gauzeââ
âThat pale blue is perfectly good, Miss Mall. Now then, Iâve put your white gloves and reticule on the dressing table. Shall you wear a necklace?â
âI donât know. Noââ Mally smiled and took off her engagement ring. âI shall wear no jewels at all, except my ring over my glove.
That
will be something to rub Lady Annabelâs nose in the mud with!â
âSweeting, I donât think you need to rub her nose in any more than you already have done.â
âAnd I shall change the ruby pin for that green enameled butterfly Mariaâs betrothed bought for me in Italyâit will catch the green in the ring. There. Now I feel I can take on the world and his wifeâand any predatory titled lady!â
She was pulling on the slender white kid gloves when Digby knocked upon the door. âYes, Digby, what is it?â
âMr. Paulington is here, Madam. I have shown him secretly into the library and Mrs. Berrisford does not know he is here, as you directed.â
Mally took a long breath. âYes, thank you, Digby, I shall be in the library directly.â
The butler closed the door again and Mally bit her lip. Lucy patted her shoulder. âDonât let anything spoil your evening now, for dining out with Sir Christopher and his friend will do you good.â
âThat is easier said than done, isnât it, Lucy? What if heâs discovered something dreadful?â
***
âGood evening, Mr. Paulington. Have you discovered anything?â
He scrambled to his feet hurriedly, for he had been lazing very comfortably in Danielâs chair. âOh, good evening, Mrs. St. Aubrey.â
âPlease sit down again, Mr. Paulington.â
âThank you. Thank you kindly. Well, Mrs. St. Aubrey, I have managed to discover something concerning your sister. She did indeed leave the mail at Cirencester and spent that night in a hostelry named the Castle. On the following morning she was called for by a gentleman driving a phaeton.â
âShe was
called
for?â
âYes, madam. And she was expecting him, whoever he was. I got a description of some sort from the innkeeper, but unfortunately the fellow was more interested in the phaeton than in the driver. Now then, yes, here it is. He was quite tall, lean, with dark hairâhe thinksâreasonably well togged out but no Corinthian or beau. As I said, the innkeeper was more interested in the phaeton. Seems it belonged to one of his rivals, a posting house in Gloucester by the name of the Rose and Crown.â
âA post
phaeton?
That is surely something new!â
âSeems this Kennett of the Rose and Crown has done well with the phaeton, thereâs many folk fancy themselves up on a high-flyer like that. It is a dark brown drag, well lacquered and polished, and it has red wheels, with a yellow crown device thing in the center of each lampâthe crown of the Rose and Crown. The rose is painted on the back and gets covered with mud with each puddle! Anyway, that was what I discovered. So, I took myself on the next stage to Gloucester and looked up this Mr. Kennett at the Rose and Crown. The phaeton was hired to go to Cirencester and then to Hereford. Kennett sent a boy to Hereford to pick it up two days later, as agreed. He was pleased with himself too, for some rector or other wanted to come to Gloucester and paid for the use of the phaeton, so I reckon that dragâs more than paid for itself three times over. So, Mrs. St. Aubrey, the trail led me back right to where it started. Hereford.â
âDid you go there too? To wherever the phaeton was left?â
âYes, but there wasnât much time to make inquiries, for the mail was about to leave and I didnât want to have to hang around another day. The gentleman left the phaeton at the inn during the night. No one can remember it arrivingâthere was something of a junketing there that night, for the