Balthazar suddenly rapped his cane on the roof to stop the carriage. As the horses slowed, he turned to Hamill. “A brown birthmark on his cheek? If that is so, then it is the same who pocketed Lady Rosalind’s handkerchief in the park. I do not know if you were aware of that circumstance.”
“Everybody is aware,” Hamill said. “Darden has gone round the town, spouting off about the alleged aplomb of your actions on that exciting day. We all wish you would put that gentleman out of his misery and just barge into his club and say you will join it.”
“Yes, I am sure you do. However, I doubt Darden knows as much about the circumstances as I think I do.”
Hamill looked at him expectantly.
“You are going to find this hard to believe, but I believe Lady Rosalind arranged for herself to be robbed.”
“What—”
Balthazar held up a hand. “Let us not delve into that fact just yet. I had been wondering how she managed to hire her own pickpocket. How stupid that I did not see it before! Of course, the only way she could do it was to work with someone who would know a pickpocket to hire—Shrimps.”
“So this Shrimps character is living in Van Doren’s house and still working with Mondrian’s gang.”
“Or at least he is in some sort of contact with them.”
“Should we pay Shrimps a visit?”
“No, not yet. There would be too much to explain to Van Doren and then we would likely only scare the boy off and he’d disappear. Rather, I think we might pay a visit to Barney, who will not know thatweknow there is a connection to Shrimps.”
Hamill nodded. “We ought to go very late. Pickpockets will not be at home before the crowd of theater-goers is long abed and every drunk gentleman has staggered through his door.”
“We should go after Lady Bloomington’s masque. “We will already be dressed in dominos, we only need wear dark clothes underneath.”
“Are you certain you will not be too taken up with your soon to be bride?” Hamill asked with a smile.
“I do intend to conduct that business at the masque, however it may go for me. But if I am successful, I will not approach the father until morning.”
“Well, if she’s managed to hire her own pickpocket, I dare say she’ll be stalwart enough to acceptyou.”
“You do not know who I plan to propose to.”
“Of course I do,” Hamill said, laughing.
*
Rosalind and hersisters had gone above stairs very early to dress for dinner, as they still had the matter of Miss Mayton’s sideburns to contend with.
Tattleton had sent up the hot water and then there was no hiding the matter from Fleur.
Fortunately, Fleur was very loyal to her mistress and would not breathe a word of the startling sight. At least, she would not speak of it in English. And, as nobody else in the servants’ hall spoke French, that was deemed sufficient.
Fleur dabbed and rubbed and indeed the glue softened and a lot of the hair was slowly and painfully parted from Miss Mayton’s cheeks.
Not all of it, though. There were scraggily bits that appeared glued on forever and they found they could go no further when Miss Mayton’s skin began to get very red from all the rubbing and pulling.
Fleur had taken sewing scissors and trimmed what was left as close as she could. They found that if Miss Mayton wore her veil draped on either side of her face it was really not that noticeable.
To Fleur’s credit, she did not inquire as to how the sideburns had come about in the first place and only said, “La tonne est excentrique.”
That matter sufficiently concluded, they set to thinking of ideas on how to make Conbatten believe the rash and lovesick baron had stolen Rosalind off to Gretna Green.
Nobody really had anything much concrete as to how to do it. All they could really think of was how they would like it to seem.
Rosalind was certain that the duke would attend Lady Bloomington’s masque, so of course that was the ideal setting. If he were to see her driven off there, it would be most perfect. Whoever was driving her off could just drive to the end of the street, then seeing they were pursued, leap out of the carriage and run off into the night. Then, Conbatten would find Rosalind alone in the carriage and he would have rescued her. That would be the moment when he could profess his true feelings in the privacy of the carriage after her aunt had quietly stepped out to give them privacy.
It was a lovely scene, but how in the world would they arrange it?
