‘I would much rather you didn’t mention it to her,’ Heston said, rolling his eyes, probably resigned to the fact that his request would fall on deaf ears. ‘Anyway, to answer your question, Lord Riley, we have been in London for two nights already. We keep an apartment in South Audley Street, since my duties for the Admiralty make it necessary for me to be in town quite frequently.’
‘Mama offered us a place here but Verity always seems to be around and we prefer to avoid her company,’ Sarah added. ‘Why she insists upon calling so often when she doesn’t approve of Mama’s conduct is a mystery. For her part, Mama doesn’t give Verity’s disapproval a passing thought. She is impossibly pretentious—Verity that is, not Mama—and her presence is guaranteed to cast a pall over the liveliest of gatherings.’ Sarah shook her head. ‘It must be exhausting always to disapprove of anything the slightest bit enjoyable. Really, I fail to understand what made Gideon marry her.’
‘Sarah!’
‘Well, Mark, it’s true. She had lots of money, I know, but Gid didn’t need that. She came from very humble origins, Lord Riley. Were you aware of that? Her father was a master cooper, whatever that is. Terribly clever at it, by all accounts, and made oodles of money. But money does not a lady make. Then again, those with the least to boast about are usually the worst offenders, I find.’
‘She supports your brother’s political ambitions, one assumes.’
‘Oh good heavens, yes! Don’t get her talking on the subject or you will be stuck for an hour. To hear Verity, Gid is the next prime minister in the making.’
‘I should have thought,’ Salter said, speaking for the first time, ‘that the two ladies would have made a point of avoiding one another, given that their characters are so different. Yet you imply that Mrs Verity Randall is a frequent and presumably unwelcome visitor to this house. Frankly, I’m surprised that your mother puts up with her, even if she does allow her disapproval to wash over her. She doesn’t strike me as the type to waste time on anything or anyone who bores her.’
‘Oh, Verity is a sly one.’ Sarah’s indefatigable cheerfulness briefly gave way to a glower of disapproval. ‘She knows who controls the purse strings and is not above asking for a handout. Then she says horrible things about Mama’s conduct, not always behind her back.’
Riley shared a bemused look with Salter. ‘Excuse me, but I understood that she brought a substantial dowry to her marriage.’
‘I’m sure she did, but I expect it’s all gone.’ Sarah flapped a hand in the air, as dramatic in her way as her mother. ‘Getting one’s face known in the right political circles is an expensive business. It’s all a question of who you know and creating the right impression by entertaining lavishly.’
‘Sarah digresses for a change,’ Heston said, smiling. ‘You asked us to account for our whereabouts. Well, we were in London last night. We went to the theatre and out to dinner afterwards. We were with friends and I can give you their particulars.’
Salter took down the details and thanked him.
‘Your mother offered to finance a sporting club for Ezra,’ Riley told Sarah. ‘Were you aware of this?’
‘Yes, actually, I was,’ she surprised Riley by replying without hesitation. ‘Mama mentioned it when I called last week. She felt Ezra was wasting his talents as a servant. Men like him, she told me, were leaders not followers, and she thought his idea had potential.’
‘No one minded?’ Salter asked.
Sarah lifted a slender shoulder. ‘If anyone else knew, they didn’t mention it to me. Well, Mama wouldn’t have spoken to Verity or Gid about it. Verity would have expressed vehement disapproval, and anyway she acted as though Ezra didn’t exist and refused to mention his name. Actually, he’s lucky in that respect. Just because she’s a few years older than me she seems to think that gives her the right to lecture me on every subject under the sun. Insufferable woman!’
‘Thank you for being so forthright, Mrs Heston,’ Riley said, smiling at her.
‘Oh, I am never anything else. I cannot stand people who say one thing and mean another. I am not nearly clever enough to read between the lines, so I much prefer plain speaking.’
‘No one who is admitted to my wife’s charming company will ever be left in doubt about that for long,’ Heston said, smiling affectionately at Sarah. ‘If there’s nothing else, Lord Riley, we should join the rest of the family.’
‘Please do. Is your younger brother here, Mrs Heston?’
‘He ought to be.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘But with Patrick it’s never safe to assume anything. I’ll send him through if he has deigned to join us, shall I?’
‘If you would be so kind.’
‘I feel exhausted after that,’ Salter said as the Hestons left the room, Sarah still chattering away as though Ezra’s death was the most exciting thing she’d ever lived through. She wasn’t being ghoulish, Riley sensed, and he suspected that beneath that sunny disposition she would be seriously upset by her mother’s loss. ‘She’s very unusual. Her mother’s daughter through and through—but without the questionable morals, I hope.’
‘We shall still have to make sure that they were both where they said they were last night,’ Riley replied. ‘Heston’s career would suffer if Ida’s relationship with a footman became public knowledge.’
‘You don’t think he did it, do you?’
‘I doubt it, but you know me, Jack. I never leave anything to chance.’
The door opened and a startlingly handsome young man with a shock of thick fair hair ambled through it. He wore impeccably tailored evening
