217
"Not if she's the one telling him," Dan responded with a
contemptuous glance at the quivering Marianne "Besides, I
wouldn't tmst her to keep her story straight"
"Not that girl," St Clair said "The one you've cast the
control spell on " He gestured at Kirn
Kirn swallowed hard, half terrified that Dan knew her se-
cret at last and half hoping against hope that he would adopt
Lord St Clair's suggestion If she could get away and warn
Hunch . .
"Ah," said Dan on a long, slow breath, staring at Kim
"Yes, perhaps that would be a good idea "
"Hunch won't believe Kim," Mairelon said a little too
quickly "He doesn't trust her "
"No?" Dan said "Kim, tell the truth could you make Mer-
rill's man believe you?"
"Yes," Kim said, trying to sound sullen and reluctant "He'll
believe me "
"Good." Dan gave her a slow smile that chilled her to the
bone. "We'll discuss the other business later You know what I
mean Meanwhile, we'll wait here while you go—"
"No!" Marianne cried
Everyone turned to look at her. She cringed back against
Freddy and said, "We can't stay any longer, we can'ti It's
nearly teatime, and Lady Granleigh wilt look for me and
find ..." She faltered to a stop under the circle of astonished
stares and buned her face against Freddy's coat once more,
her shoulders shaking with sobs
"Find what?" St Clair asked "Find you gone? Embarrassing
and unfortunate, to be sure, but it's too late to do anything
about it now "
"Even if we would let you," Dan added.
Marianne turned a damp face to the group once more and
said defiantly, "Freddy and I are going to be marriedi"
318
"Oh, Lord," said Jonathan "Freddy, you fool' Your uncle
will cut you off with a shilling'"
"It don't matter," Freddy said "Rather have Marianne than a
whole mountain of shillings "
"Congratulations," St Clair said politely "I fear you'll have
to postpone your arrangements a little, however We can't
just let you go, you know "
"But you must!" Marianne cried "I—oh, you must' You
must'"
"Are you trying to say that you left a note for your guard-
ian?" Mairelon asked
"Ohi" Marianne turned back to Freddy's comforting shoul-
der and hid her face against his by now damp and wrinkled
coat Safely hidden from hostile eyes, she nodded. In the
silence that followed, the noise of an approaching horse came
clearly from the drive outside
219
TWENTY-TWO
"^"W^ K. T ° one ^Q^e as the hoofbeats grew louder
w^'^ IN and slowed to a walk "Hi, you there, wake
f r up," someone shouted "Who's here'?"
"Putting Ben to sleep may not have been one of your best
ideas," Mairelon said to Lord St Clair "Is he the sort that
wakes up cross, do you suppose?"
"He won't wake up at all until I let him," St Clair said "Be
quiet, Men-ill "
"You take a deal of liberty with my men," Dan Laverham
observed
"1 am only following your example," Lord St Clair replied
sweetly "Your handling of my former footman, James Fenton,
for instance, left much to be—"
"Austen' Edwardi George'" the voice outside shouted, com-
ing nearer with every name "Out and about, you're needed
Jon's gone and been thrown by that fire-breathing nag of his,
and—Jonathan'"
The lodge door had been flung open during the latter part
of this speech, revealing the speaker as Robert Chomiet He
stopped short when he saw Jonathan, then said in a more
220
moderate tone, "I'm glad to see you weren't hurt, but you
might have sent a message home Your mother was frantic
when your horse turned up without you "
"She's always frantic," Jonathan said callously "She should
know better, and so should you How did she talk you into
haring off after me">"
"Well, what was 1 supposed to do^" Robert asked "There
was the horse, all over lather and frightened out of its wits,
with an empty saddle The obvious assumption was that you'd
been thrown For all we knew, you were lying under a hedge
somewhere with a broken leg "
"You didn't tell me you'd taken a toss, Jon," Freddy put in
with interest "That'll teach you not to call names I've told
you and told you, it's the sort of thing that can happen to
anyone "
"I didn't take a toss," Jonathan snarled "And even if i had,
I'd still say you're cow-handed, because you are "
"Don't you say that about Freddy!" Marianne said, raising
her head and looking daggers at Jonathan
"Can't you keep them under control?" Lord St Clair asked
Dan, while Jonathan, Freddy, and Marianne embarked on a
noisy quarrel that relieved their feelings even if it accom-
plished nothing else "None of us will ever get anything done
at this rate."
Dan gave St Clair a glare that should have melted steel "If
you think you can do better, you're welcomed to try "
"Here, you loti" Jack shouted, waving his pistol "Stow your
gob and listen to Mr Laverham'"
This command did not produce the desired result Instead,
Freddy and Jonathan turned on Jack, demanding an apology
for the interruption Dan was obliged to intervene to keep
Jack from shooting Freddy out of hand, while Robert did his
best to distract the other combatants Unfortunately, Jack's
221
threats were all too clear to Marianne, who immediately went
into strong hysterics
Lord St Clair stood calmly watching, as if he were observ-
ing a raree show that did not please him above half, though
he made a point of keeping an eye on Mairelon as well as the
row in the middle of the room Kim realized suddenly that,
for the time being, no one was watching fcer She slid quietly
behind a tall chair and crouched down, eyeing the path to
the door Two more chairs and a card table provided some
concealment, but she would have to cross an open stretch of
floor to reach the exit itself Kim shrugged and began mov-
ing
She was not even halfway to her goal when the door swung
open yet again 'Villain! Unhand that girt'" cned Jasper Mar-
ston as he strode into the room He stopped short, looking
completely nonplussed, as he took in the scene in front of
him
The noise died as the adversaries became aware of their
new audience and turned to stare at him "Ah, Mr MarstonI"
Mairelon said cheerfully "I'm afraid you'll have to be more
specific about whom you were addressing There are several
persons present who admirably fit the description 'villain '
Which of them did you have in mind?"
"Really?" Robert Choimet said "You mean this isn't all one
of Jon's queer starts?"
"My queer starts? What do you mean, my queer starts? Are
you saying you think 1 arranged all this^"
"It has all the earmarks I mean, jus
t look at those two—
waving pistols all over the lodge and threatening Freddy, of
alt people How do you expect me to take it seriously?"
"You'd better," Dan said He sounded a little wild, and Kim
was glad to be out of sight behind the card table "Get over in
the corner there, all of you, and be 0iirt You, too, Marston,
or whatever your name is "
222
"Ah, I don't want any trouble," Jasper said, eyeing Dan's
pistol with misgiving "I'll just leave quietly It's no problem,
really "
"Yes, it is," Dan said, recovering himself somewhat "Into
the corner "
"'Ere, now, what's all this, then^" a deep, slow voice said
from the doorway
"I should think it was perfectly plain, even to someone of
your limited understanding, Stuggs," a female voice answered
acidly "My brother has bungled things again "
"Lady Cranleigh'" gasped Mananne She turned as white as
St Clair's cravat and fainted into Freddy's arms Unfor-
tunately, Freddy was as dumbfounded as she by the new ar-
rivals, and he failed to catch her in time He overbalanced,
and the two of them toppled backward into a chair and
crashed to the floor in a shower of splinters
Mairelon sank onto a nearby footstool, propped his head
on his bound hands, and began to laugh Lady Granleigh
gave him a look of displeasure and marched into the room,
followed by Stuggs Her gaze swept imperiously around the
assembly, barely checking at the sight of the pistols Dan and
Jack still held She passed over the struggling Freddy and the
unconscious Mananne, dismissed Jonathan and Robert as in-
consequential, and fixed at last on Lord St Clair
"Good day, St Clair," Lady Cranleigh said with a dignity
that did not conceal her annoyance
"Lady Granleigh," Lord St Clair responded, nodding a cor
dial greeting
Below the table, Kim ground her teeth and made a rude
gesture with her left hand Lady Granteigh had left the door
wide open but tempting as the sight was, Kim still could not
reach it Lady Cranleigh had stopped too close to the door,
and what little space she had left was taken up by the overly
large Stuggs
223
"I confess I had not expected to find you here, but I thank
you for your efforts on behalf of my ward," Lady Cranleigh
went on, smiling insincerely at Lord St Clair
"Effortsi" Freddy said, outraged He extracted himself from
the tangle at last, with some help from Jonathan, and climbed
to his feet, staring at St Clair the whole time "What efforts?
He ain't done anything but stand there and annoy people "
"Your conduct hardly bears examination, Mr Meredith,"
Lady Cranleigh responded "I should be careful about casting
aspersions, if I were you " She looked pointedly down at Mar-
ianne
Robert, who had knelt beside the unconscious girl and be-
gun chafing her wnsts, glanced up and said to no one in
particular, "Could one of you get a glass of wine?"
"No, but there's brandy," Jonathan answered He started
toward a small cabinet near the fireplace, but came face-to-
face with Jack Stower before he had taken two steps Jack's
pistols and threatening glare were eloquent Jonathan
shrugged and went back to his original position
"Aspersions' Well, 1 like that!" Freddy said to Lady
Cranleigh, undaunted by her arrogance "I didn't barge in
through a locked door without so much as a by-your-leave I
didn't wave any pistols about or make any threats I didn't
frighten any ladies into a fit of the vapors, and I didn't scare
her straight into a faint'"
"You lured Miss Thornley here," Jasper charged
Robert looked up, visibly impressed "Did you really,
Freddy^ 1 hadn't thought you had it in you "
"I didn't lure anybody," Freddy protested
"You made Miss Thornley extravagant promises you had no
intention of fulfilling'" Jasper said
"I dunno," Stuggs put in "'E don't took like the type, if you
take my meaning "
Jasper gave his henchman a withering look "Why else did
224
you bring Miss Thornley here, to this lonely place?" he de-
manded, turning back to Freddy
"Hardly lonely " Mairelon said in a low but clearly audible
tone
"Had to meet her somewhere," Freddy said reasonably "It
would have looked dashed odd for me to pick the girl up off
the side of the road "
"No doubt," Jasper sneered with an ironic glance at Jack
Stower's gun "You and your ruffians would have looked odd
anywhere "
Freddy frowned "Here, now' What are you insinuating"?"
"1 think it is perfectly plain," Lady Granleigh said "If Lord
St Clair and his friends had not arrived in time to stop you
and your kidnappers, who knows what might have hap-
pened?"
"Marianne and I would have gotten married, that's what
would have happened'" Freddy retorted, too angry to con-
tinue trying to be polite "What's more, we're going to tie the
knot as soon as we get out of here, no matter what you say "
"Freddy, you're crazed'" Jonathan said
"No, I ain't, and ! ain't as foolish as you think, either Got
the special license right here in my pocket "
"What'" Jasper's eyes widened, then he whirled to face his
sister "Now see what you've done, Amelia' If you hadn't set
the girl on to this buffoon, we wouldn't be in this pickle'"
"Be quiet, Jasper'" Lady Granleigh commanded "There is
no need for you to worry Lord St Clair, be so good as to
have your men assist Miss Thornley into our coach After we
have gone, you may deal with these felons as you see fit "
Before St Clair could reply there was a loud crash Every-
one jumped and turned Dan Laverham was standing beside
one of the long windows, which he had just broken, his
pistols leveled at the assembly
"1 am afraid you have mistaken the situation. Lady
225
Cranleigh," he said. He stepped forward, and shards of glass
crunched under his feet. His face was a cold, expressionless
mask. "I am not in St. Clair's employ, nor have I the slightest
interest in you, your ward, or any of your companions. I am
here for one thing, and only one thing. Once I've got it, you
may sort yourselves out in any manner that suits you. Until
then, I have heard too much of your brainless chatter. I shall
shoot the next person who speaks out of turn."
St. Clair nodded- "Crude, but generally effective."
"That includes you, St. Clair," Laverham said, glaring.
Lady Granleigh drew in her breath at this breach of man-
ners, which seemed to disturb her more than Dan's pistols,
St. Clair smiled, but said nothing-
"Much better," Laverham went on. "Now, you, the high-
wayman. Is there somewhere in this pile to lock up this lot of
lunatics while we search the rest of it?"
"Highwayman?" Freddy said with interest. "I say, Jon, you
never told us anything about—"
He broke off as one of Dan's
pistols swung in his direction.
"There are private rooms upstairs," said Jonathan sullenly, "I
think one of them has a lock."
"The one on the end," Freddy put in- "But it's broken. The
lock, I mean."
"This is an outrage!" Lady Granleigh said, finding her
voice- "Who is this person? Lord St. Ctair—"
"I told you to be quiet," Dan said. "Get over there with the
others."
"Better do as 'e says, mum," Stuggs warned. "'E looks the
sort as 'ud do you without blinkin'."
Kirn held her breath as Lady Granteigh, stiff with disap-
proval, moved away from the door at last. Now, if they
would all stay busy at the other end of the room for a few
minutes longer . . ,
A shadow fell across the doorsill. Kim frowned and sank
226
back into her uncomfortable half-crouch. Had Lady
Granleigh brought a coachman, or had Ben awakened in spite
of Lord St. Clair's precautionary spell? Either way, she would
be running into trouble. Not that she wasn't in a proper mess
already, of course, but Dan's temper looked to be deteriorat-