I need to know what it contains before he uses it. " Percival set down his pen. He was quiet for a moment with the look of a man solving a problem rather than deciding whether to. "I have a contact at the Edinburgh banking registry," he said. "A professional relationship. Three hours, perhaps four. " "Thank you. " "Miss Vane. " She stopped at the door.
"His Grace asked me this morning to ensure you had whatever you needed today. " He said it carefully with the precise neutrality of a man conveying a message without editorializing. "Whatever you need. " Those were his words. She looked at him for a moment. Then she nodded and walked out. The afternoon moved slowly the way afternoons do when something is coming.
At luncheon, Lord Harwick was pleasant and said nothing pointed. Lady Mirabelle smiled at the Duke and the Duke was polite and gave nothing away. Lord Cecil told another story. Lady Gwen laughed. Mrs.
Corbett ate with the purposeful concentration of a woman who had stopped trying to control events and was now simply documenting them. Lady Farroww watched Nora across the table with an expression that had been shifting since breakfast in a direction Nora could not yet name. At 3:00, Percival found Nora in the upstairs sitting room and placed a single folded note in her hand. And she opened it. She read it.
She sat very still for 30 full seconds. Then she stood up and went to find the Duke. She found him in the stables. He was with his horse, a large gray animal named Flint, who had the temperament of someone who had seen everything and was impressed by none of it. Calder was not riding.
He was simply standing beside him, the way he stood in gardens in the early morning, present, quiet, not requiring anything from the moment. He turned when he heard her footsteps on the stable floor. She handed him the note. He read it. His expression shifted once, sharply, and then settled back into stillness.
The note said, "Trust account, Edinburgh, held in the name of Edmund Vane, established 14 years prior. Beneficiary named at account opening, Nora Vane, only daughter. Value at last recorded balance, considerable. Account sealed pending legal instruction. Instruction never given. " Her father had opened an account for her when she was 8 years old.