Part 84 (2/2)

”I thought she must have some information you wanted! I could not see you getting caught like that otherwise!”

Henry grimaced.

”Would that Lady Polly had your discernment, Sea grave! But I can hardly blame her for jumping to the obvious conclusions! After all, I have deliberately made a name for myself as a rake and gamester. To plead innocence now, no matter how genuine, will cut little ice.”

”Susanna Bolt is a deeply mercenary and unpleasant woman,” Sea grave said absently, folding his map of Dilling ham away.

”Can she be caught in the same net that will trap Chapman, Harry?”

”I hope so.” Henry drained his gla.s.s.

”I plan it to be so! But there is another I am more anxious to catch...”

”An unholy trinity,” Sea grave agreed.

”I must confess I do not like it.

Harry. Whilst he is free to come and go as he pleases, there is great danger. ” Henry nodded.

”I agree, but we cannot move against him until we are sure of Chapman.

Until then, the risk must be run.”

”He does not suspect you?”

”No.” Henry permitted himself a grim smile.

”His vanity is such that he suspects no one! And that will be his downfall!”

The following morning heralded another glorious, late summer day, with a sky as blue as cobalt and the sea as smooth and soft as silk. Polly, established with her easel in the shelter of a group of trees, watched as Peter and Hetty, and the rest of their party, strolled away down the beach in the direction of the small huddle of houses which const.i.tuted s.h.i.+ngle Street.

They had had a delightful picnic lunch and now Miss Dit ton had declared it time to call upon the poor fisher families who eked out a living in this isolated spot. Polly pitied the unsuspecting poor.

The settlement at s.h.i.+ngle Street had been augmented in the recent wars when a Martello Tower had been built as part of the coastal de fences.

The only other habitation in the vicinity was the romantically named House of Tides, the home of Lady Belling ham, former actress and black sheep of the county.

Polly had intended calling on her ladys.h.i.+p, who had been a staunch friend of Lucille's before her marriage, but Miss Dit ton had drawn back from the suggestion with distaste.

”Lud, to call on the actress? My mama would have a fit of the va pours if she heard I had been consorting with such a person!”

Polly had reluctantly abandoned her plans of the visit, not wis.h.i.+ng to cause disagreement amongst the party and privately reflecting that it was probably unkind of her to inflict Miss Dit ton's company on so likeable a character as Lady Belling ham. All the same, she was sorry.

It was very quiet and the breeze was pleasantly cooling. Polly became engrossed in her sketching, enjoying her solitude, and had no idea how long she sat there. Her attention was eventually drawn back to the present by the small sc.r.a.pe of stone on stone, a little distance away along the s.h.i.+ngle beach. She put down her charcoal and listened. The noise came again. There appeared to be no one on the wide empty seash.o.r.e, nor could Polly see anyone else nearby. The cries of children reached her faintly from the cottages where Miss Dit ton was no doubt exercising her patronage, and she could just see Peter and Hetty in the distance, wandering hand in hand along the sh.o.r.e, engrossed in each other.

Polly got to her feet slowly and trod across to the edge of the springy gra.s.s. The small cliff sloped away steeply down to the s.h.i.+ngle and cast a dark shadow. Polly squinted in the bright sunlight, then recoiled in surprise at the sight of a figure emerging from the shade a mere twenty yards away. It was Lord Henry March night. He was dusting the sand and shale from his hands and shaking more debris off his jacket. He had not seen her.

”Oh!” Polly's foot slipped as she stepped hastily backwards, sending a small shower of stones down onto the beach. In an agony of suspense she heard them bouncing off the rocks below and peered down to see Lord Henry, his eyes narrowed against the sun, staring straight up at her.

”Lady Polly!” Lord Henry took the steep cliff path with ease and arrived beside her barely out of breath. ”How do you do, ma'am! I had no idea that you were there!”

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