Page 89 of A Fearless Heart
Good, Gabe thought. Hopefully, Addison would focus on Mr Courtenay’s dismissive tone, and not think about his resemblance to a surly dark-haired gardener he met last month.
Having passed the test with Mr Addison, Gabe could relax and enjoy the rest of the evening.
It helped immensely that Cady knew everyone with the exception of Lady Sophia, who was so charming and adept at social situations that she could make friends with a turtle in short order. The other female guest, Mrs Jennings, was a friend of Cady’s mother, and seemed quite pleased that the now-grown-up Cady had renewed the acquaintance.
After the dessert course, the ladies moved through to the drawing room.
Gabe took a moment to step into the foyer, where the air was a bit cooler. Rook had opened the front doors to encourage the breeze for a few minutes.
As was his habit, Gabe glanced at the few papers and cards scattered over the front table. It was typical to leave the calling cards of previous visitors displayed, a sort of running tally to prove one’s social worth. Cady probably didn’t know that, but the Disreputables certainly did, and they would perform all the usual functions exactly. Gabe saw his brother’s card, and his lip curled. So Gerald had called on her already? He only hoped Cady had been unavailable when Viscount Nyle stopped by. There were several others as well. Cady was no longer an unknown in London.
Before he could think further on it, Trevor called his name from the dining room and he went back in for the obligatory smoking and drinking that the ladies had escaped.
Trevor tried to interest Gabe in a drink he’d made himself during his brief absence, but Gabe remembered how strong Trevor’s drinks tended to be, and begged off. Trevor looked a little wounded.
Rook silently handed him a glass of brandy, the liquor coming up to a blessedly low level. “What were we talking about?” Gabe asked after a sip.
Trevor said, “The mystical coincidence that although London is home to hundreds of thousands of people, we tend to continually run into the same ones over and over, even when there is no reason it should happen. Addison was mentioning how he saw Cady on a street that neither of them normally frequent. Why should that be?”
“I don’t know,” Gabe said. “But it does seem to be a truism. Not just the meeting of people you already know, but also the fact that total strangers can have so many friends in common. For example…Mr Addison, you seem to have a broad range of acquaintances. Did you know Lyndon Huxley?”
Trevor nearly choked on his drink, but Addison merely raised his eyebrows.
“Huxley? Why yes, I do know him, as a matter of fact! He cultivated a very fine tea rose, you know. Absolutely lovely double bloom, nearly pure white, and bloomed all the way until frost… Why are you asking about Huxley?”
“He just died,” Gabe said bluntly.
“Oh, my Lord! But he was so young. Was it an accident?”
“That’s not clear yet, but it’s possible there was foul play involved. It would be helpful to the authorities if we could know more about his final days. By the way, did you happen to meet him while in London recently? Perhaps to exchange cuttings, for example?”
“We’d often write back and forth, but no…I hadn’t actually seen him since last fall when there was a tour of Kew Park we both attended. How terrible.” Addison shook his head.
Gabe finished his brandy. “Ah, well, I suppose that his gardening couldn’t have had anything to do with the matter. He was much involved in politics, so that is more likely.”
“Was he?” Addison asked. “I never read those columns in my papers, I’m afraid.”
“You are probably right not to do so,” Trevor said, staring into his empty glass. “Usually depressing, and always boring.”
“Shall we rejoin the ladies?” Addison suggested. “I find that Lady Arcadia is always able to cheer a person with her presence. In that way, she has always been an ideal friend.”
“Yes, let’s.” Trevor stood up, carelessly sliding his empty glass across the table, until it hit the still-untouched drink he’d made for Gabe earlier.
Gabe put his own empty snifter down, and followed the other two men across the foyer to the drawing room, where Cady sat with the other two ladies. From the sound of it, their conversation was much livelier than the men’s had been.
Trevor somehow secured another drink already. As Judith passed by Gabe, she murmured, “I watered it down.”
He gave her a tiny nod, then glanced around the room. Cady was nodding along to something Sophie was saying. She was lovely as always, but there was a tightness to her smile, a sense that she was not fully there in the room with the others, and in fact hadn’t been so since the beginning.
Gabe approached her and said, “My lady, may I take you for a turn around the garden?”
“Ah, you will want some fresh air, cherie,” Sophie said with a little smile that suggested she hoped the “turn” turned into a more romantic interlude.
Cady nodded, slightly less enthusiastic. But she stood and allowed Gabe to walk her to the side doors and out to the narrow garden, now lit with several lanterns for the party.
They walked silently for a moment, then Gabe said, “Cady, what is it? You’ve been distracted all evening. You’ve got your mask on,” he added, tipping her chin up so she had to look at him. “Did someone say something to you?”
“No,” she replied shortly. “It’s nothing.”
