A Gentleman of Fortune by Anna Dean

Author:Anna Dean [Dean, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical Detective, Mystery, Napoleonic Era, female sleuth
ISBN: 9780749007096
Amazon: 0749007095
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 2010-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

…And so you see, Eliza, now I cannot help but suspect dear Mr Hewit. Which is very unpleasant indeed. I wish with all my heart that this business of solving mysteries would work out some other way and one had only to detect guilt in people one did not like. I am quite at ease suspecting the dreadful Mrs M, or even the whining Miss Neville. But Mr Hewit, who looks so very sad and talks so very gently and who is, furthermore, almost certainly in love with dear Miss Prentice, it is just too bad to have to wonder whether he is a murderer!

And then what am I to make of Sir Joshua being unwilling to talk about the mysterious Mr Henderson?

Is there, I wonder, some shame to be attached to knowing that gentleman? Shame seems the most likely cause of his evasion, does it not? And yet during the time of his residence in Richmond, Mr Henderson appears to have been entirely respectable – or else how did he associate with such people as Miss Prentice saw attending his parties?

All of which can only lead me to suppose that something has befallen him since his time here. An embarrassment over money affairs would seem the most likely misfortune to have overtaken him. Certainly his sudden removal from Knaresborough House, together with those other proofs of his limited means, accord well with his debts having been called in.

I wish I could discover more about Mr Henderson – in particular, where he is now. And, to this end, I have taken a measure which I do not think you will approve. I have written a letter of enquiry to the agents who let the house. But do not worry! I have not exposed myself. I have only said that I was acquainted with the gentleman during his stay in Richmond, that I borrowed from him some songs to copy and I am anxious to return his property – which, by the by, I thought a remarkably clever story! And I have asked whether they can tell me where I might direct the package.

I know you will dislike this deviation from the strict path of truth. But it is only a small one – and made in a worthy cause. And there is this to be said for my little lie: it will not inflict any pain. I only wish I could say so much for the rather large truth which I must now unfold to Flora.

You see, it is only right that she should know the secret I discovered about Mr Lansdale over the game at Brooke Manor; but I do not think that she will like to hear it. For I cannot help but think that it is only her very great determination not to know it which has kept her blind so long…

I have just taken my scissors to some old visiting cards and made a very tolerable set of alphabets with which to show her how

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