I returned the smile. She was indeed quite charming. 'I am sorry you must stay in such accommodations. Mr. Sutcliff should do better for you.'
She waved this away. 'When we are in London, I assure you, my accommodations are quite fine. Here in the country, one takes what one can find. Mr. Sutcliff is most generous. He is not to blame.'
I had difficulty reconciling young Sutcliff, the lanky youth with his nose in the air, with this quiet young woman. Their ages were close, and yet, Jeanne Lanier was far more sophisticated than Frederick Sutcliff would ever be.
'It is of Mr. Sutcliff that I wish to speak to you,' I said. 'To ask you, specifically, if he visited you here on Sunday night.'
Her smile turned coy. 'He visits me nearly every night, Captain, so indeed, he visited me on Sunday.'
'Will you tell me what time?'
'You wish to know because that was the night the murder happened?' she asked, her expression intelligent. 'Let me see, he arrived a little after ten. He stayed quite late-or quite early, I should say. I believe he left for home when the clock was striking four. He made certain everyone at the school would be asleep before he went. If his headmaster found him sidling back into the school…' She made another gesture, but smiled as she did it, imagining Rutledge's explosion.
'Thank you, that is most helpful.'
'But why do you ask? I thought the murderer had already been found.'
'A Romany has been arrested, yes. But I like to put everything in order.'
She cocked her head. 'So you must have learned in the army. I admire a man who puts things in order.'
I wondered whether, had I confessed to a chaotic life, she would have admired that instead.
'Did Mr. Sutcliff ever speak of the incidents at the school?' I asked. 'The pranks and so forth?'
She spread one long-fingered hand on her knee. 'Goodness, yes. He finds them most annoying. As prefect, he must make the younger boys behave, and he is distracted to know who is doing these dreadful things. Mr. Rutledge is quite put out with him.'
'Mr. Rutledge is put out with everyone,' I remarked.
Her smile deepened, a glint of true humor in her eyes. 'That is so. I have not met Mr. Rutledge, but Mr. Sutcliff tells me much.'
'How did you meet Mr. Sutcliff?' I asked, curious.
Her gaze shifted, though her charm did not diminish. 'Oh, in the usual manner.'
I had no idea what was the usual manner, never having looked for a contracted paramour myself. Only very wealthy gentlemen were so able. She must have guessed this, because she added, 'My former protector introduced us. He thought Mr. Sutcliff would suit me.'
I had heard, through Grenville, that when a gentleman tired of his mistress, he sometimes introduced her to a friend and more or less suggested that she try her luck with him. The previous gentleman said his good-byes at the same time the next gentleman would offer her carte blanche. I wondered what kind of man would suggest his mistress take up with a schoolboy, even if the schoolboy, at nineteen, was a little older than his fellows.
'Mr. Sutcliff will become quite a wealthy man, I understand,' I said.
'Oh, indeed.' She radiated pride. 'He will be able to purchase the City of London twice over, I think.'
'But not until the sad day that his father passes away.'
She nodded. 'He will come into more money when he reaches his majority. But his father is rather horrible. He does not allow Frederick to have all that he could, does not trust him, he says. Frederick is quite annoyed. His father has even kept him in the school longer than most of the young men. He says that Frederick must learn to be a man before he can come into the business with his father. But I ask you, Captain, can a boy learn to be a man in the company of boys?'
I had wondered why Sutcliff was a bit older than his schoolmates. A boy could leave school when he or his father felt him ready for university, at seventeen or eighteen. But Sudbury was not a preparatory school. Most of the young men at Sudbury would never attend university; they would slip right into the family business and not seek the esoteric studies of theology and law at Oxford or Cambridge. Perhaps Mr. Sutcliff wanted Frederick to learn all he could learn before he took part in the making of the family fortune. Sutcliff's disdain might extend from anger at his father's lack of belief in him.
'Frederick will be quite wealthy one day, however,' Jeanne went on. 'He is amazed at the vastness of his father's wealth.'
'When my father died, I was truly amazed at the vastness of his debt,' I said with a smile. 'Mr. Sutcliff is a fortunate young man.'
'Indeed, he is.'
I did not add that she was a fortunate young woman to have found Sutcliff while he was still hungering for his wealth. Later, when he realized just how much power his money gave him, he might seek out a lady more expensive, more sophisticated, one who hadn't known him as a callow youth.
But Jeanne Lanier did not look troubled. She was shrewd and no doubt knew exactly how to obtain as much as she could from Sutcliff before her carte blanche ran out.
She began to converse with me then, as though I'd come to pay a social call. She asked me about the army and mentioned gentlemen of various regiments until we discovered one or two with whom we were both slightly acquainted. She asked more and more questions, prompted more and more stories, until I suddenly found myself speaking to her freely and at length.
She listened to me with avid attention, smiled at my attempts at wit, laughed at my anecdotes. I found myself speaking to her quite frankly of things that I had never discussed with anyone but Louisa.
She knew how to put me at my ease, how to entertain, how to make me feel as though she would like nothing better than to sit in this dreary parlor and converse with me all afternoon. I could well understand why Sutcliff was taken with her.
Though I knew Jeanne was practiced at chatting with gentlemen, I had not so enjoyed a conversation in a long while. Because we did not know one another, she was easy to speak to; no tension existed between us. Louisa and I had used to converse as freely, but now I felt strain when I spoke to her, much of which was my own stupid fault. My conversations with Lady Breckenridge were always a bit odd. Lady Breckenridge was clever and knew it and had never learned the art of pleasing. I admired her frankness, but her frankness could cut.
So, as the hour drew to a close, I found myself wanting to stay. I nearly asked to see her again. Just to talk, I wanted to say. To talk to someone who enjoys listening.
Without doing anything so foolish, I rose and took my leave. She had charmed me today because it suited her, nothing more.
She said good-bye to me very prettily, letting me bow over her hand. I thanked her for passing the time with me and made myself depart.
When I reached the school again, it was in commotion. Rutledge was in an uproar, although most of the students were swarming about snickering behind their hands.
Grenville informed me that, apparently, the good-natured Simon Fletcher had lost his temper during a lecture and given Frederick Sutcliff a sound thrashing.
'Fletcher did?' I asked Grenville in amazement. Grenville had come to my chambers high in the Head Master's house, looking relieved to escape the lower floors. Bartholomew and Matthias had followed him.
'Yes.' Grenville turned away from the window, through which he'd been studying the canal and the overgrown strips of land that lined it. 'He was incoherent as to why. Something about not regarding Virgil with proper respect.'
'An odd reason to lose one's temper.' I accepted the cup of coffee that Bartholomew had been trying to press into my hands since we'd entered the room. 'I never thought Fletcher much for thrashing. He never struck me as being cowed by the boys. More indifferent to them, I thought.'
'Well, he certainly took a cane to Sutcliff,' Grenville said. 'Rutledge is furious. I imagine the Sutcliff money funds much of this school. Drink it yourself, Bartholomew. I am not in the mood for coffee.' Bartholomew turned away, apologetic.
'Mr. Fletcher is sulking in his rooms,' Matthias offered. 'At least, that's what his maid says. Won't come out.'
