A Matter of Magic (20 page)

“This is the outside of enough!” Lady Granleigh said in a carrying voice as the landau lurched forward. “On our return, you will drive, Jasper.”

“Really, Amelia, I don’t see why you think I’ll do any better than Stuggs,” Jasper replied. “I’m no Corinthian. You should have let me bring the coachman.”

“You are, at least, a
gentleman
,” Lady Granleigh said firmly. “And the fewer who are aware of this excursion, the better. Since you have seen fit to confide in this . . . person, we have no choice but to utilize his admittedly second-rate skills. And I must say, Jasper, that I think you could
have found someone with more ability if you had only applied yourself properly.”

The landau lurched again and rolled reluctantly into the lane, and Lady Granleigh’s complaints were lost among the trees. Kim shook off her paralysis and sprinted forward. That skinny toff and his sister were trouble, whatever their lay was, but Kim was willing to bet sixpence that they’d be a particularly whacking great lot of trouble if they found Mairelon and Renée D’Auber at the druid hill. Fortunately, the lane was rough and curving, and with Stuggs driving they wouldn’t make good time. Kim might, just possibly, get to the hill first with a warning if she ran.

She didn’t manage it. The uneven ground, the constant need to dodge inconveniently placed trees, and the thin branches of the young trees and brush that whipped her face, all combined to slow her more than she would have believed. As she neared the hill, she heard voices ahead of her and cursed under her breath. In London she would have gotten there in plenty of time.

Kim slowed and began to pick her way with more care. It would do Mairelon no good at all if she made too much noise and Jasper or Stuggs discovered her. She reached the fringe of bushes below the hill and started working her way toward the voices. As she came around to the far side, she heard Jasper’s voice with sudden clarity, saying, “—question is, who are
you
?”

“Tell him to come down here, where we can talk without shouting, Jasper,” Lady Granleigh put in imperiously.

As Jasper repeated his sister’s command, Kim stopped and peered through the bushes. Lady Granleigh and her brother were standing at the foot of the hill. Stuggs was a little behind them; beyond, the landau and horses were a sketchy outline between trees. The dark bulk of the druids’ lodge was barely visible, though Kim knew from yesterday’s explorations that it was only a few steps from the hill.

Mairelon was sitting on the ground halfway up the hill, careless of the damage his fine clothes must be suffering. His face was in shadow and Kim could not make out his expression, but his pose conveyed polite but bored attention.

“Well?” Jasper said when Mairelon did not reply. “Who are you?”

“No, no,” Mairelon said. “I asked you first. I also, if you recall, asked how you found this place and what you intend to do here, and you haven’t told me that, either.”

“We might ask you the same thing,” Jasper retorted.

“You might, but I don’t recommend it,” Mairelon said. “You’ll get a reputation as a poor conversationalist if all you can do is repeat what other people say to you.”

“This is absurd,” Lady Granleigh said. “Tell us who you are and what you’re doing here, or be off about your business. I haven’t time to waste on this nonsense.”

Mairelon rose to his feet and bowed. “It is impossible to refuse such a charming request. My name is de Mare, and I’m here by way of guarding the Sacred Hill.”

Jasper and Lady Granleigh looked at each other. Behind them, Stuggs stiffened, and Kim saw his right hand rise toward his chest, as if to touch something underneath his coat for reassurance. Kim frowned. Mairelon had done a perfect imitation of Jonathan Aberford’s tone, and both Jasper and his sister seemed to recognize the phrasing. Stuggs’s reaction was more difficult to interpret, and more ominous.

“Well, you can go along now,” Jasper told Mairelon grandly. “Jonathan Aberford said—”

“If I may speak with you a moment, Jasper,” Lady Granleigh interrupted.

Jasper turned his head and glared at her.

“
Now
, Jasper,” Lady Granleigh said with unruffled calm. Without waiting for him to respond, she turned and walked straight toward the bushes where Kim was hiding. Kim froze. She was certain she hadn’t been seen yet, but if she tried to move now, Lady Granleigh would spot her for sure.

Lady Granleigh stopped a few steps short of the bush and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for her brother to join her.

“What are you playing at, Amelia?” Jasper said irritably. “And what are we going to do now? Burn it, Miss Thornley never said anything about a guard!”

“Marianne is far too innocent to think of such a thing, and Frederick Meredith was clearly too shatter-brained to mention it,” Lady Granleigh replied. “You should have talked to him yourself, Jasper, instead of leaving it to Marianne.”

“That was your idea! You were the one who said Meredith would tell more to a pretty face. I never liked the idea of letting my fiancée empty the butter pot over that nod-cock, and so I told you.”

“Miss Thornley isn’t your fiancée yet, Jasper, and you’d do well to remember that before you take that tone with me,” Lady Granleigh said. “If you want my help in winning her—and her fortune—you will have to earn it. I must point out that so far you have been precious little help.”

“How do you expect me to help when you ruin everything I try to do?” Jasper waved his arms indignantly. “I was about to get rid of that fellow so we could go ahead with your precious scheme, only you stopped me.”

“You were about to make yet another muddle, you mean.” Lady Granleigh shook her head. “Really, Jasper, sometimes I despair of your intelligence. Don’t you see that Mr. de Mare’s presence changes everything?”

“No, I do not,” Jasper said. “If we could just persuade him to go away—”

“He would remember us, and when the platter was found, he would connect us with its reappearance. That could be very awkward for us.”

“Well, what do you think we should do?” Jasper asked in a sullen tone.

“We shall give Mr. de Mare the platter,” Lady Granleigh answered serenely.

“What?!” Jasper all but shrieked the word, and both Mairelon and Stuggs turned interested eyes in his direction. Jasper scowled back at them and lowered his voice. “Amelia, have you gone mad?”

“Do you want to have Jonathan Aberford lurking about Bramingham Place for the remainder of our stay?”

“No, but—”

“Can you suggest some other way we might be rid of him?”

“We’ve already been over this, and you know I haven’t. But you
just told me a minute ago why we can’t give this de Mare fellow the platter!”

“I explained why we cannot simply leave the platter here for Mr. Aberford and his friends to find, as we had originally planned,” Lady Granleigh corrected him. “If you had been listening, or thinking, you would have understood. Presenting the package to Mr. de Mare is another matter entirely.”

“I don’t see how. He’s bound to remember us, and you already said that that would be awkward.”

Lady Granleigh sighed. “The platter is well wrapped, tied up, and addressed to Mr. Jonathan Aberford. If we tell Mr. de Mare that a young man, whom we took to be one of Henry Bramingham’s friends, gave us the parcel in town and asked us to deliver it here, it will not matter whether he remembers us. Once they discover that the platter is a forgery, Mr. Aberford and his friends will look for the mysterious young man, if they look for anyone at all. You and I will be mere innocent go-betweens.”

“And how are you going to explain it if anyone asks why Miss Thornley was prying into Meredith’s business?”

“I shall say that she finds him interesting,” Lady Granleigh replied. She frowned slightly. “I shall have to see that she continues to spend time in his company for the next day or two. After that, it will not be thought wonderful if she tires of him.”

“Interested in
Meredith
?” Jasper snorted. “That won’t fadge, Amelia.
Nobody
could be interested in that simpleton.”

Lady Granleigh gave him a cold look. “Are you hinting that I will not be believed? I assure you, no one will think twice about it. Mr. Meredith is no more foolish than most young men, and Marianne is no less so than most girls, so it is quite plausible.”

“Yes, but look here, Amelia, how am I supposed to pay court to Miss Thornley if you’re forever telling her to talk with Meredith?” Jasper said hastily. “I don’t like it.”

“I did not ask you to like it,” Lady Granleigh said. “I simply wish you to refrain from interfering. Keep quiet, and let me talk to Mr. de Mare.”

“Amelia—” Jasper was too late, Lady Granleigh had turned and started
back toward the hill as she finished her sentence. “Friday-faced harpy!” Jasper muttered, so low that Kim almost missed the words. He raked his fingers through his hair, patted his cravat, and smoothed the front of his coat, then started after his sister.

Lady Granleigh reached the foot of the hill and raised her chin to study Mairelon. “Mr. de Mare,” she said as Jasper, still glowering in disapproval, joined her, “you have an honest face, and your reasons for being here interest me. Are you by some chance acquainted with Mr. Jonathan Aberford?”

“He is the leader of the Company that meets here,” Mairelon said cautiously.

“Very good,” Lady Granleigh said. “My brother and I are on our way to Swafflton. A young man in the village requested that we deliver a package to this place, and we agreed. The package is addressed to Mr. Aberford; presumably he will know what to do with it. I trust you can see that he receives it?”

“I am quite capable of doing so, madam,” Mairelon replied.

“Then we will entrust the package to you. We have spent far too much time on this errand already. Stuggs!”

“Ma’am.” The large man lowered his eyes as Lady Granleigh turned to face him, transforming his expression from one of intent interest into one of bored resentment.

“Fetch the parcel from the carriage at once, and give it to Mr. de Mare, with my compliments,” Lady Granleigh commanded.

Kim frowned as she watched Stuggs nod and walk off. Unless she’d forgotten the difference between a sharper and a flat, there was something about that cove that didn’t fit. He smelled of the back streets and rookeries of London, and gentry didn’t hire servants there if they wanted to keep their silver. If only she could pike off to the Hungerford Market for a few hours and ask Red Sal or Tom Correy what they knew about Stuggs! One of them was bound to have heard something . . . Kim put the thought firmly aside; there was nothing to be gained by wishing for the impossible.

Stuggs returned, carrying a large brown package. He paused at the foot of the hill, but one glance at Lady Granleigh set him climbing. Mairelon
waited where he was and accepted the package with a solemn half-bow. Kim, still watching Stuggs closely, saw a crease form between his eyebrows as he turned and came down the hill, and realized that Mairelon’s bow had prevented Stuggs from getting a good look at his face.

Kim brooded over the possible implications while Lady Granleigh and Mairelon exchanged polite farewells. Jasper’s concession to good manners took the form of a curt nod, which drew a glare from his sister and another half-bow from Mairelon. Lady Granleigh hesitated, looking as if she would have given her brother a rare trimming then and there, except that she would then have been guilty of even worse conduct than his. In the end, she turned and swept away without saying anything, but her lips were pressed together in a manner that boded ill for Jasper’s peace during the coming carriage ride. Jasper followed, still scowling, and a moment later Kim heard the sounds of the coach departing.

Kim let out a long breath as the noise of the carriage died away among the trees. She could hardly believe she had gone unnoticed. “Well, well,” Mairelon’s voice said meditatively from the hillside. “How very interesting.”

Kim jerked at the unexpected sound, and her arm grazed the bush in front of her. Mairelon’s head snapped in the direction of the rustle. “Renée?” he called.

“No, it’s me,” Kim said, rising. She walked forward, brushing dead leaves from her coat.

“You were supposed to stay at the wagon,” Mairelon said without heat.

“That’s what you said,” Kim agreed. “I never told you I would.”

“True.” Mairelon pursed his lips and gazed at Kim thoughtfully. “I can see I’ll have to listen to you more carefully in the future. How long have you been here?”

“Since right after the bracket-faced gentry mort and her brother came,” Kim answered. “I saw them on the road, but I couldn’t hop it fast enough to get here first.”

“You didn’t by any chance see Mademoiselle D’Auber as well, did you?”

“No,” Kim said with some satisfaction. “I didn’t.”

Mairelon eyed her sharply, then frowned. “It’s not like Renée to be late.” He tucked Lady Granleigh’s parcel under his arm and pulled a watch from his pocket. As he glanced at it, his frown deepened. “Certainly not this late.”

“Maybe she saw them two on their way here,” Kim suggested, jerking a thumb in the direction Lady Granleigh’s carriage had gone. There was no reason for Mairelon to get in a taking over Renée D’Auber. She was a wizard, after all; she could take care of herself.

Mairelon looked up, still frowning. “Yes, that would explain it,” he said. “And it’s ‘those two,’ not ‘them two.’ ”

“Those two, then,” Kim said, obscurely comforted by this offhanded correction. “What are you goin’ to do with the platter?”

“Platter?” Mairelon’s expression went blank; then his eyes followed Kim’s pointing finger. “Oh, is that what’s in this package? How convenient.”

“It’s the cheat they nicked from the library at Bramingham Place,” Kim added. “I heard them talkin’.”

“Indeed.” Mairelon took the parcel out from under his arm and studied it. “Why would Lady Granleigh want to give the fake platter to Jonathan Aberford? And why deliver it here? He lives in the vicinity; his direction can’t be particularly difficult to discover.”

Kim shrugged. “They didn’t say.”

“Mmmm.” Mairelon continued his examination of the parcel for a moment. Suddenly he flipped the package end for end, tucked it back under his arm, and started briskly down the hill. “Time to be going. It wouldn’t do for someone to get into the wagon while we’re away.”