A Death in the Small Hours

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Upon his return Lenox learned from Nash that Frederick was waiting to see him in the drawing room of the house. As he and Sophia entered the room, his cousin was having a quiet word with Miss Taylor.

“You must give me a tour,” she was saying.

“With great happiness. We have some flowers blooming even this late, Rodgers and I. The autumn snowflake in the bay by the east window is especially beautiful, though very, very delicate. Leucojum autumnale. We picked them up in Chelsea this spring, the bulbs. They’re Iberian by origin.”

As Frederick was delivering this short lecture the governess had nodded and, at the same time, gone to Sophia, taking her up in her arms. “Did she enjoy the walk?” Miss Taylor asked Charles.

“Tolerably well, I daresay. It started raining again toward the end, but a little damp shouldn’t harm her too much, should it? And she was covered for all but a moment by the umbrella.”

“I will listen to her chest. I have a device. Though I’ve no doubt she’s fine — blooming, like your uncle’s flowers.”

She was worth the money they were paying her, Lenox reflected. “Thank you. And, Freddie, you wished to see me?”

“Yes, come and sit down here.” Both men stood until the governess had left, and then sat, silent, while a footman wrestled the pram back into some discreet corner of the front hall. “It’s about the coach drivers.”

“Oh?” said Lenox.

“We’ve asked about half of the drivers who were along the roads last night if they saw two riders a-horseback. None of them did. We’ll ask the rest as they trickle in this evening.”

“Would you have expected them to?”

“They all seemed fairly definite that they would have spotted anything out of the ordinary. Then again it is possible to sneak on and off the roads, ride across open country …”

Lenox shook his head. “No, standing in that clearing, I felt — I think those were Plumbley horses. I think perhaps they were even left there to be found. How many men in town, and in the surrounding country, have two horses?”

“At least thirty, in all likelihood closer to forty. Several just in the town of Plumbley, for a start. Many of those old houses have stables attached to them — Dr. Eastwood’s, Musgrave’s, even Fripp’s.”

“Could you make a list of the names of all these men?”

“I’ll ask my groomsman to do it. He’ll know a sight closer than I would who has what in the way of horseflesh.”

“Excellent. And the canvass—”

“Nothing, I’m afraid.”

“It was still worth the try. Did you see Oates?”

“He was off to meet with a representative from the police force in Bath, last I saw him.”

Lenox furrowed his brow. “Is that common?”

“If there’s a murder in these parts one of the larger constabularies will usually check for themselves the proper steps have been followed.” Frederick looked pensive for a moment. “Charles, do you feel you have any idea of who killed Weston, the poor lad?”

“Nearly,” said Lenox.

“And who do you think—”

“I cannot say, yet, even to you. I’m not sure myself what I think; it is only an intuition. I should not like to stake anything to it.”

Frederick looked set to protest this, when Nash entered the room. “Your wife requests a moment of your time, Mr. Lenox,” he said.

Lenox rose. “I shall go back into town, soon. I’d like a skulk around. May I speak to the publican, as he speaks to the coach drivers?”

“Yes. Ah, but before you go, I promised I would remind you that the cricket match is in only a few days. Fripp is in a lather for you to play.”

“They’re going on with it?”

“Oh, yes. There will be a moment of silence, I expect, but it’s the last weekend, the pavilion has been erected, yes, we must have the cricket. It’s the fifth match of the summer. And the decisive one, this time — for the first time since ’sixty-eight the sides have split the first four matches.”

“King’s Arms against the Royal Oak, as in the old days?”

Frederick laughed. “When that changes, England will be no more, Charles.”

“Have you played this summer?”

“Oh, I’m too old.”

“If I play you must, Freddie.”

“I wouldn’t pin your hopes to it.”

Lenox left his cousin and went upstairs. Jane was seated at her desk, surrounded by piles of books and papers. Now that Lenox thought of it she had been spending a great deal of time here in the past few days.

“Too busy to come along on a walk with Sophia?” he asked, sliding in through the open door.

She turned in her seat, her face bright. “There you are!”

“What are you writing?”

“This and that, letters. Tell me, will you be able to come to supper tomorrow evening?”

“I should think so. Why?”

“It would be nice to have a little company, I think. I told Freddie as much and he agreed, but I wanted to sure you’d be here. It would be nicer for Dallington and Miss Taylor, I think, to have a few fresh faces around here.”

From the indifferent tone of this last utterance, Lenox detected its primacy. “You cannot be matchmaking, Jane, can you?”

She had stood up, and she took him by the lapels of his jacket and kissed him on the cheek. “No, no, of course not. Though have you observed how often they’re together, in the gardens and the drawing room? Fast friends.”

“Jane, not two days ago I was dragging John Dallington—”

“Yes, dear.”

“I cannot imagine his mother would congratulate you on that match, either, considering—”

“No, I know, dear.”

“Even if it is true that she would wish to see him settled, a governess, over thirty, without more than what she makes by the sweat of her brow, with parents who—”

“Yes, dear, you’re quite right,” said Lady Jane. “Let’s talk of something else.”

“Who will you be inviting to supper?” said Lenox crossly, unfooled.

“Oh, I’ve had a word with the housekeeper and Freddie.”

“Is that what you were writing?”

“No!” she said. “Something very different. You shall know before too long.”

He saw that this, anyhow, was true. He changed the subject. “I’m to play in the cricket.”

“Do you have the whites?”

“I shall have to borrow them, but there are always a few spare sets lying about Everley. Will you watch?”

“I suppose my nuptial duty dictates I must.”

Lenox laughed. “Hardly, no. You ought to come if you like the sport as a general proposition, however.”

She frowned. “As far as I understand you play by attaching mattresses to your legs and waddling back and forth between two sticks, while occasionally gesturing with your own personal stick at some sort of red ball. But then I don’t call myself a great sportsman.”

“You do yourself an injustice there.”

“Still, I should like to see you bat.”

“And my friend Fripp is a great bowler, even at his age, I expect,” said Lenox. “You can come around during the breaks, if you prefer. They’ll have tea and cakes, the wives of the players.”

“I should be involved in those preparations, then?”

Lenox pictured Lady Jane, as he had seen her many times, closeted in private conversation with the great and good of the royal court, of London society, and was tempted to laugh. Then he realized she would be just as comfortable in the pavilion, and felt a flourish of love for her. “If you like. Freddie can tell you which of the women in Plumbley to consult about it.”

Miss Taylor knocked at the door then; this was the hour, customarily, just before tea, when they took Sophia — but if they wished to skip it today, Mr. Lenox having taken the child on her walk, then—

Of course they did not want to skip their half hour, and played very happily with the child, showing her rattle to her, making faces over her bassinet, and generally making fools of themselves until the bell rang for the afternoon repast.