The Women of Nell Gwynne's by Kage Baker

he didn't!" The last words were spat out with remarkable venom.
    "Didn't he, Jumbey?"
    "No! Not a scrap nor a shred of candy floss has Hindley tasted. And there was a big blundering nosey-parker spying on Hindley, down in the tunnels. Hindley had to deal with him all by himself, which was so difficult for poor Hindley, because he can't be seen by people, you know."
    "I am so sorry to hear it, Jumbey."
    "Arthur is supposed to look after Hindley and protect him! Mummy said so. Always."
    "Well, Jumbey dear, I'm afraid Arthur can't do that anymore. We will have to make some other arrangement for Hindley."
    "Has Arthur gone away to school again?"
    Lady Beatrice thought carefully before she spoke. "Yes. He has."
    "A-and poor Hindley will be left with Pilkins again?" The confident voice wavered. "Hindley doesn't want that. Hindley doesn't like the little room and the cold water!"
    "I believe we can help Hindley, Jumbey."
    "How?"
     

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    SEVENTEEN:
    In which the Ladies Triumph
    B LOODY HELL!" EXCLAIMED Mrs. Corvey. Dora, who had just concluded explaining the events of the last two hours, reeled at her language. She glanced around, grateful that Mrs. Duncan had drunk herself into insensibility and the maids had all gone back to their beds, and said: "I'm sure we did our best, ma'am."
    "I'm sure you did; but this is a complication, as now there'll be an inquiry. We ain't getting the levitating thing either; I rather suspect it's well on its way to the moon by this time. At least none of that lot upstairs will get it either. Dear, dear, what a puzzle. Where's Lady Beatrice?"
    "Here," said she, hurrying down the back stairs quick as a cat. "I am so glad to see you well, ma'am. Did you discover anything?"
    "I did, as it happens."
    "So did I." Lady Beatrice drew up a kitchen chair and, leaning forward, told her a great deal in an admirably brief time. Mrs. Corvey then returned the favor. Jane, Dora and Maude listened intently, now and then exclaiming in amazement or dismay.
    "Well!" said Mrs. Corvey at last. "I think I see a way through our difficulties. Jane, my dear, just go out to the room behind the stable and knock. Ask Mr. Ludbridge if he would be so kind as to step across, and bring the dead Frenchman with him."

    P ILKINS LOOKED UP with a scowl as Lady Beatrice entered the Great Hall.
    "Didn't I tell you hussies to keep to your places below-stairs?" he cried. "The constable will be here any minute!"
    "If you please, sir, there's a gentleman arrived in the courtyard, but it's not the constable," said Lady Beatrice. "And I was wondering, sir, if we mightn't just take ourselves off to London tonight, so as to avoid scandal?"
    "For all I care you can go to—" said Pilkins, before a solemn knock sounded at the door. He rose to open it. Mr. Ludbridge stood there with a grave expression on his face.
    "Good evening; Sir Charles Haversham, Special Investigator for Her Majesty's Office of Frauds and Impostures. I have a warrant for the arrest of Arthur Rawdon, Lord Basmond."
    Pilkins gaped. "He—he's dead," he said.
    "A likely story! I demand you produce him at once."
    "No, he really is dead," said Prince Nakhimov, standing and lifting a corner of the blanket that had been thrown over Lord Basmond's corpse. Ludbridge, who had walked boldly into the Great Hall, peered down at the dead man.
    "Dear, dear. How inconvenient. Oh, well; I do hope none of you gentlemen had paid him any considerable sums of money?"
    >"What d'you mean?" said Sir George Spiggott.
    "I mean, sir, that my department has spent the last six months carefully building a case against his late lordship. We have the sworn testimony of no fewer than three conjurors, most notably one Dr. Marvello of the Theater Royal, Drury Lane, that his lordship paid them to teach him common tricks to produce the illusion of levitation. We also intercepted correspondence that led us to believe his lordship intended to use this knowledge to defraud a person or persons