Page 78 of The Undaunted
“A treasure, I think you’ve said,” Lady Redfield added.
Lady Easton finally noticed that Lady Featherstone had not said a word since she’d arrived and in fact appeared to be dozing off. The lady absentmindedly fingered her beloved emerald brooch and her eyelashes fluttered.
“Anne,” she said. “What has made you so tired that you are nodding off in my drawing room?”
Lady Featherstone roused herself and said, “It’s the fisherman’s missing nets. I was on to some clues and following them right to the end but as it turns out, Dr. Merrigan was not the thief.”
“Dare I ask,” the duchess said, “why a physician would make off with fishing nets?”
“He recommends fresh fish to all his patients,” Lady Featherstone said. “He says it strengthens the blood. I thought, how is one to get fish without a net? I did some sleuthing and asking around and it was confirmed that Dr. Merrigan has never been known to have nets. Then I instantly deduced he would have need of them. So why not buy them? Perhaps his practice was suffering because he was always recommending fish but had none to give. It all started to fall into place.”
Lady Easton did her best not to allow her eyes to roll back in her head.
“As it happens,” Lady Featherstone went on, “he just tells his patients to go buy fish, as he informed me directly in the strongest terms. Rude terms, if I do say so. In any case, I had to start over and I studied my list of clues until dawn. I am determined to get to the bottom of it and report my findings at the criminal society next season. The fisherman who lost the nets has said I ought to give it up, but I said no sir, I will have my man!”
Nobody cared to comment on Lady Featherstone’s unique deductions, not even Lady Redfield, who almost always could think up something pleasant to say.
“Well ladies,” the duchess said with her usual vigor and practicality, “I suggest we view this outcome as a success. We were faced with the herculean task of launching a girl in Brighton and we did it. Our goal was to get Miss Upton creditably married, and she is engaged to an eminently suitable gentleman.”
Clara sighed. It was all well and good for the duchess to view the thing with equanimity. But for herself, it was a blow. First, her husband had transformed himself into someone difficult to manage. Now, her dependable nephew planned to transform himself too. It meant that she’d lost one of just two people who understood her attachment to clocks and schedules. Now, it was down to only her and Bramley to carry on and keep the world in order.
*
Bramley took LadyEaston’s advice and dosed himself rather liberally with laudanum. It was as effective as she had claimed, and he felt his spirits returning.
It was true that he had failed to stop Lord Bertridge from daring the dark and dangerous streets of Brighton.
It was true that he’d drunk a glass of brandy though the stuff always seemed to strike him hard.
It was true that he’d got maudlin in the drawing room and told Kingston about his dear departed mother.
It was true he’d suddenly cheered up and allowed Kingston to help him to his room as he found he could not get there under his own power.
It was very unfortunately true that he had vague recollections of laying in his bed and singingA Fox May Steal Your Hens, SirandThe Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington.
And of course it was true that he had a rather loud singing voice and so might have serenaded the entire staff.
However, it was also true that Lord Bertridge had not been robbed, killed in the streets, or pressganged onto a pirate ship. It was also true that nobody in the house would think much about his own activities with all tongues wagging about Miss Upton and Lord Bertridge.
And mostly it was true that the clocks were in order and a pineapple had been served.
Whatever had occurred the night before, nobody could take that from him. He was the server of a pineapple, and always would be.
*
Richard had postedthe letter to her father, which he had stayed up late writing. Between kisses in the breakfast room, Caroline had peeked at it before he sealed it. It was just as formal as anyone would imagine Lord Bertridge to write. Her fine qualities were extolled in laborious fashion, he described his seriousness about marriage and his ability to properly care for a wife. He proposed exceedingly generous terms regarding pin money and a jointure amount that far exceeded her dowry. Further, his estate was not entailed and he planned to set aside a sizable portion of it in case he died before there was an heir.
It was practical and thoughtful and it was Bertie through and through. She suspected her father would be delighted with it. Baron Dunn had sent his daughter away so that she might meet a more elevated fellow than a stable hand, and she presented him with a most elevated fellow indeed.
They’d since ridden past the church and Caroline admitted that Richard had indeed spotted her that one day. But he’d not spotted her on the other days that she’d been there with her maid. She had viewed him shirtless any number of times.
He was not cross about it, and only said, “I knew it.”
They’d since made a mad gallop across an expansive sheep down with those creatures grazing across the green and not bothering to look up. Mr. Landon might have had an interest in horses, but Bertie was a master on horseback. Her father would be further pleased with that.Shewas very pleased with that.
They stopped under an old chestnut tree and Richard unpacked the panniers.
After the picnic was laid and the wine was poured, Caroline said, “I must admit, I always did think that I aggravated you.”
