Page 47 of His Duchess in Disguise
Hamilton considered his employer for a moment. “You might have the right of it, at that. I’ll admit that when you were Admiral, sometimes your wild planning-of-the-moment paid off. This could be one such time.”
“There’s the spirit, Hamilton. I knew it was in there somewhere under that secretarial exterior. Bring the fellow in, and let’s see what he has to say.”
Chapter 30
The man in the drab coat and shabby breeches was just finishing up his pint and wondering how his young friend was faring when a slender, well-dressed fellow with the rolling gait of a long-time sailor sat down beside him.
His seat mate signaled the innkeeper for a beer and took a long pull from it. “You are a long way from home, are you not my friend?”
“Far as I care to be,” the shabby man said.
“You have a name I can call you by?” the slender man asked.
“You can call me Adrien Nob.” The shabby man took a pull at his pint.
“Is that a description or a wish?” The slender man asked.
Nob laughed. “It’s just my name. Can’t say that I’m a nob or that I have a wish to be one. Most days, I’m hirin’ out to earn enough to get by.”
“Is that so, Mr. Adrien Nob? Well, you can call me Mr. Hamilton. Word that a stranger was about came up to the manor house tonight, and the Duke sent me down to see who might have come to our quaint little village.”
“You talk considerably like a nob yourself. As if you’d been to one o’ them university places.”
“I might have been. What is more important to you is that I am the Duke’s secretary. I was once one of his naval officers. A man of your description was mentioned in a very odd affair tonight.”
“Was it now. I wonder how that might have come about?”
“A scullery worker made some very injudicious advances to the kitchen maid. He said that he had done so in the hope of bringing her down to the inn that you might speak with the girl. More than that, that you are looking for a particular young woman.”
“Not so sure about the scullion’s actions. His choices are his own. But I am looking for a girl.” Nod fumbled in the pocket of his coat and brought out a carefully wrapped bundle. He laid it on the scarred top of the bar and unwrapped it. A badly rendered miniature of a young woman looked out of a cheaply wrought frame. The picture was covered with a thin film of mica, making it even more difficult to make out her features. The best that could be said of it was that she was blond and that the artist had not been very skilled.
“I could call up a dozen village girls who would match that picture. Have you no better way to identify her?”
“Well, the word is that her name is Emma Hoskins. She’s the only daughter of the Baron Hoskins, an’ betrothed to the Earl of Cleweme. Seems her pater and her beau want her back.”
“How is it that she has gone missing? It seems to me that a baron’s daughter would be more than glad to marry an earl.”
“Well, they be earls and then there’s earls. Now I wouldn’t want to be caught talkin’ bad about a peer o’ the realm so’s I’ll just let it go at that.”
“I see.” Hamilton finished his pint and said, “Drink up. I think the Duke will want to speak with you.”
“Eh? Wot’s that?”
“I said the Duke wants to speak with you. Now, you can walk along with me like a gentleman, or Captain Arnault and his two soldiers who are throwing dice over there, just to keep an eye on things, can clap you in irons and we can bring you along whether you will or no.”
“If that’s the way of it,” said Nob, “I’ll come along peaceable if it is all the same to you.” Nod swallowed down the last of his pint and climbed down from the barstool. “I’m ready to come speak with your Duke. But mind, whatever the young man has done, he did it all on his own. I asked him if he thought he could bring the kitchen maid to the inn, and he said he could. No more than that have I to do with his actions.”
“I see,” said Hamilton. “You can tell that to the Duke and to the young man. His Grace wishes to get to the bottom of this tonight since he has other pressing business.”
Chapter 31
Leo sat at his desk and surveyed the odd group that sat or stood before it. Matthew Blank and Adrien Nob sat in the guest chairs. Hamilton had taken his accustomed place at his desk where he could take notes of the proceedings. Captain Arnault and two of his men stood at ease behind Blank and Nob.
“So, tell me again,” Leo directed, “Exactly why it was that you felt Miss Smith would go with you, Blank?”
“Well, why wouldn’t she? I got all my parts, an’ I knows how to please a girl. I’m well known around the village.”
One of the soldiers had a coughing fit, and Hamilton raised his eyebrows.
