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consideration of personal manners, even the deepening dislike she felt for him. "I gather that something is seriously wrong, and you believe that I may assist you."

He was taken aback. He was quite aware of his almost unpardonable rudeness, and now that he thought of it, he had expected to meet with outraged dignity rather than any form of understanding. It robbed him momentarily of his assurance. He stood still, breathing hard. Even from across the space of the room she could see his chest rise and fall.

She broke off the last two flower stalks and floated the heads in the fan of leaves, then set the bowl on the low table. It was exquisite, as beautiful as when she did it with bloodred peonies in the summer.

"Tell me what it is that has happened," she directed. "If you would care for tea I shall send for it, but perhaps it would only be an encumbrance now?"

He jerked his hand, dismissing the idea. "My son is in desperate danger from the same people who murdered young Lovat, and now your idiot policeman has kidnapped him and removed him from the only place where he was safe!" he accused, his eyes burning. His voice shook when he went on, and he was struggling to get his breath. "For God's sake, tell them to leave it alone! They have no idea what they're meddling with! The disaster will be..." The enormity of it defied his ability to describe, and he stared at her in helpless fury.

She could see that there was little purpose in attempting to reason with him; he felt too much panic rising towards a breaking point to listen to anything that seemed like argument.

"If it was indeed Pitt who removed your son, then we had better inform him of the danger," she replied calmly. "At this hour in the morning I doubt if Pitt will be at home, but I may be able to find him. If I do, I shall have to tell him specifically what the danger is in order for him to guard Stephen against it."

"The man's a fool!" Garrick's voice rose, quivering near to breaking. "He's gone blundering in where he doesn't understand a damn thing, and he could set a whole continent ablaze!"

Vespasia was startled. Garrick's words were wild, but in spite of her dislike of his self-righteous, rigid beliefs, he had been an excellent soldier. He had not the imagination to be hysterical.

"Ferdinand, please calm yourself sufficiently to inform me what I must say to him," she said firmly. "I cannot give him orders, I must persuade him. Where was Stephen, and when did you learn that he had been taken, and by Pitt?"

Garrick made a tremendous effort to master the panic inside himself, but still his voice cracked with emotion.

"The people who killed Lovat will stop at nothing whatever to kill Stephen also, and Sandeman if they can find him. Stephen knew it!" His face was pink, the embarrassment painful to see, nevertheless he continued with some semblance of control. "He was... not well..."

She allowed the euphemism to pass. She knew what outward form his son's illness had taken, but it was the cause of it that mattered now, so she did not interrupt.

"He had episodes of delirium," he continued more steadily. "I had him put in a hospital..." He took a deep, shuddering breath. "The Bethlehem Lunatic Hospital."

Vespasia was well aware of the reputation of Bedlam; it needed no words of his to expand the horror of it. That he would place his son in such a man-made hell said more than anything else could have to show her his fear.

"And Pitt found him there and removed him?" she said with only the very slightest lift of question. "Do you not think that perhaps it was Martin Garvie he went seeking? You did send the valet as well, did you not?"

His face was slack for a moment with surprise, then the look vanished. "It seems you know even more about it than I had supposed. Yes, I imagine Garvie might be more within his circle of-" He stopped, aware suddenly that he was running a great risk of antagonizing her, and he could not afford it. "Find him!" he said desperately. "Please?"

She looked at his anguished face. "And what is it I should tell Pitt, or whoever is concerned?" she asked. "What is the danger that you fear, Ferdinand?" She moved across to the sofa as she spoke, and gestured for