“Very good, Your Grace.”
Nathaniel read the letter again.
So Friday had not settled the matter. Rowland had not published, but neither had he relinquished the letters. He had changed the form of the threat and, if Sowerby was correct, tied it to a debt now approaching maturity.
That gave yesterday’s quarrel at the Wexford Arms a different significance.
Money. Results. Your assurances.
Giles leaving without his hat.
Nathaniel folded the report along its crease.
The anger came readily. It always did. For one instant he saw Rowland at the inn, Giles opposite him, Georgiana’s letters passing between them as though they were counters upon a gaming table.
His bandaged hand tightened around the paper.
Pain answered from his knuckles.
Nathaniel opened his fingers again.
He did not strike anything.
Instead, he called Bassett back.
“See that the messenger is fed and given a bed. He does not return tonight.”
“Very good, Your Grace.”
“And have his journey put upon my account.”
Bassett inclined his head.
“What of the horse, Your Grace?”
“If it belongs to the post, see that the proper arrangements are made. If he rode the last stage upon his own, have it walked, rubbed down and fed.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
The household stirred briefly around the unexpected arrival: boots in the passage, a kitchen door opening, quiet voices, the movement of a lantern across the yard. Nathaniel remained in the hall with Sowerby’s letter in his hand until the sounds diminished again.
The facts were still incomplete, but they were facts.
Rowland and Giles were partners.
Their partnership was under strain.
The letters had been copied.
A printer had been approached.
Giles’s debt was approaching maturity.
There was no need to invent anything beyond those five points. There was certainly no need to break another stable door over them.
What was required now was a cold head and whatever advantage could be found in two men who had begun to distrust one another.
A month earlier Nathaniel would have gone directly to his study, shut the door and begun arranging the matter alone.
He looked towards the staircase.
Then he took a second candle from the hall table and went up to wake his wife.