lously rich, by all accounts! I never saw her myself, but I believe she is quite young, and very pretty. And she put up at the White Hart!'
'No!'
'Yes! With a companion, and a maid, and a footman – oh, and a courier as well! You wouldn't have believed it!'
'Oh, wouldn't I!' said Mr Calverleigh.
'And she hadn't been there for a day before Stacy was busy fixing his interest with her! Would you have thought it possible?'
'Not only possible, but certain.'
'Well, I must say I didn't, when I first heard of it. I never supposed him to be as – as shameless as that!'
'My odious nephew, I regret to say, is entirely shameless.'
'He must be. I can't help pitying the widow, for I think she must have found him out. She left Bath quite suddenly, and although I was excessively thankful that Stacy did attach himself to her, it must have been very painful for her.'
'Set your mind at rest, my love! It wasn't at all painful for her.'
'You can't know that!' objected Abby.
'Oh, yes, I can!' he retorted. 'I sent her here!'
'You?' she gasped.
'Yes, of course. Didn't you guess it? I rather thought you would.'
'Good God, no! But who was she? How did you contrive to send her to Bath? And what a shocking thing to do! Exposing her to – Miles, it was monstrous! How can you laugh?'
'You shouldn't make me laugh. My precious pea-goose, I hired her to bamboozle Stacy! As far as I can discover, her performance was most talented – though she seems to have broken down a trifle before she rang down the final curtain. As to who she is, I really don't know, except that she was at one time an actress.'
Miss Abigail Wendover, having digested this information, said, in accents of stern disapproval: 'I collect, sir, that she is not a – a respectable female?'
'Let us rather say, ma'am, that you are unlikely to meet her in the first circles.'
'You seem to have done so!'
'No, no, not in the first circles!'
Her dimple quivered, but she suppressed it. 'And are you very well acquainted with her?' she enquired politely.
'Oh, no! I only met her once – to rehearse her in her rôle, you know. Dolly found her for me. Dolly was Mrs Clapham's companion. I was extremely well acquainted with her – some twenty years ago,' he explained outrageously. 'She used to be known as the Dasher, and a very dashing little barque of frailty she was! She is now engaged in – er – a different branch of the profession, and has become alarmingly tonnish. However, she consented, at an extortionate price, to take part in my masquerade. In fact, she insisted on doing so. She never could resist a spree.'
'You,' said Abby, in a shaking voice, 'are the most dis reputable person I have ever encountered!'
'Well, that's not saying much! Except for my odious nephew, I don't suppose you've encountered any disreputable persons at all.' He turned his head, and added: 'You never knew me in my disreputable days, Abigail. They are all in the past.'
Her eyes fell. After a minute, she said: 'It must have cost you a great deal, I fear. The masquerade, I mean. When I asked you to rescue Fanny, I never intended –'
'Oh, I had an axe of my own to grind as well!' he assured her.
'Oh!' she said doubtfully. 'Well, –' She stopped suddenly, recognising a landmark. 'Good gracious, we are on the London road! Where are we going?'
'Reading,' he replied.
'Reading? ' she echoed blankly. 'Don't be so absurd! It must be sixty miles away!'
'Sixty-eight.'