An Improper Companion by Anne Herries

Author:Anne Herries
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Daniel looked at the small pile of notes lying on the table before him, well aware that the man who had thrown them so carelessly into the pot could not afford to pay what he owed. He had known it before he sat down with Sir Fletcher Harding.

‘So, you win again, sir,’ the unlucky gambler said. ‘It will take me a little time to raise the blunt, Cavendish.’

‘More than a little, I dare say,’ Daniel said pleasantly. ‘What do you say to double or quits, Harding?’

His opponent looked at him in silence for a moment, and then, ‘You know I have no hope of paying such a sum, don’t you?’

‘Oh, I think there is a way that you can very easily pay me,’ Daniel told him. ‘There is certain information that I need.’

Sir Fletcher looked uneasily about the room—he knew what Daniel was after, and should never have put himself so deeply in his debt.

‘And for that you will return my notes?’

‘And some others that I have bought,’ Daniel said, still with that pleasant easy smile on his lips. ‘It is little enough, Harding—a few names, a few clues as to what went on…’

‘The Hellfire Club was rumoured to be a Satanist association,’ Sir Fletcher said. ‘My father was a member and he introduced me when I was but sixteen. It was on its last legs by then and, though it went on for a while in some form or other after Sir Francis Dashwood died, it was never the same. From what I recall towards the end, it became merely an excuse for dressing up in weird costumes and drinking too much. And there were women called nuns, but I doubt that any of them truly were of that calling…nor yet the virgins demanded by the rituals.’

‘Sir Montague Forsythe was also a member, was he not?’

‘Towards the end of the time, when it had become a pale imitation of the original,’ Sir Fletcher said. ‘He wasn’t as old as I had been when someone brought him in, and I think he expected it to be more than it was. He and some others went off and formed their own club a few months later…’ He glanced uneasily around him. ‘I do not think they pretend to worship Satan—they are far worse, for they consider themselves lords of creation and believe that they are above the law.’

‘Do you know what they call themselves?’

‘No, and nor should you inquire too closely,’ Sir Fletcher said. ‘Most of the men who patronised the original Hellfire Club soon grew tired of it and ceased to attend the meetings, as I did myself—but Forsythe and his cronies have gone from foolish youths to…evil men. You should be careful, Cavendish. If they knew what we speak of this evening, they would think nothing of having us killed.’

‘Would you stand up in court and condemn them?’

Sir Fletcher shook his head. ‘I value my life too much. I would rather be ruined than in their hands…’

‘Just why are you afraid of them?’

‘I once saw something I should not have seen,’ Sir Fletcher said.

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