A Noble Man. Anne Ashley

as Nicholas could do to gape in open-mouthed astonishment. “And you let him in? Good gad, man, you must be all about in your head!”

      Nicholas was by no means a hard-hearted person, and would willingly come to the aid of a friend, should the need arise, but he refused to be taken advantage of by some rascally individual he barely knew. “What in the world prompted you to admit him? The rogue has probably taken himself off long since. And with all my best silver, if I know anything!”

      “Oh no, sir. He hasn’t done that,” Figgins responded, completely unruffled. “And I can assure you, sir, that I would never have permitted him to set foot inside the house, let alone provide him with supper and a glass or two of wine, if it hadn’t been for the fact that he informed me that he had news concerning your brother.”

      “Oh, he has, has he?” Nicholas was decidedly sceptical. “Well, his tidings had better be worth the food and drink he’s consumed already at my expense,” he ground out, throwing wide the parlour door, and striding purposefully into the room to discover the shabbily dressed individual sprawled at his ease in the most comfortable chair in the house. “Otherwise he’ll find himself helped on his way by the toe of my boot!”

      A slow and lazy smile tugged at the corners of the visitor’s well-shaped mouth, but the eyes remained firmly closed as he said, “I shall take leave to inform you that I consider that a most impolite greeting to offer someone you haven’t seen for several years, dear brother.”

      Nicholas stopped dead in his tracks, once again powerless to prevent his jaw from dropping perceptively when the lids of dazzling blue eyes finally opened and the visitor rose to his feet in one graceful movement. “Benedict?” he murmured, taking a hesitant step forward. Then, “Ben, by all that’s wonderful!…It is you!”

      Figgins, hovering in the open doorway, experienced a sense of pride as he watched the two men clasp each other warmly. It was comforting to know that his instincts had not played him false and that the very welcome visitor, taller than his brother by an inch or two, and noticeably broader, had turned out to be what he had suspected from the start—a gentleman of quality.

      He coughed delicately, thereby indicating his continued presence, and the brothers loosened their hold. “Do you wish me to fetch brandy, m’lord?”

      “Yes. Yes, of course,” Nicholas answered, still somewhat bemused by his sibling’s unexpected arrival. “And make sure it’s the best brandy, Figgins. This calls for a celebration.”

      After his servant had departed, Nicholas busied himself for a minute or two by going about the room lighting more candles, and then joined his brother by the hearth. He was quite unable to forbear a smile as he watched Benedict piling more logs on what was already a substantial fire. Evidently the British climate no longer agreed with him, which was hardly surprising after spending so many years abroad. This, however, was by no means the most obvious change in him.

      No one viewing him now would ever have supposed for a moment that Benedict had once been considered a dandy, rivalling the famous Beau Brummell himself in dress. Nicholas recalled quite clearly watching his brother on numerous occasions, sitting before a dressing-table mirror, patiently tying intricate folds in a highly starched cravat until he had it just so. Yet here he sat, now, with a gaudy red kerchief tied about his throat, his long legs encased in a pair of rough homespun trousers, and a slightly soiled and heavily creased shirt encasing that broad expanse of chest. Why, he looked little better than a vagrant with that mass of golden-brown hair almost touching his shoulders. And the weeks of growth on and around his chin did absolutely nothing to improve his appearance!

      “By that disapproving look,” Benedict remarked, after raising his striking blue eyes in time to catch his brother’s frowning scrutiny, “I assume my appearance does not meet with your approval.”

      “Good gad, Ben! You resemble nothing so much as a rascally vagrant.”

      “I am relieved the hard-working soul who gave me these clothes isn’t present,” Benedict responded, with more than a hint of wryness. “He would have been most offended. This shirt, I am assured, was his very best. Though it isn’t strictly true, I suppose, to say that he gave me these clothes,” he corrected. “We struck a bargain. I exchanged them for a suit of my own. And was heartily glad to do so! I was sick and tired of my own apparel after several weeks at sea.”

      “Do you mean to say you exchanged all your clothes for those…those deplorable rags?” Nicholas did not believe a word of it. “You must take me for a half-wit if you think I’ll swallow that one.”

      “True as I sit here, dear brother,” Benedict assured him. “Except I only gave him the clothes I stood up in. They were all I had, you see. Pirates deprived me of the rest.”

      Once again Nicholas found himself gaping. “Pirates? What pirates?”

      “The ones we unfortunately encountered two days after setting sail from Port Royal.” Benedict smiled at his young brother’s decidedly sceptical look. “Sailing through the Caribbean is not the same as taking a boat trip down the Thames, dear boy. It is still a dangerous place. Many people of varying nationalities, fleeing from the law, seek refuge there. Piracy is still quite common, believe me.”

      “What happened?” Nicholas prompted, suddenly resembling an excited schoolboy, and Benedict was of a mind to be indulgent.

      “The captain of our ship, being a Christian soul, could not find it within himself to blithely ignore what appeared to be a vessel in distress, and gave the order to heave-to. Grappling-hooks were thrown with remarkable speed, and before the captain and crew realised what was happening we were being boarded by a horde of cut-throats. The captain and crew of our ship gave a good account of themselves, as did a couple of the passengers, and we soon had the rogues returning to their own vessel, but not before they had deprived us of some of the food on board, and several other items of worth, including my trunk, which contained not only my clothes, but my valuables, too. Consequently all I was left with were the clothes I stood up in. And, as you can imagine, by the time we had docked in Liverpool, I was heartily glad to be rid of them, even to exchange them for the ones I’m wearing now.”

      Nicholas could well understand this and smiled, until a thought suddenly occurred to him. “How on earth did you manage to reach London without money? Surely you didn’t walk?”

      “Thankfully, I wasn’t reduced to that, though it could hardly have been more uncomfortable than travelling by the common stage. I have grown accustomed to doing without many creature comforts during my time in Jamaica, but sitting for hours in a vehicle that smells of perspiration, onions, and various other unpleasant odours was almost more than I could bear.”

      His pained expression almost had his young brother writhing in laughter. “No, I still retained my pocket watch, which I was able to sell for half its real value. I swear the rogue who purchased it in Liverpool thought it had been stolen.”

      “I can’t say I’m surprised,” Nicholas responded when he had gained sufficient control of himself. “No one would take you for a member of the peerage!”

      “That isn’t strictly true,” Ben corrected. “Your estimable butler, unless I much mistake the matter, managed to penetrate the disguise.” He glanced round as the door opened, his face brightening. “And here he is, and armed, I see, with more of that delicious apple tart.”

      “I thought, perhaps, you could manage another mouthful, your grace,” Figgins said, placing the tray containing the food and brandy down on a convenient table near his master’s chair. “Will there be anything else you require, sir?”

      “Yes, you’d best make the bed up in the spare room, and look out one of my night-shirts.” Nicholas turned his attention back to his brother as soon as Figgins had left the room. “There’s only a skeleton staff now at the house in Grosvenor Square. The place hasn’t been used since Father died.”

      He searched in vain for a sign of remorse on his brother’s handsome face, and yet he knew how fond Benedict had been of their father. “He passed away peacefully in his sleep. He didn’t suffer,”