Read Online Protected by the Major by Anne Herries - Free Book Online Page B

mean more?’ Hallam asked. ‘I knew he was a bully and I suspected him of being a cheat—do you know how he does it?’
    ‘I think he must mark the cards very lightly, because he never wins at the first or second hand, which means he must need time to mark a few cards.’
    ‘Yes, I thought it might be that—a pinprick or something no one would notice unless they looked for it.’
    ‘Yes, I dare say.’ Captain Mainwaring frowned. ‘I believe him to be responsible for the death of my young cousin Roger some years back. The lad came into his fortune at eighteen and his only guardian was his mother, who could deny him nothing. Imagine the result when he found himself let loose on the town with money to burn. I was fighting in Spain at the time, but his mother tells me Roger played too deep and was found with a pistol to his head in his lodgings.’
    ‘My God! You suspect Lethbridge of fleecing him at the tables?’
    ‘He and a few others, I dare say—but I do not believe Roger killed himself. He was badly dipped, but the estate was intact. He could have recovered with some careful management—and a magnificent diamond parure was missing, which he’d taken from the bank. As far we know it did not form part of any wager he made, though he may have sold it to pay his debt.’
    ‘You think he was murdered?’
    ‘Yes, I do.’ Captain Mainwaring frowned. ‘I do not think it was merely robbery—there must have been another reason, perhaps a fear of blackmail. Something that Lethbridge feared to have known.’
    ‘What leads you to believe so?’
    ‘Because of something I discovered in my cousin’s things.’ Captain Mainwaring frowned. ‘I discovered it only a few weeks ago. Roger’s mother asked me to sort out her son’s personal possessions, because she could not bring herself to do it. Everything had lain untouched for four years...and I found a letter addressed to Lethbridge. It was the letter of a young man with more passion than sense—and it threatened to reveal a secret. But it had never been sent.’
    ‘A secret?’
    ‘The secret was that Lethbridge was a cheat. It was written just before Lethbridge married, and spoke of “the means you used to force that sweet lady to wed you”—which suggested some sort of coercion on the count’s part. When you told me she had been forced to wed him I knew that I must be correct in my assumptions.’
    Hallam stared at him in horror. ‘So he cheated Sir Matthew at the card tables and then blackmailed him into allowing Maddie to marry him. He is a worse rogue than I imagined.’
    ‘A cheat, a blackmailer and a murderer,’ Captain Mainwaring agreed, looking grim. ‘We need say nothing of his other vices, for he is not the only one to have such secrets—but cheating at cards and blackmail are surpassed only by murder.’
    Hallam nodded, his expression grave. ‘Where does the marquis come into it?’
    ‘I believe he’s won rather too much money from Lethbridge of late—but there may be more.’
    ‘I am not sure I understand you?’
    ‘Supposing Rochdale knows that he is a cheat and has threatened to expose him?’
    ‘He would want to lure the marquis into some kind of a situation where he could be rid of him?’
    ‘If Rochdale has some hold over him, Lethbridge must murder him or face exposure...unless he can buy the marquis off in some way.’
    ‘My God!’ Hal shuddered with disgust. ‘Maddie told me that her husband had ordered her to entice the marquis. He would sacrifice her to keep his secret? His own wife! Could any man be that vile?’
    ‘A man such as Lethbridge would do anything to save his own skin.’
    ‘Yes, I dare say,’ Hallam said, his mouth curling in distaste. Captain Mainwaring’s revelations were so disgusting that it made it imperative to free Maddie from her marriage—and urgent.
    ‘I must get her away from that devil!’
    ‘And how do you intend to do that?’
    ‘I can see only one way—and that’s to accuse him of