Page 110 of Miss Prim and the Duke of Wylde
Evan nodded. “That’s how it appears to me.” He looked at Drago. “I suspect it was an oversight in the legal drafting that no allowance was made for you being a widower, but that’s the way it’s written, and there’s no arguing with it now.”
Drago tipped his head in acceptance, then looked at Meg. “August,” he said and watched her eyes widen.
She turned to stare at him. “You think that’s why Hubert is insisting that Alison and Joshua wait until the end of August before announcing their engagement?”
Toby looked from one to the other. “Well, well. That does rather point the finger at Hubert.” He focused on Drago. “Would Hubert know about your previous aversion to going out on the lake?”
Drago’s features hardened. “Yes, he would. The family are close neighbors, and over the years, he’s been around here often enough to have seen and heard of the family’s refusal to venture onto the lake, and he definitely knows why. He was here for Edward’s funeral. I’m sure of that.”
“He was,” Denton confirmed. “He might even have been standing close enough to hear us all swearing that we would never go out on the lake again.” He looked at Drago. “We did that at the graveside, remember?”
Harry raised a hand and waved it. “I remember that, and I was standing about a yard behind your family.”
George was nodding. “I remember that, too. Most of those around you would have heard, and I’m fairly certain Hubert was there, in that group.”
Aidan shifted. “Would Hubert know about the stipulations in your father’s will?”
“I can’t imagine how he learned of them,” Drago said, “but I suspect the answer is yes. It was the reason I was thinking of offering for Alison’s hand, and my aunt Edith was the intermediary in…exploring the possibilities there. She might have let something slip.”
Toby looked at Evan. “Would Hubert have been able to learn about the lack of mention of Drago being a widower?”
Evan nodded. “In the same way I did.” He looked around the circle. “After a will is granted probate, it can be viewed by anyone who knows to ask for it. Once Hubert realized there was such a clause in the late duke’s will, learning its details would have been easy.”
“Right, then.” Toby spoke decisively. “Hubert is the one gentleman we know of who had access to all the relevant information and who is also behaving in a manner that could be interpreted as keeping himself, via his sister, in a position to capitalize on the difficult situation that will arise if Meg dies.”
Toby looked around the circle of faces, inviting comment. When no one spoke, he focused on Drago. “It appears that Hubert is the principal candidate for the role of our villain.”
Drago grimaced feelingly. “There’s just one stumbling block. Hubert is not a man of action. He’s never struck me as having any great degree of gumption. That said, I haven’t had much to do with him over the years. He’s a few years my senior, and he was always one of the pompously correct brigade.”
Toby and the others considered that, then Toby inclined his head. “Your caveat is duly noted. However, given that we have no better suspect—indeed, no other suspect at all—I suggest we set our minds to the task of how to prove our villain’s identity. If it’s not Hubert, then it’s someone else. Either way, we need to flush him out.”
Grim-faced, Drago looked at Meg. “Indeed. That’s the challenge before us. How do we bring this situation to a head and, thus, to an end?”
* * *
Despite Drago’s caveat,the discussion over the dinner table was entirely focused on how to prove Hubert was behind the attacks on Meg.
Seated opposite Drago at a table that had been reduced in size to more comfortably accommodate their company of nine, Meg listened carefully to all the arguments advanced.
The more ideas that were floated, the more they talked, discussed, and argued, it became increasingly plain that there was really only one viable path to achieve what they wanted.
“We can’t just confront Hubert,” Toby maintained. “We have no real evidence to say it’s him, only that it might be him. All he’ll need to do is deny it, and we’ll have tipped our hand to him—and if it’s not him but someone connected with him, then to the real villain as well—for no gain.”
“And there’s no saying,” Drago added, “that tipping our hand to the villain, whoever he is, won’t just make him try all the harder.” His gaze rested on Meg. “Precipitating a more violent and possibly more unpredictable reaction isn’t what we want.”
“No, indeed.” Toby narrowed his eyes. “What we need to do is control his reaction and confine it in such a way that it exposes his identity without risking any harm to Meg.”
Meg bit back a comment to the effect that there was really only one path to achieving that laudable aim.
Eventually, with the dessert plates empty and the gentlemen agreeing that whisky before the library fire sounded just the thing, the company retreated to the armchairs there.
As, after handing around crystal glasses of amber liquor, Drago resumed his seat, Meg stated, “We need to come up with a feasible plan that will lure the villain into the open in an unequivocal way.”
There. I’ve stated the obvious. Now let’s see how long they can drag their feet before acknowledging the inevitable solution.
She sat and listened as Drago, supported by Toby, insisted that, while they might feel reasonably convinced that the villain was Hubert, any plan they came up with had to allow for the villain being someone else. “We’re not going to get two chances at this,” Drago stated. “We need to flush out our villain at our first attempt.”
Meg saw no reason to disagree; she wanted this over with, the villain exposed and dealt with, and normalcy restored as soon as possible.
