Page 41 of Snowy and the Seven Doves
“Ready to get cleaned up for a bit of an outing?” Snowy asked.
“Perhaps sir would like to change into a shirt first?” said the valet. “It is less bulky than the banyan, and one can roll up the sleeves, thereby suffering less damage.”
Snowy decided to ignore the sneer, since the advice was good. He shrugged out of the banyan and bent to allow the valet to fit the shirt over his head. As he felt it settle over his shoulders, the valet suddenly yanked it down so it trapped his arms at his sides. As Snowy tried to turn, he felt a cord tighten around his neck.
Even as he struggled, he heard a thud and the constriction was gone. He turned, stumbling a little as he did, for the valet lay at his feet, the marble paperweight that had felled him a yard or so away.
“Are you all right, Hal?” Ned asked. He was sitting upright, his face white around the bruises.
“Good shot,” Snowy said. He bent to check the valet’s pulse. The man was still alive, but out cold, with a rising lump on the back of his head.
“Good thing I didn’t break my bowling arm,” Ned responded. “Hal, he was going to kill you, with me right here in the room.”
“He failed,” Snowy reminded his brother. “Thanks to you.”
Chapter Sixteen
Snowy handed thewould-be assassin over to the footmen and sent to Bow Street for a runner. By the time the man arrived, Snowy and Ned were dressed and ready to be interviewed, but the valet was still unconscious.
“Tried to garrote ye while in the performance of ’is duties,” the runner summarized, once he was in possession of the facts. “In front of a witness what was able to knock him out with this ’ere paper weight.”
“In a nutshell,” Snowy agreed.
“Any notion of motive, Mr. White?” the runner wanted to know.
Snowy had a very clear idea of who had a motive. “Not personal, I should think. I expect he was paid. By whom? We shall have to ask him.”
“You have enemies, sir?” the runner asked.
“Evidently,” Snowy replied, pointing at the unconscious man. He was not going to accuse Snowden without more evidence, or at least first talking to the solicitors. He had crimes enough to lay to Snowden’s account.
The runner sent for a carriage and took the valet away. He’d be put in a cell and given medical attention.
For his part, Snowy thanked the borrowed servants, asking them to return all the borrowed equipment and furniture and to leave the house in its dust-sheeted original condition.
Blue was going to stay to lock up the townhouse when all was done, then take the keys back to the House of Blossoms.
As for Snowy and Ned, Margaret’s carriage had arrived to take them to her house. Ned changed into the clothes the footman in the carriage had brought with him—Margaret’s livery.
They planned to sneak Ned in through the mews dressed as a footman, and the original occupant of the carriage would make his own way home later.
It went off without a hitch, and soon a very tired Ned was asleep in a bed chamber at Margaret’s. “I have a meeting,” Snowy told Margaret, but I hope I may come back later.”
“Of course,” she replied. “Any time, and you are welcome to stay the night, if you wish. Please, at the very least, join us for dinner.”
*
Ned had beenexhausted by the move. When they showed him to his room, he settled comfortably against the pillows, and in moments was fast asleep, still fully dressed.
“I have been neglecting my herb garden,” Margaret told Pauline. “Would you like to come with me while I check what is ready to be harvested?”
The gardener had kept the beds weed free but had not planted the next succession of culinary and medicinal herbs or clipped back the spent flowering heads. Margaret started in the greenhouse, pricking out herb seedlings into pots.
“May I help?” Pauline asked.
Margaret nodded and found her another pointed stick. “You have done this before,” she commented, after watching for a few moments.
“I love gardening,” Pauline admitted. “There is something so satisfying about planting a seed or taking a cutting and seeing it sprout and grow into something useful or beautiful.”
