The Repentant Rake

    'Yes,' he said. 'Did Gabriel ever mention her in his letters?'

    'No, Mr Redmayne.'

    'He obviously made a deep impression on her. She was at the funeral.'

    'Was she?' asked Susan with mingled surprise and disapproval.

    'She left discreetly soon afterwards.'

    'I'm glad to hear it.'

    'Do not be too harsh on her. She was a good friend to Gabriel.'

    'That may be so, Mr Redmayne, but she had no place at a family funeral. Think what pain it would have caused Lucy if she had known of the woman's presence and of her relationship to Gabriel. It was wrong of Miss Hemmings to come.' Susan cocked her head slightly and stared at him. 'Are you ashamed of your brother?'

    'Ashamed? No, Miss Cheever.'

    'Why not?'

    'With all his faults, I love Henry.'

    'I loved Gabriel - with all his faults.'

    'It's not a fair comparison.'

    'Why not?'

    'Your brother repented,' he argued. 'He turned his back on his days as a rake and tried to lead an honest, sober, blameless life as a married man. That takes courage. Henry's case is very different,' he conceded. 'In spite of all that has happened, he has no thought of repentance and he would no more contemplate marriage than emigration to some uninhabited wilderness in America.'

    'Gabriel and your brother were still two of a kind.'

    'Up to a point.'

    'And so are we, Mr Redmayne.'

    'We?'

    'Yes,' she said resignedly. 'Each of us found ourselves with wayward brothers. There's no escaping that fact. Neither of them would aspire to canonisation.'

    Christopher laughed. 'Henry would feel insulted if it were offered to him.'

    'Our brothers drew us into this.'

    'Granted.'

    'But for them, we would not be sitting here now. In view of that, it is surprising that you chose not to confide in me.'

    'Nothing will be hidden from you in future, I swear it.'

    'I'll keep you to that,' she warned. 'Gabriel Cheever and Henry Redmayne are both weak men who went astray. We supported them. That gives us a real bond.'

    Christopher felt the full strength of that bond and gave a quiet smile.

    Sir Marcus Kemp was in his element. Having paid the blackmail demand, he felt that his life could begin again in earnest. He repaired to his favourite gaming house that evening and had a run of good fortune at the card table. He decided that it was an omen. His troubles were completely over. Henry Redmayne watched him from a distance, envying the confidence that his friend exuded and wishing that he had the same air of freedom. Gone was the hunted expression and the feverish manner. Kemp was determined to make up for lost time. Arthur Lunn was also happy. Henry had played a few games of ombre but he had still not mastered the intricacies of the new fad and lost each time. Lunn, by contrast, was slowly amassing a sizeable amount of money from his opponents at the table. Henry wondered if he would be able to drag his friend away.

    When Kemp's luck finally changed, he had the sense to quit the game. Seeing Henry in the far corner, he strode across to him with a benign smile on his face.

    'Welcome back, Henry!' he said expansively

    'I might say the same to-,you, Marcus.'

    'All's well that ends well!'

    'Unfortunately, it has not ended in my case.'

    'Then do as I did,' urged Kemp. 'Grit your teeth and pay up. You'll not regret it. Yes,' he added genially, 'and employ that brother of yours to hand the money over. What he is like as an architect I do not know, but Christopher is a sterling fellow.'

    'It's a quality that runs in the family.'

    'He pulled me out of the pit of despair, Henry.'

    'I wish that he could do the same for me.'

    'Did your brother not tell you how he delivered the money to Covent Garden?'

    'Yes, Marcus,' said Henry. 'When he left you this afternoon, Christopher called on me in Bedford Street but he was not as sanguine as you are about the future. He feels that the extortion is not yet over.'

    'It is in my case.'

    'That's little comfort to me - or to Peter Wickens.'

    'Wickens? How does he come into this?'

    'He received a blackmail demand this very day.'

    'Never!'

    'I saw it with my own eyes, Marcus. Penned by the same hand that wrote one of my letters and both of yours. Peter was utterly desolate,' he said. 'All of his indiscretions were neatly listed. The threat of publication all but deranged him.'

    'How much was the demand?'

    'Five hundred guineas.'

    'Advise him to pay at once or it will be doubled.' He looked around. 'I'll tell him myself. Is Wickens here this evening?'

    'No, Marcus. He is skulking at home just as we did.'

    'I've no need to do that any more.'

    Henry writhed in discomfort. 'Do not rub salt into my wounds.'

    'Be not so full of apprehension,' urged the other. 'Bow to the inevitable and pay for your pleasures. Your suffering will then cease. If you need to borrow the money, I'll gladly offer you a loan. Ah!' he said as a figure approached them. 'Chance contrives better than we ourselves. Here is the very man you will need as your intermediary.'

    Henry was astonished to see his brother there. Christopher was not interested in trying his luck at the card table and he had resisted all his brother's efforts to lure him to various brothels. Henry sensed that Christopher must have a particular reason for venturing into the gaming house. As soon as the social niceties were over, he wanted to know what it was.

    'What brings you here, Christopher?'

    'I was looking for you, Henry.'

    'He knew where to find you,' remarked Kemp with a chuckle. 'Find a card game and you will soon find Henry Redmayne. Excuse me,' he said about to move off.

    'Before you go, Sir Marcus,' said Christopher, blocking his path, 'I wanted to remind you of the bargain we struck.'

    'That's null and void.'

    'Not if you receive another blackmail demand.'

    'But I will not. I'm in the clear.'

    'Wait a while before you celebrate,' advised Christopher. 'All I ask is that you do not destroy the letters or the printed extract. I may need to look at them.'

    'Only if I am harried again and that will not happen.'

    'Promise me that you will not burn the evidence.'

    'I'll do what I please with it, Mr Redmayne,' said Kemp airily.

    He went off to speak to some other friends. Henry looked after him.

    'Sir Marcus assumes that the problem has been solved,' he commented.

    'That's a foolish assumption.' Christopher glanced around. 'Is there somewhere we can talk in private,