LORD OF MANY SECRETS

FIFTY THREE

The Earl drew out a chair in the opposite side of the table and sat down. From under the shade of his curly brimmed hat, which he wore rather tilted over his face, his eyes mocked unpleasantly. "You think I might be weary of being seen in your company? Very true, but I believe my credit with the world to be fairly good. My reputation might yet survive. You may sit down".

"I have every intention of doing so", retorted Ferdinand, suiting the action to the word and tossing off what remained of his second glass of daffy. "I am sure I am highly honored to have your lordship's company!"

"Make the most of it then", advised the Earl, "for it is not an honor that is likely to befall you again".

Ferdinand's hand fidgeted with his empty glass, he was watching the Earl covertly. "Indeed! And what may your lordship mean?"

"Merely that I shall have no further need of your company after tonight, Ferdinand. Circumstance has caused our path to cross, but they diverge again now, quite widely, I assure you".

"If I had the pleasure of understanding your lordship...!"

"I should not have thought that you would derive much pleasure from that", said the Earl, cutting him off. "But if you do, enjoy it to the full, for I think you understand me tolerably well".

"I assure you I do not, sir. I am at a loss to discover why you should take this tone with me, and I may add, my lord, that I resent it!"

The Earl took out his snuffbox and opened it. He inhaled a pinch with deliberation. "You are not in a position to resent any tone I may choose to take, Ferdinand", he said. He laid his box down open on the table and leaned back in his chair, his driving coat falling open to show a glimpse of a light waistcoat and a blue coat, and the irreproachable folds of his cravat. "Let us be frank", he said. "You have made a stupid bungle of a very simple affair, Ferdinand".

Ferdinand shot a quick look round. "Sir!"

"Don't be alarmed", said Clements. "No one is listening. You were hired to put Sir Patrick Tellaro out of the way, and you have failed to earn your hire".

Ferdinand's hands clenched, he leaned forward. "Damn you, shut your mouth!" he whispered. "You dare not say I was hired!"

Clements raised his brows. "What makes you think that?" he inquired.

"You can't say it!"

"On the contrary, I can say it with the greatest ease, my good Ferdinand, and if you give me any trouble I shall say it. And - my credit being good with the world, as I have already pointed out to you, I think my word will be believed before yours. We will put it to the test, if you like".

Ferdinand was rather white, he looked at the Earl with a good deal of fear in his eyes, and said breathlessly, "everyone knows what happened! Tellaro's c**k was squeezed, and I said so, and I'll have you know, my lord, there are dozens who will bear me out that it was so! Tellaro struck me, I sent him a cartel, and that is the whole story!"

"Not quite the whole story", said Clements. "You forgot to add that through your bungling folly the duel was stopped".

"If we were informed against that was not my fault", said Ferdinand sulkily.

"There I take leave to differ from you", said Clements coolly. "To force a duel on Sir Patrick Tellaro was one thing, but to do it in such a public spot as the c**k-Pit Royal was quite another. Those are not your instructions, I think. I find it hard to believe that even you could do such a stupid thing, Ferdinand. Did it not occur to you that at the c**k-Pit there must be any number of persons who might consider it their duty to carry the tidings to the proper quarter? Yet that is precisely what happened. You have blundered, Ferdinand, and that ends your part in the affair".

Ferdinand was staring at the Earl as though fascinated.

"You're the devil!" he said chokingly. "You can't say I was hired! I've not touched a penny for it!"

"Not only have you not touched a penny for it, but you are not going to touch a penny", said Clements, taking another pinch of snuff, and dusting his fingers with a fine handkerchief. "You were not hired to put Sir Patrick on his guard. Had you succeeded - but you did not succeed, Ferdinand, so why should we waste time in idle conjecture? What I am endeavoring to point out to you is that though the reward has still to be earned, you are not the man to earn it".

Ferdinand swallowed something in his throat. "What do you mean?" he asked weakly.

"I mean, Ferdinand, that the task of disposing of Sir Patrick must be left to some less clumsy hireling", said the Earl pleasantly. "I am persuaded you will perceive that any further attempt made by you on his life would bear an extremely suspicious appearance".

"Do you suggest - do you dare to suggest that I would - in not a common cutthroat, my lord!"

"You will have to forgive me for misjudging you", said Clements scathingly. "The scruples of persons of your kind are, alas, hidden from me. Do not touch my snuffbox, if you please, or I shall be obliged to throw the rest of its contents into the fire".

Ferdinand, who had stretched his hand out absently toward the box, drew back with a start and flushed to the roots of his hair at the note of cold contempt in the Earl's voice. "You are insulting, my lord! You come here to threaten me, but you won't put this on me, let me tell you!"

"No?" said the Earl, raising is eyes. "No?"

Ferdinand tried to give back that long, cool look, but his own eyes shifted under the Earl's and fell. "No", he said uncertainly. "No, by God, you won't! If you dare to accuse me - if you try to put it on to me, do you think I shall have nothing to say? I shan't suffer alone, I...." He broke off and moistened his lips.