Page 12 of Lady Louisa and the Carriage Clock
Louisa shook her head as she replied, “That is a misnomer. The clock is a mantel clock. One of a pair by Gaston Jolly. The other clock is missing.” She glanced at Lord Wycliffe to see his reaction to her words. His expression was inscrutable; perhaps he already knew everything she’d just stated.
“Did you purchase it for yourself?” Diana asked.
“I did,” Louisa answered. “It is resting on the night table in my bedchamber.”
Cecil would definitely not ask Bones to retrieve the clock. Gaining access to the lady’s bedchamber posed a problem. After all, Lady Louisa was not a lonely widow but an innocent debutante with four older brothers and a father residing in the same house.
“And where did the auction take place?” Diana asked.
Louisa replied, “At the Exeter Exchange. Leigh and Sotheby were the auction house.”
“I thought they merely dealt with selling off libraries.” Diana tapped her chin with a finger.
The dinner gong sounded. Nathaniel escorted his lady in; Cecil held out his arm for Lady Louisa as she was the next ranking female. She placed her hand on his forearm, and he breathed in her scent. It was unusual, citrusy, musky, and not at all unpleasant.
Cecil was not seated beside the lady, which he assumed was on purpose. Last season, while playing cards, he and Lady Louisa had nearly come to blows, and in front of most of those present this evening.
As he enjoyed a meal made by one of the best chefs in London, his mind wandered.
The key is the clocks.
The night of Wycliffe’s murder, his brother’s body had been moved to a private parlor in The Cock and Crow by two members of the night watch, and the coroner summoned.
An inquest was scheduled for the next day. Cecil and the local night watch beadle would be called upon to give depositions along with the Cock and Crow’s publican and Molly, the barmaid.
Cecil had written a brief statement for the Bow Street Runners and returned home to speak with his mother and youngest brother, David. During the carriage ride to Mayfair, instead of thinking about the fact that his brother was dead, he focused on what Wycliffe had said about the clock.
When he arrived at the townhouse in Hanover Square, it was to discover the house in an uproar.
Cecil found his younger brother in the drawing room. “What is going on, David?”
“Someone broke into Wycliffe’s study while mother and I were out. They’ve made a right mess. Our brother is going to be beside himself.”
Cecil made his way to the study to find cabinet doors torn open, desk drawers emptied, and their contents strewn about the room. An exquisite ebony wood box was left wide open on his brother’s desk. It was empty. He’d never seen the red silk-lined box before and had no idea what the box had contained.
He could no longer delay telling his family about the murder. When he exited the study, the butler informed him that the viscountess had joined David in the drawing room.
“Oh, Cecil!” His mother remained seated when he entered the room, her hands worrying a handkerchief in her lap. “Whatever will your brother say? None of the servants seem to know what happened.”
He doubted whether that could be possible, but for now, he had to tell her about Wycliffe’s death.
“Mother,” he said softly, taking a seat beside her on a long settee. “I have something to tell you.”
Her eyes widened. “Cecil, you’re scaring me.”
At that moment, the reality of what he’d recently witnessed, the truth of it, broke on him like a wave. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d cried, but the tears poured down his cheeks as he whispered, “Mother, Wycliffe is dead. He’s been murdered.”
Chapter Five
The food was delectable, and the company was pleasant. Louisa took a second helping of Blancmange, her favorite dessert.
“How are Charlotte and Ashford?” she asked Diana, not desiring the subject to return to her auction win. At present, she didn’t feel like sparring with the viscount.
“Have you not received letters since you’ve been in town?” Edith grinned. “I swear Charlotte writes me almost daily.”
She nodded. “That is true for me as well. I hoped Diana could reassure us that Charlotte is content in her confinement.”
Diana replied, “Charlotte is blooming, although restless in the countryside without her friends. She wants you ladies to inform her of any news concerning Thorne’s Lending Library, and I’m to let her know how the veteran’s registry fares.”
