‘None at all,’ he agreed. ‘Forgive this intrusion. I can see that it was a mistake to assume that he would come here. As a good friend, he would not dare to cause you such embarrassment. At least we are united on one thing, Lady Lingoe?’
She was icily cold. ‘Are we?’
‘Yes — we both have Monsieur Villemot’s well-being at heart.’
Henry Redmayne was annoyed. Having brought what he believed was the latest news regarding the crime he was dismayed to hear that Sir Willard Grail had already heard it.
‘From whom?’ he demanded, peevishly.
‘I have my sources,’ said Sir Willard.
‘Well, you might have had the grace to pass on the tidings to the rest of us. Villemot’s guilt changes everything.’
‘Does it?’
‘Yes, Sir Willard, it does. It opens up the possibility of collusion. If Araminta was drawn into a romantic entanglement with the artist, it may be that she actually encouraged him to remove her husband so that they could in time be together.’
‘Given her character, I think that highly unlikely.’
‘Love has the power to corrupt a saint.’
‘But it would not drive her to the point of condoning a vile murder, Henry. If she had developed an attachment — and it seems beyond the bounds of possibility to me — then she and the Frenchman could have had clandestine assignations to satisfy their lust. In plotting the death of Sir Martin,’ he pointed out, ‘they would be ensuring that they were pushed apart.’
Henry Redmayne had called at his friend’s house and the two of them were now conversing in an arbour in the garden. It was a tranquil place with a feeling of privacy that was only disturbed by birdsong and the buzzing of insects. Sir Willard waved a hand.
‘It was in such a place as this that Sir Martin was killed,’ he said. ‘One is entitled to feel secure in one’s own garden. He must have been taken completely by surprise.’
‘How did Villemot gain entry to the garden?’
‘The gate was left unlocked, it transpires.’
‘How did you know that?’
‘I like to keep well-informed.’
‘What other details are you hiding from us, Sir Willard?’
‘That’s for you to find out.’
‘If it’s true that the gate was unlocked,’ said Henry, ‘then my contention that Araminta was a confederate may still hold.’
‘Only in your mind,’ Sir Willard told him. ‘I spoke to the doctor who attended her after the murder. She was overwhelmed with grief and Araminta is not given to dissembling.’
‘You knew about the garden gate? You talked to the doctor? You seem to have done everything but arrest Villemot for the crime.’
‘He is still at large, Henry.’
‘But I daresay you know where he’s hiding.’
‘I could hazard a guess or two.’
‘Go on.’
‘I’m not so foolish as to tell you,’ said Sir Willard, patting his friend’s knee. ‘If I can track down Villemot on my own account, it would endear me to Araminta. Only the capture of her husband’s killer would soften her bereavement.’
‘We need to declare a moratorium on our pursuit of her,’ said Henry, piously. ‘I would suggest a period of three months.’
‘Elkannah urged that we call off the chase altogether.’
‘That’s far too precipitate.’
‘He wants no more of the business.’
‘Then he can withdraw of his own accord. That still leaves three of us in the hunt. Jocelyn will certainly not pull out.’
‘He does not even believe in giving Araminta any time to mourn the loss of her husband,’ said Sir Willard, ‘and he has a point. As soon as the funeral is over, she is there for the taking.’
‘Surely not!’ Henry’s finer feelings asserted themselves for once. ‘By all the laws of decency, we must allow her a long respite.’
‘You may do so, Henry — we will follow our own inclination.’
‘Must it be left to the two bachelors — Elkannah and me — to teach the pair of you the basic courtesies?’
‘Marriage blunts the appetite for such things. While you are being virtuous, Jocelyn and I will dedicate ourselves to vice, especially as he has offered a delicious enticement.’
‘Enticement?’
‘Araminta may still be in possession of her maidenhood,’ said the other with a confiding smirk. ‘By all external signs, Sir Martin reached middle age without once experiencing the joys of carnal knowledge. When he had not yet lost his own virginity, how could he, with any confidence, have claimed hers?’
‘A moot point, to be sure.’
‘Elkannah has already resigned from the Society he invented.’
‘That was very high-minded of him.’
‘What about you, Henry?’ asked Sir Willard. ‘Now that we may revert to our original intention and go in pursuit of Araminta’s maidenhood once again, will you stand aside in the name of morality?’ He gave a teasing grin. ‘Or will you join Jocelyn and me in the hunt?’
Henry wavered. His finer feelings began to crumble.
Nothing had happened to dispel Jonathan Bale’s doubts. In his opinion, he had been waiting at the rear of the house far too long. He turned a lugubrious face on Christopher Redmayne.
‘This is a waste of time, sir,’ he said. ‘I’ve been standing at this spot for over half an hour.’
‘Tarry a little longer, Jonathan.’
‘The man is not inside the house.’
‘I believe that he is.’
‘I thought that Lady Lingoe told you otherwise.’
‘She could have been lying.’
‘Why should she do that, Mr Redmayne?’
‘I can think of only one reason,’ said Christopher, ‘and that is to help someone. She did not deny that she and Monsieur Villemot had become close friends.’
‘Too close,’ complained Bale, thinking of the nude portrait. ‘A married man should not be allowed to see his wife in that state, yet she allowed a stranger to view her body.’
‘That should tell you something about her, Jonathan.’
‘It tells me that Lady Lingoe is shameless.’
‘A kinder way of putting it is that she lacks the inhibitions that would keep most women from posing in such a way. She certainly has a more liberal cast of mind than I’ve encountered before among the aristocracy.’
‘Liberal or brazen?’
Christopher laughed. ‘I can see that you’re unfamiliar with the tradition of nude painting,’ he said. ‘It has a long and honourable history.’ Bale snorted. ‘Yes — honourable. The greatest artists of the Renaissance showed what could be done with nude figures.’
‘Then I’m glad I’ve never seen their paintings,’ said Bale with frank displeasure, ‘and I’m sorry to hear you praise them.’
‘I praise artistic excellence wherever I find it. There were many examples of it inside the house.’
‘I’m more worried about Lady Lingoe.’
‘In what way?’
Bale shuffled his feet. ‘Did you tell her you’d seen that painting of her at the studio?’
‘Of course.’
‘She must have been mortified.’
‘Not for a second,’ said Christopher. ‘If anything, she seemed quite pleased. Lady Lingoe is not one to hide her light under a bushel.’
‘It’s not her light that needed to be kept hidden,’ grunted Bale.
‘I think that it’s just as well that I spoke to her and not you.’
‘I’d have been afraid to look her in the face.’
‘But she enjoys being looked at, Jonathan.’
‘Not by me,’ said Bale. ‘Neither of us would have got what we came for in that house, sir. It’s clear to me that Mr Villemot is simply not there.’
‘I have a sneaking suspicion that he is.’
‘Why?’
‘I felt I was being subtly deceived.’
‘How much longer must we stay?’
‘Until he comes out.’
‘But why here?’ said Bale. ‘He could leave by the front door.’
‘The stables are here at the rear, and I’m sure that Lady Lingoe would provide him with a horse. She might even advise him where to go. Be patient,’ said Christopher. ‘It’s only a question of time.’
Jean-Paul Villemot was in a state of panic. Thinking that he was safe in the house, he had been alarmed to be tracked down so quickly. He and Lady Lingoe were in the library of her house.