A Rational Proposal (Furze House Irregulars Book 1)(53)
“Nothing I should like more. I take it this is not the shadowy gentleman you were telling me of?”
“Sadly no, he remains as concealed within his web as ever. My unsavoury quarry is Verity’s half-sister’s husband. He is a monster who deserves to rot in Newgate for as long as I can keep him there. Come up and I will explain. I must also pen a letter to a friend and check on a report of a gambling den I paid insufficient attention to when I was told of it a few days ago. It strikes me that it might be the very place for my purpose, provided we sit near a door.”
Adam smiled. “You never cease to surprise me, Charles. Tell me, do you get any of your regular work done at all?”
“Not according to my clerk. He has reason. I am particularly distracted at the moment.”
“I am all ears.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“So that is my plan,” said Charles. He had brought Adam to dine at Grosvenor Street where Verity had been delighted to see him. She was looking more bewitching than ever this evening, as if she was purposely ignoring what he had told her about an attorney not being able to give his wife the life he would like her to have. “Tonight we will take part in whichever entertainment Julia has decided is good for us and Adam will give a good impression of a country bumpkin out on the town. Tomorrow, with your help, we will first see to Jenny’s commissions, and then he and I will look for divertissement in Captain Eastwick’s favourite gambling hell. From what your sister said, I doubt he will be averse to taking money off us.”
Julia made a dissatisfied grimace. “You will have to go to the linen warehouse without me. Mama and I are promised to our eldest brother’s wife for the day, no doubt to fend off whatever poor dab she has lined up as a suitable life partner for me. As it is in a noble cause, I shall be very kind and mention how hard you are working, Charles.”
“Thank you,” said Charles gravely. Then he frowned. “Will Mrs Bowman be at home, Verity? We are arranging for my friend Nicholas Dacre - whom you do not know, Julia, and I will be obliged if you instantly forget his name - to collect Kitty as soon as her husband leaves the house and to bring her and the child here.”
Verity met his eyes, a wrinkle of worry in them. “Yes, Mama will be in, for she is expecting Mr Tweedie to call about the Kensington villa. I will ask them to put off going again to look at it until I return. I am very glad you are going to rescue Kitty so soon, but is Grosvenor Street not the first place Captain Eastwick will search for her?”
Charles exchanged a look with Adam. “I am hoping he will have rather more on his mind by the time he discovers she is gone. Even if I cannot detect that he is cheating at cards, I intend taking him in charge for deception over those two women. Both offences count as fraud. Adam and I will disable him and take him to Bow Street. Once he is there, I can arrange for both the women he wronged to give evidence against him.”
Julia had been listening closely. “If you need a witness of good character, I will say I knew him in Shropshire as Mr North. The Cattsons themselves are in town. The whole family will tell you he was in their house under a false name.”
“I doubt my mother will look kindly on your visiting Bow Street,” said Charles, “but a written deposition will lend weight.”
Verity jumped up and crossed to the table. “Excellent idea. For Kitty’s sake, I would have him incarcerated as swiftly as possible. I will write the letter now, Julia, and you can sign it. My handwriting is by far more readable and this way, Charles will have it with him.” She paused in the act of reaching for a pen. “It puzzles me how Captain Eastwick knew about Miss Cattson and her fortune. Shropshire is very far away. What gave him the notion to inveigle himself into the household?”
“There may have been an announcement in the newspaper of her grandmother’s death. Or possibly the brother let it slip in conversation.”
“But he had already introduced himself to the brother under a false name. Also, how did he know about the household in Kent where Susan Norris was in service? She said he was courting her mistress. It’s puzzling, Charles. Kitty told me he not infrequently goes away for one or two months at a time, and then returns in funds. If he follows the same pattern every time, where does he get the information that there is an heiress whose family will pay him off? The newspapers cannot always give the details, surely?”
Charles met her eyes, struck again by her intelligence and wrenched beyond belief at the thought that they would really deal very well together if only he had greater financial security. “It is a valid point. I have been so focused on the outcome of his machinations that I hadn’t considered his sources. Could it simply be society gossip?”
Verity shook her head. “He does not move in society. He does not even come into this part of town.”
Then it must be the gentlemen he plays cards with. Did you not say Lieutenant Neville’s conversation resembles his own? Those men do move in society and depend on it, he will have their names and situations out of them in a matter of minutes under the guise of being a capital, sympathetic fellow. I have seen such blackguards many times. It is one of the ways to tell a sharp before ever he deals a hand.”
“I am more than ever glad I only play round games,” said Julia. She turned to Adam. “I hope you will not find it too awkward tonight, Adam. My brother has evidently forgotten that we are all bound for the Sans Pareil. The season has just opened. Miss Scott has written a new melodrama, and there is said to be a very fine ballet, as well as the farce.”