Captain Jones's Temptation - Audrey Harrison Page 0,18

wife was recently taken, before she was married,” he said of the then Miss King, who had been taken in order to try to force a marriage on her.

“Oh, how awful!”

“Yes. Heiresses are sometimes easy targets. In Isabella’s case, it appears there is a more sinister bent to the threat.”

Esther put her glass down and rubbed her arms as if warming herself. “I cannot understand anyone wishing to harm a child.”

“They probably don’t want to harm her either, but I think the risk they are taking in order to achieve whatever it is they aim to falls on no one but Isabella. They are either deluding themselves if they believe otherwise, or they simply don’t give a damn.”

“Yes.”

“And that is why we are needed here.”

*

Matthew heard a noise from the hallway. He listened but did not react, apart from moving closer to the door that separated his makeshift study from the classroom. His eyes met Lydia’s across the classroom, and he frowned slightly. She acknowledged his silent message but continued to teach as if not hearing anything. A few of the children glanced at the closed classroom door, obviously hearing the noise and wondering at it, but Lydia drew their attention back to herself.

As the sound increased and there was a shattering noise, Matthew decided he needed to investigate. He strode to the door, opened it and walked down the small corridor that led to the open square hallway. Dawson was in the hallway, holding on to a young boy, who was wriggling, squirming against his captor and protesting loudly.

“Let me be!” the boy shouted over and over.

“I’ll not let you be, you good-for-nothing rapscallion!” the usually calm butler growled. “How dare you try to enter this house and steal from Miss Hardy? I’ve a good mind to call the magistrate.”

“No! It was a prank! Nothing else, mister!”

“What seems to be the problem?” Matthew asked.

“This boy ran in and tried to steal a vase. When I caught him, he threw it on the floor deliberately,” Dawson answered.

“I did not! It slipped!” The flush on the boy’s cheeks suggested that Dawson was telling the truth.

“And was the vase valuable? Enough to have him hanged or transported?”

“No! Please, sir! It was only a prank. I was told to do it! Honest, sir! It wasn’t me!”

“Of course it was you! I saw it with my own eyes.” Dawson shook the child.

Matthew covered the distance between himself and Dawson. He snatched the boy from the butler’s grasp. “What are you babbling about? And you’d better tell me the truth. I’ll have no Banbury stories from you, my boy, or you won’t sit down for a week before you get carted off to Newgate.” The boy burst into loud sobs and started to plead for mercy. Matthew understood completely why Dawson had shaken him, he wanted to do the same, but something he had said had caused alarm bells to clang inside Matthew’s head. “Stop your crying and speak, boy!”

“A man asked me to run in here and steal something. He said if I was caught I was to smash whatever I’d taken,” the boy hiccupped at Matthew.

“And then what had you to do?”

“Nothing, sir. Honest.”

“And were you paid for this?”

“Yes, sir.” The boy had the grace to looked shamefaced. “One whole pound, sir.”

Matthew looked at Dawson. “Take him and keep him somewhere he can’t escape. I’ll need to question him further, but I need to raise the alarm first.”

“Yes, Captain,” Dawson said, taking hold of the boy’s collar and dragging him to the green baize door. As he walked, the normally placid Dawson bellowed, “Frost!”

A footman seemed to appear from nowhere, his face a picture of shock at being called for in such a way. He had worked in the house for the last ten years and had never known the butler to raise his voice. Not once. “Yes, Mr. Dawson?”

“Guard that door with your life, Frost. No one, and I mean no one, comes in or goes out unless it is Captain Jones or Captain Dunn. Is that clear?”

“Perfectly, Mr. Dawson.” The footman positioned himself at the open door, looking out with a little trepidation, half expecting to see an army of people bearing down on the house. His shoulders sagged with relief when he saw the drive was as clear and quiet as usual.

Matthew turned back to the corridor in which the classroom and his office were and was surprised to see the last of the children filing out in pairs, holding