Lord Hawkridge's Secret. Anne Ashley

and it plainly showed, but Emily refused to satisfy her curiosity for the present. ‘Listen, Sarah,’ she interrupted, ‘there’s something I must do, and I need your help. I seem to remember your saying not so long ago that you came upon a trunk or two of old clothes belonging to Charles in one of the attic rooms. I want you to go over to the Hall and search among them to see if you can discover anything that will fit me—trousers, shirt, jacket…Oh, and a hat, if there is one.’

      If possible Sarah looked more bewildered than before. ‘Why, whatever are you planning to do?’

      ‘I’m planning to sneak out of the house tonight for a couple of hours or so,’ Emily willingly divulged, much to her companion’s further astonishment. ‘I need you to lock the door after I’ve gone and let me back in when you hear my signal. I’ll throw some gravel up at your window, something like that. We can plan all that later. The important thing now is to get you over to the Hall, so I’ll go round to the stables and order the carriage made ready.’

      ‘Are you not coming too?’

      Emily shook her head vigorously. ‘It doesn’t require two of us to search through a couple of trunks. Besides, I dare not risk coming face to face with Hawk. He’d know I was up to something. He always knew when I was planning anything when I was a child, confound him! Don’t be fooled by that lazy manner of his, as I’m ashamed to admit I was briefly,’ she warned. ‘He’s as astute as ever he was. Believe me, little escapes his notice. So be on your guard, and avoid him if you can.’

      ‘I’ll be careful,’ Sarah assured her. ‘But what are you planning to do in the meantime?’

      ‘I intend to bask in the sunshine of my grandfather’s approval by offering to clean his silver-handled duelling pistols. He won’t be suspicious. I’ve done it before. Then I’ll load one of them and take it with me tonight. Only as a precaution, you understand?’

      Sarah was secretly impressed. ‘Good gracious! Who taught you to do that?’

      ‘Hawk did. He taught me many things, including never to accept people at face value.’ Her smile was distinctly tender. ‘That is a lesson I shall try never to forget again.’

      ‘Why the house seems positively deserted!’ Charles announced, entering his library to discover just Lord Hawkridge, comfortably established in a chair by the hearth and perusing the most recent edition of the Morning Post. ‘Most guests have already left, and the few remaining intend to leave tomorrow. I’m glad you’ve decided to stay on for a few days.’

      ‘I’m enjoying the country air,’ Sebastian assured him, without bothering to raise his head from between the printed sheets.

      After settling himself in the chair opposite, Charles regarded his friend in silence for a moment. ‘As I mentioned before, I’m rather surprised you spend so much time in the capital. Since you came into the title, you’ve rarely left the place.’

      ‘One must be seen, m’dear,’ was the languid response.

      ‘Cut line, old chap!’ Charles ordered, as unimpressed by the affected drawl as Emily had been. ‘You don’t fool me. You care as much for grand social occasions as I do myself. Although I must admit I did enjoy our party.’

      ‘Yes, I could see that you did,’ Sebastian responded, the folds of the newspaper hiding his amused grin. ‘Your cousin Sarah is a charming young woman.’

      ‘She’s an absolute treasure! Don’t know how we ever managed before she came to live with us. Mama has never been what one might call efficient at running a household. I’ve known for quite some time that Sarah has dealt with most aspects of the day-to-day running of this place. And damnably competent she is too!’

      ‘A pearl beyond price, then, wouldn’t you say?’ his lordship responded, before an item of news caught his attention. ‘And speaking of pearls, Lady Westbury’s famous necklace was found—er—missing several weeks ago, and has not turned up. There’s a reward being offered for its safe return. How interesting! It would appear that the Season has started earlier this year.’

      Sir Charles wasn’t granted the opportunity to enquire precisely what his friend had meant, for the door opened and his sister came tripping lightly into the room, complaining as she did so that Lord Hawkridge had been neglecting her that day, and reminding him in the next breath of his promise to accompany her for a stroll in the garden.

      ‘Good heavens, Drusilla!’ her brother exclaimed testily. ‘How many beaux do you want languishing after you at any one time? Cedric Granger and Percy Lemmington have been dancing attendance upon you all day.’

      Sebastian had little difficulty in recognising when a spoilt beauty’s feathers had been slightly ruffled. Miss Drusilla Deverel was a young lady accustomed to having her own way and not having her actions criticised by other members of her family. Charles, it seemed, irritated by something, had no intention on this occasion of pandering to her whims. It would have afforded Sebastian the utmost pleasure to do likewise, for pampered young women had never figured high on the list of those with whom he desired to spend much time. Notwithstanding, in this instance he was quite prepared to bear Miss Drusilla company for twenty minutes or so, most especially as it would grant him the opportunity afterwards of slipping unobtrusively away in order to put certain measures into effect.

      Consequently he didn’t hesitate to place the newspaper down on the table beside his chair and rise to his feet. ‘No, no, Charles, a promise is a promise. Never let it be said that Sebastian Hawkridge was not a man of his word.’

      ‘No one would ever accuse you of that,’ Charles assured him, before the sound of wheels on gravel reached his ears. ‘Now who is that paying us a call, do you suppose?’

      ‘It is someone leaving,’ Sebastian enlightened him, after glancing out of the window in time to see the equipage moving away from the house.

      ‘I didn’t realise we’d had a visitor.’

      ‘Oh, it was only Sarah, Charles,’ his sister enlightened him. ‘No one of consequence. She was here only a short while. Came to collect something, I believe.’

      His fair brows snapping together, Charles went striding over to the door. ‘I consider Sarah a very valuable member of this household. When she does decide to remove back here I expect you in particular to treat her with a deal more respect than you have been wont to display in the past, otherwise you might find yourself packed off to Bath to spend a prolonged visit with Great-aunt Henrietta!’

      By the look of mingled resentment and fear which flitted over exquisite features, Sebastian felt sure that the matron in question was somewhat formidable and not a firm favourite with the beauty of the house.

      ‘What on earth do you suppose has come over him?’ Drusilla asked, appearing genuinely bewildered, as Charles swept out of the room without uttering anything further. ‘I cannot imagine why he’s so out-of-all-reason cross.’

      ‘Ahh, I expect it is spring nipping at him, my dear,’ Sebastian enlightened her with a crooked half-smile, as he slipped her arm through his and patted her fingers reassuringly. ‘But do not be alarmed, child. It is unlikely that you shall ever succumb to the affliction.’

      Chapter Five

      Emily was swiftly forced to accept that she was nowhere near as intrepid now as she had been as a child. Years before, she would never have taken the least account of the chill night air, wouldn’t have nearly jumped out of her skin at the mere hooting of an owl, or imagined that every sound and every shadow was something sinister, just lying in wait to entrap her. Moreover, after twenty minutes of scouting the fringes of the wood, made infinitely more eerie by brief glimpses of moonlight filtering through the thick canopy of foliage high above her head, she was forced to acknowledge that this was not perhaps the most sensible course of action she had ever taken in her life.

      Even if she was right, and Lord Hawkridge was here somewhere, concealed in the undergrowth, finding him would be a virtually impossible task. She could hardly call