Page 55 of A Gentleman's Reckoning
“A pleasure,” John said quietly with a polite nod.
Even if he were in the mood to do so, he would not accost the man to learn why he had been blackballed elsewhere as John had been upon his first meeting.
“You will never guess what caused him to be blackballed,” Drake said, grinning as he wandered over to them.
“I do not think we need to go into that now,” Mr. Yardley said stiffly.
John felt for him and shook his head. “No indeed.” Then, in an effort to ease Yardley’s discomfort more than anything, he forced himself to make conversation. “Has anyone seen Sir Humphrey?”
“Hasn’t been in today,” Harry answered. “Why?”
In another world, John would have been more circumspect but given that he had just lost any chance of winning Lady Geny, he threw caution to the wind. “I need to find a way to bring Lord Goodwin to book for what he did, and I realize that I cannot accomplish it alone. I may be losing my access to the foundling asylum soon.”
“The foundling asylum? In Bloomsbury?” Mr. Yardley turned to him, an interested light in his eyes. It seemed he recognized it.
“Yes, the very one. Do you have a connection to it?”
Yardley indicated that he did. “As a barrister, I once represented a peer who had made a significant donation to the asylum years ago when it first opened, but he was not confident the money was used for the right purposes. He came to see what might be done.”
“Who was your client?” John asked before he thought the better of it. He was unsurprised at Yardley’s answer.
“I am afraid I cannot disclose that. Client privilege, you understand.”
“Of course.” John thought for a minute. Drake had turned away, but Harry was still listening. It didn’t matter anymore. He had nothing to lose. “Can you tell me whether you were able to pin anything on him?”
Yardley seemed to feel the information was safe to divulge. “In the end, my client declared himself satisfied. The earl showed him a commemorative tablet that had been engraved with the names of sponsors and amounts, informing him that it would be hung in the chapel. My client thought that if he’d anything to hide he would not publicize the donations that way. Said the early funds had been absorbed in improving the building structure?—”
John snorted. When Yardley broke off to stare at him, he explained. “Part of the stable wall crumbled last week.”
“Ah. So it was not used to improve the structure.” Yardley did not appear to be a man who spoke before he was ready to do so, and he took his time as he mulled over this.
“If you want to expose the earl, you must not attempt to do it yourself, for society will only drag your name through the mud…” He paused as an interested light came to his eye. “Was that it? The reason for your being blackballed?”
John nodded.
“Then I advise you to give any evidence you collect into the hands of a peer and lethimdo the work. My father?—”
“His Grace, the Duke of Rigsby.”
A voice behind their chairs startled John and caused both him and Yardly to look behind them in an attempt to catch sight of the man who had spoken.
John almost jumped at the ghoulish face that peered back until he recognized it to be a wild boar’s head, next to which was Lord Blackstone. A candle lit the viscount’s face from underneath, casting black shadows on his features as though he were attempting to frighten them. John suspected this was not the case.
“I beg your pardon?”
“We must approach His Grace. Goodwin has persuaded the duke’s son, Lord Amherst, to invest in his textile mill in exchange for his daughter’s hand.”
“What?”
John leapt to his feet. Such arranged marriages were not uncommon in society, and it mattered little that he could not have her. He would not sit by idly while Lady Geny was bartered off in such a way. “I need Lord Amherst’s direction.”
He was ready to run off at that very moment in search of him. Lord Blackstone held up a hand and gestured for him to resume his chair, before leaving behind the barred teeth and dim circle of light to take the empty seat next to them. John obeyed, and Lord Blackstone indicated for Yardley to speak.
“Well, Miles? I believe you have something to say?”
Yardley nodded. “Let us have all of the evidence you have currently gathered and see what might hold. You do not even need a court of law to stop the earl. Society’s silent rebuke will serve just as well.”
John complied, detailing the marble plaque, Gabriel’s anonymous sponsorship, the caved-in wall, and missing recorded expenditures, leaving nothing out as Blackstone and Yardley listened. Harry patted his pockets and pulled out his snuffbox, appearing enraptured by the conversation.
