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the hunt. It worried her. Sebastian had been in the same strange mood for the past three nights.
    She watched him make his way through the glittering room. He would soon be lost from sight in the throng of guests that filled the Thornbridge house.
    This was not the first time this week that she had watched him quietly disappear from a crowded ballroom. He had vanished from three different ballrooms last night, two others the previous night, and two more the night before that. On each occasion he had reappeared a short while later acting as if he had never been gone. No one but Prudence seemed to have noticed. After all, the rooms were so crowded that it was nothing to lose sight of a person for a while.
    But Prudence was very aware of Sebastian’s presence whenever he was around and she sensed his disappearances instantly.
    Anyone who noted his progress tonight would assume he was leaving. It was past midnight, after all, and Sebastian had already spent more than an hour at the Thornbridge ball. The earl was well known for his propensity to become easily bored.
    Prudence had begun to suspect that Sebastian’s restless nature had led him to amuse himself in some rather unfortunate ways. She knew he liked puzzles and she could not forget that he had shown a keen interest in her search for the Pembroke jewels. Indeed, his questions about her investigation had been extremely specific in nature.
    Prudence put the two facts together and came to the uneasy conclusion that Sebastian might have developed a penchant for opening closed doors and prowling through locked safes in crowded houses merely because it amusedhim to do so. Perhaps he enjoyed the thrill of discovering hidden jewels even though he was richer than most of his hosts.
    Sebastian surely wouldn’t steal whatever valuables he chanced to find, Prudence assured herself. But he might very well revel in the dangerous business of searching for them.
    The game he was playing involved far too much risk. He needed to be stopped before he got himself into trouble.
    She took a last swallow of her punch and put down her glass with a firm resolve. Tonight she was going to find out just what sort of unholy business the Fallen Angel was engaging in when he disappeared from a crowded ball. When she discovered the exact nature of his amusements, she was going to give him a stern lecture. Boredom was not an excuse for engaging in mischief.
    It was a simple task to slip through the crowd in Sebastian’s wake. The people who noticed her nodded pleasantly, no doubt assuming she was on her way upstairs to one of the withdrawing rooms provided for the ladies.
    Prudence smiled and chatted briefly with one or two of Hester’s acquaintances, all the while edging toward the hall where Sebastian had vanished.
    Several minutes later she found herself alone in an empty corridor. She glanced quickly around, picked up her mustard-colored muslin skirts, and hurried toward the back stairs.
    When she reached the staircase, she paused again to check that none of the household staff was in the vicinity. None of the Thornbridges’ handsomely liveried servants were in sight. At this hour they would all be occupied in the kitchens or circulating through the crowds with trays of punch and champagne.
    Prudence gazed uneasily up into the darkness at the top of the stairs. Perhaps she was wrong in thinking Sebastian had come this way. She’d only had that last brief glimpse of him disappearing down this hall.
    She started up the stairs, her soft dancing slippers silent on the wooden treads. When she reached the second floor, she hesitated again, trying to get her bearings. Two hall sconces were lit, but for the most part this section of the mansion was in shadow.
    A small sighing sound from the far end of the darkened hall caught Prudence’s attention. Someone had just closed a bedchamber door very quietly.
    She went down the carpeted corridor until she reached the door. As she stood gazing at it,