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Hazelwood grinned. “Always a pleasure. However, I was thinking that we need to get the club reopened. Clare—pardon me, Mountjoy—cannot stay in this cesspit while he settles Richard’s affairs. He needs good coffee, and he needs to be paid. What was that case you were working on, the blind man? Let’s solve it.”

“When?” Blackstone asked.

“Now, of course,” said Hazelwood. “Where’s the blind man, Mountjoy? Some inn, right?”

“The Tooth and Nail,” Harry said, “but...”

A pair of grooms brought round Hazelwood’s curricle and Blackstone’s horse. Hazelwood was instantly in motion. “Should we be armed?”

Harry had no time to answer before another carriage drew up, a high perch phaethon driven by their leader, Goldsworthy. The big man on top of such a vehicle was a sight to see. Next to him, clinging to the side of the carriage, was Kirby, waving an express.

“There you are, Cap—my lord. They’re alive. I’ve had an express. They return today to the Tooth and Nail.”

Goldsworthy looked down at Harry. “You’ve been holding out on me, lad. You had your blind man under my nose for a fortnight. Now we’ll see what he has to say.” He set his horses in motion, and the curricle rattled off.

For a moment none of the three friends moved. The sight of the big man perched atop the elegant vehicle instead of behind his enormous desk stunned Harry.

Hazelwood voiced the thought in Harry’s mind. “Rather cares about this case, doesn’t he?”

Blackstone raised one dark brow. “I think that’s our cue, gentlemen.”

* * * *

Hannah’s knock on the door roused Lucy from her thoughts. Adam lay asleep on his bed under the stairs, exhausted from telling the story. Lucy now knew something of the horror he had seen, though she was far from understanding the why of it.

“Miss, miss,” Hannah called through the door. “The gray doctor is here. He’s in the private dining room, like ’e likes. I asked ’is name, but he told me not to be ’pertinent. He’s asking for you, miss.”

“I’ll be with him directly,” she told Hannah. “You’re to stay with Adam.”

Hannah’s eyes grew wide. She did not like to be around him when he had one of his episodes. “He’s asleep, Hannah. He just needs to hear your voice if he wakes, to know that he’s safe.”

Hannah bobbed a curtsy.

Lucy removed her pinny and crossed the inn. It was the quiet time of day between the breakfast sitting and the afternoon stage. Mrs. Vell was off to feed her own family. Frank must be in the brew house or the cellars, checking his lines or his supplies. The bench sitters were at work.

Lucy knocked on the door of the private dining room, and a curiously flat voice bid her enter.

Lucy could see why Hannah had struggled to describe the gentleman she saw. His suit of superfine gray wool was smooth, his colorless face, wrinkled like the flesh of a softening apple. He must have been fair in youth, but the gold of his hair and brows had faded to ash. Pale waves of that hair swept back from a high brow. The burgundy silk of his waistcoat and gold of his watch fob spoke of prosperity. She judged him to be fifty or more. He stood at the table, his hands resting on a black medical bag.

His pale blue eyes widened when she greeted him.

“Good afternoon, Miss Holbrook,” he said. “Permit me to introduce myself. I am Doctor Waller. I’ve come for Adam Pickersgill.”

“Come for Adam?”

“Perhaps you’ve been expecting me. Your father made provision in his will for Adam to be cared for at Normand House. You’ve heard of it, of course, a private asylum, a superior establishment for the care of persons suffering from imbalances of every sort.”

“I beg your pardon but I know of no plans my father made for Adam to leave the Tooth and Nail.”

“Ah,” said the doctor, “you had a careful father.” He looked at Lucy as if she were a puzzle. “Knowing that your circumstances would change and that as a woman of property you would look to marry, your father wished to relieve you of the burden of Adam’s care.”

“Thank you,” she said. “But whatever provisions my father made for Adam can wait. At present I have no plans to marry, or to leave the inn. You may leave your card should you wish me to seek your assistance at any time later.”

“I beg your pardon, perhaps the confidences of little Hannah, so eager to please, have misled me. I have my bag here, however.” He snapped open the leather physician’s case. “Would it be possible for me to examine Adam today for future reference? Then we will know what regimen of care would best suit him at Normand House.”

Lucy shook her head. “I’m afraid another day will have to do. Adam is asleep at present.”

The doctor looked disappointed. He stared into his case. “Well,” he said, “perhaps you’d be willing to answer a few questions. He’s quite blind, is he? How frequent are his episodes of rage?”