Page 37 of The Rum and The Fox

“Caught this natty lad picking outside the Assembly room, sir,” Greenly replied as he continued to pat the boy down. “Ah, an’ what’s this, then?” he demanded, lifting the boy’s coat tails to discover a secret pocket sewn on the inside. Greenly reached in and pulled out a watch. “Well, I’m blowed,” he said, shaking his head. “You’ve had a good day, eh, my lad?”

Greenly held the watch up to the inspector, who whistled low through his teeth. The watch was obviously gold, heavily engraved and worth a not-so-small fortune.

“Give that here,” Formby said, holding out his hand. Somewhat reluctantly, Greenly passed it through the bars.

Formby handled the pocket watch with care, intrigued and awed by the level of craftsmanship.

“Let’s see if we can find the owner of this little piece, then,” he said, opening the cover and then staring in awe at the inscription he found. With wide eyes, he looked up at the boy and gestured for Greenly to open the door.

Formby walked into the cell and crouched down, looking the lad in the eyes as he held out the watch.

“Now listen to me, you young Tyburn blossom, and listen good. I want to know about this watch, where you got it from and when, and …” Formby held up a finger before the lad could tell him to go to the devil. “And if you tell me everything you know, I’ll not only let you go with no charges, but I’ll give you half a crown for your efforts.”

Greenly made a sound of protest, but Formby ignored him as the lad returned a suspicious expression.

“No charges?” he repeated, clearly thinking it a trap.

“None at all,” Formby agreed. “And as a sign of good faith, Constable Greenly here is going to go and fetch you a cup of tea and cake. Aren’t you, Constable?”

Greenly gave him an unloving look, but agreed that he was, so Formby turned back to the boy.

“Now, then, my lad,” he said with a grin. “Tell me what you know.”

***

It had taken some doing, but Ash had managed to avoid his grandmother since the meeting with Formby. In fact, the past few days had been rather pleasant. He’d spent a lot of time with Keziah, which he knew was probably a mistake, but which he had been quite unable to resist. The more he saw of her, the more they spoke, the more he understood many of the hardships she had endured, the more he admired her, the more his heart ached that she should see him as anything other than her foolish friend. He knew she was grateful to him for what he had done, and was determined to see his name cleared. But once this had been accomplished … though Ash was by no means certain of that outcome, well, then she would leave and make her way in the world.

Ash had already told her that he would see her safe and cared for, and that she had nothing to fear for, but she would just smile and thank him. He felt sure that a proud woman like Keziah would not allow a man to have any hold over her, even a man he hoped she counted as her friend.

The idea of Keziah leaving and never seeing her again, of not knowing if she was safe, if she was well or cared for or happy … it tore at Ash’s heart and made him long for a different outcome. But Keziah had made her feelings plain, there was little he could do except hope that by some strange miracle she would change her mind.

“Felix!” Ash jumped as his grandmother’s voice jolted him from his thoughts.

“Grandmama,” he said, moving to kiss her cheek as she walked closer.

“I want to speak with you,” she said, walking away, as straight-backed as ever, and ordered Grant to bring them tea as she went. “You’ve been avoiding me,” she said, her eyes glittering with irritation.

Ash said nothing as he closed the door behind him. He quite obviously had been avoiding her and so there was no point in denying it.

“I won’t allow you to marry that girl,” she said, turning to stare at him, her arms folded, he elegant figure taut with indignation.

Ash looked back at her and felt his heart sink. The last thing he had the energy for was trying to stand up his grandmother. Somehow, no matter what he did, he found himself talked around and bent to her will. Not that there was anything he could do about this one, either way. Keziah didn’t want him.

“There’s really no need to get hot under the collar,” he said, feeling irritation prickle under his skin at having to admit yet another failing to the woman. “She won’t have me.”

“So she says,” she retorted with a sneer, looking suspicious and extremely vexed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s her father’s daughter, she’s playing a deep game, that’s for certain.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Ash shouted, finding some measure of satisfaction in her look of surprise at his burst of anger. “I offered for her. If she’d wanted me for my money and title, don’t you think she’d have snatched at the opportunity?”

Lady Margaret just glowered at him, a common response if she could think of no obvious retort.

“I don’t trust her,” she replied, as if that was answer enough.

“Good God, Grandmama, you don’t trust me!” he threw back at her, suddenly too weary and sick at heart to try and avoid the inevitable row.

She snorted at that, shaking her head in disgust. “And with good reason. You’re a fool, Felix. A fool and a fribble. Good Lord, your father would turn in his grave if he could see what you’ve become.”

For a moment, the furious words bubbled on his tongue, acid and vitriolic, but if he let go of his anger now, perhaps he would say too much. His emotions were too disturbed, too unsettled, to allow himself to lose control. So he swallowed down the rage her words brought bursting through his chest before he said something he might regret. The fear that she was perfectly correct was harder to swallow, though.