The Fabric of Murder (Mysteries of Georgian Norfolk Book 2) (9 page)

Sally was summoned and entered grinning. Foxe had managed to cover himself with a sheet by this time and turned so that he presented a picture more of indolence than arousal.

Gracie gave her orders for dinner and told the girl to send word to Signor Vulpino’s house that he would not be returning home until the morning.

When they were alone again, she looked down at her lover and shook her head. ‘No, my dear. I will not return to bed, whatever pleading you offer. You may have other appetites, but my stomach is rumbling with hunger. Nor will it do to go to the dinner table looking as we do. But stay there a while and I will dress myself properly. Then you too must rise and become respectable again. Oh, my hair …! I have no notion what became of the mob-cap, but my hair is entirely disordered.’

For Gracie, dressing was something to done to with the greatest care. Foxe had nearly an hour of rest before she returned, wearing a neat gown of dark-green worsted brocade over a petticoat of pale yellow, all dusted over with tiny flowers.

‘Now, rise, sir! Sally has rescued your shirt and stockings from the floor and brushed down your coat. No need for a wig, but please make good use of the brush and comb I will provide. And before all, go to the washstand and make your face look less as if you have been ploughing in the fields.’

‘But I was ploughing, Gracie dear, ploughing …’

‘Enough!’ Gracie laughed. ‘Mind your manners, Ash. I will not have such coarse language in my house.’

Now Foxe was laughing too. ‘I didn’t know you made your girls entertain in the street outside, Gracie. That would be the only way to ensure that rule was never broken.’

Over dinner, they talked of trifles, sounding more like a happily-married couple of the middling classes than the madam of a bordello and her lover. Gracie thanked Foxe for the gift of fabrics for a new gown, praising both her sister’s excellent taste and Foxe’s liberality.

‘I sent all to my dressmaker on the instant,’ she said. ‘She is to come early next week to discuss what she will make for me. She usually brings a mannikin too, so that I may see what she intends in drapes of the actual cloth. Once we have agreed, I may send for the hat-maker to produce something to finish off the ensemble.’

‘I am sure you will be the most beautiful person present,’ Foxe said. Then, remembering himself just in time, he added, ‘Along with Kitty, of course. The two most beautiful.’

‘Dear Ash. How good it is to see you restored to yourself. I wonder what could have lightened your mood so?’

‘I have no idea,’ Foxe replied. ‘Maybe it was something you did.’

‘I hope so, else it would have been a waste indeed.’

‘Say not so! Such times with you … and your dear sister …’ Foxe caught his mistake in time again. ‘… could never be accounted anything but the purest delight.’

‘It is good of you to take us both to the ball, Ash.’ Gracie was serious now. ‘The old tabbies who make up the bulk of our Norwich society will tear your reputation to shreds for it.’

‘I have little left to tear, so far as they are concerned. But you mistake both them and me. I would not have them leave disappointed. They account nothing so enjoyable as sharpening their claws by digging into some rich scandal. No, by taking the two of you I will quite make their evening.’

‘Their husbands will have to hear of it for days.’

‘They will not care. All, I imagine, are well used to assuming an expression of righteous disgust. The men will amuse themselves with thoughts of how they would have paid court to you both, were they but forty years less in age. If your dressmakers cut the necklines of your dresses low enough, I don’t doubt all will have hurried to present their compliments to you both that evening. They will hope to catch sight of something to warm their bones better than their wives can.’

‘You are such a cynic, Mr. Foxe.’

‘I am a man, Miss Catt. It is what I would do in their places.’

‘Fortunately for you, sir, you do not have to peer down a lady’s dress. The ladies in question are both happy enough to show you all.’

‘Though not, I declare, as happy as I am to see what they will show me. Now, Gracie dear. If you have eaten and drunk enough, I am quite fatigued. It would be of great assistance to my frail state to go early to bed.’

‘Not too frail, sir, I hope.’

‘We shall see.’

A third encounter followed, then both did indeed sleep. Foxe awoke soon after dawn. Gracie was still asleep beside him and he could not resist adjusting his position so that he could brush his lips once again across the soft skin of her breasts. That awoke her, of course, and nothing was to be done but to essay a fourth return to love’s delights, but somewhat drowsily now.

None arose early in Gracie’s house, for her girls must work until late in the night. No customers would return until the afternoon at least. Foxe and Gracie could sleep for a while longer, before the sounds of the house woke them and both started to consider breakfast a necessity.

That meal was also taken in a most leisurely manner, Foxe declaring himself to be ‘quite … um … drained, I would say.’ Nonetheless, he was not yet allowed to go.

‘Signor Vulpino has been neglecting his duties to my girls.’ Gracie said as they returned to her boudoir. ‘Several have mentioned it to me. They are sure he must have found some other business to engage him.’

‘Surely not! I should speak to the fellow most severely, madam.’

‘Indeed, sir, though I would not hurt his feelings. These foreign gentlemen are apt to be far more sensitive that our bluff, English fellows. Besides, I am sure he will put in an appearance immediately the girls are ready for him this morning. And after that – and only after that – I will tell you the news you came for, but quite forgot in your … distracted … or would it be inflamed … state of mind.’

Foxe submitted to all with a good grace. Soon after midday, he joined the girls in the largest room in the house. There he put them through a testing lesson in walking correctly, sitting daintily and the finer points of dinner-table etiquette. A few sighs came at times, but none were ungrateful by the end. Indeed, Signor Vulpino had, as usual, to submit to many expressions of warmest thanks, and not a few kisses, before he returned to Gracie’s room.

‘Now, this is what my girls have learned for you, Ash,’ Gracie said when they were alone together once more. ‘You must not ask too many questions. I would not have you return to yesterday’s most distempered state of mind.’

‘Have no fear, Gracie. I have already determined that what I need most at this stage is to clear my head and come at things afresh. If you both agree, perhaps you and Kitty will do me the honour of walking with me in the gardens at The Wilderness one afternoon soon. Provided the weather is fine, that is. Then you must both dine at my house. Mrs. Dobbins, my housekeeper, is a most excellent cook. Providing meals for one offers but little challenge to her skill. She will relish the chance to display her true abilities in the kitchen.’

‘I accept, of course,’ Gracie said.

‘Then I will send word to your sister.’

‘Do not trouble yourself, Ash. I am to dine with her this evening and will carry your invitation. I have no doubt she too will accept.’

Kitty must already have heard that Foxe had spent nigh two days with her sister and would be agog for the details. Then, her own expectations raised, she would demand equal treatment. Such were the drawbacks of Foxe’s most unusual liaison.

‘So,’ Gracie began. To business.’

‘My girls like me,’ Gracie said. ‘I make sure they receive a good portion of what their clients pay. I feed and clothe them well. Thus, when I need their help, they work hard to provide what I want. That is true in this situation, Ash, believe me. Yet what they have found is, I fear, meagre fare.’

‘Let them not be troubled on that account. I have been existing on a most niggardly amount of information from the start. Bonneviot seems to have trusted no one – nor liked any about him enough to confide in them. Whatever his plans might have been, they stayed locked in his head.’

‘Very well. Let me begin with the Mr. James Hinman you asked about. There is a strange man. He came here but once, you know, and did not treat the girl badly – I would soon have the door barred against him if he did. He was also more than generous enough. Yet there was something odd about his behaviour. For a start, he did no more than ask the girl I paired him with to take off her clothes – all of them – and stand before him. Then he told her to dress and gave her a guinea. She said he seemed quite uninterested in her charms, but was a most tedious braggart. All the time she was with him, he talked of nothing save how rich he was. Then, after he was satisfied – if you can call it that, for he had not even laid one finger on her – he must needs begin again.’

‘That does not surprise me, Gracie. What little I have heard of the man does not add to his credit.’

‘She also told me he claimed to have come to our city to begin a venture that is going to make him a man of yet greater wealth. In his version of events, this will cause the Halifax men of business who turned him away to regret treating him with such scorn.’

So … was Bonneviot the only master weaver Hinman had sought out? Was he the only one willing to believe Hinman’s claims? That would not be so much of a surprise, if Bonneviot’s business was already facing ruin.

‘Whatever this venture may be,’ Gracie went on, ‘it has to do with trading in foreign parts. Hinman claimed to have spent many months overseas in the past and to be close friends with a long list of rich foreigners, even rulers. The girl thought he made it up to try to impress her, yet she could not see why. We get all kinds of men here, Ash. Not all are seeking to enjoy a woman in the usual way. Some have strange requests. Some want only to watch others do it. Some even pay a girl to pleasure herself, while they observe. Hinman was odd, but not so odd as to cause more than idle chatter amongst the girls. Most judged him probably more partial to boys than women. Perhaps he had come to try to scotch such rumours, or for a bet.’

‘Yet that girl remembered him well, even though she must see a good many men in the course of a single day.’

‘Well … yes. She was surprised that a man who seemed young and virile should not want to try a tumble with her. Requests to watch come mostly from those too old or frail to do more. Then there was the guinea – just for baring her body for a minute or less. Perhaps most of all, she remembered his constant boasting. He kept telling her he was Mr. James Hinman, that he was wealthy, and that she should remember him. One day, he said, she would wish to boast that he had spent time with her. When he was famous.’

Was Hinman telling anything near the truth about himself? He seemed to have money. Did he plan to start an undertaking in Norwich? That was how it appeared. He may not have such grandiose contacts as he claimed, but had he indeed spent time overseas? He must have caused Bonneviot to believe there were those amongst his former partners willing to trade with him again.

‘Hinman had money from somewhere, or he could not have afforded to pay what I charged him,’ Gracie said. ‘Yet he never came again, so I judge his wealth is already much diminished. I did not think him to be a prudent man. To me he is a gambler. Not perhaps at the gaming tables, but certainly in business. And, I warrant, a gambler with other peoples’ money too. So, there it is. All we could find on Mr. Hinman and little enough for our efforts.’

‘Do not be down-hearted, Gracie. It may be small in extent, but it is worth a good deal to me. It confirms things I have heard elsewhere and offers me new directions for my search. God knows that I need them!’

‘I have but two other pieces of information. See what you think of these. All my girls spend time with various of the master weavers of this city. Save for those who are Quakers, the rest like some variety beyond their wives. Some of these gentlemen are our most regular visitors. Now, it seems, the master weavers are much perturbed by Bonneviot’s death. Not because they liked the man, but because they fear his business must collapse, to their own great discomfort.’

‘How so? It would be one competitor fewer, and a significant one to boot.’

‘They understand that his warehouses and storerooms are packed with unsold cloth. If it had to be sold quickly, say under terms of distress, they fear there is enough to depress prices for them all. Who will buy from them if he can get good cloth for far less outlay?’

‘Of course!’ Foxe said. ‘They are right to be concerned. I expect all knew Bonneviot faced financial troubles. His death meant he could no longer escape them by means of future trades. His creditors must seize his goods and sell them at whatever price they can get. Only thus can they recover even a part of what he owed them. But why has that not occurred? Why are those storerooms still full?’

‘I think my final piece of information may help you there. There is one master weaver, a Mr. Callum Burford, who comes here but rarely. His business is small and I doubt he has much money to spend on our kinds of entertainment. Yet he did come and but a few days ago. Like you, Ash, he was troubled and sought to lighten his woes in feminine company.’

‘A most sensible man then. What do your girls say of him?’

‘They like him, though he cannot afford great generosity. They say he is modest and kind. He does not boast. He does not claim to be other than he is. He always thanks them warmly for the pleasure they give him and seeks to give them pleasure in return. That, as you know, all are capable of feigning with great skill, so the man usually goes away well satisfied on both counts.’

‘Do none within these walls find genuine pleasure in their bed-mates?’

‘Do not fish for compliments, Ash. You might draw up nought but an old boot!’

‘My apologies, Gracie. Pray continue.’

‘Mr. Burford, as I said, is greatly troubled, for he is an honest man, unused to deception and sharp business dealings. Now, it seems, he was approached by Bonneviot with an unusual proposition. Though he agreed in the end, it was not without much searching of his conscience.’