A gentleman of fortune

that the lady’s family will ensure no more such mistakes are made.’

And then Mrs Pickthorne said something about property having to be protected. ‘Or where would we poor shop keepers be?’

‘Quite so, madam,’ said he, very calm, ‘quite so. But,’ and at this he leant a little closer over the counter. ‘But I doubt the pursuit of the law will profit you much in this case – and I fear it might do you some harm.’

‘Harm sir?’ says she.

‘You may not be aware,’ he says very quietly with a nod at Mrs Neville, ‘you may not be aware madam, that this lady’s daughter is a friend of the new Lady Carrisbrook.’ And at this I saw her eyes widen! ‘In fact,’ he goes on, ‘in fact, it was Lady Carrisbrook herself who sent me here on some errands this morning. My lady is a stranger in this neighbourhood and I did not hesitate to recommend your establishment to her,’ he says. ‘But I doubt very much whether she would wish to deal at a shop in which her friend had been… embarrassed…’

And then she changed! For though she might complain a bit more about how ill-used she was, she was not willing to forfeit such a customer and the upshot of it all was that we were allowed to leave the shop and take Mrs Neville home – where her daughter, alerted I suppose by Jenny, was waiting anxiously for her return.

I was, I confess, shaken and distressed by this adventure, Eliza. I cannot help but blame myself and I have passed an almost sleepless night…

Dido broke off as the maid announced a visitor. Mr Lomax was come and, since Flora was from home, she must receive him alone.

There was no little confusion attending the meeting, for she had not seen him since they parted yesterday at Mrs Neville’s door and there had been that in his manner then which spoke, if not quite anger, then at least a very strong disapproval of her behaviour. She met him now with heartfelt, but rather nervous thanks and raised her eyes anxiously to his face.

He looked very grave as he took a seat and gazed down at the breakfast room floor.

‘I hope,’ he said, ‘that you have recovered from the shock you sustained yesterday.’

‘Oh yes, thank you. I am quite recovered.’

There was a silence and Dido longed to begin talking of something else, but somehow she could not. She knew that more ought to be said about the situation in which he had discovered her; for there had been little opportunity for discourse yesterday while Mrs Neville was with them. But she was not entirely sure what it was that must be said. She certainly did not wish to admit that she had been at fault; though she half-suspected that she ought to.

She tried to thank him again, but he raised a hand to stop her.

‘Miss Kent,’ he began, ‘I perhaps presume too much upon the friendship which I hope exists between us. But I cannot help but speak. It was, if I may say so, an ill-judged undertaking to accompany Mrs Neville into a shop.’

‘Yes,’ she agreed quietly. ‘It was.’ And then discovered, rather to her dismay, that she could not stop there. She just could not. For, painful as it was to suffer his disapproval, it was even more painful to admit that she was wrong – or to accept unjust criticism. ‘At least,’ she said, ‘if I had known of the danger, it would have been very ill-judged indeed. But, please consider, Mr Lomax, that was not the case. I had no reason to suppose that the outing would end as it did.’

His gravity deepened. ‘Pardon me,’ he said, ‘but I understood you to say, when we talked at Brooke, that Mrs Neville’s daughter had given you a warning.’

‘No,’ she protested. ‘No. Not quite a warning. She had only mentioned in a general way that her mother was confused and forgetful.’

Mr Lomax closed his eyes and shook his head with a pained expression. ‘That should have been…’ he began, but checked himself. ‘It is to be regretted,’ he said more calmly, ‘that that general warning was not sufficient to put you upon your guard.’

‘But it could not put me on my guard, Mr Lomax,’ she said. She was becoming a little angry herself now. He was being unreasonable and she could not help but justify herself. ‘How could it put me on my guard? For the daughter’s words were entirely contradicted by the mother’s demeanour. She showed no signs of confusion or forgetfulness.’

‘That I believe is common among individuals who suffer from the…weakness of character which Mrs Neville has demonstrated. In all outward shows a lady or gentleman may be moral and rational, and yet have burning within this wicked desire to posses what belongs to others.’

Dido made no protest against that. She did not try to defend Mrs Neville with any claim of a ‘mistake’ having taken place. It would have been impossible to do so since, after she had been safely removed from the haberdasher, a search of her reticule had revealed two pairs of new kid gloves, a cameo brooch and even a toy whistle…

‘I could not know,’ she protested.

‘But why were you so very determined to take an elderly lady upon an outing which you knew neither her maid nor her daughter would be easy about?’

Dido blushed. ‘Because,’ she began a little uncomfortably. ‘Because it all looked so very strange. You must remember, Mr Lomax, that I did not know what the lady was capable of. I saw only a harmless…a seemingly harmless old lady, whose daughter prevented her from going out or talking to visitors. You must grant me, that that had a very strange…a very suspicious appearance.’

He stood up and began to walk about the hearth rug in some agitation. ‘I regret, Miss Kent, that the only thing I can grant is that you have determined upon suspecting Clara Neville. You discover that she left Knaresborough House on the night that her cousin died – and immediately you suspect her. She explains to you that she left to visit her mother; but you continue to suspect her. Why? It seems to me that the concern of a dutiful daughter is explanation enough for her actions.’

‘But she lied!’ The words burst out before she could stop them. She forced herself to speak more calmly. ‘Why should she lie about only visiting her mother?’

‘For two good reasons,’ he countered. ‘Because of the guilt she felt on leaving her cousin alone; and because she was ashamed to admit the cause of her concern for her mother. What other reason did you have to suspect her?’

‘She associates with – she employs – a woman of very doubtful character.’

‘Consider the poor lady’s dilemma. With such a secret to hide about her mother, she dare not employ a decent maid. Her only recourse would be to engage the services of such a one as Jenny White who no one else will take – and then to pay her well to hold her tongue.’

‘Yes, yes I grant you, I can see that now. But this is not a fair argument. I did not know – I could not know – about Mrs Neville’s shocking behaviour. You cannot use against me a circumstance which has only just come to light. I only saw that Clara Neville had crept away from Knaresborough House without the consent of her cousin. And that she kept her mother almost a prisoner.’

He sighed and passed a hand across his face. ‘And what do you think now? Do you still harbour these suspicions against Miss Neville?’

Dido hesitated. It was a question to which a large part of her night-time musings had been devoted. ‘I do not know…I cannot help but wonder what it was she was discussing with Mr Vane at church – what it was that she wished him to keep secret.’

‘I think I can supply an answer to that question. I have made enquiries and I discover that Mr Vane is one of those who has suffered in the past from Mrs Neville’s…weakness of character. There were, I believe, several bottles of eye tincture taken from his shop.’

‘Oh!’

‘Well? Have you anything else to say against the poor lady?’

‘Oh well…perhaps she is innocent…But…’

‘But?’

‘I do not quite know why it is,’ said Dido frowning, ‘but there is something…I feel as if something she has told me is wrong…’