A Conspiracy of Ravens (27 page)

He laughed and said, “It’s pretty grim and often boring work.” He hesitated and then said, “I know you’re responsible for our invitation. Lady Bertha would never ask a mere inspector.”

“Not at all,” Dora said, and the two dimples appeared as she smiled. “David wanted Dylan, and I wanted you.”

Her words warmed Matthew Grant. “
I wanted you
.” How good that sounded to him! He didn’t know the distance from earth to the nearest star, but he knew the distance from a police inspector to the daughter of the entitled was immense. “Who else will be here?” he asked.

“Just the family and Sir Alex Bolton.”

“Who is he?”

Dora explained, “He’s interested in Serafina.”

“Is she interested in him?”

“Who can tell about her? My sister never seems interested in anyone.”

“What about Dylan? She’s interested in him.”

“Oh, he fascinates her. They’re so different. He’s all romance, and she’s all facts and scientific things. But she sees David loves him.”

They were suddenly interrupted when the door opened, and Lady Bertha came charging in, her face flush with anger. “In my day we didn’t do things like this, Aldora!”

“Things like what, Aunt?”

“A gentleman and a young woman did not hide themselves in a room, sitting in the dark.”

Clive had come in behind his aunt and walked around her into the room.

Grant said, “Lady Mulvane, it’s good to see you again.”

Bertha was not through, however. She glared at Grant and said, “I should think you would be aware that your behaviour is not at all appropriate.”

“I’m truly sorry, Lady Bertha. I intended no harm.”

“I was the one that brought the inspector in here. He was freezing, and I wanted to thaw him out.”

Clive interrupted and addressed Grant, “Come along. I want you to meet Alex Bolton. He had the shock of his life a little while ago.”

Dora giggled. “I think you’re absolutely frightful, Clive. You shouldn’t have done such a thing.”

“What you did was not illegal, I trust, Clive?” Grant joked. He liked the young man very much and had been inordinately pleased when Clive had been freed from the terrible predicament he was in.

“Well, all I did was take him to see my sister and my father. He walked in on them while they were cutting up a corpse. I think that discouraged him a little bit.” Clive’s eyes were dancing, and he could not contain the laughter. “It was quite a surprise. I doubt if our guest will be able to eat much dinner.”

“I’m ashamed of you, Clive. Now, it’s time to go in to dinner,” Lady Bertha announced. She put herself between Aldora and Grant, and Grant knew it was more than a symbolic action. She was absolutely determined that no member of the Newton family would have anything to do with a mere inspector of Scotland Yard.

Louisa Toft, Serafina’s maid, was a talkative young woman with an insatiable curiosity. She was a beauty with red hair and green eyes, and she had been trying for some time to get Serafina to tell her about her sister and the policeman. Serafina understood that the household servants were all fascinated by the lives of the family, but she had refused adamantly to say anything about the relationship of her sister and Inspector Grant.

“And that Sir Alex Bolton, my, he ain’t half a treat, is he?”

Serafina smiled, for she knew this was her invitation to tell Louisa her feelings about the man. “I’m not going to give you any details on my love life or my sister’s love life, but as soon as something changes, you’ll be the first.”

“Oh, ma’am, I didn’t mean—”

Serafina looked up and saw fear in the maid’s eyes. “Oh, come, Louisa, I am only teasing. There’s nothing between me and Sir Alex. I can’t speak for my sister; there may be something there.”

Rising from her chair, she checked her dress and her hair then left the room. She went up to David’s schoolroom and found Dylan and her son on the floor playing with David’s toy soldiers, of which he had a multitude. “Mum, I’m the Duke of Wellington, and Dylan’s Napoleon, and I’m winning.”

Serafina was pleased, as she always was when David had a good time. “Well, all right, but the battle is over, young man. Go on and let Louisa get you cleaned up for dinner.”

“Yes, Mum.”

Dylan got up from the floor where he had been sitting, dusted himself off, and grinned. “Do you suppose Louisa would clean me up too?”

“No, that would be unseemly.” She smiled. “Come along. We’ll be late for dinner.” She turned to go and then changed her mind. Turning to him, she said, “Thank you so much, Dylan, for showing such an interest in David. He talks about you all the time.”

“Well, I talk about him a great deal too. Maybe you could hire me to be his butler or his man, just as Louisa is your maid.”

Serafina laughed. “Oh, he’d love that. A full-time playmate.” She hesitated then said, “You’re not living with Inspector Grant.”

“Well, I am now. I had a room, but it was pretty bad. So he came and forced me to go back. He’s a good fellow to look out for me.”

Serafina wanted to say something about his finances. She knew that he was not a rich man, actually was rather poor, but she couldn’t think of a way to do it. “Come along,” she said. “You’ll have to meet our guest, Sir Alex Bolton.”

The two left the room, and when they went into the smaller of the two dining rooms, Dylan was introduced. “Sir Alex Bolton, may I present Dylan Tremayne. Mr. Tremayne, Sir Alex Bolton. I don’t believe you’ve met.”

“No, we haven’t met, but I’ve heard a great deal about you, sir,” Sir Alex said. His smile came easily, and he added, “I don’t go to the theatre all that much, but I would like to see you perform. Are you in something now?”

“No, I’m an unemployed actor.”

“Oh,” Alex said, and with that he expressed his entire attitude toward unemployed actors.

“Come along. I’m starved,” Septimus said.

Lady Bertha took it on herself to seat people. Septimus was at one end of the table, and Alberta was at the other. On one side of the table, to Septimus’s left, were David, Serafina, Grant, and Dora. Across the table Sir Alex Bolton sat at Septimus’s right, beside him Clive, then Dylan and Lady Bertha. Behind Dylan and Clive a fireplace heated the room, and one of the maids fitted a fire screen behind the two men to keep the sparks from setting them on fire.

The meal started off with a thin soup followed by fish, a veal cutlet, a roast fowl, and some game. There was also a turbot of lobster in Dutch sauces and a portion of red mullet with cardinal sauce. The frying dishes, as they were called, followed—lamb cutlets, peas, then a roast saddle of mutton flavored with French and English mustard. As the meal went on, the talk went along with it. Serafina, sitting next to Grant, said quietly so the others could not hear, “I understand Dylan’s moved back in with you.”

“Yes.” He hesitated then said, “He’s a poor man like me, even worse. I do have my salary. When he’s not acting, he’s not making any money.”

“I wish I could do something to help him.”

Grant suddenly smiled and said, “You’re the second lady who’s wanted to help him.”

“Oh, how is that?”

“There was an actress there, a very attractive woman. She brought Dylan word that some producer wants him to star in a new play, but he turned it down.”

“Why did he do that?”

“Oh, it’s a rather immoral play.”

“Well, I honour him for it.”

Grant shook his head. “I wish he had another profession.”

Sir Alex Bolton, sitting across from her, did not catch these words. He suddenly spoke up loudly enough to catch her attention. “I’m interested in your detective career, Lady Trent.”

“Oh, there’s nothing to that.”

“Oh, yes there is,” Septimus said.“Sir Alex, you wouldn’t believe how Mr. Dylan and Serafina worked together on Clive’s case, along with Inspector Grant, of course.”

“And you haven’t heard about their newest bit of detective work.”

“What is that?” Sir Alex asked.

“They found the lost son of Lord Darby. Tell him about it, Serafina.”

Serafina did not want to talk. “It wasn’t much, really. You tell them, Dylan.”

Dylan shrugged and told the story, and when he was finished, Sir Alex said, “I was under the impression that you were an actor. It seems you’re a detective as well.”

“Well, that’s not going too well.” Suddenly he grinned at David. “David’s going to hire me as a full-time playmate, aren’t you, David?”

“Yes!”

The meal ended with two ices, cherry water and pineapple cream, and there was wine, sherry, and Madeira. Finally Sir Alex asked Dylan about his experience in the rougher side of London. “I understand you came up the hard way.”

“Indeed I did, but it’s not a pleasant subject.”

“Indeed not,” Bertha said. “We can find better things to talk about.”

When the dinner was finally over, the party was dismissed to the parlour, where Dora played the harpsichord and sang beautifully. She said, “Clive, come and join me.”

“No, Dylan’s the best singer.”

Serafina said, “Honour us with a song, Dylan.”

Dylan walked over to stand beside Dora, and the two sang a beautiful duet.

“He has a beautiful voice, doesn’t he, Sir Alex?” Serafina asked.

“Well, he’s an actor. I suppose that’s required.”

Shortly after the song ended, Serafina told David it was time to go to bed.

“Come with me, Dylan. Tell me a story.”

“That I will.”

They left, and Serafina said, “I’ll go along and be sure that they don’t stay up until midnight. He loves Dylan’s stories.”

As they went up the stairs, she said, “Dylan, I want to help you.”

“Help me?”

“Yes, I know you’re short of funds. I have plenty of money, and you’ve been so kind to David.”

“We’re friends, Serafina. I couldn’t take money for that. There’s no such thing as a hired friend, is there? But I thank you.”

“Grant told me about the offer you refused.”

“It’s not for me.”

“What are you going to do? Most plays aren’t for you.”

“Serve God.”

Serafina gave him an odd look. “I wish my life were that simple.”

“I think it is.” He asked suddenly, “Have you heard from Lord Darby?”

“Yes. I got a letter today.”

“How is Trevor doing?”

“Edward’s worried about him.”

“No wonder. He has a hard task.”

They went to the business of getting David in bed, and as Dylan started some fanciful story, Serafina went downstairs. She was greeted at the foot of the stairs by Clive. “I’m arranging bedrooms. We’ll put Matthew and Dylan next to each other. Come along, Matthew. I’ll show you your room.”

“Good night, my lady.”

“Good night, Inspector.”

Serafina turned to Bolton, and to her surprise he came and took her hand, saying, “I suppose you know that I’ve fallen in love with you.”

Serafina stared at him, shocked at his abrupt statement. He put his arms around her and would have kissed her, but she said, “Please don’t, Sir Alex.”

“Don’t you care for me at all?”

“I’m not sure about remarriage. I’m not sure I will ever remarry.”

“I think you will. I’m a stubborn fellow.”

“Well, I’m a stubborn woman.”

Sir Alex Bolton kissed her hand. “We’ll see then,” he said, smiling, “which of us is the most stubborn.”

SEVENTEEN

T
revor studied himself in the mirror mounted on the wall and reflected, “Well, if I ain’t become a toff now.” He turned around and tried to get a glimpse of what he looked like from the back and then walked over to the fire. He was wearing one of the outfits his father had bought him on their trip to the city. It consisted of black britches pressed with a knife crease, a white linen shirt, a complicated black cravat with a small diamond stud, a velvet frock coat, and gleaming black boots that came up well over his calf. For some reason the trip to the city had not been what he had expected.

He moved to the window, watching the snow fall lightly now, and saw that the hills were blanketed and the trees had lost their sharp outlines of winter. Each branch now was topped with glistening white snow. He touched the texture of the velvet coat and thought about the trip. It had been strange at first, and he had been ill at ease, but on the way to town his father had told him stories of the Hayden family and some of the details of his own life. To Trevor’s relief he had not inquired into what sort of life Trevor had known. It was, Trevor knew, obvious that his father wanted his past erased as quickly as possible, and, as always, when he thought on these things, it seemed impossible for him to ever become the kind of man that his parents expected him to be.

Sitting down in a chair, he went over the trip, thinking how well the two of them had gotten along. They had gone to his father’s club, where Trevor was welcomed as a member. They had eaten a fine meal and then had gone shopping. It had taken all day, so they had stayed the night. They had come home in snow so deep the horses had difficulty making their way.

A sudden thought occurred to him, and he stood up, reached deep into his inner pocket, and pulled out a leather wallet, also a gift. His father had handed him the wallet and said with some embarrassment, “You’ll be needing some cash from time to time, Trevor. I don’t want you to have to come to me every time you need a shilling.” He took the money out now and counted it again. Four tenners, four fivers, and twenty quid in one-pound notes. It was more money than he’d ever had, and he thought of how his father’s glance had grown warm as he had made the gift. He recalled also his rather awkward thanks, but his father had simply patted him on the shoulder and said, “You’re a Hayden now. You’ll be needing money from time to time. Always feel free to come to me, Son.”