled down at her. “And me too.”
She laughed. “Oh, no, she likes you.”
“It’s not what it might seem. It’s complicated; I don’t fully understand what’s in Harry’s mind. But thank you for your generosity in overlooking it and accepting them.”
“It was the least I could do.” Her gaze took in his riding boots, his leather breeches, cream shirt open at the neck, and black, cotton waistcoat. “Incognito again, Jack?”
He nodded with an amused smile. “You have learned something of interest?”
“Yes. Mama tells me that my father’s valet has sworn that Father’s luggage was searched at our townhouse in Mayfair before it left London.”
Jack stared at her. “Was the valise in the coach with him?”
Althea shook her head. “It would have been searched too, but they failed to find the diary.”
“Then it must be someone in your father’s employ.” He paused. “No one was close enough to him to know of his habit of keeping the diary secreted in his valise. Not his secretary, at any rate.”
“It seems so.”
“What staff remains in London?”
“House staff? The butler, Yates, two footmen, the housekeeper, Mrs. Muffat, Cook and the kitchen staff, housemaids, and the majordomo, Mr. Thacker. Father employed him more than a year ago. It was before we went to France. Yates suffers from lumbago and would require help while Father was away. He has been with the family for many years and is soon to retire. Mr. Thacker runs the household with startling efficiency, but he often tries Yates’s and Mrs. Muffat’s patience.”
Jack nodded. “I’ll visit Butterstone Court.”
“I won’t delay you with questions. You can tell me all when we meet again.”
A groom appeared, leading Arion from the stables. The big chestnutswished his tail, eager to be off.
Jack buckled his portmanteau to the back of the saddle, then turned to her, wanting to kiss her goodbye. Instead, he kissed her hand.
Althea searched Jack’s eyes. “Take care, please.”
As he mounted Arion, a rider appeared on the carriage drive.
She shaded her eyes against the sun’s glare with a hand, watching as the man in footman’s garb rode closer. “He wears my uncle’s livery!”
The footman pulled the sweating horse to a stop and jumped down. He strode over to Althea, pulling a letter from his pocket. He held it out. “Good morning, Lady Althea. For Lady Butterstone.”
“Thank you.” Her gaze flew to Jack before she turned to the exhausted footman. “Cook will prepare you a meal after you’ve seen to your horse.”
With a deep bow, he led his horse away, but before he’d reached the corner, Althea had broken the seal of the letter. The paper wavered in her nervous fingers. She gasped. “My uncle has escaped his captors. He wishes to tell my mother that he is in good health and will explain as much as he can very soon.”
“What is Lord Caindale’s London address?”
