Lyn Stone - From London With Love - Disgrace and Desire / The Captain and the Wallflower

She reached the second arbour and slowed down. Cautiously she approached the dark space. A canopy of leaves blotted out almost all the light, but as her eyes adjusted to the darkness she could see an empty bench at the back of the enclosure. Her heart beating, she walked to the bench and sat down to wait. Almost immediately a voice sounded to her right.

‘You keep good time, madam. I congratulate you.’

Eloise jumped up. A black shape detached itself from the shadows. It was a man, wrapped in a dull black cloak and hat, his face hidden beneath a black mask. As he moved forwards the light glittered eerily on the eyes peering through the slits in his mask. She cleared her throat.

‘What do you want of me?’

He held out his hand and she saw the grey oblong held between his fingers. It was too dark to read it but she knew from its shape and size that it was another page from the diary. As her hand reached out he snatched it back.

‘How much?’

He laughed.

‘You are very sensible, ma’am. No tears, no hysterics.’

‘Would they do me any good?’

‘Not at all.’

‘Then I will ask you again, how much?’

‘This page I will give you in exchange for a kiss.’

‘And the rest of the book?’

She heard him chuckle. It sent a shiver of revulsion running through her.

‘That depends upon the kiss.’

He reached out and pulled her to him, pressing his lips hard against her mouth. She froze, fighting against an impulse to push him away.

When he let her go she gasped and instinctively dragged the back of her hand across her mouth.

‘Who are you?’

‘You will discover soon enough. Here.’ He held out the grey oblong. ‘Take it. I shall let you know the price for the rest.’

She twitched the paper from his fingers.

‘How…how did you come by the book?’

‘You do not need to know that.’

She put up her chin.

‘It could be a forgery.’

He laughed softly in the darkness.

‘And would you have left me a hundred guineas on Hampstead Heath if it had not been genuine?’

She bit her lip, regretting that first, rash action. She said, coldly, ‘What if I refuse to continue with this?’

‘But you won’t.’ His voice was low, just above a whisper, and it sent unpleasant shivers through her. ‘Neither will you leave town. Do you think if you bury yourself in the country you can escape the scandal? You know that is not true.’

She put up her head.

‘If you publish I shall go abroad—’

‘And what of the Allyngham name? Such an illustrious history—are you content to see it tainted?’

Eloise peered into the darkness. It was impossible to tell much about her tormentor: the hat and cloak concealed his body as effectively as he had disguised his voice.

‘What is it you want from me?’

‘You will continue with your engagements. I understand a party will be going to Renwick Hall at the end of the month. You will be invited.’

‘How can you be so sure?’

‘Mrs Renwick likes you. I have heard her say she would like you to be there.’

She turned away, shaking her head.

‘No. I have had enough of your games—’

‘If I publish that book your name will be disgraced.’

‘Allyngham is dead,’ she said dully. ‘It will make no odds.’

‘But others are very much alive, and they will suffer, will they not? Are you willing to risk their disgrace, perhaps even to risk their lives, Lady Allyngham?’

She stopped. He was right, of course. Slowly she turned back.

‘How much do you want?’ she asked again.

‘I shall let you know that in due course. For now you will continue to adorn the London salons and ballrooms while you await my instructions.’

He stepped back into the shadows. There was a rustle of leaves, then silence. She could see nothing. She put her hands out and stepped towards the back of the arbour. Branches and leaves met her fingers; there was no sign of the cloaked man. Eloise backed away. As she moved closer to the main path she held up the paper, still clutched in her fingers. Even in the dim light she recognised the writing. It was another page from that damning journal. Turning the page to catch the best of the light spilling in from the walk, she read it quickly then, with a sob and a shudder, she turned and ran out on to the path.

After the darkness of the arbour the lamps strung amongst the trees of the Druid’s Walk were positively dazzling. Eloise looked around wildly. Perkins and Robert came running up as she emerged on to the path.

‘Did you see him?’ she cried. ‘He was in there. Did you see him?’

‘Wasn’t no one in that nook when we got ’ere,’ said Perkins. ‘We’ve bin watching all the time and no one’s appeared.’

Hasty footsteps scrunched on the gravel and she looked around as Jack approached. He went to put his arm about her but she held him off.

‘Where were you?’ she demanded. ‘You said you would follow me.’

‘I did. I set off shortly after you. I admit the crowds in the main walks impeded my progress but I was no more than five minutes behind you.’

Eloise shivered. Had she been in there such a short time?

Jack took her arm. ‘You are trembling. Come away from here.’

‘No, I must know how he got into the arbour and how he left it again without being seen. There must be a back way.’

Robert reached up and unhooked one of the lanterns from a nearby tree.

‘Well, then, madam, perhaps we should take a look.’

With Jack beside her, she followed Robert and Perkins back into the arbour. The lamplight flickered over the closely woven branches that formed the walls. She pointed behind the bench.

‘He disappeared through there.’

Robert moved closer, holding the lantern aloft.

‘Aha.’

Jack’s grip on her arm tightened. ‘What is it, Bob?’

‘Two of the uprights have been sawn through. A man could squeeze through there.’

Perkins stepped up.

‘Shall I go after ’im, m’lady?’

‘No,’ said Jack. ‘He will be long gone by now. We must take Lady Allyngham home. Run ahead, Perkins, and summon the carriage.’ He looked down at her. ‘What happened, did he demand more money?’

Beneath her cloak Eloise crumpled the paper in her hand and slipped it into her reticule. She was not about to let Jack read it.

‘He said he will let me know his demands later.’

‘And did you get a look at him, ma’am?’ asked Robert. ‘Was he taller than you, fatter—’

She shook her head.

‘I could not see. It was very dark, and he was disguised.’ She cast a quick glance up at Jack. ‘I am sure it is someone who was at the Renwicks’ party earlier this week—he knew I was thinking of leaving town. I wondered for a moment if it might be Mr Renwick, but he is such a short, round, jolly gentleman his size would have been difficult to disguise.’

‘But why should you think of Charles?’

‘Because the man said I would be invited to join the Renwicks at their house party, and I was to accept.’

‘So our villain is not a stranger to society.’ He put his hand over hers. ‘I should not have let you meet with this man alone.’

Eloise said nothing. She found herself listening to his voice, trying to match it to the breathy tones of her tormentor. After all, Jack had been at the Renwicks’ and standing near to her when she had said she might leave London. And he had been nowhere in sight when she had emerged from the arbour. Had he been discarding his disguise?

She tried to dismiss the idea as they walked back through the gardens. Her instinct was to trust him, but what did she know about this man? He was a soldier, but that might not make him any less a villain. Every nerve was stretched to breaking point and she could not relax, even when they were seated in her comfortable travelling chaise and on their way back to town. She was not at ease, being so close to Jack Clifton. She remembered that night on the Heath. Was he really as innocent as he claimed? He might well have had an accomplice, who had taken the money from the tree roots. She cast a swift, furtive glance at the black shadowed figure beside her. Had the man in the arbour been taller or shorter than Jack, had he been fat, or thin? It was so difficult to tell; the enveloping cloak and tall hat had been a very effective disguise. She thought perhaps he had been more her own height, but everything had happened so quickly she could not be sure.