'Come now, Stepfather. It isn't like you to give in so easily. You're a fighter, remember?' And with a shrewd glance, he added softly: 'Your emotions are too involved with this one.'
Emotions. Yes, Vince was right.
'You had something more you were going to tell me, I believe,' said Vince gently.
'Had I?'
'I think so. Such as who was sleeping in your daughters' bed last night.'
Damn, thought Faro. Why hadn't he made up her bed or, more to the point, why hadn't he checked it to make sure? Another blunder like leaving the broken glass outside.
He sighed. 'I gave a benighted traveller shelter. You saw what the weather was like.'
Vince ignored that. 'And -' he prompted.
'What do you mean - and?' Faro tried to sound outraged, hoping his tone would discourage any further discussion.
'I want to know more about this stranger. Was this benighted traveller tying to escape? Was there a fight? Is that why the window was broken?'
'Of course not. It could have been anything, a flying roof-tile during the storm, I expect.' Faro had already decided on this as a promising explanation.
'Come now, Stepfather. You and I both know better than that. This window was broken from the inside, otherwise the glass would have been on the sill, not in the garden. What was going on?'
At his Stepfather's expressionless face, he asked gently, 'Who are you trying to protect?'
When Faro looked away, Vince murmured: 'A lady's honour, perhaps.' And when he didn't answer. 'I suspect there is a lady involved. I'm as gallant as the next man, so you'd better tell all. I might even be able to help.'
Faro remembered ominously that the last person who had suggested he might be able to help had been his cousin Leslie and that had ended in Sandy's death. Faro felt he would never quite cease to blame himself in some measure for the lad's tragic end.
'Miss Fortescue stayed here last night -'
And Faro told him the whole story, omitting that after coming to his bed to report a suspected burglar, she had stayed there too.
'What extraordinary behaviour,' said Vince. 'Why on earth should she do such a thing? Unless -' He paused.
'Unless what - ?'
'It is possible that the lady wanted some attention from you and by pretending - of course, it is a ridiculous suggestion.'
That wounded Faro into saying: 'I don't find it in the least ridiculous.' Too late, he saw that he had fallen neatly into the trap.
Vince's smile was triumphant. 'Ah!'
'Oh, very well. She was scared, so she said. She spent the rest of the night with me.'
Vince nodded, he wasn't taken aback as Faro thought he might be. 'So what happens next?'
'How the devil do I know!'
'Stepfather - don't explode - I'm trying to help, remember. All I want to know, for your own good, is - are you in love with Miss Fortescue?'
'I haven't had time to think about it,' said Faro shortly.
'Then I suggest you take time to do just that.' When Faro looked hard at him, Vince continued: 'Sounds rather as if she might be a suitable wife for you, if she could be persuaded to leave the warmer climate of Luxoria -'
Faro laughed. 'This is incredible. For once, the situation is reversed and I find myself having to listen to the sort of advice I am usually giving to you.’
'Don't change the subject, if you please,' said Vince sternly. 'Are you contemplating asking her to be your wife?'
'No,' said Faro shortly.
'And why not? In the circumstances it would seem appropriate. Making an honest woman - and so forth -'
'According to convention, Vince, but then I have never been a slave to convention and I'm too old to start now.'
'You could try.'
Faro shook his head. 'I'm not in the least sure that Roma -Miss Fortescue - is bound by convention either. She seems as impulsive as her royal mistress. And talking of that, do you honestly see an ex-royal lady-in-waiting settling down in Sheridan Place and running a policeman's household?'
'You're not a policeman, you're a very senior detective, and not at all bad-looking, come to that. Yes, Stepfather.' Vince considered him thoughtfully. 'Even a quite conventional woman might just leap at the prospect.'
'Rubbish. How could I support her in the luxury she has been used to in the household of Luxorian royalty?'
'Oh, do stop being such a snob, Stepfather. Greater social leaps have been taken - and are being taken - every day. And I am assured by those who know that love is a bridge.'
'Love.' Faro shook his head sadly. 'I'm afraid I haven't got to that yet, Vince. I'm still bewildered by the whole thing, by a situation over which I seemed to have no control. All I can say is that I'm just damned sorry that it happened -'
'Then why didn't you send her packing before it began?'
Faro shivered. 'Because there was something wrong -'
'Wrong? How?'
'The whole night was odd, out of time, somehow -enchanted. Oh, I can't explain -'
'Can't you? Well, I can. It's happened to me many times,' said Vince. 'It's called infatuation, Stepfather. And I am very experienced in that particular field - as well as you know,' he added bitterly.
'I've also fancied myself in love, Vince, but truly, I have never felt - well, taken over. I've always turned my face against magic, don't believe in it.'
Ignoring his stepson's cynical expression of disbelief, Faro continued: 'And yet last night, it was as if there was some other force here in this house. I even dreamed of the Luck o' Lethie -'
The famous fertility symbol.' Vince frowned. 'I hope not. What if she has a child -'
'Oh, don't be so damned ridiculous, Vince. I dreamed of the Crusader alive, leaving his tomb. It was
