‘I did and I point to this as proof of how different you are. You never laughed at me in Arrandale.’
‘No.’
‘Has being in London made you so much happier?’
‘I was not unhappy in Arrandale,’ she said quickly. ‘Merely in need of a holiday.’
‘Are you regretting your betrothal to Sir Loftus?’
‘Not at all.’
Her answer was a little too quick. He said, ‘But you do not love him.’
‘You know I do not. But there is affection and respect. That is a good foundation for a happy marriage.’
Perhaps, thought Wolf. It was certainly something he had never had in his own marriage.
‘You said you needed my help,’ she prompted him.
‘Yes.’ Where to begin? Now it came to the moment he was loath to continue, to embroil her in his sordid affairs.
‘We are alone here, sir, you can speak freely now. Perhaps you should start by telling me what you have been doing for the past two weeks.’
‘Perhaps I should. The day I left you I went first to the city, to see my lawyers. Old Mr Baylis was on the point of retiring when I married. His son has now taken over and he is a very different character, I could see that the moment I walked into his office. He would not have acknowledged me, but his two clerks recognised me instantly. He has sworn he will not inform upon me, but I do not know if I believe him. However, I am still a free man at the moment and I have instructed him to draw up papers giving my brother power of attorney. I shall also write to Richard, telling him of the matter, so the rascally lawyer cannot worm out of it.’
They stopped while the pug relieved himself against a convenient bush.
‘So three more people now know you are in England.’
‘Many more than that. As soon as I arrived in town I looked up my old valet, Kennet. His brother owns a tavern in Bench Lane so he was not difficult to track down. Fortunately he was unhappy with his current situation and delighted to give notice and join me. I also discovered my tailor and my barber are still in business and visited them, but I am confident they will not give me away.’ He glanced down at Nelson, who was sniffing at his new Hessians and leaving a slobbery trail across their shiny surface. ‘The bootmaker was a different matter. The staff there were all unknown to me, so I thought it prudent to be Mr Peregrine, a rich gentleman from the country, intent on cutting a dash in town.’
And he will certainly do that, thought Grace as they began to stroll on again. Today she had hardly known him for the same man. With his cutaway coat that fitted without a crease across his shoulders, pale pantaloons, tasselled Hessians and a tall beaver hat set at a rakish angle on his head, he looked the epitome of a man of fashion. She had seen any number of them in town, but in her opinion none had looked quite so handsome. She was glad that in the transformation he had not allowed his barber to cut his thick dark hair into the famous Brutus crop, she liked the way it curled over his collar.
Grace quickly pulled herself up. What was she thinking? His appearance was nothing to her. Just as her new style of dress could mean nothing to him. She had objected strongly when Aunt Eliza had taken her to the fashionable modistes in Bond Street, but her aunt had been very persuasive, telling her that it was her duty to look her best.
‘A man wants to be proud of his wife, Grace. Soon you will no longer be the parson’s daughter, but Lady Braddenfield, a prominent member of the local society. Your neighbours will expect you to bring a little town bronze to Hindlesham. You must not disappoint them.’
To every argument Grace put forward her aunt had an answer and to her final protest, that Aunt Eliza should not be spending her own money on such finery for her niece, she had responded with a clincher.
‘And what else should I spend it on, pray? I give generously to charity and I am a great supporter of the Foundling Hospital, but it is not the same as havingfamily. You will be doing me a kindness, my love. I have no children of my own to spend my money on, no one except Nelson, and there are only so many diamond-studded collars one can buy for a pug.’
Grace pulled on that diamond-studded collar now as she dragged her attention back to the reason she was walking here with Wolfgang Arrandale.
‘And how does your turning into a man of fashion affect me, sir?’
‘It doesn’t. At least, I needed to smarten myself up. A fashionable gentleman attracts little attention in Bond Street. From the servants at Arrandale I had learned that my wife’s dresser, Annie Meesden, bought a milliner’s shop there. She told them her uncle had died and left her some money. No one knew quite where the shop was and it took me a week to discover that she is no longer there. The shop failed within a year and Meesden was forced to find work again as a lady’s maid. Luckily the registry office that she approached keeps very good records and I was able to trace her to a house in Arlington Street, the home of an elderly widow, one Mrs Payne.
‘The problem is, Miss Duncombe, I have been unable to learn anything more. Mrs Payne’s staff are very tight-lipped. None of them will impart any information at all, either out of loyalty or for fear of losing their position. Short of keeping vigil outside the house in the hopes of seeing Meesden I am at a stand.’
‘Could you not write to this Mrs Payne, or ask your lawyer to do so?’ she suggested.
‘I did. I sent a letter, posing as Mr Peregrine, which received a terse reply to the effect that Mrs Payne does not correspond with unknown gentlemen and to approach her son, who deals with all her household affairs. I duly wrote to the fellow, only to receive a note from his secretary, saying he is on business in Scotland and will be out of town for several months.’
‘And this is why you require a lady of, er, unimpeachable reputation. To contact Mrs Payne.’
‘You have it precisely, ma’am.’
‘No doubt your acquaintance with such ladies is limited,’ she murmured.
