Pendleton’s face registered surprise. “I do, yes… a little. I was not aware you had visited Florence.”
“Oh, I have never been outside England, and only a few counties of that, but Giovanni’s father visited here when I was a boy. He had Giovanni in tow, and being the only child of like age, I was delegated to amuse him while our elders were discussing… whatever weighty matter occupied their minds. So I took him riding and rabbiting and birds’ nesting and fishing, and taught him the optimum ways to torment the gamekeeper and poultry maid. We got on very well, despite his lack of English and mine of Italian. We managed with gestures and a few words of Latin or French. After he left, I diligently learnt Italian in order to be able to write to him and we have kept up a sporadic correspondence ever since. Very sporadic, given the state of the mail services on the continent. He remembers you very well, though. Says you are the most elegant fencer he has ever seen, a compliment I can easily second.”
“Grazie, Giovanni,”Pendleton said, with a smile that revealed an excellent set of teeth.
Jamie hesitated, but he could hardly stop now. “He knows nothing of your history, however. He says there was much speculation, but nothing definitive, so—”
Pendleton’s face changed so abruptly that Jamie wondered if her was about to be throttled.
“—you remain a man of mystery.” He licked his lips and rushed on. “Look, I know you have secrets, and you must have good reason for that. You are clearly a gentleman by birth, so I respect your desire to leave your past behind you, but… you have family somewhere, parents, perhaps, who grieve for you and wonder whatever became of you. Maybe you have sisters who light a candle for you on your birthday, and exchange remembrances of you as a boy. If ever you want to get a message to one of them, I can arrange that for you… secretly, without revealing your present name or whereabouts. I am not your enemy, you know.”
“Yes, you are,” he growled. “Everyone is my enemy. Except Lance. He is my friend because heasks no questions. Understand?”
And with that he strode from the room, leaving Jamie more determined than ever to find the answer to the mystery.
15: Unexpected Visitors
Lance was in his room, counting the coins in his purse and wondering whether he should make a foray into Brinchester for new neckcloths, when there came a rapid rat-a-tat-tat at the door, followed instantly by Charlotte’s head.
“Oh,thereyou are! At last! I have been all over the house looking for you.”
“Just as well for you I was not in a state of undress or you might have found more than you bargained for.”
She giggled. “Now, now, I know Pendleton is below stairs at the moment, so how could you be undressed? But come quickly!”
“What is the great crisis, Lottie?”
“She ishere!Now! This very minute!”
He sighed melodramatically. “And still I am none the wiser. Who is here?”
“Oh! How can you be so obtuse? Lady Patience, of course — with her brother and her mother, who looks like a bit of adragon. I should not likeherfor a mother-in-law, but I suppose there would be compensations. She is so lovely, Lance.”
“The marchioness?”
“Idiotic boy! Lady Patience!” She sighed even more theatrically than he had managed. “Sobeautiful! And blonde! I wish I were blonde, and as beautiful as she is.”
“Patience — here? Whatever for?”
“Really, Lance, surely even you can work it out, after that letter she wrote you. Since you would not go to her, she has come to you, as she cannot bear to be parted from you a moment longer. Quick, quick! She is in the Gold Chamber.”
Lance did not hurry. He was working out in his head how long ago his last letter would have reached her — four days, he thought, so she must have jumped into a carriage the very next day and set off to Brinshire. Heavens, was she so desperate that she must needs travel so far at the worst time of year? She could have found herself trapped by snow at some wayside inn.
The door to the Gold Chamber stood wide open, as footmen manoeuvred vast quantities of luggage, and maids bustled in and out with linens and ewers of steaming water. All Staineybank’s womenfolk stood either side of the door, ready to offer assistance or simply to ogle, it was hard to tell.
And there she was, his Patience, just disentangling her curls from a huge befeathered bonnet.
She squeaked when she saw him and raced across the room. “Lance! Oh, Lance, how wonderful to see you!”
“You took the words out of my mouth,” he said, opening his arms so that she could rush into them… which she did! Oh, this was a different Patience indeed! She had truly missed him. “What a delightful surprise,” he added, with sincerity.
The Merrington ladies sighed in romantic fellowship at this touching reconciliation.
More warily, Lance made his greeting to Lady Pentavon, who nodded an unsmiling acknowledgement, and to Lord Daniel Torbuck, who greeted him with unaccustomed heartiness.
“Shall we leave the ladies to settle in, eh, Chamberlain? I am sure you know where I can find something to drink.”
“There are drinks and a good fire in the library, Mr Chamberlain,” Lily murmured. Lance started a little, having not heard her approach. “Or the Blue Parlour, if you and Lord Daniel wish to talk privately.”
