The Black Mask (18 page)

“Nothing, miss.”

Aunt Paige sat down with a thump. “Nothing?”

“We apprehended something was amiss before the culprit breached the house, my lady. The tweeny, while taking far too long to finish the dishes, glimpsed a mysterious personage slinking through the garden. By the time it occurred to her to inform the cook, the miscreant had opened one of the windows. We believe he was alarmed by the cook’s screams and beat a retreat. We found a small crust of mud on the runner in the hall.”

“So he did enter the house! How can you be certain nothing was stolen?”

“I took the liberty of instructing your maid to take an inventory of all your jewels.”

Rose gasped and turned it deftly into a cough. Aunt Paige was too distracted to notice, but Rose thought Hurst gave her a calculating glance.

“I myself counted the silver. Not a single piece is missing. It is my belief the thief did not penetrate any farther into the house than the lower hall.”

“But the bruise on your forehead,” Aunt Paige said.

He felt the mark gingerly. “The cook suffered an attack of hysteria, my lady, and seemed to suspect me of being a housebreaker in disguise.”

“Oh, dear,” Aunt Paige said. “I hope you were able to reassure her.”

“Regrettably, my lady, I was not. She has intimated her intention to quit your service this very night.”

This was a greater calamity than an army of looters. “I had better have a word with her.”

“Indeed, my lady.” He hefted himself to his feet as she hurried out.

“I’m surprised my brother didn’t help you. Or wasn’t he at home, Hurst?”

“Yes, miss. But he heard nothing. I didn’t wish to disturb him in order to receive his instructions, and believe it would not have availed anyway.” A glint in the otherwise impassive man’s eye told Rose volumes.

“Is he very much the worse for drink?”

“Yes, miss.”

“Very well. I’ll not trouble him, either, though he’ll be miserable that he missed all the excitement.”

Hurst cleared his throat as she went to the door. “If I may ... another word, miss.”

‘Yes, Hurst? You should lie down; I feel certain you have a headache.”

“Indeed I have, miss.” He reached into his pocket and brought out a somewhat crumpled piece of paper.

Rose colored as the butler smoothed the paper between his hands. “Lucy found this in your jewel box.”

Taking the paper from him, Rose saw that the monogrammed wafer on the back was still stuck down fast, quite undisturbed. “I can explain ...” she began.

The mark on his brow in no way detracted from the butler’s tremendous natural dignity. He held up one hand. “Explanations are unnecessary. However, should you wish to contact the Black Mask again, please do so outside the house. Thank you.”

“Thank you. I doubt I will have cause.”

The butler defrosted. “Lucy won’t say anything about your message, miss. Neither will I.”

“Girlish folly, Mr. Hurst, that’s all.”

In her room, she undressed for bed in a bitter mood. It seemed as though her one chance to achieve contact with the Black Mask had f ailed due to a tweeny’s procrastination. She’d built her hopes too high that the Black Mask would attempt to steal the Malikzadi. She knew, however, her disappointment stemmed more from his trying to steal it while she was not at home. She’d hoped to see him again to discover not only if he’d steal back Rupert’s vowels from Sir Niles but also to learn if he’d stolen a kiss from her.

Setting her mind firmly, even grimly, on sleep, Rose tucked her hands under her cheek. She heard the clock strike the quarter hour, but not the half.

What woke her, however, was not the clock. When she’d first come to town, every time she entered her bedroom, she would step on a single loose board. Soon she avoided it without thought. Now, in the midst of a dream, she heard the strange creaky rattle of that loose board. Pushing herself up on her elbow, she blinked into the darkness. “Lucy? Aunt Paige?”

She reached out to uncover the shaded candle on her bedside table.

Suddenly sleep fled. “Oh, it’s you,” she said.

The black-clad man in her room froze. Perhaps he’d never heard such a soft, welcoming tone from any of his other victims.

“I wish you hadn’t woken up,” he said. “I swear I’m thinking this crib is cursed. I never had such trouble in my life.” His hoarse voice definitely had a tinge of the lower orders, though an occasional flourish of language showed he had ambition above his station.

“There’s a loose board in the floor near the door,” Rose told him. “I couldn’t help waking up.”

“Well, that’s your bad luck.”

“Bad luck? No, I’m pleased. I want to talk to you.”

“Talk to me? You should be screaming the place down ‘round my ears.”

He dressed all in black, just as all the masqueraders had surmised. Like her mysterious masked man, he wore riding breeches and unpolished boots. For the rest, his black shirt hung loose, open at the throat. Over his mouth and jaw, he’d wound a black muffler. His eyes gleamed like burning onyx between the muffler and the brim of his hat, pulled low over his brow.

As she lay there on her side, even though the coverlet was pulled up under her arms, Rose saw a greater fire come into his eyes. “T-turn around,” she said. “If you please.”

“Why should I?”

“So I may put on my dressing gown. It’s ridiculous trying to carry on a conversation like this.”

“I like it,” he said. How could she tell he wore a grin when his lower face was hidden? Nevertheless, a grin had come into his tone.

“I said, If you please.”

He twitched his shoulders in what might have been a shrug, but he turned his face away.

“Not there,” Rose hastened to add. “There’s a mirror in that corner.”

“I’ll cover my eyes then, eh? While you sneak up behind me and hit me over the head with the vase? No, thanks; I’ve had some o’ that before now.”

“I promise I’m only going to put on something decent.”

Hastily, she threw on the regrettably plain wrapper. It was all wrong for a girl doing a dashing and daring thing like entertaining a notorious criminal in her bedroom. She wished she had one like Aunt Paige’s, all but transparent lawn covered with lavish amounts of lace. But all she had was cashmere in a sad color with brown net trimming she’d made herself last winter. Made to fasten up to her throat, one could praise it for being warm, practical, and hard-wearing, but it was far from alluring.

“Where’s your jewel case?” he asked, facing the wall.

“It’s not here,” Rose lied. “After your earlier attempt to break in, the butler moved everything. I don’t know where he’s hidden it.” She only wished she’d thought of it, but never suspected he might try twice on the same night.

“A pity. Is it safe?”

“Safe?”

“To turn around.”

“Oh, yes, I’m sorry.”

He turned and looked her over in a way that made the cashmere feel as sheer as lawn. He even looked at her bare feet, which shrank back behind the folds of fabric like snails retreating into their shells. “Charming,” he said, starting to cough again.

“Are you quite well?” she asked, coming around the foot of the bed.
“
You
shouldn’t be out in the night air if you have a cough.”

“Don’t worry about me,” he said, his voice roughening again. ‘You said you wanted to talk to me. Make it quick. I can’t stay; it’s too dangerous.”

“How did you break in a second time?” Rose asked. “I felt sure Hurst would lock up with special care.”

“He did. But on my first visit tonight I fixed the window so it looked to lock but wouldn’t.”

“Clever-clocks,” Rose said in admiration. “Is that how you managed to rob all those other people?”

“Now what do you take me for? Doing ‘em all the same way’d get me in trouble quick as winking. All them gentry’d be having fits if they ever figured how I done ‘em. These fancy houses is easier’n nuts to crack.”

“I can think of one house you couldn’t possibly ... er ... crack.”

“T’ain’t no such place in all the world,” the Black Mask said, his King’s English eroding from moment to moment.

“You mean you’ve found a way to rob Sir Niles Alardyce?”

“Sir Niles ...” He coughed again, more lengthily, and Rose came closer yet.

“When you go home, make yourself a nice cup of tea. Put honey in it, if you have any.”

“I can always steal some from the kitchen on m’way out. Now, look here, miss.”

“I’m Rose Spenser. How d’you do?”

“How d’ ... now look here.” He backed away. “M’cough and my business is me own concern. I don’t know nothing’ about some bloody Sir Dandy.”

‘You were in his garden last night. Weren’t you deciding how to ... oh, were you observing this house?”

“‘At’s right.”

“Oh, but you really should consider Sir Niles’s home. He’s quite a famous connoisseur of rare gems.”

“Him? I heard of him. Terrible great traps all over his house and him? Deadly, they say, with any sort of weapon. Pistols, arrows, knives... it’s all one to him.”

“I think you have the wrong man in mind,” Rose said. “Sir Niles may be all you say regarding his prowess with weapons.” Remembering the strength of the man who’d lifted her onto a high garden wall without so much as a grunt of effort, Rose added, “He’s very strong as well. But he’d never spoil his decor with any kind of trap. They say, however, his collection of jewelry belonging to former royal houses is second to none.”

“Royal stuff, eh?”

“Yes. They say he possesses several pieces that belonged to the late queen of France.”

“Who’s that then? That Josephine what married the little Frenchie?”

“No. Marie Antoinette, of course. She had wonderful taste in expensive baubles. Though I have heard Sir Niles also has some earrings that belonged to the Empress Josephine as well. Someone told me she’d staked some large ruby earrings in a card game without telling her husband and Sir Niles bought them later from the winner’s widow.”

“Hmph. Paste, most likely. Some little old woman pitched me a story like that once. Claimed what she was selling were some Russian empress’s own bracelets. Turned out the Empress of Russia liked chips of glass and the sort of brass what turns in five minutes and leaves your arm green for a month.”

“I’m sure nothing like that would happen. Sir Niles is very knowledgeable about jewels. It would be foolish to make any attempt to sell him a fraud.”

‘Them’s the ones what’s usually easiest to fool. The more a flat thinks he knows about one thing, the less he knows about the rest of the world. Someone like that can be fooled, easy as winking.”

“You wouldn’t say so if you knew Sir Niles as I do. Listen, if you could enter Sir Niles’s house, could you find his hiding place?”

“Could be anywhere. Wait, here. Why you so keen on having me break into this gentry’s house? What’s he ever done to you?”

“Nothing to me. He holds some few of my brother’s IOUs.”

“For which he finds himself unable to raise the wind?” He gave a short bark of laughter.

“Exactly. If you could, while abstracting Sir Niles’s treasures, bring me those IOUs.”

“Hardly a problem.” He coughed more violently than ever. “What’s in this for the one’s that taking all the risk?”

“Perhaps I should postpone my plan until you are feeling better. Unless you know someone who’d be willing to take on a small job for large rewards.”

‘Yeah. Me. So what’s in it for me, then?”

“You
take the jewels and bring me the IOU chits. In exchange, I will give you all my jewelry, a large crystal sphere that I bought at the Burlington Exchange, and the Malikzadi.”

“The what?”

“It’s a ruby, very large, very beautiful.”

“Where is it?” he said, running his eyes over her again.

“In my jewel case, as I told you. Tomorrow, however, once the alarmed servants are reassured, I will ask for my case to be returned to me, as it should have been tonight. Bring me my brother’s debts, and you shall have it all.”

“Just walk back in this cursed crib again?”

“You’re not afraid, are you?”

He straightened up, almost to a military point of correctness. “I’m not afraid of nothing. All right. I’ll do it. But I get to keep everything I find but them bits of paper.”

“That’s right,” Rose said and sighed in relief. She’d thought he was going to refuse. “Can you read?”

“Tolerable, missus.” He would have tugged at his forelock, Rose thought, if it hadn’t been for the muffler around his neck starting to unwind.

“Just look for the name Rupert Spenser on each one and bring me all those you find. Can you be discreet? I don’t want Sir Niles to know you were searching for the vowels.”

“He won’t know nothing ‘til he goes to the cupboard and finds it swept clean.”

“Good. I don’t want any violence.” She crossed the room to the big wardrobe. “I’ll leave the details up to you, shall I?”

“I am the professional,” he said with pride.

“Oh, by the way ...” She opened the wardrobe door, pushing the satchel back in with her foot when it started to fall out. Taking down a homemade reticule she’d decided was too provincial for London, she reached inside. “I found your mask by the wall yesterday night. Do be more careful.”

This time when he turned away from her, he cared much more about what could be seen in a mirror. “I missed it,” he said. When he spun around again, Rose took a hard look at him, now that she could see his mouth and chin. He could be ... then again, the man who had kissed her hadn’t seemed uneducated. Something about his voice ...

“Have we met before?” he asked, before the words in her mouth could be spoken.

“I don’t believe so,” Rose said politely. “It’s hard to tell with the mask. Are you a member of Parliament?”

“No, I don’t hold with robbery on that scale.” He touched the nosepiece of the stiffened leather mask as if to be certain it had not slipped down. “Can I ask you a question, miss?”

“Certainly,” Rose said, not without: reservations.

“If you want these bits of paper back so bad, why don’t you just ask this Sir Niles gentry for ‘em? Seems to me a pretty gel like yourself ought to have him wound ‘bout your little finger.”