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"Then one more will do us no injury."

Elizabeth rested her good hand over his. She could remember his blood upon her handkerchief seven years earlier and the determination that had kept her kneeling beside him. She had never then imagined that one injured stranger would become the father she chose.

"I do not wish to be brave every day," she confessed.

"Then do not be. You are permitted an ordinary Tuesday without saving anyone, investigating anything, or arguing with Richard."

"The last requirement is impossible."

"Yes," the Earl said. "I feared it might be."

Outside, the street lamps shone upon the carriages passing in the rain. Somewhere among the coachmen and merchants of London was a man who knew why Jonas Pike had been sent down the wrong road. Elizabeth did not yet know his name, but she was certain the answer belonged to more than a moment's bad judgment.

CHAPTER 26

A Familiar Name

The office of Matthew Voss occupied a narrow building behind a coaching yard where horses were kept warm, grooms were rarely idle, and accounts received the consideration ordinarily reserved for noble visitors. When Saye arrived with Darcy and a clerk acting on behalf of the magistrate, the owner was absent. A younger man in a neatly brushed coat came forward from behind a desk and asked what business had brought them.

"We wish to speak with Mr. Voss concerning a coachman he supplied to Whitcomb and Sons," Saye said. "Jonas Pike."

The young man's expression changed. It was not fear, precisely, but the alarm of someone whose first thought was that an important ledger might have been mislaid.

"Mr. Pike was engaged for a journey on the fifth of September," he said. "Is there difficulty with the invoice?"

"There is difficulty with the journey. I am Lord Saye. This gentleman is Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Harcourt attends in connection with the inquiry being made by the magistrate. I should prefer not to trouble you with anything beyond the records and facts you know."

"My name is Finch, my lord. I keep the smaller accounts for Mr. Voss."

Finch showed them the ordinary hire book. It contained the receipt from Whitcomb and Sons, the date of Pike's substitution, and the charge for his employment. The transaction appeared unremarkable. Saye asked when Voss had learned that Whitcomb required a spare driver.

"Three or four days before the journey, my lord. Their yard clerk sent word. Mr. Voss had already said that Pike was available."

"Had he?" Darcy asked. "Before the request came?"

Finch hesitated. "I remember because it struck me as fortunate. We do not often have idle men when a large firm requires one on short notice. Mr. Voss told me Pike should be held for that particular day."

Saye kept his voice even. "Does Mr. Voss usually reserve men in anticipation of orders?"

"When he expects custom, yes. But I did not know that Whitcomb would need a driver until their man called."

"And Mr. Voss himself? Where may we find him?"

"He went out early. He has not told me when he will return."

Finch glanced toward the private office. Darcy noticed the glance and asked whether Mr. Voss was often away without leaving an address. The clerk admitted that his employer had been unusually restless since the coach overturned. He had demanded news of the accident, then declared that he knew nothing of Pike's present whereabouts.

"Has he spoken of the injured ladies?" Darcy asked.

"He asked whether they had been carried home," Finch answered. "I told him what the Whitcomb clerk had said. Mr. Voss became very angry with me for repeating gossip."

Mr. Harcourt wrote the answer down. Saye did not ask to open the private office or search it without authority. Instead, he requested copies of the ordinary entries and invited Finch to give his account before the proper magistrate. The clerk agreed, though uneasily.

As they were leaving, Finch hurried after them with one final question.

"My lord, if Mr. Pike is found, will he be made to answer for the broken coach?"

"For more than the coach, if the evidence warrants it," Saye said.