There was still time to save himself, but he must act quickly before Nancy Manton raised an alarm.
*
Hayes had loweredhimself out the window. He let go of the casement and fell the four remaining feet, landing with a thud. He hoped that thud had not been heard, but there was no time to consider it.
He motioned to Miss Farnsworth, who now peered down at him with wide eyes. He wondered if she’d be able to go through with it. It was one thing to say one could do a thing, and quite another to actually do it.
She suddenly disappeared from view. Hayes held his breath. Was she too frightened? Or worse, had Shine come back?
Just as suddenly, her skirts came into view as she let herself out of the window.
She would do it. The brave girl would do it. Of course she would, only that afternoon had she not saved the young urchin from Lady Jersey’s butler?
Hayes forced himself to ignore first one pretty stockinged leg and then the other, hanging above him just now. Miss Farnsworth had lowered herself out and hung onto the casement by her fingers. He reached up and grasped her about the waist.
“Let go,” he said quietly.
She hesitated for a moment, though Hayes knew she could not hold on for long. She released the casement and fell upon him.
Chapter Ten
Mr. Shine hurriedthrough the gaming room, picking up a candlestick as he went, and unlocked the door. He cautiously opened it, prepared with a story about the locked door and the missing Miss Farnsworth and Lord Ashworth. He would say he did not know how the door had become locked, a servant must have inadvertently done it.
Where were Lord Ashworth and Miss Farnsworth? Taking air in the back garden. Perhaps she ought to go see what they were about going out there alone.
She would turn her back to him to make her way there, and he would dispatch her and lock her in the room until he could get rid of the servants.
To his surprise, the corridor was empty. She was nowhere in sight and the servants were gone too. Perhaps Nancy Manton had forgot all about her little charge and had retired? It had often been her habit to be abed as quick as she could, and a habit to dismiss the servants too. They would have been told to come early on the morrow to clear up the debris from the evening’s entertainments.
Mr. Shine smiled. Nothing could be easier than to open the room that held the bank and be off. Weeks ago, he’d dosed Nancy’s tea with laudanum and changed the locks as one of his first orders of business upon installing himself in the house. He would collect the money and be on his way. It was, perhaps, unfortunate that Nancy would live to tell the tale and likely send eyes looking for him, but nobody would know a thing about it until the morrow. It was enough time to get well away. He had a notion to try his luck in South America. There was gold there, and diamonds even. He was growing tired of cards—there was no security in it.
He hurried down the hall to the room that held the bank chest. The door to the room had long ago been replaced with a more formidable version—it was solid oak, four inches thick, and swung open silently on well-oiled hinges.
As he unlocked the cabinet that held the chest, he smiled. Poor Nancy would find herself in a fix on the morrow. All her money gone and two customers locked above stairs. She’d be ruined. For that matter, Miss Farnsworth would be ruined too—no lady would be able to explain her way out of an evening alone with a man.
“Serves her right for interfering with me,” he said softly.
Mr. Shine pulled out the chest. It was heavier than he expected, which was a very good sign. He placed it on the desk and hurriedly opened the lock. Bank notes were before him, all he need do was transfer them to a more suitable case. A person traveling round with a chest such as this would be robbed within a day.
He jogged out of the room and into the breakfast parlor. There was a case below the sideboard that was meant to hold the silver that would do just fine. It was plain and did not announce itself as anything extraordinary.
Back in the bank room, Mr. Shine swept up the notes. His knuckles grazed something hard.
He slowly moved the notes aside, a feeling of trepidation stealing over him. A set of bricks stared back at him.
In the succeeding seconds, he felt his face turn to fire, as if it would alight on its own. The blocks of stone seemed to look back at him with disdain, as if they mocked him.
The bank was gone. How could that be? Had they been robbed while he’d been otherwise occupied? Had Nancy Manton been so foolish as to forget to secure the room? He would beat her senseless if that was the case.
He grabbed a candle and raced up the stairs to Nancy’s room. There was no light coming from under the door. He banged on the door and got no answer. He tried the door handle. It was unlocked.
Throwing it open, he looked about. There was no sign of the woman. The bed was still made, the fire cold. The usual accoutrements of a dressing table had fled. He checked the wardrobe. There were still dresses there, but they were not her best. He knew well enough it was a sign of a hasty packing. A sign of somebody in a hurry, who wished to slip away with what they could carry. He had done it himself enough times to know.
She was gone. Nancy Manton had stolen the bank. She had robbed him. She had fled with the money.
He slowly sat down on a chintz chair. How did he not guess she would do it? He had been convinced she was in his power, that she would not dare an escape. That she was too settled to consider moving on. He had been wrong. What could he do now?
If he would avoid ruin entirely, he must develop a plan. And he must do so quickly.
