Page 109 of How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days

‘When was this?’ he demanded.

‘When we were stuck in the parlour,’ Lydia said. She turned to Ashford, appealing. ‘Do you remember?’

‘I do,’ Ashford said, reluctantly.

‘Something is afoot!’ Pip said triumphantly. ‘And it involves the diamonds, that’s for certain.’

‘Is it?’ Ashford said. ‘It’s loose, sir, very loose.’

‘If we do nothing,’ Pip said, uncharacteristically serious, ‘and something is afoot – Elspeth’s life is at risk.’

‘And he is about to leave the country with your cousin,’ Lydia said. ‘On a six-week voyage to a place where she knows no one. Don’t you wish to know the truth before she leaves?’

‘He adores her,’ Ashford said. ‘He has a temper, but …’

‘But …’ Lydia agreed.

She thought of the naked rage in his eyes as he had struck the horse, the redness of his face when he had lost his temper over snuff, the mean bite to his tone when he had threatened Dacre. Remembered all the little ways he had put Lady Phoebe down over the course of one weekend alone. Individually, the incidents might be small, but as a collective … They built an unpleasant image.

‘Elspeth has definitely checked everywhere in the room?’ Ashford asked weakly.

Pip stared at him, then to Lydia, and then back again.

‘Not sure you’re cut out for this work,’ Pip said. ‘Double checking is the first thing one does. Stands to reason.’

‘Then the next thing we must do, is find this Mr Villars,’ Ashford said. ‘You may leave the matter with me. Once the house party is concluded I shall return to London and—’

‘Fact is, no time,’ Pip interrupted.

‘Lady Phoebe intends to wear the necklace at the masquerade,’ Lydia said. ‘If it is discovered missing before we have answers …’

‘I could make it to London and back in time, with a fast horse,’ Ashford said. ‘Assuming Villars – whoever he is – tells me anything.’

‘Perhaps I ought to go,’ Pip said. ‘I can get Mr Simmons to join me, and they’ll have a hard time denying Bow Street.’

‘Meanwhile, we will continue searching here,’ Lydia said. ‘For the necklace or other proof – perhaps the letters Reeves mentioned.’

‘If there are any remaining,’ Ashford said, ‘they will be in his study – which he keeps locked at all times.’

‘Lock’s unpickable,’ Pip said. ‘I already tried.’

‘Then we shall get inside some other way,’ Ashford said. ‘Won’t we?’

He looked to Lydia for confirmation, and something about the way he did it – with utter confidence in their ability to achieve such a thing together – had Lydia’s heart clenching.

‘Yes,’ she said.

Pip rose from his chair.

‘Very well,’ he said. ‘I shall leave at first light.’

‘We will make your excuses,’ Lydia promised.

Pip nodded and hastened towards the door, closing it softly behind him.

‘I cannot believe I am indulging him,’ Ashford muttered to himself. ‘It’s pure conjecture, riddled with holes – the ramblings of a madman.’

‘Perhaps,’ Lydia said. ‘But Pip is correct. Whatever is going on, the consequences look set to land upon Elspeth – and perhaps Phoebe, too.’