The Repentant Rake by Edward Marston

and wondered if we might not find one more acceptable
to her.'
        'We?'
        'There
are plenty of eligible young men we could invite to the house.'
        'Why?'
she said with contempt. 'So that she may run her eye over them like a farmer at
a cattle market? It is not our task to find her a husband.'
        'A helping
hand is all that I am advocating.'
        'Offer
that and you'll get little thanks from Susan.'
        'Why?'
        'My
sister has true Cheever spirit. She insists on making her own decisions.'
        'Your
brother made his own decisions,' he said ruefully, 'and look what happened to
him.'
        'Lancelot!'
she exclaimed.
        'Gabriel
had rather too much of the Cheever spirit.'
        'That's
a dreadful thing to say.'
        'Yet
it contains a measure of truth.'
        Brilliana
was quivering with anger. 'Gabriel chose his path in life and he must suffer
the consequences. We no longer accept him as a member of the family, as you
know only too well. Why do you vex me by mentioning his foul name?'
        'He
is your brother, my dear,' he said weakly.
        'He was, Lancelot, but I refuse to acknowledge him now. So does Father.'
        'I
learned that to my cost.'
        'Then
why touch on a subject you know will offend me?'
        'No
offence was intended.'
        'As
far as I am concerned' she emphasised, 'Gabriel does not even exist any more.
My brother might just as well be dead.'
     
            
        Instead
of returning to Fetter Lane to collect his horse, Christopher decided to make the
journey on foot. The long walk to Addle Hill gave him time to reflect. He was
puzzled by the second letter sent to his brother, reasoning that it had to come
from someone who was party to Gabriel Cheever's murder because nobody else knew
about it. Henry had flown into a panic but the death threat did not entirely
convince Christopher. A man who was trying to squeeze money from a victim by
means of blackmail would not toss away all hope of profit by killing that
victim. Yet that was what was implied by the mention of Gabriel Cheever. Had he
foolishly resisted blackmail demands? According to Henry, Cheever had been a
single-minded young man with a forceful character. He had clearly inherited
some of his father's traits. Unlike Henry Redmayne, he did not sound like a
natural target for blackmail. Why choose someone who would surely never cave in
to demands for money? And how could anyone blackmail a man who, it transpired,
was so careless of his reputation that he gloried in his debauchery? The
rakehell described by Henry would have no qualms whatsoever if his amours became public knowledge. He was impervious to extortion.
        Something
else worried Christopher about the second letter. It was not written by the
same person as the first one. Accomplices were at work. One of them had the
most graceful handwriting. Jonathan Bale had explained that Gabriel Cheever's
assassin must have been a powerful man. Was a vicious killer capable of such
stylish calligraphy? The more Christopher thought about it, the more persuaded
he became that the blackmail emanated from someone within Henry's circle. The
problem was that the circle was rather large. His brother had now provided him
with a list of over thirty close friends. A supplementary list of acquaintances
included the name of Gabriel Cheever. To pick a way through the complex private
life of Henry Redmayne was a formidable task.
        As
Christopher entered the city through Ludgate, his thoughts turned to Susan
Cheever. The death of her brother would be a bitter blow to her and she would
be agonised when she learned the nature of that death. How her father and her
sister would react, Christopher did not know. His only concern was for the
young woman who had made such a deep impression on him during his visit to
Northamptonshire. It grieved him that they had parted on such an awkward note.
He did not relish passing on the