The Mask of Night (48 page)

“Milk.“ Mélanie accepted the cup being held out to her. Though she saw Lady Pendarves at a score of entertainments during the season, they seldom had a tête-à-tête. In truth, she had dismissed Lady Pendarves as a woman whose conversation rarely extended beyond fashion and the latest round of engagements. She hadn’t even known the other woman’s fondness for music. “Lady Pendarves—I’m afraid this isn’t a social call.”

“I thought it probably wasn’t.” Lady Pendarves added a lump of sugar to her own tea. In a cream-colored round gown trimmed with pale blue ribbon, her dark hair dressed in loose ringlets, she looked more a schoolgirl than a matron. The lamplight showed only the faintest of lines about her delicate mouth and wide-set blue eyes. But her gaze held a worldly wisdom that took Mélanie by surprise. She was reminded of the knowing the glances that gave an unexpected twist to the innocent faces in some French paintings.

“It’s silly to pretend I don’t know you’re investigating the murder,” Lady Pendarves said. “But while I was at the ball, along with three hundred or so others, I’m afraid I don’t know anything.”

Mélanie took a sip of tea. “We found an earring in the garden. It’s been recognized as one of yours.”

“You found my earring!“ The china rattled as Lady Pendarves set the cup down. “Oh, thank goodness! I’ve been quite frantic, for they’re a very fine pair and I know my husband would be dreadfully cross if I lost one. Do you have it with you?”

“No, Mr. Roth has it, but I’ll arrange to have it returned to you. Lady Pendarves—“

“You want to know if I saw anything in the garden. ” Lady Pendarves adjusted her Paisley shawl. “But my dear Mrs. Fraser, naturally I’d have told you straight off if I’d seen anything that might have the smallest bearing on the murder.”

“You might not realize the significance,” Mélanie said with a friendly smile. “What time did you go out to the garden?”

“Let me think. It must have been just past eleven-thirty because I looked at the clock while I was dancing the boulanger with Lord Sheriton and it was after that I realized I’d grown quite overcome by the heat and wanted some air. He was kind enough to go outside with me.”

“Lord Sheriton?”

“No, Mr. Vickers.“ Lady Pendarves squeezed a wedge of lemon into her tea.

“Neil Vickers? Who was in your box last night?”

“He was at school with my husband you know, and he’s a cousin of St. Ives’s.“ She took a careful sip of tea.

Sits the wind in that quarter? Would Lord Pendarves be less anguished about betraying his own marriage vows if he knew his demure wife was amusing herself elsewhere without the least sign of guilt? “Was anyone else in the garden?”

“No. Goodness, I’d have told you. As I said, Mrs. Fraser, I don’t know anything.”

“Did you see anything to indicate anyone else might have been there?”

Lady Pendarves settled the cup carefully in its saucer. “Not that anyone had been there. But just after we came back in I did see Isobel go out.”

“Isobel?”

“Yes. I expect she wanted some air too. Not to mention a moment alone. Entertaining can be so overwhelming, don’t you find?”

“Quite.“ Mélanie took a sip of tea. The delicate blend sat bitter on her tongue. Or perhaps the bitterness was the realization that Isobel had once again lied to her.

St. Ives was not at home when Charles walked round to Grosvenor Square, but if the viscount was attempting to dodge an interrogation he had not covered his tracks well. The footman said, without any hesitation, that he believed his lordship was at Boodle’s.

Charles made his way to St. James’s Street and the cool, classical building of brown stone and white plaster that housed one of London’s most exclusive clubs. He himself was not a member of Boodle’s, belonging to the more political and resolutely Whig Brooks’s in the baroque building across the street. He stared at the medallions above Boodle’s bow window, wondering if St. Ives would deny him if he had the porter take in his card. Then he spotted a familiar figure stepping beneath the columned portico.

“Quen.”

“Charles. What are you doing here?“ Viscount Quentin took a step toward him, black greatcoat flapping in the wind. “I thought you were in the midst of another investigation.”

“I am.”

“Good God, at Boodle’s? What’s the world coming to? Boodle’s is supposed to be free of all strife, political and otherwise.“ Quen’s mobile face sobered. He regarded Charles for a moment. “Can I help? We were there, of course. At the Lydgates’. But we didn’t see anything and then we left as soon as we could to get back to the baby. Aspasia’s still nursing him.”

“Understandable.“ Charles smiled at the man who had once been a boy he carried about on his shoulders. “How are you enjoying fatherhood?”

Quen’s face brightened. “It’s a funny thing, Charles, having a child of your own. I knew I liked the idea, and God knows Spasy and I were trying, but I don’t think I’d quite realized—“

“I don’t think one can,” Charles said. “Not completely, not until it happens.”

“No I suppose not.“ Quen glanced at the door. “I can take you in. Thanks to my father I’m a member of just about every club in London. Who are you looking for?”

“St. Ives.”

“Good God is he mixed up in this?”

“Possibly.”

“You’ll have to tell me about it when you have time. I’m dining with Val. He says he chose Boodle’s because I’m getting too political these days, but actually at first he wanted to go to White’s so I’d get a lot of Tory frowns over my latest poem. He’d have found that amusing.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

Quen grinned. “I suppose a bit. Oh, all right, yes. But now that I’m a father I’m supposed to be sober and take life seriously.”

“Don’t take it too seriously. Your son will like you the better for it. Give my love to Aspasia.”

Charles found St. Ives in the morning room, alone save for a copy of the Times and a cheerful fire burning in the grate. He looked up quickly at the opening of the door. Then he smiled and tossed the paper aside.

“Good morning, Charles. Enjoy the opera last night?”

“What I saw of it.“ Charles dropped into a chair. “You left early yourself.”

“Never had much taste for music.”

“I thought perhaps you wanted to avoid me after your talk with David.”

St. Ives dropped his hand on top of the newspaper. The pages rustled. “Confound you, Charles.”

“Tell me about Arthur Mallinson.”

“I told David last night. I assume David told you.”

“As far as it went.”

“What I told David is as far my knowledge goes.”

“We know Arthur didn’t die in the sailing accident.”

St. Ives’s fingers tensed atop the newspaper. “Don’t play games with me, Charles.”

“I don’t have time for games. Did you know he was still alive?”

“Christ, wouldn’t I have told someone if I had?”

“Not if you knew why he had to leave England.”

“Why the devil would Arthur have had to leave England?”

“You tell me.”

St. Ives sat back in his chair. “Good God, you know.”

“Quite a lot I think. Arthur was selling secrets to the French.”

St. Ives glanced away. His gaze drifted over the fireplace, the oval looking glass, the hunting prints on the walls, the silver and ivory writing set on the desk. “My family can trace our lineage back to a bastard knight who came over from Normandy with the bastard conqueror. Nearly eight hundred years. It’s a funny thing. It’s supposed to mean something. England. The country of one’s birth. The crown one’s family have paid fealty to for generations. The thought, the idea— But in the end an idea doesn’t seem much beside one’s oldest friend.”

“When did you know?”

St. Ives turned his gaze back to Charles’s face. Somehow his features seemed to have reshaped themselves to show far more intelligence than Charles was accustomed to seeing on his countenance. “Not until the day of the accident. If I’d known while it was actually going on, I’d like to think that I’d— In any case he met me that morning as he had on countless other mornings. But he told me he had to leave England. That his father was about to expose him for a traitor. I tried to talk him out of it. I said it couldn’t be as bad as he made out, that surely we could make his father see sense. That was when he spelled out exactly what he’d done

“What did he tell you?”

“He’d been selling information, information he’d got from reading his uncle’s dispatches. When I tried to say it couldn’t have led to anything serious, he said that information was responsible for the disaster at Skælskør. That’s when the whole thing stopped seeming like a fantasy to me. I remembered getting the news about Christopher Pendarves.”

“Did Arthur say why he’d done it?”

St. Ives twisted his signet ring round his finger. "He said, ‘because I wanted to see if I could pull it off.’ And then he gave one of those damnable smiles that made it impossible to know if he was telling the truth.”

“Do you think he was telling the truth?”

“No actually. I think he did it because of Christopher.”

“Christopher Pendarves? He and Arthur had quarreled?”

“Arthur and Christopher had been rivals in everything since they were in leading strings. Their families had neighboring properties. They were both clever, they both rode and shot and fenced better than most. Arthur had a quicker mind, but Christopher was a year older and several inches taller. They were always trying to outdo each other. Anything one of them had the other would decide he wanted. The Christmas before we’d all been at a house party at the Eglintons’ in Scotland. Caroline’s family—Lady Pendarves now. Arthur and Christopher were both flirting with Sylvie.”

“Your wife was there as well?”

“Long before she became wife. She and Caroline were still in the schoolroom., but Sylvie was already turning men’s heads. She turned mine, only I knew I hadn’t a prayer with her. Christopher started flirting with her, even though he was half-promised to Caroline. So Arthur started vying for her attentions as well. Sylvie, being Sylvie, knew just how to play them off against each other.”

“You think Arthur sold government secrets and sent men to their deaths because he was jealous over a girl?”

“Sylvie was just a symptom. I told you, Arthur and Christopher’s rivalry went back to the nursery. Anyway Arthur was only sixteen. I don’t think he realized—“

“From what I remember and what I’ve heard recently, I’d say Arthur Mallinson had an exceptionally keen understanding.”

St. Ives met Charles’s gaze without flinching. “Yes. He did. At that same house party, I overheard my father tell Mr. Eglinton that Arthur was just the sort of young man who gave him hope for England’s future. No secret that I was a bit of a disappointment to the pater. He’d have liked me more ambitious, quicker to study, quicker with words…. I can’t argue with his assessment. But he was wrong about Arthur. Arthur was the last sort of person any sane man would want leading the country. Because clever as Arthur was, I don’t think he was capable of believing in anything.”

Charles regarded St. Ives. He liked to think he wasn’t the sort to dismiss people, but if asked an hour ago he’d have said the viscount’s character reading skills were nothing out of the ordinary.

“I’d known him since the nursery,” St. Ives said. “I had a lot of leisure to observe him. I always knew that his loyalty was a questionable thing. But he could charm one into forgetting it. And—“ He spread his hands. “I couldn’t remember a time had hadn’t been my friend. In any case, I agreed to help him. It was simple enough. In theory. Arthur would disappear from the yacht. All I was supposed to do was come back from our sailing expedition alone and say he’d fallen overboard. He said he’d see to the rest and the less I knew the better. Then Pendarves showed up at the last minute, which sent me into a cold terror. But Arthur managed to get overboard anyway, while Pendarves was on the other side of the deck.”

“You’re sure Pendarves didn’t know anything?”

“Why the devil would he keep silent if he did? Arthur certainly wouldn’t have admitted the truth to Pendarves. Pendarves was the sort who’d have insisted Arthur face the consequences even without the complication of Christopher’s death. Anyway, Pendarves seemed worried enough about Arthur falling into the water. I played it as best I could. I must have a bit more talent for playacting than I thought, because Pendarves seemed to believe me.”

“And then?”

“We went back to shore. I told Pendarves it was best he pretend he hadn’t been with us. I said it was to spare him a beating, which was true, but I also didn’t want him questioned about Arthur. It seemed to me it would be easier to keep the story straight if only one of us was telling it.”

“You have the instincts of an agent.”

“But not the temperament for it. My palms were damp by the time I got through telling his father and uncle what had happened. Or rather, my version of what had happened. They took it more calmly than one might expect. I always wondered if they knew.“ He shot a questioning glance at Charles.

“They guessed,” Charles said.

St. Ives nodded. “When the body turned up and they identified it as Arthur’s, I was fairly sure they were going along with the cover up. In a way it made my own part in it seem less bad.”