Theo shrugged. ‘There is no saying what he may hope. But you cannot, I believe, shut your doors to him merely because he fenced once with the button off his foil, and did not warn you that a bridge was unsafe.’
‘Ah, there is a little more than that!’ Gervase said.
‘What more?’
Gervase hesitated. ‘Why, I did not mean to tell you this, but I woke last night to the conviction that someone was in m
y room.’
Theo turned his head to stare at him under his brows. ‘In your room? Martin?’
‘I can’t tell that. I have certain reasons for suspecting it may have been he, but by the time I was up, and could pull back my curtain, there was no one there.’
‘Good God! Gervase, are you sure of this?’
‘No, I am not sure, but I think that someone entered my room through the dressing-room. I heard what sounded to me like the click of a lock.’
‘I cannot think it! Why, if – But what reason have you to think it was Martin?’
‘I found him on the gallery outside my room.’
‘What?’
‘He said that he had been out – to Cheringham, a statement which I was disinclined to believe. Miss Morville, however, who was roused by the slamming of a door, considers that he may well have been speaking the truth. She seems to think he went there to see a cockfight.’
‘Very likely. But I had no idea of this! I thought he had had the head-ache! And you believe –’
‘No, no, I believe nothing! But I have a strong notion I shall take my pistols to bed with me while I remain at Stanyon! It will be quite like Peninsular days.’
Theo smiled. ‘You have brought some desperate habits home with you! Only don’t rouse the household by firing at a mouse which is unlucky enough to disturb your rest!’
‘Nothing less than a rat, I promise you!’ Gervase said gravely.
They proceeded on their way without further mishap. The Earl faithfully visited his old friend, Yelden; his cousin inspected the new plantation; and they returned to Stanyon at noon, by way of the main avenue, which traversed the Home Park from the seventeenth-century lodge, with its wrought-iron gates, to the original Gate-tower of the Castle, still in remarkably good preservation, but no longer guarding a drawbridge. The moat having been filled in, the tower served no particular purpose, but figured in the guide-books as a fine example of fourteenth-century architecture. Through its vaulted archway the east, and main, entrance to the Castle was reached, which opened on to what had once been the outer bailey, and was now a handsome court, laid out with a broad gravel drive, and formal flower-beds.
As the cousins rode through the archway, a sporting curricle came into sight, drawn up by the steps leading to the front-door. A smart-looking groom was standing at the heads of the wheelers; and the equipage plainly belonged to someone aspiring to the highest crack of fashion, since it was drawn by four horses. This made Theo exclaim that he could not imagine who could have come to visit Stanyon in such a turn-out. He sounded scornful, but Gervase said in mock-reproof that he showed a shocking ignorance. ‘A curricle-and-four, my dear Theo, is the mark of the Nonesuch, let me tell you! Now, whom have you in Lincolnshire who – Good God! I should know those horses!’ He spurred forward as he spoke, and a gentleman in a driving-coat of white drab, and a hat with a high, conical crown and beaver brim, who had been conferring with Abney at the head of the wide stone steps, turned, saw him, and came down the steps again, calling out: ‘Hallo, there, Ger! Turn out, man! the enemy is upon you!’
‘Lucy, by all that’s wonderful!’ the Earl ejaculated, sliding from the saddle, and gripping both his friend’s hands. ‘My dear fellow! Where have you sprung from?’
‘Been staying with the Caldbecks, dear old boy,’ explained his visitor. ‘Couldn’t leave the country without seeing you! Now don’t, don’t think yourself bound to invite me to put up here! My man is following me with all my baggage, but I see how it is – you have no room!’
An airy gesture indicated the sprawling pile behind the speaker; a pair of bright eyes quizzed the Earl, who laughed, and retorted: ‘An attic – we will find room for you in an attic! Theo, can we house this fellow, do you think? My cousin, Lucy – Theo, this is Captain Lucius Austell – oh, no! I beg pardon! It is Lord Ulverston! When did you sell out, Lucy?’
‘Not so long after you,’ replied Ulverston, exchanging a cordial handshake with Theo. ‘M’father felt, when m’grandfather died, that he couldn’t have the three of us serving, so it fell to me to sell out. I told him I might as easily be killed in the streets of London as on any military service – never saw such a rabble of traffic in my life! Lisbon’s nothing to it, dear boy! – but nothing would do for him but to have me in England!’
By this time, Theo had grasped that his cousin’s friend was the heir to the Earl of Wrexham, who had lately succeeded to his father’s dignities. He enquired civilly after his youngest brother, Cornelius, whom he had once met in the house of a common acquaintance, and the Viscount replied, with the insouciance which characterized him: ‘Haven’t a notion how he is! Think he’s on the West Indian station, but these naval fellows, you know, jaunter about the world so that there’s no keeping up with them at all! Corney means to be a Rear or a Vice, or some such thing, but with the Frogs rompé’d, and poor old Boney sent off to some curst island or another, devil a bit of promotion will there be! Said so to Freddy, when I sold out, but he’s just got his company, and thinks he’ll command the regiment in a brace of shakes. D’you know my brother Freddy? No? Very dull dog: ought to have been the eldest! Often thought so!’
The Earl, who had been inspecting the horses, interrupted, saying over his shoulder: ‘How do you like ’em, Lucy?’
‘Why, you old horse-chaunter, didn’t you sell ’em to me with a warranty they were sixteen-mile-an-hour tits? Not a second above fifteen-and-a-half – word of a gentleman! Now, Ger, why did you sell ’em to me? Four good ’uns – complete to a shade!’
‘Oh, my cousin preached economy to me! You may say they are my breakdowns!’
‘Economy!’ exclaimed Theo. ‘Pray, what did you give for your grays?’
‘Grays?’ said the Viscount. ‘Ger, not Bingham’s grays? Well, by God, if I had known he had a mind to sell them – !’
His cloak-bag having been unstrapped from the back of the curricle, and borne into the house, the Viscount waved dismissal to his henchman, saying: ‘Take ’em away, Clarence! take ’em away!’ and tucked a hand in the Earl’s arm. ‘Well, old fellow, how does it suit you after all? You look pretty stout!’