Part 1 (1/2)

The Black Moth

A Roette Heyer

PROLOGUE

CLAD in his customary black and silver, with raven hair unpowdered and elaborately dressed, diah Tracy Clare Belmanoir, Duke of Andover, sat at the escritoire in the library of his town house, writing

He wore no rouge on his face, the alnedly enhanced by a patch set beneath his right eye Brows and lashes were black, the forhtly up at the corners, but his narrow, heavy-lidded eyes were green and strangely piercing The thin lips curled a little, sneering, as one dead-white hand travelled to and fro across the paper

”but it see Me Enamoured, thren the Gauntlet

I soundly whipt the presumptuous Child, and so the Affair ends Now, as you, My dear Frank, also took some Interestt in the Lady, I write for the Express Purpose of infor You that at my Hands she has received no Hurt, nor is not like to This I in part tell You that You shall not iain to call Me out, which Purpose, an I mistake not, I yesterday read in Yr Eyes I should be Exceeding loth to meet You a Second Time, when I should consider it my Duty to teach You an even severer Lesson than Before This I a I bear You

”So in all Friendshi+p believe me, Frank, ”Your most Obedient, Humble

”DEVIL”

His Grace of Andover paused, pen held in ain

”In the event of any Desire on Yr Part to hazard Yr Luck with ainst the Bantam Brother, who is in Very Truth a Fire-Eater, and would wish to make of You, as of Me, one Mouthfull I shall hope to see You at the Queensberry Rout on Thursday when YouFootsteps on to the Thorny Path of Virtue”

His Grace read the postscript through with another satisfied, sardonic s a wafer, peremptorily struck the hand-bell at his side

And the Honourable Frank Fortescue, reading the postscript half-an-hour later, shed and put the letter into the fire

”And so ends another affaireI wonder if you'll go insolently to the very end?” he said softly, watching the paper shrivel and flare up ”I would to God you ht save you from yourselfmy poor Devil!”

CHAPTER I

AT THE CHEQUERS INN, FALLOWFIELD

CHADBER was the name of the host, florid of countenance, portly of person, and of manner pompous and urbane Solely within the walls of the Chequers lay his world, that inn having been acquired by his great-grandfather as far back as the year 1667, when the jovial Stuart King sat on the English throne, and the Hanoverian Electors were not yet dreamed of

A Tory was Mr Chadber to the backbone None so bitter 'gainst the little Gererly to the advent of the gallant Charles Edward If he confined his patriotisn, who shall blaentlemen halted at the Chequers on their way to the coast, and, calling for a bottle of Rhenish, bade hiain who shall bla?

What was a health one way or another when you had rendered active service to two of his Stuart Highness's adherents?

It was Mr Chadber's boast, uttered only to his adhbours, that he had, at the risk of his own life, given shelter to two fugitives of the disastrous 'Forty-five, who had come so far out of their way as quiet Fallowfield That no one had set eyes on either of thean honest landlord's word But no one would have thought of doubting any stateht e in the town, being able both to read and to write, and having once, when young, travelled as far north as London town, staying there for ten days and setting eyes on no less a person than the great Duke of Marlborough hi the Strand on his way to St Janored fact that Mr Chadber's home-brewed ale was far superior to that sold by the landlord of the rival inn at the other end of the village

Altogether he was a most important character, and no one was entlelance, he was als, and ns of affluence about their persons, he wasted none of his deference

Thus it was that, when a little green-clad lawyer alighted one day from the mail coach and entered the coffee-room at the Chequers, he was received with pomposity and scarce-veiled condescension

He was nervous, it seemed, and more than a little worried He offended Mr Chadber at the outset, when he insinuated that he was coht perhaps be rather shabbily clothed, rather short of purse, and even of rather unsavoury repute Very severely did Mr Chadber give hiuests of that description were entirely unknown at the Chequers

There was an air of h he were striving to probe mine host Mr Chadber bridled a little, and becahty

When the lawyer dared openly to ask if he had had any dealings with highwayhly affronted

The lawyer became suddenlya pinch of snuff to one thin nostril ”Perhaps you have staying here a certainahSirAnthonyFerndale?” he hazarded

The gentle air of injury fell from Mr Chadber Certainly he had, and come only yesterday a-purpose to meet his solicitor

The lawyer nodded

”I aood as to apprise Sir Anthony oflow, and ihty coffee-rooive him an he allowed his solicitor to await him there Would he not come to Sir Anthony's private parlour?

The very faintest of s the passage in Mr Chadber's wake

He was ushered into a low-ceilinged, pleasant cha out on to the quiet street, and left alone what time Mr Chadber went in search of Sir Anthony

The rooed in oak, with blue curtains to the s and blue cushi+ons on the high-backed settle by the fire A table stood in the centre of the floor, with a white table-cloth thereon and places laid for two Another sether with a chair and a stool

The lawyer took silent stock of his surroundings, and reflected grie of front It would appear that Sir Anthony was a gentle at the Chequers

Yet the littleto and fro, his chin sunk low on his breast, and his hands clasped behind his back He was coraced son of an Earl, and he was afraid of what he o Lord John Carstares, eldest son of the Earl of Wynchaone with his brother, the Hon Richard, to a card party, and had returned a dishonoured man

That Jack Carstares should cheat was incredible, ridiculous, and at first no one had believed the tale that so quickly spread But he had confirmed that tale hi off, bound, n parts Brother Richard was left, so said the countryside, tofurther had been heard of Lord John, and the outraged Earl forbade his na to disinherit the prodigal

Richard espoused the fair Lady Lavinia and brought her to live at the great house, strangely forlorn noithout Lord John's rooloom with him from the honeymoon, so silent and so unhappy was he

Six years drifted slowly by without bringing any news of Lord John, and then, twofrom London to Wynchahwayrace peer

Richard's feelings ularly uni beyond the humour of the situation That, however, had struck hihter that had brought a lump into Richard's throat, and a fresh ache into his heart

Upon pressure John had given his brother the address of the inn, ”in case of accidents,”

and told him to ask for ”Sir Anthony Ferndale” if ever he should need hialloped off into the darkness

The lawyer stopped his restless pacing to listen Down the passage was coh heels on the wooden floor, accoht rustle as of stiff silks

The littledebonair Lord John was no longer debonair? Supposinghe dared not suppose anything Nervously he drew a roll of parch it