The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer

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

Eight

It was agreed finally that Ludovic should attempt nothing in the way of housebreaking until his cousin had discovered which day the Beau proposed to go to London. Ludovic, incurably optimistic, considered his ring as good as found already, but Shield, taking a more sober view of the situation, saw pitfalls ahead. If the Beau, like his father before him, were indeed in the habit of using the priest’s hole as a hiding-place for his strong-box, nothing was more likely than his keeping the ring there as well. Almost the only point on which Shield found himself at one with his volatile young cousin was the belief, firmly held by Ludovic, that the Beau, if he ever had the ring, would neither have sold it nor have thrown it away. To sell it would be too dangerous a procedure; to throw away an antique of great value would require more resolution than Sir Tristram believed the Beau possessed. But Sir Tristram could not share Ludovic’s easy-going contempt of the Beau. Ludovic persisted in laughing at his affectations, and thinking him a mere fop of no particular courage or enterprise. Sir Tristram, though he had no opinion of the Beau’s courage, profoundly mistrusted his suavity, and considered him to be a great deal more astute than he seemed.

The circumstance of the Beau’s butler and valet having seen part at least of the search for the secret panel Sir Tristram found disturbing. That the Beau was already suspicious of Eustacie’s supposed groom was apparent; Sir Tristram believed that if he got wind of his cousins’ odd behaviour in his library he would be quite capable of putting two and two together and not only connecting Ludovic with the episode but realizing that he himself had at last fallen under suspicion. And if the Beau suspected that Ludovic, who knew the position of the priest’s hole, had come into Sussex to find his ring he would surely be very unlikely to leave it where it would certainly be looked for.

Some part of these forebodings Shield confided to Miss Thane, enjoining her to do all that lay in her power to keep Ludovic hidden from all eyes but their own.

‘Well, I will do my best,’ replied Sarah, ‘but it is not an easy task, Sir Tristram.’

‘I know it is not an easy task,’ he said impatiently, ‘but it is the only way in which you can assist us – which I understand you to be desirous of doing.’

She could not forbear giving him a look of reproach. ‘You must be forgetting what assistance I rendered you at the Dower House,’ she said.

‘No,’ replied Sir Tristram, at his dryest. ‘I was not forgetting that.’

Miss Thane rested her chin in her hand, pensively surveying him. ‘Will you tell me something, Sir Tristram?’

‘Perhaps. What is it?’

‘What induced you ever to contemplate marriage with your cousin?’

He looked startled, and not too well pleased. ‘I can hardly suppose, ma’am, that my private affairs can be of interest to you,’ he said.

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