Page 48 of A Marriage is Arranged

The Earl returned to his room furious with his wife, furious with himself for not forbidding her to go to the card party, and furious with Lord Barnstable. He must have seen she was a novice! How in the name of God had he persuaded her to play for such high stakes she’d wagered the bracelet? One thing for sure, he would have it out with Barnstable and get the bracelet back, no matter what it cost.

He, too, slept poorly and the following morning went to Jackson’s boxing saloon. He attacked the man the trainer put up against him with such ferocity Gentleman Jim stopped the bout after two rounds.

“If yer wanting to kill someone, me lord,” he said, “you’ve come to the wrong place. Now go and take it out on the sawdust bag and then have a good cold hose down. Don’t come back ’ere till you’ve cooled off. I mean it! If you was the Prince Regent ’imself, I wouldn’t ’ave none of that behavior from yer.”

Knowing he was in the wrong made Gareth even more angry, but he did as he was told. He punched the sawdust bag until sweat was running down his body and his knuckles were sore. He submitted to the cold hose, forcing himself to stand under it till his teeth were chattering. Then he went home and furiously downed a copious breakfast without tasting a bite. At about eleven he presented himself at the Barnstables’ shoddy residence .

The old butler who answered the door was surprised to see him so early in the morning and answered his demand to see Lord Barnstable doubtfully.

“His lordship is generally not abroad so early, my lord. But if you would be so kind as to wait in the library, I shall inquire.”

“Do so, but tell him the longer I wait the less I shall have to offer. That should bring him down pretty smartly.”

The old man shook his head in puzzlement, but dutifully conveyed the message.

It was therefore not more than fifteen minutes later that a rosy-faced Lord Barnstable, still bearing evidence of a hasty shave, came bustling into the library.

“Shrewsbury!” he said cordially, holding out his hand. “What an unexpected pleasure!”

“I hardly think so,” responded his visitor coldly, refusing to take the hand. “You must have been in hourly expectation of seeing me.”

“Well, since you put it so bluntly, I did think you would turn up sooner or later. But I was told you was at Overshott. All’s well there, I hope?” Barnstable tried to inject a note of bonhomie into the conversation.

“Whatever may or may not be happening at Overshott is none of your concern. What is however your concern, and mine, is the return of my property.”

“Ah! Yes, I see. You are a man who likes to come quickly to the point. I, too, prefer the direct approach, but may I offer you a glass of something before we talk terms?”

“No and we will talk no terms.”

Then the offer of a drink jogged the memory of something his wife had said. She had been ill. Her head ached. She had been sick. He looked at Lord Barnstable with scorn written clearly all over his face.

“And from what my wife tells me, I’m sure you offered her something to drink too. Something that would enable you to take advantage of her.”

Barnstable blustered, “I say, old man… that’s… that….”

“That’s the truth and you know it. I’ve always known you for a fool, Barnstable, but I’ve never known you for a cad. Now do as I say and I won’t tell everyone in the clubs that you deliberately inebriated my wife because you were in danger of losing to her. You will tell anyone who asks that Lady Shrewsbury asked you to look at the clasp of her bracelet. You determined it was broken and recommended she not wear it any more. She put it in her reticule. Is that understood?”

“My dear fellow….”

“Don’t dear fellow me. Is that understood?”

Barnstable nodded.

“Good. Now, my wife tells me she gave you the Shrewsbury bracelet to pay a debt of seven hundred pounds. I will give you precisely that sum here, now, today.”

“Well, now, Shrewsbury,” Barnstable tried to regain control of the situation. “There is the little matter of interest and….”

Before he could say another word, his visitor clutched him fiercely by the throat and forced him back against the library door.

Barnstable tried to pull those strong hands away, but the grip around his throat tightened inexorably until the perimeter of his vision began to fade.

“Perhaps you misheard me,” said Lord Shrewsbury calmly. “I said I would pay you exactly what my wife says she owed you. I also told you not to waste my time. The sum will decrease by fifty pounds for every minute you keep me waiting. I advise you to hurry up.”

“Yes, yes,” croaked Barnstable. The grip on his throat slackened. “Seven hundred pounds. Very well.”

“You’re lucky. If it were anything but a debt of honor you may be sure I would see you in hell before I paid a penny of it. And there’s still the matter of your abusing my wife. You may be sure I won’t forget it. The next time you invite us to one of your paltry little evenings, we will come. She will play with you and you will make sure she wins. Not that I doubt she could win on her own merits when she’s not been deliberately inebriated by her host. You, sir, are no gentleman.”

The Earl let go of his adversary, who staggered back and sat down, his hands at his throat. Gareth put his hand inside his coat and removed his pocketbook. From it he extracted seven one hundred pound notes.

“Get the bracelet. Hurry. I may change my mind.”

“You devil,” rasped Barnstable.

He could not run, but he staggered as fast as he could to the door and reappeared not more than five minutes later.

“Here, take the damned thing.”

He thrust the bracelet at the Earl who took it, put it in his pocket and handed him the banknotes.

Barnstable had sat down again and was gingerly feeling his throat.

“You nearly throttled me, you swine!” He swallowed painfully.

“Yes, and if I hear you’ve mentioned this affair to anyone, I’ll come back and finish the job. Remember, you will say you offered to look at the clasp on the bracelet, and she put it in her reticule. That’s why she wasn’t wearing it when she left this god-forsaken pile the other night. No one but a cad would have engaged a na?ve woman to play for such high stakes and then slipped something into her drink. Consider yourself lucky I feel honor bound to settle her debt and don’t broadcast that information.”

“She’s not as naive as you think, Shrewsbury,” croaked Barnstable as the Earl left the library. “She played a pretty deep game, and it’s my belief she’s playing you too. I hope she wins.”