mind.’ Tallie bowed her head, blushing.
‘Someone in bare feet with their hair down is going to look different from when they are wearing shoes and have their hair up,’ Lady Parry conceded in a calm voice that Tallie found more worrying than a storm of anger would have been. ‘No wonder you were so upset when you arrived at the house, Talitha.’
Without thinking, Tallie nodded agreement. ‘It is very difficult, feeling so desperately grateful to someone when you cannot thank them and at the same time being extremely angry with them.’ She caught Nick’s eye and warmed at the flash of understanding she saw in them.
‘Indeed. Well, let me see if I understand how the situation stood when you joined my household, Talitha. You knew who saved you at the studio and also believed that I knew about your … unconventional employment. You, Nicholas, had no idea that Talitha was the model you saw?’
‘You are correct, although I knew that Tallie had a secret that she had managed to conceal from my enquiry agent and also that she intended to tell you about it, for she informed me of that when I challenged her.’
‘So, when did you discover the truth?’
‘At Tallie’s first ball. Jack Hemsley managed to lure her into a retiring room and attempted to kiss her. Tallie put up a spirited resistance and her hair came down—at which point William and I found them. As soon as I saw her from the back, I knew.’
Tallie stifled a gasp. He had known for weeks who she was?
‘And my son?’
‘He was too busy being furious and disillusioned with Hemsley—one good outcome of the situation—to make the connection between a glimpse of a picture weeks before and the lady living under his roof and his protection and now the subject of insult.’
‘And do you think Mr Hemsley recognised Tallie?’
‘I think he must have done; I cannot account for what happened afterwards otherwise. He was too afraid of what I would do if he talked. Then Tallie gave him added reason to hate her by interfering in his attempt to seduce her friend Miss Blackstock.
‘You had been the cause of his humiliation twice,’ he said to Tallie. ‘And he had reason to dislike me too. He had guessed I was instrumental in foiling his attempts to fleece William—’ he ignored his aunt’s indignant gasp ‘—and now I had witnessed his rout at the hands of you and Miss Blackstock. But he was still too wary of me to do anything direct.’ Nick got up and began to pace slowly up and down the room.
‘I became concerned. He had reason now to want revenge on both of us. Together we had humiliated him and been the cause of separating him from William in whom he had invested many months of patient grooming before settling down to fleece him.’
‘I never liked the man!’ Lady Parry burst out, her carefully maintained composure vanishing. ‘I tried to for William’s sake and because his aunt, Agatha Mornington, always speaks so fondly of him. And she is not someone easily taken in.’
‘She has been this time,’ Tallie said. ‘He has taken a post-obit loan out against her life.’
‘Undutiful creature! What a revolting thing to do, to leech onto the fortune of one’s relative in that manner. And doubtless he will be investing much time and trouble in ensuring she remembers him generously in her will.’
‘Hence the portrait,’ Tallie reminded her.
‘A post-obit.’ Nick regarded Tallie thoughtfully. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Mr Harland thinks so.’
‘Well, well, that is a useful piece of information.’ Nick’s grim smile boded Jack Hemsley no good whatsoever.
‘So then what happened?’ Lady Parry demanded. ‘Do come and sit down, Nicholas, you are making me positively jumpy and you are usually so restful to have about.’
He threw himself into an armchair, crossed his legs, and regarded his aunt. ‘I set a man to follow Hemsley. And when I heard that Tallie thought she was being followed, I set a man to follow her as well. You were quite right,’ he added, turning to look at her. ‘Hemsley’s man.’
‘And Hemsley organised the burglary at the studio!’ Tallie gasped, suddenly making the connection. ‘All he wanted was another look at the pictures to make sure it was me, and to confirm that they still needed some work doing on them. Then he had someone go and pretend they were interested in buying classical scenes …’
‘His perfectly genuine cousin Oliver Laidlaw, just returned from Greece and on his way back to Scotland.’ Nick grimaced. ‘He took some finding, Hemsley was keeping him close.’
‘And in all innocence Mr Harland asked me to pose one last time to finish the paintings.’ She looked ruefully across to Lady Parry. ‘I had realised by then that you had no idea what I had been doing after all. I was going to tell you when you came back, but meanwhile I went to the studio yesterday evening to help Mr Harland.’
‘Hemsley’s watcher told him you had stepped into the trap and that I was out of town. Mine too reported to me what was afoot.’
‘And you were able to rescue Tallie in time?’ Lady Parry asked anxiously. Tallie noticed with relief that she was once again using the affectionate diminutive.
‘Just,’ Nick said. ‘I got there only moments ahead of Hemsley and a pack of his friends, all drunk and primed for fun.’ He hesitated. ‘We had to leave by the window.’
There was a silence. Then Lady Parry said carefully, ‘Wearing what, my dear?’
‘Nothing, ma’am.’ Seeing the older woman go pale, Tallie added, ‘It was a narrow ledge, and it was raining and we were high above the rest of the houses. Lord Arndale was wonderful—if he had hesitated for a second they would have found me. As it was, it must have been very difficult for him to get me down safely.’
Nick made an impatient gesture with one hand. The bruises and grazes stood out starkly and he clasped both hands together out of sight. ‘She was frozen,’ he said directly to his aunt. ‘Mrs Blackstock’s household were all out of town. I could not bring her here with only the servants and not a stitch on. I took her home with me and made sure she was warm and unhurt.’
Into the silence that followed this confession Tallie said, ‘I returned this morning properly dressed. The staff think I was with the Blackstocks.’
Lady Parry did not seem either as angry or as shocked as Tallie had imagined she would be. Perhaps her patroness was just stunned, which would be understandable. Tallie discovered that she had a throbbing headache, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
‘May I be excused, ma’am?’ she ventured. ‘I would like to go and take a little sal volatile. I find I have a headache coming on. I will be back directly.’
‘Of course, dear. There is no need to hurry back. And, Tallie …’ Lady Parry smiled at her ‘… please call me Aunt Kate again. I feel a hundred when you both call me “ma’ am” so stiffly.’
Nick relaxed at the twinkle in his aunt’s eye. So, they were not in such deep disgrace as he feared; he was glad for Tallie’s sake. He got to his feet and smiled reassuringly at her as he opened the door to let her out.
