Read Online Wiles of a Stranger by Joan Smith - Free Book Online

do my “shopping.”
    “I have to run on down to the jail,” Beaudel explained, throwing me into a spasm of curiosity. “It has to do with this van Deusen fellow who stole the diamonds. I shan’t be long. I’ll leave the carriage at the Stag and Hounds stable, and you can meet me there. About an hour should do it.”
    I dared not show my face at the Stag and Hounds.  “I have to step over to the other inn, Mr. Beaudel. I left something behind yesterday when I packed in a hurry. Would it be possible for us to meet there?” I ventured.
    “Certainly. No trouble at all,” he answered easily, with no suspicion. “We’ll meet there in an hour.”
    Before doing anything else, I took Lucien off to the Shipwalk, to enquire for Mr. Kirby. “What did you leave behind, Miss Stacey?” he asked as we walked along, alerting me he would have to be got rid of while I performed my real business.
    “Just a letter. I’ll ask for it at the desk,” I improvised.
    “Who is it from? Do you have a beau?”
    “It’s from my father. I had a letter from him which I barely had time to glance at. I want to read it again.”
    “They will have thrown it out,” he advised me firmly.
    There was a sweet parlor two doors from the inn. I gave Lucien a few pennies and let him order an ice, while I went quickly to the inn. There was no Mr. Kirby registered, but that did not mean he was not at the Stag and Hounds. My only acquaintance in the town was the inn servant. I asked if I might speak to her, and was given grudging permission.
    And when she came to me, I hardly knew what to say. I told her I had become the governess at Glanbury Park, and thanked her for having told me about the position.
    “Have you heard anything about Diamond Dutch?” I asked, with only casual interest, mentioning that Beaudel was even then at the jail.
    “Not a word. You’ll know more about that than we do here, when you meet Mr. Beaudel after his visit. Did they learn where the other governess went off to?”
     “No, nothing.”
    “The servants are leaving there in droves. Who did they get to replace old Norton?”
    “Norton?”
    “The butler. They must have replaced him.”
    “Oh, a monstrously handsome young fellow—Wiggins. I thought he would be well known in town. Quite a ladies’ man.”
    “I’ve never heard him mentioned.”
    She could not take long from her work, and I could not abandon Lucien for long either, so I went to the sweet parlor and met him. It was necessary to make a few purchases, after claiming that excuse for coming to town, so I bought a yard of muslin and some lotion. Their selection passed the hour until we met Mr. Beaudel.
    “What is the news from the jail, Mr. Beaudel?” I asked at once. “Will Diamond Dutch be going to trial soon?”
    “Not for a few weeks,” he said, which was excellent news for me. “The magistrate is up to his eyes in cases. He could have held a hearing and let van Deusen be bound over for the spring Quarter Session, but he will never budge a step out of his way, old Heffernan.”
    “Did you see van Deusen?” I asked, wearing a polite face of mild interest.
    “No, I had no desire to see him. He had a fellow with him, they told me. His solicitor, I daresay.”
    I was unsure how much interest I dared to display, but I did ask for the solicitor’s name. “I have no idea. Probably someone from London. Willowby is the best solicitor in town, and he would have spoken to me if he were taking the case. Indeed, he is my own solicitor, so I don’t expect he could take the case if he wanted. There would be a conflict of interest, you see, Miss Stacey. And what did you two do with your morning?”
    “I had an ice, Uncle,” Lucien told him. “Miss Stacey gave me the money.”
    I trembled lest he blurted out he had been left alone to eat it, but he did not.
    “That was generous of her. You will be reimbursed, Miss Stacey. We don’t want you spending your hard-earned blunt on this rascal.” He reached