“Do you accusemeof something, Lord Grayson?” Sir John said, his voice dripping with outrage.
“I only think it unusual that it wasyouwho received this mysterious letter. Why you? Why not Banks? If one wished to threaten the Royal Society, one would go direct to its president. Why does Veritas go to one so recently arrived? To one nobody seems to know much about? It seems convenient, were one wishing to commit a fraud of some sort.”
“I would not think a gentleman such as yourself,” Sir John said coldly, “should presume to know more than the educated minds in this room. Your deductive reasoning, if that is what it can be called, is laughable. Leave the thinking to minds that think.”
“To minds that think?” Giles said, feeling very close to losing his temper. “What is it, in yourthinking, that you congratulate yourself upon? What does the society find itself so smug about? If you were interested in providing any useful information to mankind, you would ponder the nature of love, or why an innocent child is taken while a wily old man is left, or why men go to war, or what spurs us to have thoughts, or where do the heavens end and what lays beyond. Instead, you spend your time wondering how a housefly sits on a wall. You have mired yourselves in the minutia. You are absurd.”
“Say no more, Grayson!” Sir John shouted.
The party turned to him in shock. Giles only smiled. “It isLordGrayson, to you. And what would you propose to do to stop me? I advise avoiding any gauntlet throwing, I may appear a dandy, but this dandy is well-versed in pistols.”
“Gentlemen!” Mrs. Herschel said. “I will not have such talk in my house.”
“Quite right, Mrs. Herschel,” Giles said, “My apologies. However, I think you will discover that Sir John knows far more about Veritas and his connection to John Hill than you imagine. And now, I will take my leave before this argument goes further and I am forced to do something about it.”
After taking his leave of Mrs. Herschel, Giles bowed to the baroness and Miss Dell, though Miss Dell only studied her hands.
If Sir John had somehow turned her against him, he would pay for it. Not because he still chased Miss Dell, of course he had given that up, but because Miss Dell must not fall prey to Sir John.
*
Sir John watchedGrayson depart Mrs. Hershel’s drawing room, all the while working to restrain himself. If he had his way, he’d find a weapon and shoot the gentleman’s head off or run him through. How dare that fop attempt to interfere with his plan. How dare he make accusations.
As his temper began to settle, an uncomfortable feeling stole over him. Those who only moments ago had stayed close and sought his opinion had moved off. He stood alone.
They could not believe the lord’s claims, could they? After all, what could Lord Grayson really prove? What could he really know?
A sudden realization came over him. Lord Grayson had told Mrs. Herschel, in fact he’d toldeverybody, that they would discover that he knew more about Veritas and John Hill than he’d said.
It was Grayson. He’d stolen the diary. It must be so.
He cursed himself for his foolishness. Why in the world had he thought Mrs. Smat would have use for it? The charwoman might have read it all day long, assuming she could read, and not seen any kind of significance in it.
Grayson though, he would know the importance of its author being the faithful servant of John Hill.
But how would he have known the book existed at all?
He hadn’t known. The lord had come sniffing around, determined to make him out a villain to Miss Dell. He’d interviewed the charwoman. Perhaps Mrs. Smat had even let Grayson into the house for a fee.
That must have been it. Grayson had gone in to look around and there was the book. It would have stood out, as there was very little else in the place. He opened it up, and he’d seen that it was written by the hand of John Hill’s faithful servant. He’d slipped it into a pocket and made off with it.
As he listened to the whispers swirling around him, he found some comfort in hearing that the majority of them had nothing to do with him. Grayson had insulted every one of them down to their bones.
His thoughts were interrupted by Mrs. Herschel. “This seems a bad business, Sir John. I suspect there is some rivalry or discontent between you and Lord Grayson that has led to this unfortunate display.”
“Perhaps you are right, Mrs. Herschel,” he said. “Perhaps my own disdain for gentlemen such as Lord Grayson has led me to make surmises that may not prove true.”
“And he,you, no doubt,” Mrs. Herschel said, seeming relieved that her opinion was correct. “I suppose I am most sorry for Lord Home, as news of Grayson’s opinion on his latest paper is bound to get back to him.”
Sir John nodded, though he could not care less for Lord Home’s or his housefly’s bruised feelings. Lord Grayson would pay for stealing his book. He would pay for unsettling his plan. He would pay for it all. Though it would be best that Mrs. Herschel believe he held no grudge against the scoundrel.
He would decide what to do when he had time to think. For now, he must pursue his original goal for this visit. He must find time alone with Miss Dell.
Chapter Sixteen
“That was quitethe performance,” Crackwilder said, leaning back in the carriage.
“Yes,” Giles said, “exactly as I predicted. He pretended the diary never existed, he did not say a word about it.”
