Lady Polly Part 72

Her eyelids were closing. Lucille gently took the cup from her grasp and set it down on the washstand. She tucked up Polly's covers.

Polly could feel herself slipping into sleep at last. She tried to rouse herself.

"Lady Laura March night told me that Henry was not as everyone imagined..."

she said drowsily.

"And now I see it is true. A man who takes a brace of pistols to a ball is quite unusual..."

Lucille's eyes met those of her husband. Nick raised an eyebrow but did not speak. Polly slid further down into the bed. It was warm and safe, and suddenly she was not afraid any more. But there was something else she had to tell them. It was worrying at the edges of her mind and would not let her rest.

With an enormous effort, she managed to get the words out.

"I love him so much, you see," Polly said, quite as though it explained everything.

"I always have." And then she slept.

It was early the following morning that Nick Sea- grave called in at St James's. The discreet and deferential manservant who answered the door could not confirm that Lord Henry March night was yet out of bed, a statement which elicited a look of amused disbelief from Sea grave, if nothing more. He was not surprised when Lord Henry joined him within five minutes, fully dressed and showing no signs that he had recently arisen.

"I am here to offer my thanks on behalf of all of us for your timely actions last night, March night," Sea grave said, accepting a chair and the offer of a cup of coffee.

"My mother could barely be restrained from coming around here to thank you herself! Indeed, she will be singing your praises to all and sundry from now on!"

A smile twitched Lord Henry's lips.

"How very uncomfortable! I will have to think of a way of dissuading her!"

"No doubt you'll come up with something," Sea- grave said, also smiling. He allowed his gaze to travel around the room, appreciating its elegant style and tasteful furnis.h.i.+ng. There were a number of books on the shelves which he recognised but had not touched for years and some very fine pictures. Sea grave was not surprised.

"How fortunate for my mother and Polly that you happened to be pa.s.sing at the moment the mob turned on them," Sea grave continued blandly.

"Much in the same way that you were pa.s.sing on Hamp stead Heath the other night!"

Lord Henry picked up the coffee pot, avoiding his guest's penetrating gaze.

"It was fortunate, indeed."

"No doubt," Sea grave pursued, 'you had taken a pair of pistols to Mrs Ellery's ball just to be prepared. One cannot be too careful these days! " Lord Henry, pouring the coffee into large china cups, checked slightly.

His grey eyes met Sea grave's inscrutable dark ones.

"Ah, the pistols. I a.s.sume... Lady Polly?"

"She's an observant girl," Sea grave agreed, 'but I expect you have already realised that. " "Your sister sees a little too much," Lord Henry agreed, with grim feeling.

He pa.s.sed the cup across and Sea grave sat back in the chair, savouring the strong aroma of the coffee.

"I hope," Lord Henry said, 'that neither the Dowager Countess nor Lady Polly will have taken any lasting hurt. That was a h.e.l.lish scene last night. Sea grave. They were both unconscionably brave. " Sea grave's mouth tightened into uncompromising lines.

"Chapman, was it?"

he said grimly.

"It was a bad day when he escaped. How close are you to retaking him?"

Lord Henry was looking just as implacable.

"Close enough," he said.

"Maybe it would have been last night if I hadn't been diverted on to other matters!"

"And at Hamp stead?"

Henry shrugged.

"A rumour... a suggestion that he had been seen. You know how it is, Sea grave--the rum ours have him everywhere from Clerkenwell to Chelsea! But yesterday I was closing in. I had found out where he had been hiding."

"At the Royal Humane Society?" Sea grave asked, with a smile.

"Polly mentioned that she and Lucille had seen you there! They were most impressed by your interest in charitable work, old chap!"

Lord Henry laughed reluctantly.

"The only act of benevolence I would like to commit at present is ridding the earth of sc.u.m like Chapman! It was a masterstroke on his part to use the Society as cover. They are so tied up with their own generosity that they do not even press a fellow for his name. And what is one unkempt and ragged fugitive amongst so many dispossessed, looking for a few nights' shelter?"

"And the tale of a rich protector?" Sea graves asked, putting down his empty coffee cup.

Lord Henry hesitated.

"I have my suspicions..."

Sea grave nodded.

"Well, I had better be going. But I do thank you. Harry.

If you had not intervened. I hope it has not damaged your chances of taking your man. " Lord Henry gave him a rueful smile and shook Sea- grave's proffered hand.

At the door the Earl paused.

"If you ever need any help, just let me know. Oh, and Harry--' The younger man looked at him enquiringly, "Be careful," Sea grave said.

"I realise why you intervened last night and I would not wish anything to prevent you from eventually making your declaration!"

And he raised his cane in mocking salute and left a startled Lord Henry staring at the door.

Chapter Seven.

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