CHAPTER 14
Jenny’s Necklace
Alix plucked hopelessly at what was left of the collar on the dress she had worn to dinner with Nicholas, but the cutaway in the lace revealed the ugly scar on her shoulder vividly. "I don't dare try this style again," she decided anxiously. "The bodice on the amethyst velvet is going to have to be altered if I'm to wear it." The delicate overlay was attractive, but after the mishap the night before, she felt it best not to push whatever luck she had left, in what was becoming a limited store.
Jenny came around front and tried to rearrange it better while Alix watched in the mirror. "I still say that if milord had noticed your scar, he would've demanded an accounting straight away."
Alix whispered, "He'll summon the constable when least expected. He must be waiting until even the officials are positive there's no mistake." Abandoning her reflection with a sigh, she dropped onto the settee by the terrier. "I can't make sense of it," she confessed, stroking the dome of his head carefully. Not only was the poor dog sorely flea-bitten, but his neck was raw from the frayed rope that she'd had to cut away when bathing him.
"You've got to be mistaken. If milord had noticed that scar on your shoulder last night, we'd be having a different sort of chat."
"Glory, if only my knee hadn't given way!"
"Why were you trying to hide in a broom closet anyway?" "Lily doesn't stay underfoot all the time, does she?"
Agitated by Jenny's critical look, Alix rose and went to the dressing table to rearrange her curls.
"You'd do well to keep the weight off that leg of yours."
They fell into sudden silence when a knock at the door interrupted them. Automatically, Jenny straightened her cap and smoothed her apron as she headed to answer it, but the terrier surprised them with a bark and jumped down to scamper past her.
Alix gasped, "0h, glory!" She lunged after him, despite the pain wrenching her knee.
"Fie, I knew this would happen!"
"Stop, you!" Alix scrambled to catch the dog before he could reach the door, but he was too fast. She grabbed him just in time, but her overtaxed knee gave out and she crashed against the door. Frightened, the terrier let out a yelp and squirmed away behind the couch. 0utside, the butler rapped urgently as Alix staggered to the chair.
When Jenny rushed to open the door, Winston looked between them, his straight brows incredulous. "Ahem," he acknowledged them hesitantly. "I say, is everything all right in here?"
"Fine," Alix answered faintly.
"Are you hurt, milady?" he asked, with a piercing look askance at Jenny, as he hurried inside to put down the package he had brought.
"No, I'm fine," she replied smoothly, struggling for composure. "I was a bit unbalanced, that's all. I wasn't expecting a knock on the door at this time of day, and I'm afraid it startled me."
If Winston did not believe her, he withheld his argument as he entered assiduously. "A package has arrived for you, milady."
"Oh." Alix looked blankly at the unassuming brown paper-wrapped parcel on his polished silver tray.
"I'm afraid it didn't arrive with any salutation," he continued, eyeing the maid as he reached into his breast pocket. "I've some scissors to cut the string."
"No!" Alix gasped, suddenly remembering the enormous shears the nightclub manager had wielded. In memory, all she could see was their pointed approach as the earl's suffocating closeness squeezed her. "It's quite all right! I mean . . . thank you, Winston-that'll be all," she finished faintly.
Jenny drew herself up stiffly. "I have scissors, should milady find them necessary."
"Of course," he conceded without conviction, and reluctantly bowed through the door.
"By Jove," Alix breathed when he was gone.
Jenny hurried forward with a furious whisper. "I'll be summoned to the office now for sure. I told you that keeping the dog was a bad idea."
"He didn't mean any harm," Alix responded, sparing a glance for the cowering terrier while retrieving the package to slip off the knotted string. "He was only trying to protect us."
Jenny was distracted by a knock on the serving door in the dressing room. "That's probably young Percy now, summoning me down to speak with his father."
Alix peeled the brown-paper wrapping from the white pasteboard box after the maid hurried away, and realized it was the jade necklace she had ordered for Jenny.
"Oh, hello, Albert." Jenny greeted Nicholas's personal servant distantly through the dressing-room doorway. "What might I do for you?"
Alix opened the lid to dig out the velvet pouch inside while the maid queried, "Dinner?" As the coiled necklace for Jenny slithered into her palm, she reckoned its arrival could not have come at a more opportune time. Now the perfect occasion to wear the new jade collar at a meal with a gentleman presented itself, and when Albert Frisk saw how it brought out the luster in Jenny's eyes, he would never forget them. Alix smoothed the strand of polished stones, delighted by their opalescence. "Oh, Cyril, you've clearly outdone yourself !" she exclaimed happily.
FRISK PULLED OUT A STACK OF TOWELS, left one at hand on the rack by the washstand, and took the rest to the shave tray. "According to Percival, he was in the hallway and heard every word plainly."
"Cyril?" Nicholas echoed dubiously and plunged into the water in the washbasin while groping for the bar of soap. "Who the devil is Cyril?"
"I've no idea, milord. I've never heard the name mentioned before, except in connection with the courier who stopped in during lunch. 'Cyril, you've clearly outdone yourself.'"
Nicholas rinsed his face clean and reached for the towel blindly. "I was unaware Winston has developed a penchant for eavesdropping."
"I dare not speculate, but I understand the courier insisted that Lady Griffon was expecting the package forthwith."
Albert clattered the steamer lid as he retrieved hot towels for the evening shave. "Also that he was not from the lot that we usually see around the neighborhood and refused to say who sent him. I found the outer wrapping in the rubbish bin this afternoon, but it was unmarked."
Nicholas balled the towel and tossed it aside as he went to join Frisk at the chair for his shave. "A courier wouldn't need to remember, if it was his only delivery."
"Just as odd as the package was the way Percival approached me to share what he'd heard."
Nicholas was afraid to speculate after the revelation that he had not tripped beyond the edge of reason by imagining a beautiful changeling in his wife's place. "How so?" he inquired carefully.
Albert clattered the lid onto the steamer again after wrapping a hot towel over Nicholas's face, and with a shave brush beat soap to a lather as he responded. "When Percy holds himself to the highest standard, I find his air of confidence peculiar. He found me in the library when I went to shelve a few books. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was already privy to what you've just learned."
Nicholas cleared his throat. "Do you mean that you think he knows who she is?"
Frisk's guarded testimony mingled with rhythmic sharp- ening of the straightedge. "Not precisely, but I'd venture to say that he is aware of the stranger in our midst."
"The devil you say-I was not so drunk to lose my recall of events last night, and you're the only one I've taken into my confidence, unless he's been listening at every keyhole."
Frisk removed the warm towel from Nicholas's face and tossed it aside to lather his beard. "After all his years of service to this family, it's inconceivable to think so."
"When I get to the bottom of what's happening around here, if Winston has to go, I'd rather face it now. As for Lily's maid, I always knew she was not to be trusted."
"I find it hard to believe that Jenny would confide in Percival, unless he questioned her about something amiss." "That's still a mark against him, if he didn't report it immediately."
Albert test