tonight at one of the best restaurants in the city.”
Kit stopped walking and stared at her, as if seeing her for the first time. “Gosh, Mina. You are amazing. How do you know so much about all this?”
“Practice,” she said. “Lots and lots of practice. And mistakes.”
CHAPTER 24
In Which a Destiny Is Determined
The end, when it came, was swift and unexpected. Lord Gower had complained in the evening of feeling unwell. He had taken tea and a bit of dry toast and retired to his rooms. By morning he was no better, so a doctor was summoned to attend him. That same afternoon, in a feverish sweat and complaining of headache, he had lapsed into a fitful sleep from which he was not to be roused. Archie was with him when he died two days later; standing by the earl’s bed, he marked the toll of the nine o’clock bell from the tower of St. Mary’s Argent Square as his benefactor’s spirit fled its mortal confines. Archie bent his head and shed a private tear for the man who had been his teacher, friend, and, so far as Archie was concerned, the only father he had ever known.
The next day was spent in the offices of Beachcroft and Lechward, Lord Gower’s solicitors, who arranged for the funeral and burial according to the earl’s will and special instructions. The funeral was held seven days later at St. Mary’s, with nearly two hundred in attendance. The mourners were provided tea and cakes at Lord Gower’s London residence after the graveside service, and Archie received the condolences of his guests with a dignified decorum the earl would have approved and commended. The next two weeks were spent in an inventory of the property in preparation for what Archie considered the inevitable invasion to come.
The calendar turned over another leaf, and one morning George Gower, the estranged cousin of the earl, came knocking on the door in the company of his wife, Branca; a Peckham bailiff; and a solicitor in a top hat and black frock coat. Archie received them in the earl’s sitting room.
“The hand-over of property will not be delayed,” intoned the lawyer imperiously. “We will be taking immediate possession. It would be most helpful if you were to collect your personal possessions and vacate the premises at your earliest convenience.”
Archie, who had braced himself for this moment, was nevertheless stunned by the abruptness of the eviction and the coldness of the greed on display. When he found his voice, he said, “I have had an inventory prepared, if you would care to—”
“We will make our own inventory, thank you,” the lawyer sniffed. “In any case, you will vacate the premises by three o’clock this afternoon. The bailiff here will be pleased to help you gather your things. He will accompany you now to ensure that you do not inadvertently remove any articles not belonging to you and to which you are not entitled.”
“Your foresight is admirable.” Archie offered a grim smile to the new tenants. “How you must have longed for this day and prayed for its coming.”
“Silencie a sua lingua!” snarled the woman, her potent Portuguese temper quick and hot. “You are not family. You have nothing to say.”
“Indeed,” Archie agreed. “I assure you that I have no wish to remain in your odious presence a moment longer than necessary.”
“Now, see here, you—” sputtered George Gower. “You bounder!”
But Archie was already moving towards the door and departed without another word. “Summon Beachcroft,” he told the earl’s valet. “Then pack your things and, if I were you, I might spare a thought to the days ahead—if you know what I mean.”
The valet nodded. “It is in hand, sir.”
“You may instruct the rest of the staff to do the same.”
“Very good, sir.”
While the new owners began totting up the silver, Archie went to his rooms and began to pack his things. He was joined a few minutes later by the bailiff—a suspicious oaf who insisted on examining everything Archie put into his cases until Archie suggested, “Perhaps it would be best if you packed for me; then you could give your keepers a precise inventory of what I have taken.”
“Never you mind my job,” muttered the man. “Get on with you.”
Beachcroft, the earl’s solicitor, arrived with a copy of Lord Gower’s will just as Archie was placing his cases in the foyer. In the presence of the inheritors and their lawyer, he read out the relevant portion of the earl’s last will