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‘Now that I know Clement Cottam has connections to a group of women with dubious morals, and a network of elderly ladies intent on helping reform such women, and has, moreover, taken up residence in an area renowned for harbouring smugglers who would know exactly how to get stolen jewels into the hands of buyers, I think it is fairly certain that he is the one who has been organising the whole enterprise. All I need to do is find some proof. Some concrete proof that will expose one of the most godless, devious, sanctimonious hypocrites it has ever been my misfortune to know.’
‘And to that end, you’d even go to the length of marrying his sister,’ said Ulysses, shaking his head.
That wasn’t why he was marrying Clare. The thought had never entered his head until Ulysses had planted it there.
Not that he was going to admit any such thing. Not even to these men.
‘I would have had to marry and beget heirs at some stage,’ he said with a shrug, using the same excuse he’d given Clare. ‘As well her as another.’
Atlas gave him a reproachful look. Ulysses appeared more sympathetic. ‘It isn’t going to be easy, marrying a woman whose brother you will be dragging off to prison. Possibly even the gallows.’
He got a vision of large golden eyes looking at him as though he’d betrayed her. And bade farewell to his dream of being able to occupy the moral high ground throughout their marriage. Instead of featuring as her benefactor, she’d regard him as a monster.
‘Then I had better get her with child quickly,’ he said with a sinking feeling. ‘Before she discovers what I am about. And to that end, I had better inform you that I have told her we will be marrying the day after tomorrow.’
‘What? The same day as Harriet and me?’
‘The same ceremony. I have already put the matter to Lady Harriet and she has seen the wisdom of having a double wedding.’
‘Harriet has? When did you see her?’
‘Well, where do you think Clare is staying? She has no family in London. And I had no intention of leaving her in a hotel, where she might have been able to…contact her brother and seek to escape me.’
‘You think she could be in league with her brother?’
‘No!’ His whole being revolted at the notion she could have anything to do with anything the slightest bit shady. ‘She is so puritanical that were this the sixteen hundreds she would probably have become a prophetess in one of those outlandish sects that sprang up all over the place. No, the trouble with Clare is that she can believe no ill of any of her family. Even when evidence is thrust right under her nose.’
He’d tried to explain, a number of times, why he could no longer consider any of her brothers his friends. But she wouldn’t countenance a word of criticism against any of them. Not from his lips, anyway.
‘If she were to get wind of my suspicions about Clement, she would be so incensed that she would probably tell him. And alert him to the fact that we are on to him.’
‘Archie probably did just that,’ said Ulysses thoughtfully. ‘He would have trusted a fellow cleric, wouldn’t he?’
‘Yes. Also, he knew Clement, slightly, from when he first took up his post at Kelsham Park. Knew, and respected, his father, too.’
‘Then the chances are that Clement already knows we’re on to him. If you go down there, you aren’t going to be able to poke around and find out enough to bring him to justice. Especially not with his sister in tow.’
‘Actually, I rather think that Clare might be a very effective weapon to use against him. He is fond of her, in his own way.’
‘You think you can use her as a sort of…hostage?’
‘I might be able to make him believe I would do so. At the very least, I think he would think twice before making an attempt on my life while she is with me. Since it would be extremely difficult to do away with me without her suspecting who is behind it.’
‘You do realise, then, that going down to Lesser Peeving will be dangerous?’
‘Dealing with Clement Cottam was never without its dangers,’ he said, recalling the many instances of the vicar’s son’s malice and cunning he’d witnessed as a boy and young man. ‘The difference between me and Archie, though, is that I am up to his weight. And I know what I am walking into. Whereas Archie did not.’
