‘I didn’t think you were actually trying very hard. Do you wish to speak of her?’ And then Simon’s cherubic face clouded over and he said, ‘If she is someone you think you could be… interested in, then Wyverne Hall is surely no place for her. LordWyverne himself is hardly respectable – and I understand that he has guests, and can all too easily imagine what manner of persons they must be. Are you concerned for her safety – is that why you look so troubled?’
Rafe didn’t answer him directly. He had no intention of telling him everything, but nor did he wish to lie. He said, ‘Last night Wyverne insisted, as you know he sometimes does, that my grandmother and her companion attend a dinner party he was holding. One of his guests did not let five minutes pass before he propositioned the young lady – Mademoiselle Delavallois.’
Simon exclaimed in horror, his innocent face creased with distress. ‘I am excessively sorry to hear that! Could you do anything at all to protect her?’
‘I wished to, naturally, but as matters turned out I did not need to. Mademoiselle Delavallois immediately threatened to stab the creature in the leg with a fork, and he was so convinced that she was serious that he left her alone after that. Of course she was obliged to suffer the company of Lady Wyverne and her cronies for a little while longer, as was my grandmother, but at last they both escaped unscathed.’
Mr Venables could not help but smile, though his brow was still furrowed. He shot Rafe a sharp glance. ‘You overheard the shocking insult that the poor young lady was forced to endure?’
‘I saw it from across the dinner table, and she told me afterwards how she had defended herself.’ Too late Rafe saw the neat trap that had been set for him. ‘Yes, Simon, we have conversed privately – several times, in fact. Was that what you desired to know?’
It was his friend’s turn to look disconcerted. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t mean to pry. Would it be inappropriate, or perhaps too hasty, if I said that I would be very happy if you brought this young lady here to meet Elizabeth and the children? I am surethey would be happy to know her, and it might be good for her to have friends nearby, if she should ever need them.’
Rafe gazed down into his brandy glass, swirling the golden liquid before he drank a little. ‘I know you’re concerned for me, and for her. But the situation is more complicated than I can possibly tell you, and – I don’t believe it’s a good idea. If I brought her here, everyone at Wyverne would soon know of it, and the last thing I want is to attract his attention – my father’s attention – to her. At present he barely seems to have noticed her existence, and I think I would prefer to keep it that way.’
‘You fear… Good heavens, Rafe, how much longer can you continue in this life? That a man should be worried that his own parent would force his attentions?—’
‘I know. That’s not precisely my concern, though, because he does not… It is very hard to speak of such things, but if I cannot say them to you, who in the world can I tell? In plain words, then, it is my understanding from what I have heard whispered by the servants that my father does not now lay hands upon a woman – not his wife, not anyone else. What he does do…’ Rafe picked up his glass again and drained it. ‘What he does do is watch. He watches others while they couple, he orders that they should do so for his entertainment. And so I do not fear direct harm to Mademoiselle Delavallois from him, but that does not mean I think her safe at Wyverne by any means.’
‘Good heavens! My dear fellow, what can I say? Of course, even I have heard stories…’ Simon murmured unhappily.
‘I dare swear they’re all true. Tonight he arranged that Lady Wyverne and some notorious ladybird from London should stage a reenactment of Messalina and Scylla’s famous contest, which you may recall from Suetonius. If you have not read it, my dear friend, I am sure even you must have heard of it.’
The rector gasped and grew pale. ‘I must believe you if you tell me so, but I confess I can scarcely credit it. That suchshocking things should happen in London I suppose I always knew, but that they should take place here in Buckinghamshire, in my own parish…’
Rafe laughed mirthlessly. ‘Come, Simon! The Hellfire Club became active here long before my father was born, so there is a history of such deeds in this area, though I am not aware that he ever attended its meetings. But I’m sure he did if he was able – can you seriously doubt it?’
‘West Wycombe is more than forty miles away!’ Mr Venables protested naively, as if the distance served as some protection.
‘Perhaps Sir Francis Dashwood’s doings there merely served as inspiration, then,’ Rafe said drily. ‘It hardly matters, after all. I don’t, in fact, have any evidence to suspect Wyverne of Satanism. The things I know he’s done are quite bad enough. Tonight… I feel events are moving to a crisis, Simon. He seems to have less and less restraint, and I have a sense of impending doom. I have wondered lately if he is… unwell in a specific fashion, as the promiscuous way he has lived makes all too possible, and his mind is affected by his malady. I need not go into greater detail, I’m sure. But I don’t see what in the world I can do about any of it.’
The rector was plainly deeply troubled by all he heard, and did not think to tell Rafe that his fears were foolish. ‘I can see that there is sadly little that can be done. You could take the young lady away, that’s one thing – bring her here, perhaps.’
‘Thank you. But there is also my grandmother to consider. I cannot leave her unprotected. You must see that.’
Simon said dubiously, ‘Perhaps your father would not now object…’
Rafe shook his head. ‘He’s told her a thousand times that he will never let her go. She believes him to be entirely serious, and she must know him best. I would have had her safe with me years ago if it were otherwise. And I might risk incurringhis grave displeasure for her sake, and steal her away, if it were not for the fact that I have Charles and Amelia to think of. You know he would have the full weight of the law on his side if he ever took it into his head to take them back. I am just their half-brother. He is their father, and a man of great power. Thank heaven they are not here just now to be drawn into the crisis I sense is coming. Is it a sin, tell me, reverend sir, to wish for another person’s death, and that person one’s own father?’
‘My conscience tells me it must be,’ said his friend sadly. ‘But I cannot find it in my heart to reproach you for it. I can only pray that you are wrong and that matters can reach some happy conclusion without any further pain being caused to anyone, though I confess I cannot imagine how this might come to pass.’
And you do not know all, thought Rafe grimly. You do not know the full depths of Wyverne’s depravity, nor Rosanna’s, and you know nothing at all of what Sophie did tonight, and the terrible danger she faces as a result. ‘Nor me,’ he said tersely. ‘Nor anyone. Pour me some more brandy, would you?’
22
It was quite late the next morning when the theft was discovered. Sophie had risen at her normal hour and was with the Dowager, reading quietly – she wasn’t paying a great deal of attention to what she read and she didn’t think Delphine was either, but they were both by tacit agreement working hard at pretending everything was normal – when Marchand appeared with William. They both looked pale, and Marchand, normally a woman of great self-possession, appeared almost flustered. ‘I have been sent to summon you, madame, mademoiselle. William is here to carry you.’ She spoke in English, which in general she did not, as if to make sure she could not later be accused of sharing secrets.
‘This is most unusual,’ responded her employer coolly in the same language, raising an eyebrow. ‘Has something occurred to upset the household?’
‘I am not to say anything,’ Marchand replied woodenly. ‘Monsieur himself instructed me.’
‘Very well,’ Delphine replied. ‘Come, Sophie, set down your book. The Vicomte de Valmont will have to wait for us, it seems.I dare say it will do him good, the scoundrel. William – I am all yours.’
He didn’t raise a smile this time, and it was a solemn little procession that made its way downstairs. Sophie shot Marchand a questioning glance, but the woman merely shook her head emphatically and would not speak.
The whole household staff, as far as Sophie could tell, including people she’d never set eyes on before, was assembled in the Marble Saloon. The empty wine glasses, the spoiled food and all the rest of the debris from the party had been cleared away, but the great throne on its dais was still there, and the beds also remained, crumpled and sordid in the clear morning light that streamed in through the great oculus above. William looked about him a little wildly, but there was no other chair, so he was obliged to carry the Dowager to the throne and set her gently in it. He hurried away to join his fellow footmen where they stood, and Sophie, with Marchand, went to the old lady’s side, so that she would not be entirely alone. I’ve caused all this, she thought. I believed I’d gone into it with my eyes open, but… what have I done? Her heart was racing.
Lord Wyverne stood to one side, and Lady Wyverne next to him. There was a space around them, as if no one dared approach, and they were not touching each other. Their guests were nowhere to be seen. Rosanna didn’t look as though she’d been to her own bed – her hair was still dishevelled and she was very pale, but someone had brought her a robe, and the flimsy fabric with which Sophie had covered her lay discarded on the floor in a pool of stark red on the white marble. It looked like blood.
