Lady Polly Part 98

QsrQ Dy the time that a pale dawn was breaking over Dilling ham Court, an exhausted Polly had thought about her situation twenty times over and had been forced to admit that Nicholas had been right. Had she known of Tristan Dit ton's connections with Chap- man, had she been told he was a criminal, she would never have been able to treat him with the cool courtesy she had usually meted out to him. It would have been impossible to behave normally in his presence.

Nevertheless, Henry's behaviour rankled.

She had been chastising herself for lack of trust in him; it was difficult not to feel that he had shown a similar lack of faith in her.

As for Hetty's secret, it seemed to Polly that it would be best to keep silent on that score now that Dit ton was taken. There was no way of knowing if he had spoken the truth and it seemed to Polly that least said was soonest mended. She knew that it would be difficult to avoid the perceptive questions of Lucille and Lady Belling ham and the more forthright ones of the Dowager Countess, but with the wedding only five weeks away she was determined to hold her peace. Dit ton could not const.i.tute a threat any more and it would be pointlessly distressing to rake up the story. Henry was the only one to whom she had confided that she was being blackmailed through Hetty, and Polly thought rather wearily that Henry was unlikely to be able to press her on the matter since she would never be alone with him ever again.

Polly was too tired and too resigned to try to delude herself that matters could ever be the same between her and Henry. For a brief time everything had been perfect, but now it was spoiled beyond redemption.

Polly slept fitfully and woke late, going down to breakfast determined to put a brave face on matters. The fact that everyone else had eaten and the room was empty helped her gather her courage. However, she almost fell at the first hurdle when she emerged from breakfast to find Henry March night being ushered into the drawing-room. The Dowager Countess, on espying her daughter about to bolt up the stairs, seized her arm in a vice-like grip and marched her into the room.

"There you are, Polly! Lord Henry is come to tell us all about Mr Dit ton's activities! I am sure we are all agog!" She peered at her daughter's face rather critically.

"Dear me, you are as wan as a December morning, my love! The shock of it all, I suppose! Medlyn, some tea if you please!"

"Mama!" Polly began, in an agonised whisper, but the Dowager appeared to be suddenly afflicted by deafness. She took a seat on the sofa and compelled Polly to sit down beside her. The whole of the family was a.s.sembled, Peter and Hetty on the window-seat, Lucille, Nicholas and Henry in scattered armchairs set in a circle.

There was a pause whilst the tea was brought in by two footmen and placed before the Dowager Countess. Polly felt almost stifled with nerves. Even more galling, she had known before her mother spoke that she looked dreadful; it seemed that every time Henry saw her now she was looking wan and pasty, a far cry from his own careless elegance.

"Tristan Dit ton as Chapman's protector!" the Dowager Countess exclaimed, breaking the silence and pa.s.sing Henry strong tea in a china cup. She bestowed a warm smile upon him.

"It is scarcely to be believed! Why, I always found him a loathsome man, but never suspected... Nicholas!" She appealed to her elder son.

"Did you ever imagine Tristan Dit ton a criminal? Before you knew him to be so, of course!"

"No, Mama," Nicholas Sea grave said obligingly, "I am ashamed to admit that I had no notion! I always found him deeply offensive but had no idea that he had the ability to run a criminal operation!"

"Extraordinary!" the Dowager opined.

"Dit ton was certainly intelligent enough to appear stupid," Henry said drily, 'but with too little self- control to resist boasting about his achievements! My suspicions were first aroused by the gloating excitement with which he spoke of Chapman in London, and kept insisting that the man had a rich protector. I soon saw that he thought himself invulnerable. But his vanity was his downfall. " He shook his head.

"His contacts in Suffolk made this the perfect escape route for Chapman. Dit ton had been dabbling in smuggling for a number of years when he needed the money-- he even used his carriage to transport smuggled goods under the noses of the militia! And, of course he cultivated that foolish, foppish att.i.tude which led one to believe that he was nothing but a dandy."

"No doubt you recognised that deception since you practised it yourself!"

Polly put in a little pointedly. She gave Henry a very straight look as his thoughtful gaze transferred itself to her. It was very difficult for her to swallow her resentment and hear him out courteously. She found that she felt very angry.

Everyone seemed to be looking at her and to distract attention she fiddled with her teacup and only succeeded in spilling the liquid and drawing even more attention to herself. The Dowager Countess pursed her lips and filled another cup for her daughter.

"How did you know that Dit ton intended to try to smuggle Chapman out of the country. Henry?" Lucille asked curiously when the commotion had subsided.

Henry s.h.i.+fted a little in his chair.

"I received the intelligence that Chapman was to be helped to escape abroad and then matters made perfect sense," he said. "Dit ton was spending a lot of time down here and Suffolk has the ideal coastline for smuggling. Goods, men..." he shrugged 'there are so many deserted beaches, mud flats, creeks.

It should have been easy for him, but I was watching him all the time and in the end, of course, he gave himself away by quarrelling with his allies and allowing the Dragoons to capture them all! " "That night at the House of Tides..." Polly began, drawn in despite herself.

"Yes--' Henry smiled a little '--Dit ton was certainly on the prowl that night! It was one of the nights when the tide was right to bring a boat in, but in the end the weather was against it. It was Dit ton's bad luck to be marooned at the House of Tides that night, and my good luck that he was so close by! Like me, he knew that there was a pa.s.sageway from the cellars to the sea and he decided to explore."

Henry gave Polly an expressive look.

"The spiral staircase in your room there led directly down to the cellars. I imagine Dit ton had heard mention of that too.

Certainly his explorations took him into your bedroom and into direct confrontation with your chamber pot! " There was a rustle of laughter from everyone. Polly had to make a conscious effort not to smile. She did not want to forgive Henry so easily and she could feel her de fences weakening. It was so fatally easy to like him, to feel that warmth melting her hostility.

Lucille s.h.i.+vered a little, sobering abruptly.

"Poor Mrs Dit ton--and poor Thalia! I could almost find it in my heart to feel sorry for them!"

"Lucille! That horrid Miss Dit ton!" Hetty raised her brows.

"How can you spare them your sympathy?"

Lucille smiled a little sadly.

"Only think what it must be like for them now, Hetty! Mrs Dit ton was always so proud of her offspring and she has precious little to be proud of now! A son in prison and a daughter who will no doubt be abandoned by her fiance!

They will be forever moving now, trying to conceal their notoriety, looking over their shoulders, afraid that someone will give their shameful secret away. Tristan has brought them to that and I pity them."

"And to think that Lord Henry knew all the time that Tristan Dit ton was a criminal!" Polly said, an edge to her voice. Everyone looked at her again.

The words had come out more loudly than she had in tended, but she was so angry she could not contain them.

"You told me much of the truth about your activities, Lord Henry," she said coldly, aware that everybody was listening but speaking for Henry alone, 'that night at the ball. But the most important part you chose to neglect--' "As did you, my lady," Henry said gently, holding her gaze, 'when I pressed you to tell me the means by which Dit ton compelled you into the betrothal.

Would you care to enlighten us now that all is safe? " Polly caught her breath. Against her will her gaze slid to Hetty and away again.

She had not thought to speak of this in company.

"I think not, sir." She cleared her throat.

"The matter is closed now that Mr Dit ton is under arrest. It need concern us no further."

"Perhaps you still consider yourself bound by the betrothal?" Henry asked, for all the world as though he genuinely believed it might be so.

Polly reddened with a combination of embarra.s.sment and annoyance at his persistence.

"Certainly not!" she snapped.

"But the matter is no longer relevant--' " Nonsense, Polly! " The Dowager Countess could be most obtuse when she chose to be.

"You may speak freely, my love! We are all positively consumed with curiosity and will not rest until we know!"

Polly, who had found herself incapable of tearing her gaze away from Henry's look of challenge, forced herself to face her mother instead.

"No, truly. Mama, it will not serve--' " I think you should speak out, Polly. " Surprisingly it was Lucille who spoke up now, gently but firmly.

"You may find that what you believe--what you have been told--is not the case. At the very least, I do not believe that the truth can be hidden any longer."

Polly stared at her.

"Lucille? But--how can you know?"