“You think I have not been in England long enough to make enemies?”Smith asked sardonically.
“Allow me,” Jack said, taking the torn sleeve from him and making a proper pad which he tied over the wound using his own handkerchief.
“How did you know I was staying at Grillon’s?”Smith asked.
Jack glanced at him.He showed no sign of pain.His eyes were hard, but direct, curiously honest.
“I followed you there yesterday,” Jack said evenly.“Considering how you arrived in this country and the fluency of your French, I was suspicious.”
Smith’s lips quirked.“Many people in Canada speak French, you know.After thirty years there, Ishouldbe fluent.”
Jack helped him back into his coat.“Yes, but should your ship be blown so badly off course that it was wrecked off Brittany?”
“No.That was damnable luck, and I confess I thought we were done for.But our—er...fluency got us out of that scrape and into another with my friends the smugglers.”
Jack frowned.“Then your ridiculous story is actually true?”
“Sadly, yes.An adventure to entertain my grandchildren, should I ever have any.”
Jack was slowly adjusting.“Why do I believe you now when I could swear you were lying at the Headless Horseman?”
“Iwaslying at the Headless Horseman.Not about my journey, but about my name, which is not Smith.In retrospect, that was a poor lie, but I didn’t expect to be asked by anyone who cared about the answer.I own my name is not Smith.It is Lisle.Hunter Lisle, and I am the true Earl of Sark.I trust that does not make us enemies?”
“Not without some considerable hypocrisy on my part,” Jack said.“For my name isn’t Johns either.It’s Rudolph John De’Ath, and I am the Duke of Isbourne.”
Smith stared at him, and then slowly, his eyes began to laugh.“I like you, Rudolph John De’Ath!Come and meet my son, and together we shall form our own Society of the NobleIncogniti.”
***
HALF AN HOUR LATER, with Lisle’s wound properly tended by his silent servant, and over a pleasant luncheon with the father and son, Jack heard the whole tale.
“My father, Carrington Lisle, never expected to be earl.In fact, he quarrelled with his whole family and hated both his brothers, so he went adventuring on his own account, and ended up in Canada, where I was born.My mother was a Frenchwoman, which is another reason the language comes easily to both my son Edward and me.We had cut all ties with the other Lisles long ago, but we still received occasional letters from solicitors in England, informing us of various deaths, including that of my uncle Althorpe, Earl of Sark.
“Oddly enough, I didn’t think anything of it until my wife died a month later, and I began to question everything.I was restless.And it suddenly struck me that if Sark had no direct heirs, as the solicitor had informed me, then I was the next in line for the earldom.It made me laugh, until I realized I had no right to keep such an opportunity from Edward.Then another letter from the solicitor informed me inquiries were being made by the Lord Chancelor’s office into the issue of Carrington Lisle, my father.Edward and I talked about it and decided to go to England and see how we liked it.
“Perhaps it was a poor decision, considering the wide range of the war with France, and then the outbreak of another with the United States, but as I say, it was an adventure...”
He reached for the wine bottle and refilled Jack’s glass.“My father spoke of the old country sometimes.About growing up at Sark Park.But I hadn’t expected to feel anything for it.I never feel for places, only people.Yet there was something about landing in England, even in such a way.And Sark...”
He cast an apologetic smile at Jack.“I liked it.Edward liked it.Even so, we would have simply vanished again, gone back to Canada or somewhere entirely new, but I went to talk to my cousin who is installed there and calling himself earl.The house is frankly tatty.The servants, the tenants, and labourers are all poor.The place is run into the ground.And according to the solicitor, Ralph, like old Sark, is ignoring all advice in favour of short-term gain.He is a terrible steward of the land, and I could do better for everyone.Actually, my dog could.”
He twisted the stem of his glass and set it down on the table.“So I presented the solicitor with proof of my identity and explained my somewhat unconventional entry into the country.He is sorting it all out and will pass my documents along to the Lord Chancelor.Although, of course, you are welcome to make your own inquiries.I’ll even give you a letter.”
Jack felt his face heat.“I’m afraid I was living my own version of a school boy’s tale of spies and traitors.You have nothing to prove to me.Are you aware there is a plan afoot to marry old Sark’s youngest daughter to me?”
“Is there?I suppose you are rich?Then you are to supply the money to keep Ralph’s creditors at bay and allow his family to live in luxury—less tatty luxury than now.Do you want the marriage?”
“That is for the future,” Jack said evasively, “but I don’t know where Ralph got the idea that either my uncles or I are quite so easy to touch.”
“I expect he has not met you,” Lisle said wryly.
“I’m not sure anyone has.”Except Tabitha...He blinked suddenly.“Ralph is your enemy...Ralphtried to shoot you?”
“Or he sent someone.No one else has a cause to, and Ralph is a desperate man.I could see he liked his dignity and it is, frankly, easier to live on tick with a title.I am endangering everything by disputing the title, including this marriage contract.Areyou likely to withdraw from the offer?”
“I haven’t made any offer, but I take your point.If you had left it another month, he thinks he would have tricked a fortune out of me.But here you are threatening to kick him out of both the earldomandthe fortune.”
“Will he try again, Papa?”Edward asked, looking rather pale.
