Page 75 of The Trick of the Treasure
“So you are Tybalt’s only means of support?”
“Probably. I send him small commissions from others from time to time, in between my own voyages.”
“How did he meet your sister?”
“At first? Some assembly ball in Portsmouth twenty years ago, when she was a girl. Naturally, she didn’t look at him, though I could seehewas smitten. I expect you find that odd, but she was damned pretty in her day.”
“And you had better plans for her.”
“I did,” Lloyd said ruefully. “Though none of them came to anything. I expect that’s why, when they met again here at this house, she actually considered him.”
“Did he ask for her hand?”
Lloyd nodded. “That’s when we made our agreement.”
“What did Miss Lloyd think of that?”
“She never knew. Just that I rejected him. She understood he could never be accepted by the family—a disgraced merchant seaman, for goodness’ sake! But she was so desperate not to remain a spinster that she would have taken him. Not against my wishes, of course.”
“Of course,” Solomon said expressionlessly, though he suspected her desperation was more to get out of this house than to attain the status of a wife.
Lloyd was staring at him. “You think she’s gone to Tybalt!”
“It is a possibility, no more. I am going to his house now.”
“I’m coming with you,” Lloyd said grimly, springing to his feet.
“No,” Solomon said. “That would not be helpful at this stage. You could spoil any hope of ever getting your treasure back.” It was the only threat he could think of that might keep Lloyd away from Tybalt in the short term. “I shall report as soon as I have evidence.” Hopefully with Miss Lloyd in tow.
*
First, though, Solomontook a hackney to Tybalt’s house. The light was fading, as it did so early in winter, and there was a cold drizzle in the air. At first, no one answered his knock, until he kept up a continuous barrage that caused heads to poke angrily out of neighboring windows, roundly cursing him.
The front door flew open and a large woman with her hair tied up in a scarf glared at him, her raw-boned hands clenched into fists. “What d’you want, making that racket? He ain’t here!”
His stomach dove. “Where is Captain Tybalt? Has he gone back to sea?”Please, no, not yet…
“What’s it to you?”
“I owe him something,” Solomon said cunningly.
“Tough. He don’t tell me where he’s going.” She would have shut the door in his face if he hadn’t been ready for the move. He caught the edge of the door in one hand and inserted his boot to prevent it closing.
The woman looked slightly stunned.
“And you are?” he demanded.
“I’m just the bloody cleaning woman!”
Why would he need the cleaning woman if he had gone to sea? “When will he be back?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Then when did he leave?”
“Couple of hours ago, maybe,” she answered with reluctance. “If you’ve got something for him, I’ll take it in.”
Solomon held her gaze. “I’ll give it to the lady.”
