Page 21 of Lady Liar (A Series of Senseless Complications #5)

Verity supposed she should have known her papa would not be inclined to walk all over the enclosure attempting to unravel clues. Still, it was rather thrilling that Lord Wembly was to be their escort.

“Where is Lady Pegatha?” Valor asked Lord Wembly. “I was hoping she would be here because I know she would be outraged that Sir Galahad was not allowed in.”

“Ah,” Lord Wembly said, “she is not inclined to do much walking.”

Valor nodded. “Because she’s old. Tell her that I am sorry her old bones could not manage it and tell her Sir Galahad wasn’t allowed in. It will make her feel better.”

Verity trusted in Lord Wembly’s good sense not to send any regards to Lady Pegatha’s “old bones.” As for Lady Pegatha being gratified to know Sir Galahad was also to sit out the scavenger hunt, she could not guess how she’d view it.

The duke set off to secure a chair. Lord Wembly approached the booth to pick up their clues.

“We’d better win,” Winsome said. “I do not like to lose.”

“She really does not,” Valor said. “Sir Galahad beat Winsome at vingt-et-un yesterday and she was so cross.”

“I was not cross about losing, I was cross about the cheating.”

“Sir Galahad does not cheat,” Valor said, nose up in the air.

“No, but you do,” Winsome pointed out.

“Lady Verity!”

Verity turned and found Lady Lilith hurrying toward her with a maid trailing after her.

“How wonderful to encounter you here,” Lady Lilith said. “I have been all but abandoned. My father suddenly decided he cannot abide the exercise and stays in our carriage.”

“Oh, I see,” Verity said.

“You’ve got your maid,” Winsome pointed out.

It was precisely what Verity had been thinking, though she would not have said it aloud.

Lord Wembly returned to them with a paper. He looked questioningly at Lady Lilith.

“Lord Wembly,” she said smoothly, “I have been rescued by the Nicolets. My father cannot bear the walking, and they have taken me in.”

“Nobody said that!” Valor cried.

Verity laid a hand on Valor’s arm, as there really was nothing to be done about Lady Lilith pushing in. Valor was particularly against the lady, as she’d not agreed that Sir Galahad was tremendous.

However, as Verity knew that talk was going round about her alleged scientific research, she’d rather not make an enemy. Especially not because Sir Galahad had been insulted, as the little dog would know nothing about it.

Verity had already noticed a few people whispering while staring in her direction.

It was possible they looked behind her or to either side of her, but it felt as if they looked at her.

Since she did not know them, and since they were whispering, she was rather afraid of what the conversation was about.

As she knew from her own village, the only thing that got rid of gossip was a new story and a new story often took time to arrive. She must just be everything pleasant right now.

“Of course we are delighted to acquire Lady Lilith’s company,” Verity said.

“I see, yes, of course,” Lord Wembly said. He said it in a pleasant tone, but his expression indicated otherwise.

“You are all very gracious,” Lady Lilith said. Despite the fact that neither Lord Wembly, nor Valor, nor Winsome were looking particularly gracious.

Lord Wembly forced a smile. “Now, considering you’ve not all been to Sir Jonathan’s scavenger hunt before, I’ll explain how it works.

We won’t all be going after the same clues, else the whole crowd would be going in the same direction.

Some people have other clues, some people have our clues, but set in a different order.

There are four clues, each leading to a small colored square of paper—blue, red, yellow, and brown.

Once we have collected them all, we race back here.

The first to return with all the colors wins. ”

“What do we win?” Valor asked.

Lord Wembly shrugged. “I am not certain. It is usually something small, as most of the money will go to the charity.”

“I don’t care what it is,” Valor said, “I want it.”

Sir Jonathan had climbed atop one of the tables next to the booth. He called, “Get ready, everybody!” Then he rang a large hand bell.

“Lady Verity,” Lord Wembly said, holding out the paper, “will you do the honors and read us the first clue?”

Verity felt her cheeks and arms bloom in prickles. Why had she not thought…no, she would not take the paper, she could not.

“Verity’s eyes hurt in the sunshine,” Winsome said hurriedly. “At least, if she tries to read in the sun. A very usual case.”

Verity nodded vigorously to that idea.

Lady Lilith snatched the paper. “Goodness, the sun does not bother my eyes one bit. Let’s see, clue number one: Long ago, it was made of bronze, but not in this case. To find it, one must pray and then race.”

They stood for a moment, staring at each other. Valor said, “This is too hard. We’ll never win.”

“Now, wait a moment,” Lord Wembly said. “We’ll not give up so easily. The clues often hint at more than they might seem to at first. Why must we pray and then race? Why not just race? There must be something in that.”

A sudden idea came to Verity. She might not know anything from books, but she had paid attention to the vicar’s stories from the bible of a Sunday morning. Since praying was mentioned…yes, she thought she might have an idea. She said, “Could it be the bronze snake that Moses made?”

“The Serpent,” Lord Wembly said.

“The Serpentine?” Verity said.

“That’s got to be it,” Lord Wembly said.

They turned and hurried in that direction. Verity was rather stunned. She’d figured out a clue. At least, she thought she had. She’d imagined she’d spend the entire day covering her stupidity but instead, she might have figured out a clue.

*

Henry was annoyed that Lady Lilith had joined their party. Especially since his aunt had put the idea in his head that she might have purposefully turned up at the park. Had she done the same now?

He would not have expected to see her here, as the tickets were expensive and her family were in tight circumstances.

But on the other hand, Sir Jonathan never made any particular effort to collect the tickets.

He likely assumed everybody would be honorable about it.

Perhaps she had not bought a ticket and presumed nothing would be said about it?

If that were the case, then he would really wonder if her father even waited in the carriage.

Henry would also be entirely irritated with her pushiness.

Where on earth did she think it was going?

He had indicated, pretty clearly he thought, that he was not interested.

He was not inclined to tolerate this pushing in when he was meant to be spending time with Lady Verity.

Having her sisters along was quite enough to juggle.

Though on a more positive note, he thought his alleged shock over not seeing Sir Galahad had gone over pretty well with Lady Valor.

They’d made their way to The Serpentine. It was a brisk and sunny day, and the water rippled with the wind as swans made their majestic way round. He could not help but to notice that the breeze was wrestling with the pins in Lady Verity’s hair—a curl had just been delightfully set free.

“I don’t see anything,” Lady Valor said. “Is it supposed to be in the water? Do we need a boat?”

“Right there,” Lady Winsome said, pointing to a tree a few yards ahead. “It’s on the water side so you can’t see it when you approach.”

Henry followed her gaze. There were blue tickets all tacked on the backside trunk of a tree. They hurried to collect one of them. Henry pulled one from its pin and put it in his coat pocket.

“Now let’s step away from here so we do not give it away to anybody else,” Henry said. “Look dejected, as if we’ve found nothing.”

“Hah!” Lady Valor said. “We’re tricking them!”

Henry thought Lady Valor looked a little too triumphant to trick anyone, but there was nothing to be done about it. “Lady Lilith? If you will read the next clue.”

“Certainly, Lord Wembly,” Lady Lilith said, peering down at the paper in her hand. “It is not changing leaves, nor snowfall, nor hives heavy with honey that grants us the vision of miraculous nature.”

“What?” Lady Valor said in a particularly annoyed tone.

Henry did not blame her. This clue did seem a bit more obscure. “What would grant a vision of miraculous nature?”

“Why does the vision have to be granted?” Lady Winsome asked. “Why cannot you just look at it?”

“Oh,” Lady Verity said, “but it hints that it is not winter or autumn or summer. It must be spring. And since it mentions vision—”

“The bathing spring,” Henry said. “Well done, Lady Verity.”

The lady blushed, which complemented her errant curl.

“Are we bathing now?” Valor asked. “I do not think Mrs. Right will like it if we come back wet.”

“No, it is the spring people use to bathe their eyes, should they have some sort of malady,” Henry said. “Let us be off!”

They hurried toward the bathing spring, dodging various other people going off in other directions.

The spring was located under a line of trees with a deal of underbrush.

They had to search around before finding the brown tickets laying on a large stone and very much blending in with the surroundings.

The party moved away from the area so as not to give anything away, though other people were beginning to hunt around the spring. Lady Lilith read the third clue.

“For this reason, a Corinthian often picks up the sword.”

Henry ran the possibilities through his mind. A Corinthian picks up the sword to do what?

“Is it fencing?” Lady Winsome asked.

“Of course it is!” Henry said. “Now, we’ll have to look casual, as if we are not looking along the fence line. We will just be walking along it and looking away from it as if we are interested in something else.”

“We’ll have everybody bamboozled,” Lady Valor said, laughing.

Henry hoped so, assuming nobody was looking at Lady Valor, who had not yet mastered the skill of deception. They meandered along the fence and finally found the smallest bit of yellow peeking from behind a fence post. Henry arranged for everyone to stand in front of him while he retrieved it.

Lady Valor shouted, “Go away!” at somebody while he was doing it, so he could not say they were particularly successful in the ruse.

“We’re on the last clue,” Lady Lilith said as they walked away from the fence line.

Before she could read it, there was a loud cheer that went up from the vicinity of the booth and tables and chairs. Then the bell was rung by Sir Jonathan.

“What does it mean?” Lady Verity asked.

“I am afraid we have not won. Somebody has returned to Sir Jonathan with all four colors.”