with me. You will be able to support me when I tell her about Susannah.’
‘Why not, if we can hire a hack for me?’ Jasper swallowed his misgivings. ‘When I left Rooks Tower I sent my horses on to Markham, not expecting to need them in Bath. However—and forgive me if this pains you, Gerald—your mother is not famed for her hospitality, so let us have breakfast first!’
* * *
After they had eaten, Jasper and Gerald rode over to Hotwells. Gloriana received them joyfully enough, but when Gerald happily disclosed that he was to take tea in Royal Crescent the following day, the look she threw at Jasper left him in no doubt that she was seriously disappointed in him. She despatched Gerald on an errand to fetch a further supply of tonic from her doctor and as soon as he was out of the door she turned on Jasper.
‘I thought you were going to Bath to save my poor son from this woman?’
‘I was going to look into the matter,’ he corrected her. ‘Having done so, I have given up all plans of returning to Markham for the time being.’
‘Aha. Then you admit my son is ensnared.’
‘Miss Prentess is an heiress, Gloriana. Does that not please you?’
‘If that is the case why did she take his money from him? Besides, she is a nobody, and she is too old for him.’ Gloriana was determined not to be appeased. ‘She is three-and-twenty if she is a day. And her birth—who knows anything about the girl, save that she is heir to the Middlemass fortune?’
He smiled slightly.
‘That would be enough for most mothers.’
Gloriana looked at him and for a moment her guard dropped.
‘I only want his happiness, Markham. If you could assure me of that I could be reconciled.’
‘I wish that were possible, but I cannot believe it.’ He frowned. ‘You know he has offered her marriage, and she refused him?’
‘He wrote to tell me. I hoped that would be the end of it, but today he seems as beguiled as ever.’
‘I know, ma’am. I have failed to find anything against the lady. However, my enquiries about her friend Mrs Logan have proved far more interesting. She is the widow of a soldier and the story goes that he quit the army to open a gambling house in Portsmouth. When Logan died, his widow sold up and came to Bath, where she now lives in respectable retirement. I am not in the habit of listening to the gossip-mongers, but having watched the lady at work at one of Mrs Wilby’s little parties I know that she is very good with the cards. Good enough to be a professional.’ He strode to the window and stood for a moment, looking out. ‘Add that to the skill shown by both Miss Prentess and her aunt and I cannot help thinking that there is more to their little card parties than mere social entertainment. I would wager that at the end of the evening the three ladies come away from the tables considerably richer than they started.’
‘A gaming hell. Oh my heavens.’ Gloriana resorted to her handkerchief. ‘To think my poor boy should be caught in the tangles of such women.’
Jasper shook his head.
‘By London standards the stakes are trivial, and the play is certainly not deep enough to cause concern. There is no faro bank, something which attracted a great deal of criticism when employed by several high-born ladies in London twenty years ago. But the suspicion persists that they run their little parties at the Crescent for profit. Not that there is anything wrong with that, if they would but own it.’
‘In Royal Crescent? It would never be permitted!’
‘No, ma’am, I suppose you are right.’
‘And you have spoken to Gerald about this? You have told him the sort of woman he has given his heart to?’
‘I have tried, but he is deaf to any criticism of Miss Prentess.’ He turned away from the window, his jaw set. ‘My cousin is seriously besotted with the woman. I think he would have to witness the lady’s fall from grace for himself before he would see her for what she really is.’
‘Then that is what must happen.’
There was such an air of grim determination behind the words that the corners of Jasper’s mouth lifted a trifle.
‘I’m afraid wishing won’t make it happen, ma’am.’
‘No, but you could,’ came the confident reply. ‘You have a reputation with the ladies, Markham, your flirtations are forever gracing the society