The Importance of Love by Barbara Cartland

as if it was a holy relic.
    â€˜Luella,’ he muttered. ‘I would have not believed how much I could miss you already.’
    *
    The next few days were highly enjoyable for Luella and the Countess.
    The Viscount’s carriage was totally at their disposal and they took a great many trips in it – Bond Street, Knightsbridge, Kew Gardens and the museums at South Kensington, to name but a few.
    At first, they did not pay any heed to the man in the bowler hat and checked overcoat, who lingered in the shadows wherever they went.
    He watched as they emerged from a fashionable Bond Street couturier and noted down the time, and he stood silently in a doorway as they left Harrods, burdened down with packages.
    He wrote down everything he saw until he was satisfied that he had garnered enough information to report back to his client.
    Mr. Jones sent a message to Frank Connolly’s hotel and asked him to come to his office at once. Barely two hours later, he was at the door, impatiently pacing around the waiting room.
    â€œMr. Jones will not be much longer,” said the secretary, after he had demanded for the third time in fifteen minutes to see the detective.
    At last the door opened and Mr. Jones’s previous client emerged. Before he had put his hat on and left, Frank Connolly had barged his way into the inner office.
    â€œYou said you had something for me. Well, what is it?”
    His watery eyes bulged and his ruddy face wore an air of expectation.
    â€œThere have been positive sightings of the ladies in question,” Mr. Jones informed him. “Shopping at Harrods yesterday afternoon, for example.”
    â€œDo you expect me to lounge around Harrods all day on the off-chance of finding them? I need an address of where they are staying.”
    â€œMr. Connolly, your, erhem, sister-in-law appears to be travelling around London in a rather fine and speedy carriage. I am afraid that I have not, as yet, been able to discover their exact location – ”
    â€œWell, get on to it, man! It is most urgent that I speak with Miss Ridgeway. You do not seem to understand.”
    Mr. Jones eyed the red-faced man who now leaned over the desk at him. He did not care for this client in the least and he was certain that the lady he was stalking was not his sister-in-law at all.
    But it was not his business to ask questions when the client was paying so handsomely for his services.
    Frank Connolly pulled a large denomination note out of his pocket and threw it on the desk in front of Mr. Jones.
    â€œIs this enough? Find them before the end of the week and you shall receive another of these. Whatever it costs, I will pay. But find her .”
    He spun on his heel and left the office. Mr. Jones let out a sigh of relief as he folded the note into four and tucked it into his wallet.
    He had his suspicions who the expensive carriage belonged to, but first he wanted to be sure.
    He waited for a while and then, picking up his bowler hat from the coat stand, he informed his secretary that he would be out for the rest of the day.
    His destination was only a short walk to the other side of Oxford Street and he would have to hurry if he was to catch his prey returning from an afternoon out.
    â€˜These ladies are creatures of habit,’ he murmured, as he walked quickly along James Street. ‘They should be returning any time now.’
    *
    Luella and the Countess climbed down from their carriage with a sense of exhaustion. They had visited all the most famous galleries in London and had taken tea at the Ritz.
    Now with aching feet, they were looking forward to a quiet evening and one of Mrs. Bellamy’s delicious meals.
    As Luella helped her aunt down the carriage steps, she glanced across the road and noticed a man in a bowler hat hanging around near a tree.
    â€œDo you know, Aunt Edith, I am certain we saw that man in Harrods yesterday afternoon, and he was in Hyde Park when we went for our walk the