Midnight Masquerade by Joan Smith

Author:Joan Smith [Smith, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency Romance
Publisher: Belgrave House
Published: 1985-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

When it was polite to get away from the taking of port, Belami and Pronto joined the ladies. Dick looked about for the duchess, dreading to confess his stunt, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that she had gone upstairs. Deirdre caught his eye, and beckoned him with a glance.

“My aunt has retired,” she said. “She asked me to thank you for finding her diamond. Can you tell me about it?”

“No,” he answered baldly.

“Why not? Surely you’re not planning to keep it a secret. It must be reported to Bow Street as soon as possible.”

“Not yet,” he parried.

“Will you tell me who it was at least?” she asked with curiosity—genuine curiosity—lending a sparkle to her eyes.

“Have you no idea at all?” he asked in a playful manner.

“None in the least. Of course, I saw Bessler drop his glass, but we know it wasn’t he. Ac-tually I was wondering if you did not suspect Bidwell, since Pronto was staring so hard at him. On your orders, I assume.”

“Assumptions are dangerous things, I can tell you. I’ve made a few erroneous ones in my time.”

“Oh, don’t be so provoking, Belami!” she said sharply. “I’m as closely involved in this business as you are.”

Her curiosity was certainly genuine. Belami was bereft of a new clue, and to enlarge his store of knowledge, he decided to bargain with her. “All right, I’ll tell you, but we shall require privacy for the telling.”

“Where?” she asked.

“Music room?” he suggested, picking an isolated spot.

“Very well, but first I must ask Herr Bessler to go up to Aunt Charney. She knows she’ll have trouble sleeping, and wants him to waft her off to dreamland.”

“That boring a conversationalist, is he?”

“Oh, no, that isn’t his trick. Mesmerism—you recall we spoke of it.”

“Does he actually put her to sleep?” he asked, interested in any novel nonsense, particularly of a scientific nature.

“Indeed he does. She makes sure she has on her nightgown before he does it. He usually mesmerizes her after she is in bed. Her woman sits with them, of course, for propriety’s sake.”

A slow smile crept across Belami’s face at the unlikely picture of the duchess indulging in the slightest impropriety.

“Of course,” he agreed, his lips unsteady.

“He began it when he was a doctor, and it didn’t seem improper,” she pointed out, misunderstanding that smile.

‘‘How very interesting.”

“Yes, she didn’t have him do it for ages after the College of Physicians revoked his license, because she didn’t want to have a man who was not a doctor in her bedroom. Bessler said he could probably put her into a trance that would enable her to go to bed and undress herself after he left, but she didn’t have him do it. Aunt Charney wouldn’t want to be under anyone’s control. There is Bessler now. I’ll ask him to go up to her before we leave, if you’ll excuse me.”

Wild imaginings were flitting through Belami’s ingenious mind. New rays of light were shining on the many-faceted problem that confronted him. Bessler

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