Free Medicine and Manners #2 by Paula Paul Page B

disappointed as Lord Dunsford and I were,” Alexandra said. “Deputy Poole seemed to completely dismiss Judith’s story.”
    “Getting back to that so-called Templar,” Nicholas said, “Miss Payne and Deputy Poole both believe it’s Constable Snow’s horse that strange would-be knight is riding.”
    Alexandra frowned. “It’s all a bit far-fetched. Why would someone be riding the constable’s horse?”
    Nancy made an innocent-sounding cough but said nothing. She was pretending to be busy folding bandages as she relaxed in one of the red velvet chairs next to the fireplace. Zack ambled over to stand next to Alexandra, who sat in a matching chair, his eyes never leaving Nicholas.
    “Why, indeed?” Nicholas said. “It’s not going to be easy to get to the bottom of any of this.”
    Nancy made her fake-sounding cough again, a little louder this time.
    “We can only hope there are no more deaths,” Alexandra said. “We would all feel so much better if the constable…” There was a loud thump and several feet of white bandages unwound as they snaked across the floor. “What
is it,
Nancy? If there’s something you must say, then say it.”
    “Well, I don’t mean to be impertinent,” Nancy began.
    “Of course you do,” Alexandra said, “but go on.”
    “It’s just that it seems to me there is a way we could get to the bottom of this—”
    “Oh, no,” Alexandra interrupted her. “Your idea of clandestine surveillance won’t work.”
    “Excuse me, miss, but—”
    “I say, you did mention a surveillance plan,” Nicholas said. He took a step forward, but backed up again when Zack made a slight move toward him. “What did you have in mind, Nancy?”
    “ ’Tis the obvious solution, if you ask me,” Nancy said, clearly eager to have her say. “As I pointed out, this knight, or whatever he is, has been seen several times recently, mostly around the Masonic Temple, which makes sense if you think about it, since people say the Freemasons grew out of the Knights Templar.”
    “That’s never been verified, actually,” Nicholas said, “but I think I see what you’re getting at. Please go on.”
    “He rides at night, they say,” Nancy continued. “I wouldn’t know because I’ve never seen him with my own eyes, but if ’tis true—”
    “Of course!” Nicholas said. “I remember your suggestion. We wait at the temple. Undercover, so to speak. Sounds like one of those American novels, but it’s brilliant.
You’re
brilliant, Nancy, old girl.”
    Nancy blushed. “As I said, ’tis nothing more than the obvious solution.”
    “What’s not so obvious, however, is, if we do see this so-called knight, how to determine exactly who he is,” Alexandra said. “Are we going to take this American adventure to the ultimate and shoot him off his horse so we can see his face?”
    “But who’s to say we won’t recognize him just by seeing him close?” Nicholas said. “I say it’s worth a try.”
    Nancy nodded with an excited look in her eyes, and she glanced first at Nicholas and then Alexandra.
    “I say we do it,” Nicholas said. “I say we start now, while it’s good and dark. We can take my carriage, leave it a few yards from the temple, and walk to the building under the cover of darkness. What do you say, Dr. Gladstone?”
    “I say you only call me Dr. Gladstone when you’re trying to win me over to something, and I might ask why you thought my scheme of getting Judith Payne to your place to talk to the deputy was so far-fetched when it pales in the light of this surveillance idea.”
    “My dear Alexandra, you obviously need to read the right kind of literature if you want to stay current with this sort of thing,” Nicholas said.
    —
    A breeze had blown a thin veil of fog in from the sea, rendering what might have been a bright half-moon pale and weary-looking. The air felt damp, and, if not quite cold, it was uncomfortably cool. The three would-be spies walked a few yards from