Corinthian by Georgette Heyer

Author:Georgette Heyer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Nine

Having got rid of Piers Luttrell, who, after peering at his watch surreptitiously, and several times looking about him as though in the expectation of seeing someone hiding amongst the trees, went off, rather relieved but much bewildered, Sir Richard walked away to rejoin Pen and the unknown lady. He found only Pen, seated on the bank with an air of aloof virtue, her hands folded primly on her knees. He paused, looking her over with a comprehending eye. ‘And where,’ he asked in conversational tones, ‘is your companion?’

‘She chose to go home,’ responded Pen. ‘I dare say she grew tired of waiting for you to come back.’

‘Ah, no doubt! Did you by any chance, suggest to her that she should do so?’

‘No, because it was not at all necessary. She was very anxious to go. She said she wished she had not come.’

‘Did she tell you why she had come?’

‘No. I asked her, of course, but she is such a silly little missish thing that she would do nothing but cry, and say she was a wicked girl. Do you know what I think, Richard?’

‘Probably.’

‘Well, it’s my belief she came to meet someone. She seems to me exactly the sort of female who would feel romantic just because there is a full moon. Besides, why else should she be here at this hour?’

‘Why indeed?’ agreed Sir Richard. ‘I apprehend that you have little sympathy to spare for such folly?’

‘None at all,’ said Pen. ‘In fact, I think it’s silly, besides being improper.’

‘You are severe!’

‘I can tell by your voice that you are laughing at me. I expect you are thinking of my climbing out of a window. But I was not going to meet a lover by moonlight! Such stuff !’

‘Fustian,’ nodded Sir Richard. ‘Did she disclose the identity of her lover?’

‘No, but she said her own name was Lydia Daubenay. And no sooner had she told me that than she went off into another taking, and said she was distracted, and wished she had not told me. Really, I was quite glad when she decided to go home without waiting for you.’

‘Yes, I had rather gathered the impression that her company was not agreeable to you. I suppose it hardly signifies. She did not appear to me to be the kind of young woman who could be trusted to bear a still tongue in her head.’

‘Well, I don’t know,’ said Pen thoughtfully. ‘She was so frightened I quite think she may not say a word about the adventure. I have been considering the matter, and it seems to me that she must be in love with someone whom her parents do not wish her to marry.’

‘That,’ said Sir Richard, ‘seems to be a fair conclusion.’

‘So that I shouldn’t be at all surprised if she conceals the fact that she was in the wood to-night. By the way, was it the stammering-man?’

‘It was, and Miss Daubenay was right in her suspicion: he is dead.’

Miss Creed accepted this with fortitude. ‘Well, if he is, I can tell you who killed him.

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