A Regimental Murder by Ashley Gardner Page B

not
want her. Breckenridge does not really either, but the silly fool
believes herself enchanting."
    She missed her shot. She straightened and
almost snatched the cigarillo from my hand. She drew a long breath
of it. "Oh, do not look so shocked, Captain. Are you a
Methodist?"
    "No," I answered.
    I leaned down and sighted along my cue. Three
balls plus one cue ball occupied the table. We would generate
points for ourselves by sending balls into the six pockets about
the table, or by caroming the cue ball from the table's side into
one of the other balls. A simple game, but one that took some
skill.
    I shot. Balls clacked to the corner of the
table, and one disappeared.
    As I leaned down for another shot, Lady
Breckenridge asked suddenly, "Why are you here?"
    As she probably had intended, I started, and
my cue slipped. I straightened it, not taking the shot, and
answered, "I came with Mr. Grenville."
    "I thought you were a journalist. Like
Egan."
    "No," I said.
    But like Egan, I'd come to pry. I shot, and
missed. She gave me a triumphant look and handed me the
cigarillo.
    "You do not say much for yourself," she
observed.
    I leaned on my cue. "Grenville is more
interesting."
    "Of course he is. My husband worships him
like a god. Lord Richard wants to sleep with him."
    I hid a start, but upon reflection, I was not
terribly surprised. Grenville had attracted such attentions before,
though he did not return them. Such were the hazards, I supposed,
of a raging popularity.
    Lady Breckenridge was staring at me again.
She glanced at the cigarillo, then at me, and her lip curled
derisively.
    I preferred my tobacco in the form of snuff,
but under Lady Breckenridge's dark stare, I lifted the cigarillo to
my lips and drew its smoke into my mouth. She watched me with calm
dispassion until I exhaled slowly, then she lifted her cue and shot
both cue ball and secondary ball into a net pocket.
    She won that game and suggested another.
    Fortunately, though she was obviously
prepared to trounce me at billiards, she had no qualms about
discussing her husband, not even when I asked a direct question
about the incident with Captain Spencer on the Peninsula.
    "I suppose you are asking because Westin
managed to kill himself last week and so escape a trial," she said.
"Serena told me. Full of glee she was. But she is sordid and likes
sordid things to happen."
    "And do you?"
    She gave me an amused smile as if my fishing
delighted her. "The entire incident was entertaining. Mrs. Westin
holds herself above everyone else, and yet, her husband was about
to be arrested for murder. Happy escape for her when he died, was
it not? Her marriage was cold, Captain, very cold. That is why she
is so brittle."
    "She has borne much," I pointed out.
    "As have I, married to Breckenridge. Pity me
that the war ended and he came home." She carefully sighted down
her cue, then shot. The cue ball slammed into the table's side then
hard into another ball. "Do you know what happened when the Westins
stayed at Eggleston's in Oxfordshire? Lord Richard proposed the
card game. Mrs. Westin grew so upset when she learned what it was
all about that she nearly swooned. She begged her husband to take
her away, which he meekly did."
    She leaned over the table again, and
proceeded to gather up ten more points. At long last, she missed
and I took my turn. I lined up my cue.
    A sudden flake of hot ash landed on my hand.
I jumped. Lady Breckenridge gave me a malicious smile. "So what do you think of her?" she asked.
    "Of who?"
    "Lydia Westin, of course." The smile
broadened. "Oh, come, Captain, it is all over the newspapers. You
and the wife of the deceased colonel. It is the delight of
Mayfair."
    I ground my teeth, silently cursing
Billings.
    She touched the lapel of my coat. "You are a
gallant gentleman, leaping to her side. And not without ambition, I
wager."
    I stared at her. "Ambition? I beg your
pardon?"
    "You are penniless, Captain. Mrs. Westin is a
wealthy woman. It is natural, but do