Jasper argued. And when she had convinced him, each of the powerful peers he fetched to Redfern raised further objections. “We are concerned for your safety, Lady Millchurch,” explained the Marquis of Aldridge, who had come in the train of Redfern’s eccentric and dissolute neighbour to the West, the Duke of Richport. Aldridge had a brother with whom Tiberius had travelled all one summer, from the Hellenes to Russia. And Tiberius had performed a favour for the Earl of Sutton in some middle Eastern mountain, been guest to the man who was now Earl of Chirbury in a cabin in the North Canadian forest, and persuaded a tribe of gypsies to smuggle the Earl of Ruthford out of enemy hands in Spain when the earl was an exploring officer for Wellington.
The local magistrate, Sir Percy Westren, was the only non-peer, and the only person who did not have a personal reason to help her and Tiberius. He had also heard the gossip that named Tiberius as insane and Lord Demetrius as an innocent victim, and was the only one to believe it. In any case, he had morbidly decided that the current earl was not going to live, and that supporting Lord Demetrius was therefore wise.
Richport and Aldridge had proven surprisingly helpful, the surface charm each rake affected no disguise for the privilege and authority bred into their bones. They had swiftly squelched Sir Percy.
“If Lord Demetri and Lady Bowden are innocent, Sir Percy, Lady Millchurch’s trap will remain unsprung and no harm will be done,” Aldridge had explained. Richport had muffled a laugh and shaken his head.
“Innocent is not a word I would associate with that poisonous pair,” he had commented, managing to sound both wickedly suggestive and ducal.
2 Comments
Caroline Warfield · August 20, 2021 at 2:41 pm
Hmm. I don’t remember this one.
Aldridge · August 20, 2021 at 6:46 pm
It’s a short story in Chasing the Tale.
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