“No, no. Mavis-dear, best let me handle this.”
“What does this accomplish? Nothing!”
“As much as any duel.” Robert sounded bored, though Lydia was fairly certain it was a feigned tone.
“There is no point to this, Manfred. The outcome is immaterial; we were playing the game for a different reason, if you remember? For profit.” Lydia watched Miss Caudle’s stance become taut. “We have already lost.”
Glancing at what amounted to an audience, Aldershot swallowed roughly. “I cannot walk away, Mavis-dear. How would it look?”
“Like you were manipulated into a pointless duel of words.”
“Perhaps Lord Aldershot prefers that to being shamed before a group of his peers.” Lydia stared at Miss Caudle.
Miss Caudle sent Lydia a withering look—well, she attempted to do so; Lydia stood steady and firm, not wilted in the least. Then Mavis stepped back behind Aldershot. The conniving young woman continued to put distance between herself and Aldershot until she was some three or four feet from the baron.
Was Mavis Caudle deserting her lover? Lydia smiled. The allure of his position in society was only of interest if it came with a big purse. Returning her attention to the battle, Lydia continued to watch Mavis Caudle from the corner of her eye as the woman slipped slowly and deliberately around several boisterous spectators.
“Ah, yes, well, hmm … yes.” Aldershot scratched at his ear, oblivious to his abandonment. “Hmm, yes. Have you had your head examined? I fear the physicians will find it quite empty.”
The onlookers were less than impressed. A voice shouted out, “You can do better than that,” while a fair number of gentlemen shook their heads and clicked their tongues. All eyes returned to Robert.
“Your insults barely register, Aldershot. How did you learn to be a dullard in so many different ways?”
Lydia smiled. Momentarily distracted, she glanced around for Mavis Caudle. Frowning, she leaned closer to Cora. “Did you see where Mavis went?”
Cora shook her head, still watching the duelers.
Slipping behind the group, Lydia craned her neck to look down the hill. The upper portion of the meadow was visible now, the sun was slowly climbing the sky.… And yet there was no fleeing figure.
“You have your own category in entomology you are so beetle-brained.”
This time, the crowd laughed at Aldershot’s words.
Shifting so that she could see down to where the carriages waited, Lydia was startled by a sharp tug on her reticule. It jerked her sideways, away from the group, and snapped one of the two drawstrings attaching the bag to her wrist.
“It is senseless to mock you; it will take you the rest of the day to take my meaning.” Robert’s insult drifted through the crowd.
Lydia’s gasp of surprise was lost in the echo of the laughs and jibes that followed. She tried to draw her arm back, but the solid hold on her reticule pulled her forward instead. Once again, she was nose to nose with Mavis Caudle.
“Miss Caudle! What do you think you are doing? This is out-and-out thievery. I would not think that even you would stoop this low.”
“This money is mine. You brought it to give to us, and I want it.”
“This money was to free Mr. Newton from a grave threat. The threat is gone—so you do not get any of these funds!”
“Give it to me now, or I will force you to.”
“Miss Caudle, you are stepping deeper and deeper into illicit water. Do you not realize that you can be arrested for all your attempts to extort money from me?”
“Manfred is a peer. You cannot accuse him of anything.”
“Lord Aldershot is a baron … not a prince. A fellow peer can easily be found to assist in the course of justice. I am not without my resources, you know. That being said, you, Miss Caudle, would not be treated likewise. You would not be given any leeway no matter how intimate your relationship with Lord Aldershot.”
“Unless I were his wife,” Mavis Caudle smiled in a manner that made Lydia want to step away … far way. “We were married by special license two months ago.”
“If that were true, then why would you not be open about it? Celebrate your joyous union with the neighborhood. No—”
“You, you are the reason we have had to wait. You are the reason for all our woes.”
“I don’t see how—”
“Everyone believes that you will marry Manfred. As soon as his creditors know the truth, they will be on us like locusts. We will have to retrench. You owe us this money.”
Lydia spurted a laugh. “Really? That is your excuse. Your husband ran up his debts, and I am to blame? That is the most illogical justification that I have ever heard.” She tried to yank the reticule free but stopped upon seeing the glint of steel. “What? Mavis … um, Lady Aldershot, what are you doing?”
In a flash, the knife came down, severing the last string on Lydia’s bag. Mavis shoved Lydia with such vigor that she fell backward, landing with a jarring thump on the cold ground. Mavis Barley, Lady Aldershot, picked up her skirts and ran toward the waiting carriage—stepping carefully around the mounds of mole dirt as she raced away.
“Lydia!” Cora cried out, and in doing so silenced the crowd behind them.
Suddenly lifted to her feet, Lydia turned to find Hugh at her side. Jeremy stood next to him, holding firmly on to Barley’s stubby-nosed groom.
“Beggin’ yer pardon, miss. We was distracted. Thought you might be interested in talkin’ to this here fella.” Hugh looked crestfallen. “Never expected herself to be given ya trouble. You want we should go after her?” He nodded toward the fleeing figure.
Before she could answer, Robert pushed through the crowd. “Lydia, are you all right?” He nudged the footman aside and grabbed her about the waist as if she were about to fall again … which she wasn’t—but she leaned ever so slightly nonetheless. “What happened?”
“What is going on?” Aldershot joined them, glaring at Lydia and then turning his gaze to the far side of the field.
“Your wife stole my reticule, Lord Aldershot.” Ignoring his look of astonishment, Lydia continued. “I do not know what nonsense she has been feeding you, but neither a baron nor his lady can act with impunity.”
“That is the truth of it, Lord Aldershot.” Mr. Warner stepped out from the shadows. “Kidnapping, assault, blackmail, and now thievery—all very serious crimes. Perhaps we should explain the realities of life to Lady Aldershot.”
They all glanced toward the figure that had now reached the carriage at the bottom of the hill. The driver, throwing back his blanket, jumped down from his perch, revealing the uniform of a constable.